A Review of the Throne Room at Cnossos

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A Review of the Throne Room at CnossosAuthor(s): Clark HopkinsSource: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 67, No. 4 (Oct., 1963), pp. 416-419Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/501626Accessed: 17-03-2015 10:04 UTC

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2/9

416 AMERICAN

JOURNAL

OF

ARCHAEOLOGY

[AJA

67

general

work:

a

viscous rubber

is as

easily

applied

to

a

horizontal as

to

a

vertical

surface,

whereas

the

con-

verse is

not

true

of

low-viscosity

compounds;

a

viscous

rubber can be

applied

in

thicker

layers

than a

more

fluid

one;

finally,

the

viscosity

can be

easily

lowered

by

dilution

with

locally

obtained

gasoline,

but it

can-

not be increased. In the workshop a choice of silicone

rubbers

and

diluents

may

be

desirable.

The

RTV silicone rubbers

have,

at the

present

time,

only

two

disadvantages.

First,

both

manufacturers

recommend that

the

compounds

not be

stored

for

periods

over

six months. This

is,

however,

a

conserva-

tive

recommendation,

for the

samples

I have

used

gave satisfactory

results after much

longer

lives

on

the

shelf,

especially

when

they

were

held at low

tem-

peratures.

The

catalysts

and thinners

will

keep

indefi-

nitely.

Second,

the RTV

silicone rubbers are still

rather

expensive,

ranging

in

price

from

$4.75

to

$7.50

per

pound

in

small

quantities

and somewhat

less

for

larger purchases. Thus silicone squeezes now cost

about

75

cents

per

square

foot. It

is

quite

certain

that

the

price

will fall

as

new

applications

are found

and

the

production

level

rises.

It

is

perhaps

not

naive

to

hope

that

price

reductions

will

be

encouraged by

the

competition

between

two

major

companies

for

future

markets.

There is no

question

that

squeezes

made

from

RTV silicone rubber

have all

the

advantages

and

none

of

the

disadvantages

of

those

made

with

natural

rubber

latex.

Their

superiority

in

reproducing

detail,

and

especially

their

indifference to

time

even

under

adverse

storage

conditions

support

the

expecta-

tion that

they

will

become a

useful

tool

in

classical

epigraphy.

CURT W. BECK

VASSAR

COLLEGE

A

REVIEW

OF THE

THRONE

ROOM

AT

CNOSSOS

PLATES

97-100

The

splendid

reconstruction of

the

Throne

Room

by

Sir

Arthur Evans

(pl. 97, fig.

I)

has

exemplified

in

scholars'

minds

the

magnificence

of

the

Palace

of

Cnossos.

The

doorway

in the

west

wall,

leading

to

the

inner

sanctuary

of

the

goddess,

is

flanked

by

two

re-

cumbent

griffins.

In

the

center

of

the

north

wall,

to

the right as one looks toward the sanctuary, the stone

throne of

the

king

interrupts

the

row of

low

benches

and

to the left

a

balustrade

supporting

columns

sur-

rounds the

lustral

basin.

The

large

anteroom

looks

east

to

the

west

side

of

the

great

central

court

and to

the

rising

sun.

Puzzling

features

still

remain,

however,

and

call

for

periodic

review.

Two

details have

interested me

particularly:

the

lack of

wings

on

the

griffins

and

the

absence of

any

representations

of

bulls

around

the

throne

of

Minos.

The

broader

question

as

to

the

date

of

the

frescoes

has been

raised

anew

by

the

decipher-

ment

of the

Pylos

tablets. Evans concluded

that all

the

palaces

in Crete

had been

destroyed

at the

end of

the

Late Minoan

II

period,

about

1400

B.c.

The Linear

B

tablets

from

Cnossos,

now found

to be in Greek

and

parallel

to the

Pylos

documents,

suggest

that

the

final

destruction of the

Palace at

Cnossos did

not occur

until

at least the thirteenth century and that at the time of

the

fire the official

language

in Cnossos was

Greek.

