Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The decoration of the double axe 639
roundels ornamented with the heads of ranns and bulls, two heads
:«^~"
" "
Fig- 554-
of griffins, two starry disks, and an
archaic female figure flanked by
lines of zig-zags (fig. 554). Lastly,
a gold hair-pin from the necro-
polis of Koban takes the form of
an axe with recurved blade, the
socket of which is adorned with
a little group representing a stag
attacked by two hounds (fig. 555)^
Sir Arthur Evans draws atten-
tion to the fact that the double
axe in ' Minoan
'
art is frequently
adorned with diagonals and zig-
zags (fig. 556)^ He contends that
1 N. Kondakof—J. Tolstoi— S. Reinach
Antiquities de la Russia miridionale Paris
1891 p. 459 fig. 402 ( = my fig. 555: on a
reduced scale).
- Sir A. J. Evans in the Ann. Brit. Sch.
Ath. 1900— 1901 vii. 53 fig. 15 ( = my fig. 556,
cp. M. Hoernes Urgeschickte der bildenden
Kunst in Europa^ Wien 1915 p. 515 fig. 1:
(a) Double axe on vase-firagment ; [b) Bronze
votive double axe from Dictaean Cave ;
(c) Bronze votive double axe from Dictaean
Cave, with right wing restored ; (d) Double
axe on cornelian from Kabouzi, enlarged).
For other examples see D. Mackenzie in the
Fig- 555-