Cup-rhyton
Π2484
Clay
Mended and restored.
Height: 15 cm. Rim diameter (restored): 14.6 cm. Hole diameter: 0.3 cm.
Knossos
East slope of Gypsades hill (Knossos area), east of Hogarth's House B, Tomb
Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan IB period.:
1500-1450 BC:
Gallery:
IVCase:
40Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisationPalaces - Palatial Buildings
Description
This cup is indisputably based on similar vessels made of metal. The eclectic morphological relationships between artefacts in clay and metal are indicated here by features such as the shape of the raised strap handle with relief knob, the neat outline of the rim and tall-footed body, the fine walls and the glossy surface, which is decorated with a simple repeated pattern in a strictly regular arrangement quite unlike the naturalistic mood of the period. From a functional point of view, the vessel is a rhyton rather than a drinking cup, as it has a hole in the bottom for pouring libations. It may have been used in such ceremonies before its deposition in the grave of a newborn child which was excavated under the floor of a room in a house in the wider environs of the town of Knossos. The interpretation of the repeated painted motif as “adder marks” is particularly interesting, while it has been noted that the modelled end of the handle resembles a snake’s head. This interpretation may support the suggestion that this was a cult vessel, since on a symbolic level the association of the snake with the chthonic aspect of the Minoan goddess is attested both by relevant scenes in the iconography and by other cult vessels with relief snakes.Bibliography:
Hogarth, D.G. "Knossos II. Early Town and Cemeteries". Annual of the British School at Athens 6 (1899-1900): 77, fig. 23. Evans, A.J. The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. Vol. IV, London, 1935, 183-4, fig. 145a. Koehl, R.B. Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta. INSTAP Prehistory Monographs 19. Philadelphia, Penn., 2006, 226-7, no. 1247, pl. 55.Author:
I. N.Photographs' metadata