Such

a

conclusion

is

supported

also,

as we shall

see,

by

certain

details of

the Throne Room

frescoes.

Attention

may

be called

first,

in a review

of

the

wingless griffins,

to

the fact that

the

only

griffins

men-

tioned

in the

preliminary report

of the Throne

Room

were those

on the west

wall,

and the

lack of

wings

was

already

remarked

by

Evans in

i9o0.

In

his

report1

Evans

writes as

follows. In

the center of

the west

wall is a

doorway leading

into a small

inner chamber

and

on

either

side of this

opening

were

painted

two

couchant

griffins

of a curious decorative

type.

That on the

left

side, though the plaster was much cracked and bulged,

could

be made

out almost

in its

entirety.

The

monster

is

wingless,

an

unique

peculiarity

due

perhaps

to

an

approximation

to the

Egyptian

sphinx.

It bears

a

crest

of

peacock's

plumes,

showing

that this Indian

fowl

was

known

to the East Mediterranean

world

long

before

the

days

of

Solomon.

Pendant

flowers,

and a

volute

terminating

in

a

rosette

adorn

the

neck,

and a

chain

of

jewels

runs

along

its back.

A

remarkable

and

curi-

ously

modern

feature

is the

hatching

along

the

under-

side of the

body,

which

apparently

represents

shad-

ing (pl.

99,

fig.

2).

Beneath

the monster is

a

kind

of

base.

The

unique

feature,

a

wingless

bird-headed

griffin,

has become more

striking

in the

sixty years

since dis-

covery

because

other

evidence for

such

bird-headed

but

wingless

griffins

is

extremely

rare.

Equally

rare

in

Mycenaean

and

Minoan frescoes is

shading.

The

illu-

sion

of roundness

and

modified

depth

was

not

popular

in the East

and seems

unlikely

at

Cnossos.

There

re-

mains

the

possibility

that

the

cross-hatching

along

the

underside of

the

body

of the

griffin

represented

stylized

feathers,

and so

gave

evidence

for

the

wings

whose

presence

had been

obliterated

higher

up

in

the

fresco.

In

the

ivory

relief of

the

recumbent

bird

griffin

from

Megiddo

(pl.

98,

fig.

3)

the

edge

of

the

wing

reaches

the

lower

part

of

the

body

at

the

shoulder

and

is

drawn

with sharp angled lines and overlapping plates. The

Megiddo

griffins

have,

moreover,

the

head

plumes

and

the same

type

of

strong

but

not

decidedly

hooked

beak

which

characterizes

the

Cretan.

In

a second

ivory

from

Megiddo

(pl.

98,

fig.

4)

the

wings

of

the

sphinxes

come down

over the

shoulder

and

are

represented

by

incised lines

forming

squares

along

the

lower

edge

and

a

cross-hatching

along

the

diagonal

of the

shoulder.

Loud dates

the

Megiddo

ivories

between

1350

and

I150

B.C.

The

griffin

frescoes

are

framed

(pl.

97, fig.

I)

by

border

patterns

imitating

the

veining

of stone

and ex-

1

BSA

6

(1899-19oo00)

40.

2

G. Loud, The Megiddo Ivories, U. of Chicago LII

(i939)

Io.


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3/9

1963]

ARCHAEOLOGICAL

NOTES

417

hibit behind

the

griffins

a

background

of

wavy

bands

of

bright

color

interspersed

with

stylized

papyrus

plants.

Similar

wavy

bands

of color

are found in

the

ProcessionFresco

at

Cnossos,3

a

fresco

painted

in

the

corridor

running

south

from the west

court

(plan,

pl.

97,

fig.

5).

The

Cup-bearer

resco,4

which

also

belongedto the west side of the courtand lay between

the

Throne

Room

and

the

corridor

of

the

Procession,

has

a

similar

background

of

wavy

bands of

color,

though

a

fragment

of the older

stylized

rocky

back-

ground

remained

depending

from the

top

border.

In

Greece the

procession

fresco

from Thebes

(pl.

