ADORATION OF 'MINOAN RHEA' ON SIGNET-TYPE 463

Fig. 323.

slgnet-type from central palace
Sanctuary, Knossos.

It may be sufficient here to reproduce the seal-type of which repeated Male
copies were found in the Central Palace Sanctuary of Knossos, in which on°si°--tS
a youth, of much the same proportions as the bronze figurine illustrated in nets-
Fig. 320 and in a similar

adorant attitude, stands before
the ' Minoan Rhea' on her
lion-guarded peak (Fig. 323).]
In this act of homage both the
Goddess herself and her bae-
tylic image in the pillar-shrine
may be taken to share. On
three signet-rings from My-
cenae and another from Li-
gortino in Crete female de-
votees are depicted raising
their arms in a similar manner
before baetylic shrines, not
accompanied by any figure of the divinity, but in two cases containing sacred
trees.

Figures like the above bronzes must be placed in the category of
anathemata of votaries, and there is not sufficient ground for attaching- to
them any divine relationship with the Goddess. In no case do they wear
a distinguishing tiara, and in the one instance (Fig. 322) where the head is
covered by a brimmed hat or petasos we may reasonably regard it simply
as a rustic feature adapted to the sunny climate of Crete—the wearing,
indeed, of broad-brimmed hats of straw in certain country districts of the
Island can be traced back to early Venetian times.

The signet-types referred to can also only be taken to depict devotees.

Armed Youthful Male Figures grouped with Goddess.

But a more intimate relationship between the Goddess—there identified Armed

by her ceremonial seat with the sacred tree behind—and a youthful male m&\e.

figure is certainly perceptible in the scene presented in Fig. 324 which appears %ures

on an electrum ring from Mycenae. The comparatively short stature of the with
youth, who holds a spear in the right hand, as compared with the seated

1 See P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 809, Fig. 528. and the third case a tree or trees is also shown.

2 See my Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 85 Compare, too, p. 84, Fig. 55 (84), where a male
(183), Fig. 57, p. 86 (184), Fig. 58, p. 87 (185), adorant stands before a pillar shrine from
Fig. 59, and p. 91 (189), Fig. 63. In the first within which a tree rises.