Hound
seizing
stag's
neck:
Odysseus'
brooch
com-
pared.

Fig. 470. Crystal

Lentoid of Flat-sided

Class.

Fig.

TOID,

471. Haematite Len-
E. Crete : Dog seizing
Stag.

524 HOUNDS SPRINGING ON WILD-GOAT AND STAG

Some account has been already given of the special type of circular bei I
seal on which this design occurs. It has been called the ' flat-sided lentoid '
Seen from above or below,
its circular contour resem-
bles the ordinary lentoid
form. The edge, however,
in its original shape as
shown by this specimen is
broad and flat. In style
this example belongs to
M.M. II.1

Similar designs are
not infrequent on bead-
seals of a somewhat later
lentoid class.2 On a hae-
matite specimen of this kind from Eastern Crete, Fig. 471, the collared hound
of Fig. 470 reappears springing on a stag's back and seizing his cervical
vertebrae in his jaws. It is interesting to note that the inherent talis-
manic virtue of this seal-stone, as bearing on the chase, is here emphasized
by two subsidiary details below that have nothing to do directly with the
main episode. The little pillar here seen is of a baetylic class. The
seated dog with his forelegs higher than his hind is really one of a pair
of sacred animals such as we see them with their forelegs resting on
an altar base.3 Though somewhat worn, the fine style of this intaglio
points to an epoch not later than L. M. 11).* The subject itself has a special
interest since the tradition of it was taken over by the Poet of the Odyssey
in his description of Odysseus' brooch,5 though it may safely be said that
no fibula of the Age in which the Homeric poem was put together (unless,
indeed, it be brought down to the Sixth or Seventh Century) was adaptec
for such an ornament. In that case the dog gripped a young dappled stag,
gazing on it while the fawn writhed with its legs in the vain effort to escape.

rata*

l>,

See P. of M., i, pp. 275,276, Fig. 204, a,

- On a grey steatite lentoid seen by me
at Piskokephali in Siteia in 1S9S, the leap-
ing hound has not quite reached the back
of the goat, which, however, has fallen on its
knees.

" See for instance p. 608, Fig. 597a.,§-below.

" This, too, was the time when the use of

haematite for seal-stones was most preva
due no doubt 10 strong Syrian influences.

' See too, A. E, The MinoauaniMyoa^
Eleme,,tmBelle„ieLi/e(/J-f-S.,^»\Vf-""
223, and Fig. 4.

0 Od. xix. 228 seqq. : » „,

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