98,

fig. 6b)

exhibited the

same

wavy

bands

of

color

in

the

background

as

well as

a baseboard

mitating

marble

paneling.5

At

Tiryns

a border

pattern

mitated

the

graining

of wood

(pl. 98,

fig.

6a)

around a

fresco

representing,

as at

Thebes,

a

procession

of

women.

The

procession

rescoes

n

Greece,

at

Tiryns,

Thebes

and

more

recently

at

Pylos,

parallel

the

procession

frescoes t Cnossosnotonly in backgrounds nd frames

but in

the

elaborately

lounced dresses

of the

women

and

their hair

arrangements.

At

Tiryns

the

German

expedition

some time

ago

placed

the

greater

palace

with the

ashlar walls of

the

citadel

(comparable

o the

Lion's

Gate at

Mycenae)

in

the

second

half of

the

thirteenth

century.6

Mylonas

has

recently

redated

the

period

of the

Lion's Gate

at

Mycenae

o

1250

B.C.7

Moreover

he

agrees

with

Roden-

waldt

that the Theban

palace

also

belonged

to

the

thirteenth

century,8

and

possibly

to

the second

half.

The

Greek evidence

suggests,

therefore,

that

the

Throne

Room

frescoes

hould be redated

o

the

middle

of

the thirteenthcentury,a date comparablewith that

of

the

Megiddo

ivories.

There

is

another

peculiarity

n the

Throne

Room

at

Cnossos,

he

repetition

of

griffins

both on the

west

wall

and the

north,

a

feature

particularly

emarkable

since

they

flank different

objects;

on

the

west wall the

entranceto the

shrine,

on

the

north

the

throne.

The

evidence

for

the

four

griffins

s not

suppliedby

Evans.

In

the first

plan

of

the room

and

the

picture

of

the

excavations

pl.

99,

fig.

7)

the

griffin

fresco

is marked

to the

left

of

the

doorway

and

fresco

fragments

are

specifically

mentioned

only

in

the

northeast corner

of

the

room,

the

corner

beyond

the

throne. There

were

frescoes,also, on the wall behind the throne in which

only

plant

forms are

discernible

(pl.

99, fig.

8).

No

trace

of

griffins

or

of

any

animals

is visible.

Evans

states

simply (P

of

M IV

2,

910),

after

mentioning

the

entrance

to

the

shrine

and the

throne,

In

con-

formity

with

this

arrangement

he

fresco

friezes

dec-

orating

the

two

pairs

of

wall

section

present,

as a

central

religious feature,

two

couchant

griffins,

guard-

ing

in

one

case

a version of

the

Goddess

herself

and

her

divine

associates

n the

altar

ledge

beyond,

in the

other

the seat of honor

of her terrestrial

ice-regent,

he

Priest

King.

This carries

out Evans'

conception

of the

Priest

King

in

Crete,

an idea

very

difficult

o

substantiate

nd

par-

ticularly

so in Crete. The

Great Goddess

in the

East

may

protect

or assist

the

king,

and the

sky

god

may

be

represented y a lion or winged griffin,but in Crete he

symbol

of the male

god

is the

bull and the

king

was

the

hero-consort

f the Goddess.

The bull

was the

sym-

bol of

royalty,

ince the

appearance

f the

bull of

Po-

seidon assured

Minos of the

throne.

Association

with

the bull

and the

Minotaur

meant to

Minos a close

re-

lationship

with

supernatural

nd

superhuman

powers.

The bull

represented

he

god

of the

sky

and

Minos

was

his

manifestation

on earth.

It is safe

to

say

with

conviction

that

if the throne

belonged

to

Minos,

the

guardian

animals

were some

form of

bulls.

If further

proof

were

needed

it is

provided

by

the

evidence

n the Near

East that

in the

supreme

pair

of

deities the goddessis representedby the lion (and in

Crete

the lion

is

interchangeable

with the

griffin),

the

god

by

the bull.

Jupiter

Heliopolitanus,

the

Baal

of

Baalbec,

was flanked

by

bulls

in his

great

temple

and

carried

he mantle

of the sun

and

planets

as lord of

the

sky.

