5"

WARLIKE SCENES ON MINOAN SIGNETS

Speci-
mens
known
fromL.M.
I a on-
wards.

FiG.456a,& Clay Seal Impressions

RING SHOWING SCENES OF COMBAT.

a, PROBABLY OF A SlGNET-

From Hagia Triada.

Dramatic
religious
scenes.

phase or the initial stage of L. M. I. Such are those represented by certain clav
sealings from Zakr'o and Hagia Triada and by the clay matrix of Knossos'

There can be little doubt that these impressions belong to. signet-rings
of this kind, and show that they were already in vogue in the great transi-
tional M. M. Ill—
L.M.I a phase. It
is difficult, however,
on grounds of style,
to assign any exist-
ing specimens of
the rings them-
selves to an earlier
date than a fairly
advanced stage of
L. M. I a. Among
these may be rec-
koned the well-known example from Mycenae, where the Goddess of the
Double-Axe is seated beneath her sacred fruit tree. To the same
approximate date, too, may be referred that, so fully developed in its
dramatic expression, depicting the double scene of mourning and ecstatic
frenzy beside the little grave enclosure.'- A kindred spirit breathes in the
design—combining similar ecstatic possession with a mourning figure on a
shield—seen on the gold signet-ring from the Vapheio Tomb,3 and in that
case dated to L. M. I b. To this group also belong the crowded scenes on
the ' Ring of Nestor,4 and those of the gold signet-ring,—similar in workman-
ship, and identical as regards the decorative beading of the hoop—which led
to the discovery of the ' Temple-Tomb of Minos '? On these latter examples
we have to do with successive tableaux set together on the same field, and the
suggestion afforded by fresco panels is not far to seek. In the case of the
' Ring of Nestor', indeed, it has warranted a coloured restoration on the lines
of the miniature wall-paintings."

From the beginning these signet-types are associated with religio
subjects like the above, including, besides actual scenes of adoratw ,
episodes of the agonistic sports of the arena, held in honour of the God

Myc. Tree and PW

1 See P. ofM., ii, Pt. II, p. 767, Fig. 498.

- See especially P. ofM., iii, pp. 142, 143
and Fig. 93.

1 'E4>. 'Apx-> 1889, PI. X, p. 39 ; P. of M.,
ii, p. 140 seqq., Figs. 91 and 92 (chrysalis

emhlem); and cf. A. E.,
Worship, p. 7S seqq., and Fig
' P. ofM., iii, p. r46 seqq-,
" See below, p. 963, seqq.
' Ii., p. 157, Coloured Plate XXa.

■52-
, and Fi|