Clay kernos



Clay kernos

Π2126
Clay
Part of the vessel is preserved
Height: 11.5 cm.
Dictaean Cave (Cave of Psychro)
Middle-Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period. Middle Minoan III-Late Minoan IA period:
1700 - 1500 BC:
Gallery:
XVII
Case:
174
Exhibition thematic unit:
Geometric - Archaic - Classical period (10th - 4th c. BC). The Sanctuaries. From Minoan cult to the amalgamation of religious beliefs
Cult caves
Description
Part of a coarse vessel preserving two rows of five small cups. This is a ritual vessel known as a kernos, in which the firstfruits of the harvest were offered to the deity to be blessed. This kernos was found in the sacred Dictaean Cave in the foothills of Mt. Dicte, which, like the Idaean Cave, was believed to be the mythical birthplace of Zeus.
Bibliography:
D.G. Hogarth, "The Diktaian Cave", Annual of the British School at Athens 6 (1899-1900), pp. 94-116.
Author:
M. K.


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