In the earlier

period

Hadad

stood on the

back of

a

bull

and wielded

the axe of

thunder.

Ishtar at

Mari

in the

beginning

of the

second

millennium

placed

her

foot

on a lion

(pl.

Ioo,

fig.

9),

and

Atargatis

was

reg-

ularly

accompanied

by

the

king

of the

beasts n

Syria

as

was

Cybele

n Asia

Minor.When

the

divine

pair

Ha-

dad

and

Atargatis

were

represented

at

Dura,9

Atar-

gatis

was flanked

by

lions,

Hadad

by

bulls. In

Crete

both lions

(griffins)

and

bulls

were

outstanding

re-

ligious symbols.

Evans believed

hat the stone

throne

of

Minos

copied

a wooden

prototype

and

that the

arc

carved

on

the

front

of the seat

represented

riginally

a

wooden

strut

(pl.

99,

fig.

8).

Actually

he strut

with

the

curveof

the

seat above forms

the circle

of the

sundisk,

and

desig-

nates

the

priest-king

as

representative

f

the

Lord

of

the

sky.

At

Mari

the throne

of

the

king

was

framed

by

the

streams

of

living

water

which

descend

from

the

sky

in

wavy

lines

of fish-filled

rivers

(pl.

xoo,

fig.

9).

It

is not

impossible

hat

the

wavy

line

of

the

throne-back

at

Cnossos

also

represented

he

frames

of

the

rainy

sky

descendingon either side of the king. At Cnossosthe

throne

faced

a

lustral

basin

(pl.

97,

fig.

I),

and

proba-

bly

the

religious

ceremony

was

concerned

with

the

life-giving

waters

of

heaven. The

fructifying

of

nature

requires

both

sky

and

earth,

the

male

and

female. It

would

be

strange, ndeed,

if

both

were not

represented

in the

Throne

Room.

Finally

the

symbol

of

the

male

god

as Lord

of

the

sky

should be

the

bull,

and

guard-

ian bulls

should

lank

he

throne

ust

as

the

griffins

lank

the entrance

o

the

sanctuary.

3

P

of

M

II

2,

fig.

450

opp.

722.

4P

of

M

II

2,

pl.

XII

opp. 707.

5

M.

H.

Swindler,

Ancient

Painting

(New

Haven

1929) 98.

6

K.

Mueller, Tiryns III (1930) text 209.

7

G. E.

Mylonas,

Ancient

Mycenae

(Princeton

1957)

34-

Hesperia

31

(1962)

302-303.

9

P. V. C.

Baur,

M. I.

Rostovtzeff,

A.

R.

Ballinger,

Excavations

at Dura-Europos,Prelimivary Report III (1932) pl. xiv.




4/9

418

AMERICAN

JOURNAL

OF

ARCHAEOLOGY

[AJA 67

The

representation

of

guardian

bulls

on either

side

of the throne

at Cnossos

might

have taken

many

forms;

that

of

the

bull-legged

men who

act as

guards

in

a

re-

lief

from

Carchemish,10

the

bull monsters

which

sup-

port

the

sun

disk

at Tell

Halaf or the

great

winged

human-headed

bulls of

Khorsabad.12

There

might

have

been just the bulls themselves or their heads. Another

possibility

has been

added

by

the

Mitannian

seal

stone

of the

fourteenth

century

which

represents

a

Minotaur

in

the

Greek

tradition,

with the

arms

and

legs

of

a

man

and

only

the

head

of

a

bull

(pl.

ioo,

fig.

io).

The

mon-

ster

has the

long

curving

horns of the

Cretan

bull

but

is

clothed

in

the

tight-fitting Assyrian jacket

and

turned-

up

Anatolian shoes.

It seems

worthwhile to

suggest

that

the

throne was

pictured

as

guarded

by

the

Bulls of

Mi-

nos

if not

by

the

Minotaur

in

person,

and that

the

inner

shrine

of

the

Goddess was

decorated

with

the double

axe

and

constituted

the

Labyrinth

(the

place

of

the

Double

Axe).

