148

THE 'TREE OF PARADISE'

' Tree of
Para-
dise '.

Interpre-
tation of
design.

Northern myth—as Grimm long since pointed out1—reappear in an Arab
fable of which early translations, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, are known.
The Oriental version reacted in turn on the Medieval ' Tree of Paradise',
of which, as already noted,2 an account is preserved by the Cretan writer,

Fig. 97. Chrysalis (facing)
above Goddess, Vapheio Ring.

Fig. 96. Butterflies and Chrysa-
lises (side view), above Goddess, on
' Ring of Nestor '.

Fig. 98. Butterfly and Flower- FlG' "" Butterfly : Clay Sealing,

ing Spray : Gem, Knossos. w' 1 riada'

Georgios Chumnos of Candia. This Byzantine ' Tree of Paradise' was also
old and bare, and spiders' webs hung from its branches.

Sacred trees are themselves a central feature in primitive Religion3
throughout the world, but it is possible, in view of the existence of early
Oriental traditions of the ' Tree of Paradise', that the representation on the
ring may have some direct, if very remote, connexion with it.

In the first compartment of the tree may be recognized the Minoan
Goddess seated in animated conversation with her wonted companion, while
above her head there flutter two butterflies.4 The symbolic significance of

1 Deutsche Mythologie, ii, pp. 666, 667. and Pillar Cult (Macmillans, 1901, and

2 P. of M., ii, Ft. II, p. 483. J..JT. S.), passim.

z For their special connexion with Minoan * Only unacquaintance with this generalized

religion I may refer to my Mycenaean Tree Minoan version could have led the Swedish