[ΚΕΝΟ]



Gold signet ring with cult scene

Χ-Α1034
Metal (Gold)
Intact
Knossos
Sellopoulo, Tomb 4
Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan IB period.:
1500-1450 BC:
Gallery:
VIII
Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). Minoan religion. Palace cult
The epiphany cycle - Gold rings
Description
Gold ring with cult scene on the oval bezel. In the centre of the scene is a kneeling male figure embracing a large oval rock with his right arm and extending his left towards a bird in flight, turning his head towards it. The bird is unnaturally large compared to the man and is interpreted as a symbolic depiction of the appearing goddess. On the right side of the scene is a conventionally rendered sanctuary with ashlar masonry, while on the left side is a tree growing among rocks. The scene is set in the context of broader acts of worship of sacred trees and stones involving a specific ceremonial. These rituals were intended to ensure the fertility of the earth, an aspect also denoted by the large seed in the bird’s beak. The association of natural rocks, features of the Cretan landscape, with the presence of the goddess permits their identification as baetyls and indicates influences from southwest Asia Minor and Syro-Palestine, where baetyl cult originated. Although the ring accompanied a burial of the Final Palatial period, it is thought to have been made in the Neopalatial period and preserved as an heirloom.
Bibliography:
Popham, M. and H. Catling. "Sellopoulo Tombs 3 and 4. Two Late Minoan Graves near Knossos". The Annual of the British School at Athens, 69 (1974): 217-19, 223, fig. 14D, pl. 37a-b. Warren, P. "Of baetyls". Opuscula Atheniensia 18 (1990): 193-206. Niemeier, W.D. "Cult Scenes on Gold Rings from the Argolid". In R. H?gg and G.C. Nordquist (eds), Celebrations of Death and Divinity in the Bronze Age Argolid. Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens (11-13 June 1988), Stockholm, 1990, 165-70. Marinatos, Ν. "The Tree, the Stone and the Pithos: Glimpses into a Minoan Ritual". In R. Laffineur (ed.), Annales d'arch?ologie de la Gr?ce antique, Aegaeum 6, Li?ge, 1990, 79-92. Crooks, S. What are These Queer Stones? Baetyls: Epistemology of a Minoan Fetish. BAR International Series 2511. Oxford, 2013, 45-6, fig. 38. Mandalaki, S. "Ο χορός στη Μινωική Κρήτη". Αρχαιολογία και Τέχνες 90 (2004): 17-18. Mandalaki, S. "Η αναζήτηση του υπερβατικού". In S. Mandalaki and G. Rethemiotakis, Μινωικός κόσμος. Ταξίδι στις απαρχές της Ευρώπης, Heraklion, 2015, 101-02.
Author:
S. M.


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