In

his

Palace

of

Minos

(IV

2

p. 91o)

Evans

recog-

nized,

quite

correctly

I

believe,

that

the

inner

room

was

a

sanctuary.

The

doorway

led

to an

inner

shrine

and

framed

the

sacred

images

on

the

altar

ledge.

In

his

frontispiece

(pl. 97,

fig.

i)

Evans

supplies

within

the

reconstructed

shrine

a

figurine

of

the

great goddess,

but remarks

(op.cit.

920):

The

images

of

the

God-

dess and

her

votaries,

the

Sacred

Horns

and

Double

Axes,

such

as

had once

been

placed

there,

had

disap-

peared.

Only

traces

of the

ancient

treasure

were

found

in

and

around

the Lustral Basin in

the

outer

room.

The

Throne

Room,

according

to

Evans,13

belonged

to the

very

latest

period

of

the

Palace.

The

room

had

an appearance of freshness and homogeneity which

made it

improbable

that

at

the

time of

the

great

over-

throw it

had

long

existed in

its

present

form.

Only

a

few

inches

beneath

the

herbage, parts

of

walls of

the

usual

construction

appeared

with

the

fresco

painting

still

adhering

to them

(pl.

99,

fig.

7).

The

pavement

itself

was

only

some

two

meters

beneath

the

surface

of

the

ground.

Evans

dated the

destruction

of

the

Palace

to

the

end of

the

Late

Minoan II

period

(circa

1400

B.c.),

but

even

before the

discovery

of the

Pylos

tablets

there

had

been

some

doubt

of

the

time of

the

fire.

In

his

first

publication,'4

Evans

himself

pointed

to

a

large

num-

ber of glazed roundels found on the pavement of the

Throne

Room,

partly

scattered

but

for

the

most

part

in two

principal

groups.

He

compared

them

to

roun-

dels

found at

Tell-el-Yehudiyeh,

representing

the

style

of

Rameses III

at

the

beginning

of

the

thirteenth

cen-

tury.

On

the

same side

of

the

palace

court

(pl.

97, fig.

5)

and less

than

thirty

meters south

of

the

Throne

Room

lay

the

Linear B

tablets,

called

the

Chariot

Tablets.

The tablets

lay

on the

floor level

two meters

below

the surface

of the

ground,15

and

belonged

therefore

to the last

period

of the

palace.

One

of the tablets

(pl.

ioo,

fig.

i

i)

showed

not

only

the

Mycenaean

chariot

but also the mane

of the

horse

arranged

in the

fashion

shown

in the frescoes

of both

Mycenae

(pl.

Ioo,

fig.

12)

and Tiryns.16

The

decipherment

of the

Pylos

tablets

belonging

to

the thirteenth and

twelfth

centuries in

Greece has

provided

the

key

to the solution

of the Linear

B

tablets

in Crete.

One

may

leave

to the

linguist

the

exact

re-

lationship

in time

and

dialect,

but

it seems clear

even

to the

layman

that

the Greek

and Cretan

tablets

can-

not be too

far

apart

in time

and that

Greek

in

the

last

period

of the

Palace

was an

accepted,

if not

the

dominant

language

at

Cnossos.

This

corresponds

to the Homeric

account

which

recorded

a Cretan

contingent

under

Idomeneus

at

Troy.

In Homeric

genealogy

he

was the

grandson of

Minos, the great king of Cnossos. Herodotus

(7.171)

records

that Minos

belonged

to the third

generation

before

Troy.

Minos

in the Greek

tradition

was

as-

sociated

with

his brother

Rhadamanthus,

both

in

the

establishment

of

the laws

in Crete

and the

judgment

of the

dead

in the

underworld.

Herodotus

states

that

Minos

was lost

in

a

great

expedition

to

the West

and

that

thereupon

the

island

was

repopulated

largely

with Greeks.

In the

legend

the

prince

or heir

of

Mi-

nos,

Androgeus,

was killed

in

Greece,

and

Idomeneus,

son

of

Deucalion

and

grandson

of

Minos,

became

king

in the third

generation.

