HATHORIC ORIGIN OF CURLING SIDE-LOCKS 419

tresses curving up behind. Its upright tail might suggest the influence of
the desert monster Set. The coiling side-lock of this type is certainly 'J-3'.1^3-"
Hathoric, and there can be little doubt that it connects itself with a facing curls.
head with curling tresses streaming out on either
side that appears between two signs on a fine
four-sided cornelian bead-seal from Central Crete1
(Fig. 284). The 'signet' type of seal to which
Fig. 283 belongs points itself to Hittite in-
fluences, and the head on Fig. 284 is a more or
less fantastic development of the Hathoric head
—adopted by a form of Ishtar—that appears

on Syrian Monuments.2 It would seem, then, that the type of the wingless
Sphinx had reached Crete betimes from the lands to the East of it, such
Egyptian elements as it contains being in this case of indirect derivation.

The true Egyptian Sphinx, though wingless, was masculine, being an
emblematic combination of the King's head with a lion.3 It was not without
its influence, however, on the monumental Sphinxes of the Hittite lands, and distinct
these, as we shall see, were also in turn reflected in an interesting type intro- Egyp-
duced from that side into Minoan Crete, of which this Treasury Deposit has tlan type'
also afforded an illustration.

Fig. 284. Facing Head of
Sphinx with Coiling Locks.
Cornelian Bead-seal : Cen-
tral Crete.

Of Hit-
tite deri-
vation :

Locks of Steatite Sphinx from Drain-shaft, and Comparative

Examples.

Among the most curious relics derived from the Treasury Chamber
were some steatite objects that came to light with the other remains in the
lower part of the drain-shaft above described. These objects, as has been
shown by comparative evidence forthcoming since their discovery, form part
of the curled locks of a large composite head of a Sphinx, differing alike
from Egyptian and from the well-known Minoan class. Unlike the Egyptian,
its head is female: unlike the Minoan, it has no wings.

The origin of this form of Sphinx points, indeed, in a different direction
from either Egypt or Crete. A valuable side-light on it is thrown by
a facing type of the Goddess Hathor, showing side-locks terminating in
a coil, of which the Cretan hieroglyphic seal Fig. 283 may be regarded as

Steatite
locks of
Sphinx'
head from
drain-
shaft.

Oriental
compari-
sons:
Hathoric
elements.

1 See, too, P. of M., i, pp. 276, 277, and
Fig. 207, c 2 (c 3 is erroneously placed
there : it belongs to another seal).

2 See p. 420.

3 Variations, indeed, of this Egyptian class

E e

are known. In an impersonation, for in-
stance, of the Goddess Mut-netem (Wilkinson,
Ancient Egyptians, iii, p. 310, Fig. 573) her
effigy is coupled with the winged body of
a lion.