ILLUSTRATIONS OF CRETAN HORNED SHEEP

57i

offertory ram, and the motive reappears on cylinders of the late ' Cypro-

Minoan' class.1 Twice, too, the ram appears tied to the baetylic column.2

Probably the best illustration of the horned sheep itself is supplied by

Fig. 545 Goddess or Votary

holding Offertory Ram

Cornelian : Vapheio.

Fig. 546. Horned Sheep on

' Flat Cylinder ' of Red

Cornelian : Lyktos.

Fig. 547. Chalcedony
Lentoid, Lasithi.

a 'flat' cylinder (Fig. 546) found on or near the site of Lyktos.3 In
particular the shaggy breast of this species is here well given. This
intaglio, moreover, is of particular interest as supplying a good example
of reserved background, such as marks the best period of the Minoan gem-
engravers' Art. Another good example of the animal is to be seen on the
'flat-sided' lentoid from Lasithi * (Fig. 547), with M.M. Ill facade decoration.
Of special interest in its bearing on the later traditions of the Cretan
Zeus and eponymic heroes, like Kyd6n, suckled by animals, is the early
type represented on a sealing from the Hieroglyphic deposit, already re-
ferred to in the first Volume of this work, in which a naked child is seated
beneath a horned sheep, perhaps also before a manger (Fig. 544, a).'

Wild Boars and Domestic Swine.

In the absence of special indications it is often a moot point where Domestic
animals like sheep or goats are depicted whether they are to be regarded
as wild or domesticated. This difficulty occurs with regard to some repre-
sentations of boars or pigs, such as are already a favourite motive of
Minoan seals on the prism seals of the Early Minoan Age. When, as on
E.g, Cesnola, Salamitiia, PL XII, 1; tyna'(A. E. Coll.) of practically identical fabric
01mefalsd>Riditer,/i3'/>,w,Sc.,Pl.LXXIX,6. ' See /'. of M., i, p. 6S4, Fig. 503, a.

' On an onyx lentoid from the 'Chieftain's '' Ibid., p. 684, Fig. 503, b.

Grave', Knossos, and another from near Got- ' lb., p. 273, Fig. 202, e.