Deucalion

serves

only

as

con-

necting

link between

Minos

and Idomeneus.

He

is

identified

neither

as

king

of Crete

nor as

conqueror,

and the lack of distinction

suggests

a

significant

break

in the

royal

line

before

the

Trojan

war.

The

Pylos

tablets

have

shown

that the

palace

of

Nes-

tor

belonged

to the thirteenth

and twelfth

centuries,

and the

extraordinary

parallelism

in the

megaron

unit

at

Pylos

to the

megarons

of

Mycenae

and

Tiryns

con-

firms

the

hypothesis

that the

Mycenaean

palaces

of

the

Peloponnese,

at

least,

belonged

to the

thirteenth

century.

To this same

period,

that

is to

a date

cor-

responding

with that

of the Lion's

gate,

have

been

as-

signed

the

greatest

of the

tholos tombs

in

Greece,

the

so-called

Treasury

of Atreus

at

Mycenae

and

the

tomb

at

Orchomenos.

The

Treasury

of

Atreus

has

the

dromos of ashlar masonry and the relieving triangle

over the

doorway,

elements

which

parallel

the

details

of the Lion's

gate.

The

tomb

at

Orchomenos has

the

same

type

of

rock-cut side

chamber

as

the

Treasury

of

Atreus,

and

the same

general

proportions.

To

these

tholos

tombs

of the

thirteenth

century

may

now

be

added

the

great

tomb of

Pylos,

dated at

least

approxi-

mately by

the tablets

of

the

palace.

The

great

tholos

tomb

near

Sparta

where

the

famous

10B.

M.

Carchemish

I

(1914)

pl.

B

I4b.

11

F.

von

Oppenheim,

Der

Tell

Halaf

(Leipzig

1931)

pls.

8b

and

37a.

12

S.

Lloyd,

Art

of

the

Ancient

Near

East

(New

York

1961)

fig.

156.

13

BSA 6

(1899-1900)

36, 38,

42.

14ibid.

41-42.

15 ibid.

29.

16

M. H.

Swindler,

Ancient

Painting

(New

Haven

1929)

fig.

176.




5/9

1963]

ARCHAEOLOGICAL

NOTES

419

golden

Vapheio

cups

were

discovered,

has

usually

been

dated in

the Late

Minoan

I

period.

In one

of the

linear

B

tablets

from

Cnossos, however,

the

typical

form

of

the

Vapheio

cup

is

clearly

portrayed

along

with

the

rhytons

in

the

shape

of bull's heads.17 It is difficult

in-

deed,

in

view

of

the

late date of

comparable

tombs

and

the evidence of the Pylos tablets, not to place both

the

cups

and

the

Vapheio

tomb

in the thirteenth

cen-

tury.

Evans

remarks s

that

examples

of

the fine

Palace

Style

which

characterized

the

Late

Minoan II

period

at Cnossos

were

exported

far

beyond

the

limits

of

Crete and have been

found in

contemporary

tombs

at

Mycenae,

in

the

Vapheio

tomb near

Sparta,

and

even

as far afield

as the

coast of

Canaan.

A vase of

this

same

Palace

Style

was

recovered,

also,

from the

tomb at

Pylos.19

Outstanding

characteristics

of the

final

period

of

the

Palace

at

Cnossos were

the

Palace

Style

in

pot-

tery

and

the more

formal

stylized

figures

in

the Throne

Room frescoes. If much

of this Late Minoan II material

at

Cnossos

may

be

relegated

to

the

thirteenth

rather

than

to

the

fifteenth

century,

the

Late Minoan

I

period

may

have

continued as

elsewhere in

Crete

until

1400

B.c. and

the

Late Minoan

II

may

have

begun

only

after

1400.

As

far as

the

literary

evidence

is

concerned,

the

Athenian

legends

of

Theseus

and the

Minotaur

make

it

clear

that Minos

was

a

native

Cretan

monarch,

close-

ly

associated

with

a bull

monster or

a

bull

cult,

and

that

the

triumph

of

Theseus

belonged

to the

period

shortly

before the

war

at

Troy.

