DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0259
SCULPTURAL GROUP OF LIONS' GATE TYPE 611
„,, pnrh side of the peak on which the Goddess stands, as seen on the class on
on gcv>-±i -■ i ^ corniceof
sionet-type of the Central Shrine (Fig. 597 A, e), but. their closer approach portico,
in the present case makes it impossible to. suppose that the Goddess her-
Fig. 599. M. M. III-L. M. I a, Seal Impressions showing Lions guarding incurved
Altar-base, a, b, Zakro ; c, Hagia Triada.
self stood between them. The lions here, perhaps facing the spectator like
the guardian hounds on Fig. 597 a, g, set their forefeet on a sacred peak
recalling the cairn over which the Minoan Genii pour their libations in
Fig. 380, p. 455 above.
The important point is that we have the familiar scheme of the con-
fronted lions with their forefeet on a sacred object—here a baetylic cairn
—adopted as an. architectural adornment, set up above what may well have
been the entrance portico of a building.
This, as envisaged by the engraver, certainly implied sculptural work
in the round, but it is obvious that we have here a very near parallel to
the Mycenae tympanum relief even as regards the general outline. It must
be observed, moreover, that this scheme of confronted lions is at home on
Cretan soil, appearing, indeed, in more than one form on transitional seal
impressions of M. M. III-L. M. I a date, both at Zakro1 and Hagia Triada.2
In this earlier stage the heraldically opposed lions appear beside one of
the incurved altar-bases—in one case contained within a shrine (Fig. 599
a, 6, c). Later, as in Fig. 599, c, they set their forefeet on the base—in the
case of the Lions' Gate on two separate bases.
The design on the sealing from the Little Palace (Fig. 597 a, z)—
doubtless from a gold signet-ring—makes it clear that the type, as a symbol
of divine protection, had become a subject of sculptural or plastic adorn-
Hogarth, Zakro Settlings, p. 87, Fig. 28 variant example of which is given by Dr. Doro
(No. 112), and cf. P. of if., i, p. 30S. Fig. 599, Levi. Cretule, &c., p. 99. Fig. 180.
b is drawn from another Zakro sealing, a s D. Levi, op. at., p. 33, Fig. 70.
IV** s s
Origins of
guardian
lion types
on Mi-
noan
seals.
Con-
nected
with
portals of
shrines.
„,, pnrh side of the peak on which the Goddess stands, as seen on the class on
on gcv>-±i -■ i ^ corniceof
sionet-type of the Central Shrine (Fig. 597 A, e), but. their closer approach portico,
in the present case makes it impossible to. suppose that the Goddess her-
Fig. 599. M. M. III-L. M. I a, Seal Impressions showing Lions guarding incurved
Altar-base, a, b, Zakro ; c, Hagia Triada.
self stood between them. The lions here, perhaps facing the spectator like
the guardian hounds on Fig. 597 a, g, set their forefeet on a sacred peak
recalling the cairn over which the Minoan Genii pour their libations in
Fig. 380, p. 455 above.
The important point is that we have the familiar scheme of the con-
fronted lions with their forefeet on a sacred object—here a baetylic cairn
—adopted as an. architectural adornment, set up above what may well have
been the entrance portico of a building.
This, as envisaged by the engraver, certainly implied sculptural work
in the round, but it is obvious that we have here a very near parallel to
the Mycenae tympanum relief even as regards the general outline. It must
be observed, moreover, that this scheme of confronted lions is at home on
Cretan soil, appearing, indeed, in more than one form on transitional seal
impressions of M. M. III-L. M. I a date, both at Zakro1 and Hagia Triada.2
In this earlier stage the heraldically opposed lions appear beside one of
the incurved altar-bases—in one case contained within a shrine (Fig. 599
a, 6, c). Later, as in Fig. 599, c, they set their forefeet on the base—in the
case of the Lions' Gate on two separate bases.
The design on the sealing from the Little Palace (Fig. 597 a, z)—
doubtless from a gold signet-ring—makes it clear that the type, as a symbol
of divine protection, had become a subject of sculptural or plastic adorn-
Hogarth, Zakro Settlings, p. 87, Fig. 28 variant example of which is given by Dr. Doro
(No. 112), and cf. P. of if., i, p. 30S. Fig. 599, Levi. Cretule, &c., p. 99. Fig. 180.
b is drawn from another Zakro sealing, a s D. Levi, op. at., p. 33, Fig. 70.
IV** s s
Origins of
guardian
lion types
on Mi-
noan
seals.
Con-
nected
with
portals of
shrines.