Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

to tree- or plant-forms 527
known as 'Late Minoan i' (r. 1500 B.C.) and again illustrates the
combination of double axe and lily. Round its rim is a series of
axes with knobbed tops ; round its base, a simplified axe-pattern ;
beneath its handles, other axe-forms. The main frieze, on its
shoulder, has double axes of the knobbed variety alternating with
bulls' heads. Each axe is erect on a square base. Each bull's head
between its horns bears another double axe, the stem of which is
shaped like an open lily. And the space between axes and bulls'
heads is filled by olive-sprays. A second large jar of the ' Late
^
Fig- 395- Fig. 396. Fig- 397
Minoan I ' age, obtained by Seager on the neighbouring island of
Mochlos^ treats the floral stem of the axe in a freakish human
fashion (fig. 395)- that brings to mind the quaintest flower-fays of
Mr Arthur Rackham.
Vase-fragments of late 'Minoan' style, found by Sir Arthur
Evans in a superficial layer of deposit covering the north-west
building at Knossos, show the double axe rising from a leafy shaft
between the sacred horns^. On the example here reproduced (fig. 396)
this design fills two compartments, the other two being occupied by
The Musetan : Aitthropological Publications iii. i) Philadelphia 1910 p. 26 f. pi.
( = my fig. 394).
^ R. B. Seager ' Excavations at Mochlos' in the Am. Jotirn. Arch. 1909 xiii. 299 with
fig. 19, G. Karo in G. Maraghiannis Antiquitis Crkoiscs Deuxienie Serie Candie s.a.
p. viii pi. 13, 2.
^ G. B. G[ordon] ' The Double Axe and some other Symbols ' in University of
Penttsylvania : The Museuin Journal 1916 vii. 48 fig. 38 ( = my fig. 395).
* Sir A. J. Evans in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1902— 1903 ix. ii4f. fig. 71 ( = my
fig- 396)-
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