The Minotaur

was

regarded

with

horror

by

the

Greeks and

the

story

relates

the

escape

of

Theseus

and his

fellow

prisoners

from Crete and its monster. Since Crete, in the

legends

at

least,

never

again

asserted

its

sovereignty

over

Athens,

the

account

must

belong

to

the close

of

the

Cretan

supremacy.

Theseus,

on

the

other

hand,

not

only

married

Phaedra,

sister

of

Ariadne

and

daughter

of

Minos,

but was

involved with

Pirithoos

in

kidnap-

ping

the

child

Helen.

In

his

old

age

he

became

the

guest

of,

and was later

murdered

by Lycomedes

of

Scyros,

the

same

monarch

who

entertained

Achilles

at

the time of

his

recruitment

for

Troy.

Odysseus'

claim

that

he

was

the

grandson

of

Minos,

king

of

Cnossos

(Od.

i9.i77ff)

was

fabricated,

of

course,

but

the

fabrication

must

have

been

based

on

the

as-

sumption that Minos had been well-known as king at

Cnossos

and

that he

lived in

the

second

generation

before

Odysseus.

Theseus

may

be

rather

a

slippery

in-

dividual

in

the

legends

of

Athens;

and

the

period

be-

fore

the

Trojan

war

was

necessarily

vague

to

later

generations,

but

the

story

of

Theseus'

triumph

over

the

Minotaur

shines

very

brightly

and

clearly

in

Athenian

tradition,

and to

the

Athenian,

at

least,

it

belonged

to the

second

generation

before

Troy.

This

does

not resolve

the

problems

whether

bulls

or

griffins

flanked

the throne

of

Minos,

and

whether

the

griffins

of the west

wall

were

winged

or not.

It

is

sufficient

for the moment

to raise

these

questions

and

to

point

the

way

for more

extensive

research.

The

paintings

of the Throne

Room

pose

a more

serious

question, since they clearly belong to an era before the

Greeks established

their

sovereignty

over

the

island,

and

yet

should

not be dated

long

before the war

at

Troy.

There

was

obviously

a

change

of

dynasty

in

the

pre-Trojan period,

apparently

not

long

before

the

war

began.

There

is

nothing

in the

Greek

tradition,

however, which

suggests

a

violent overthrow

of

Cretan

power.

The

conquest

may,

therefore,

have been

peace-

ful

alliance

and

a

diplomatic

marriage.

Such

a

change

should

mark

the

line

between

Late

Minoan

II

and

the

Late

Minoan

III

period

and

might

be

placed

about

1250

B.C.

The

Greek

leader in

Crete

would

have

been

the

father of Idomeneus, Deucalion, who was the heir but

not

the son of Minos.

Herodotus

(7.17i)

records

that

after

the return

of Idomeneus

from

Troy,

Crete

was

ravaged

by

famine

and

pestilence

and

was once

more

repopulated

from Greece.

Behind

this account

may

lie

the

story

of

the Dorian

invasion,

since

the

Cretans

of the historical

period

spoke

the Dorian

dialect.

The

signs

of violent

overthrow

at

Cnossos

observed

by

Pendlebury20

would

then

belong

to the Dorian

con-

quest,

a

conquest

facilitated

by

the

weakness

of

Crete

as

Herodotus

has

suggested.

In

a

recent

article21

I

suggested

that the

invasions

of

Egypt by

sea,

beginning

in the middle

of

the

thirteenth

century, marked the end of the Cretan maritime pow-

er. The

painting

of the Throne

Room

at

Cnossos

would,

therefore,

have

belonged

to the final

stage

of

the Cretan

Empire,

as Crete faced

the

growing

threat

from

new navies

to the East.

The Philistines

who

seized

the coastal

regions

of Palestine

about 1200

were

not

Mycenaean

Greeks,

as the names

of their

leaders

and

their

sites

show,

nor were

they

Cretans.

