CHARIOT OF TYPE C ON AVDU RING 823

f the Dorian peak settlement of Lyktos. The principal person, seated
1 ehind the driver—holding the reins and a forked whip—seems to be
1 vino- his right hand (as seen on the ring itself) on the hilt of his sword.

Fig. 803. Chariot of Type C brawn by Cretan Wild-goats : on Sardonyx
King from Avdu, near Lyktos.

That the Cretan agrimi, or wild-goat, should be used as an animal of
draught is, of course, an impossible supposition. In the neighbouring tract,
East of Lasithi, traces of a zigzagging" Minoan paved way, supported by
massive walling, may still be made out, climbing the steep path,1 but a
chariot, it might be thought, would be the last subject to be chosen by a
local prince—whose stronghold lay amidst these limestone wilds—as his
personal badge. Or was it, perhaps, a playful allusion to this very cir-
cumstance ? The apparently human character of the personage holding
the sword makes it difficult to regard this as a religious theme depicting
a Minoan God in a chariot drawn by wild-goats, like that of Thorr in the
Edda.2 The proper weapon of the Thunder-God would be a double axe.
" tne other hand, it is true that a female personage, who may well be the

Chariots
on H.
Triada
Sarco-
phagus.

A. E., A Mycenaean Military Road in
Crete. Academy, June r, 1S95.

Grimm, Deutsche Mythohgie (4th ed.), i,

P- !53-