Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/350

Glyptic Art, 297 the small-armed idol ; according to their version, it is intended for Zeus, armed with the aegis and the thunderbolt. The seated deity is Mother Earth, surrounded by her nymphs and the trees she produces, whilst the animals' masks would stand for river-gods.' In face of our scant knowledge relating to the beliefs which swayed the minds of the men of that period, we dare not pro- nounce between these contending theories and give a name to the deity that plays here the principal part. But the number and variety of the symbols grouped about the intaglio permit us to draw the following conclusion. The Mycenian mythology of those days was more advanced and developed than might have been supposed, had our information rested solely on the barbarous clay idols collected in these graves. Engraved figures and symbols, like those of the first intaglio. Fin, 420.— Beiel of gold ring. re-appear on the signet of a second ring : they number four heads of animals, and three unmistakable heads of oxen, with long, curved horns (Fig. 420). Again, the signet of another gold ring which M. Tsoundas brought out of a bee-hive grave Jn the lower city two years ago shows us a worship scene. But the honours, instead of being addressed to a god, are rendered to an altar, towards which three women, wearing the inevitable flounced skirt, are moving in slow, pro- cessional steps. One hand is raised ; in the other, which is lowered to the ground, are held flowers. Behind them a tree (Fig. 421, 23).^ On a ring of unknown origin, but whose technique is the same as that of the foregoing intaglios (Fig. 422), the altar and seated deity are figured together. As in the Mycenae rings, here too the main axis of the bezel is parallel to the finger. The costume of the goddess is that which has so often been described. She is sitting before an • Tsoundas, MvKiivat. ^ Ibid.