[ΚΕΝΟ]



Conical rhtyon in the Marine Style of the Special Palatial Tradition

Π3385
Clay
Mended and restored.
Height: 35 cm. Rim diameter: 9.5 cm.
Palaikastro
Block Δ (Room 4)
Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan ΙB period.:
1500-1450 BC:
Gallery:
V
Case:
47
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation
Settlements of East Crete
Description
Conical rhyta, vessels used as funnels for decanting liquids, were very popular in Minoan Crete, and also in the settlements of the South Aegean, during the peak of the New Palaces. The body of this rhyton from Palaikastro is richly decorated with dark-on-light rows of vertical triton shells among rocks and seaweed, themes of the Marine Style which were particularly popular in vase-painting in the Late Minoan IB period. It was found together with another seventeen conical and ovoid rhyta, stored upside down next to each other with their mouths on the floor in a room of Block Δ at Palaikastro. The find conditions indicate that this was a storeroom for vessels for occasional use in ceremonies in which the rhyta were used to make offerings and libations. This argument is supported by the elaborate decoration of the vases, with the special symbolism of the marine motifs, and also by the adder-mark ornament on the neck of this example, themes associated with the various aspects of the Minoan goddess. Moreover, Minoan iconography shows that conical rhyta were not just meant for everyday use. They were also widely used as cult vessels, the most characteristic example being the depiction of the “Cup-bearer” in the Procession Fresco from Knossos. This assemblage from Palaikastro demonstrates that the ritual practice involving the use of rhyta was not limited to the palatial centres, but was widespread in Minoan Crete in the context of institutional and domestic expressions of worship.
Bibliography:
Bosanquet, R.C. and R.M. Dawkins. The Unpublished Objects from the Palaikastro Excavations: 1902-1906. The British School at Athens. Supplementary Papers 1. London, 1923, 50, no. 2, pl. XIXb. Mountjoy, P.A. “The Marine Style Pottery of LM IB/LH IIA: Towards a Corpus”. Annual of the British School at Athens 79 (1984), 194, Palaikastro 12, pl. 23b. Koehl, R.B. Aegean Bronze Age Rhyta. INSTAP Prehistory Monographs 19. Philadelphia, Penn., 2006, 167, no. 664.
Author:
I. N.


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