Fragment of miniature fresco with building façade crowned with horns of consecration



Fragment of miniature fresco with building façade crowned with horns of consecration

ΑΑ00007
Plaster
Fragmentary-Restored
7Χ5 cm.
Knossos
Palace
Middle-Late Bronze Age, Neopalatial period. Middle Minoan ΙΙΙΒ – Late Minoan ΙΑ period:
1650-1500 BC:
Gallery:
XIII
Case:
132
Exhibition thematic unit:
Minoan wall paintings
The world of the court
Description
Horns of consecration, whether as an iconographic theme or an architectural element crowning building façades, almost always bear a religious and political symbolism of power and authority. They often have a socket in the centre for a double axe. Many scholars believe that this underlines their symbolic character, since the double axe is indirectly associated with bull sacrifice. Examples of horns of consecration as symbolic architectural elements are known both from the palatial environment of Knossos and from cult buildings such as the Villa at Nirou Chani and the Peak Sanctuary of Trapeza in Tylissos.
Bibliography:
Immerwahr, S.A. (1990). Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age (University Park PA and London). Evans, A.,1928. The palace of Minos: A comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustrated by the discoveries at Knossos. Vol. II. Part II, London: Macmillan and Co. LTD.
Author:
K. A.


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