Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

ch. vi] The Hagia Triada Sarcophagos 159
in Asia Minor. Inside the tomb-enclosure were found two
sarcophagoi, the large painted stone sarcophagos now before us,
and a smaller one in terra-cotta. The discoverer, Dr Halbherr,
dates the tomb and its contents at from 1500—1300 B.C.
We begin with the principal scenes depicted on the two long
sides of the sarcophagos, and first with the scene in Fig. 30.
In the centre we have the sacrifice of a bull, of the kind, with
large, curved horns, once common in the Aegean, now extinct.
Fig. 30.-
He is dying, not dead ; his tail is still alive and his pathetic eyes
wide open, but the flute-player is playing and the blood flows from
the bull's neck into the situla below. Two Cretan goats with
twisted horns lie beneath the sacrificial table on which the bull
is bound. They will come next. A procession of five women
comes up to the table ; the foremost places her hands on or
towards the bull, as though she would be in touch with him and