They

brought

to Palestine

the

Mycenaean

culture,

however,

and

they

were

powerful

enough

to attack

Egypt

twice,

and

for

a

short

period

at least to dominate

the eastern

Mediter-

ranean.

Isolated

between

the eastern

maritime

pow-

ers in

Syria

and southern

Asia

Minor

on one

side,

and

the growing naval strength of Mycenae exhibited in

the later

attack

against

Troy

on

the

other,

the

kings

of

Crete

may

well

have decided

that an

alliance

with

Greece

promised

the

best

security

and so

have

ac-

cepted

Mycenaean

princes

and

Mycenaean

culture

rather

than

face

alone the

hostile

armadas.

CLARK

HOPKINS

UNIVERSITY

OF

MICHIGAN

17

Sir

Arthur

Evans,

Scripta

Minoa

I

(1909)

fig.

58;

P

of

M

II,

fig.

33b,

p.

533.

18

Sir

Arthur

Evans,

Scripta

Minoa

I,

51.

191LN

(June

3,

1939)

979; AJA

58

(1954) 32.

20

J.

D.

S.

Pendlebury,

The

Archaeology of

Crete

(London

1939)

231.

21

Arizona

Quarterly (Summer

1962)

123ff.




6/9

HOPKINS

PLATE

97

FIG.

I.

The Throne

Room

restored.

P

of

M IV 2

(1935)

frontispiece

PAVED

AREA

4---

rn

co

-

-

I

CORRIDOR

f

Paunocts

-BULL

XO-

L

OO

THT

o

n

MilL

ALI.-

.0v

URI

LV

*-

L

S

4~r~

CORRIDORFTHE

5TONEA

L0

A

ER

rwO

nt

F

HE

.mrD

o

LIMYAbt1

WISTPILLAR.

I

0 0

OfWI

hn

000

t-1-/////~1

l

LA14P

00 T~l

rrao1

H

or HE

Rrb

'o

TANK

HROME

Mae

ROOMr

Y

~COLUMN

W

EnT

OOM

P

VF-n

21CA

•

•T?

FIG.

5.

Plan of Throne Room

complex,

north to

right.

After

Evans,

BSA

6

(1899-1900)

pl.

xiii




7/9

PLATE

98

HOPKINS

FIG.

3.

Ivory griffin

from

Megiddo.

G.

Loud,

The

Megiddo

Ivories,

U.

of

Chicago

LII

(i939)

pl.

9,

fig.

32a

FIG.

4.

Winged

sphinx

(headless)

from

Megiddo,

ibid.

pl.

ia

FIG.

6.

Frescoes

from

Tiryns

(a,

left)

and Thebes

(b).

G.

Glotz,

La

civilization

ge'gnne

(Paris

1923)

figs.

iI

and 12




8/9

HOPKINS

PLATE

99

j ~ 0 0

4 7 ~ ~ i ~ ~ a

0

(S

cit

'

Ki

eI

m

FIG.

2.

Shading

on

body

of

griffin,

Throne

Room.

P

of

M

IV

2,

fig. 884,

p. 911

FIG.

8.

Throne and

fresco as

excavated.

P

of

M

IV

2,

fig. 889,

p. 915

FIG.

7.

Throne

Room as excavated.

BSA

6

(1899-1900)

fig.

8,

p.

37




9/9

PLATE

I00 HOPKINS

FIG.

IO.

Mitannian eal

with minotaur.

S.

Lloyd,

The

Art

of

the

Near

East

(New

York

i96i)

146

FIG.

II.

Chariot

tablet. P

of

M IV

2,

fig.

763a

FIG.

9. Mari.

Ishtar

with

lion

in

investment

of

king.

A.

Parrot,

Mission

archdeologique

e

Mari

II.

Le palais(Paris

1958)

pl. xi

Fio.

12.

Mycenae,

rescoof horse.

G.

Rodenwaldt,

Der Fries

des

Megarons

von

Mykenai

(Halle

1921)

Beilage

I,

2-3

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Documents

A Review of the Throne Room at Cnossos