Here is the evidence of a cult in
which a Dove Goddess--a Goddess of the Air--was worshipped under
the form of a trinity of pillars; and confirmation of the existence
of such a form of belief was afforded by the discovery, in the
south-east corner of the palace, of a little shrine, in which,
along with the usual 'horns of consecration' and sacred Double
Axes, were found three figures of a goddess, of very archaic form,
on the head of one of which there was also perched a dove. The Double
Axes in the shrine again emphasized the importance in the palace
worship of the Labrys, and underlined the suggestion that the Palace
of Knossos is nothing more nor less than the legendary Labyrinth of
Minos. 'That the _Labrys_ symbol should be the distinguishing cult
sign of the Minoan Palace makes it more and more probable that
we must in fact recognize in this vast building, with its maze of
corridors and chambers and its network of subterranean ducts, the
local habitation and name of the traditional Labyrinth.'[*]
[Footnote *: A. J. Evans, _Annual of the British School at Athens_,
vol. viii., p. 103.]
The season of 1903 was marked by two important discoveries within
the palace area. Of these we may first consider the so-called Theatral
Area. (Plates XXI. and XXII.). Such an area had been found at Phaestos
by the Italian explorers, and it was natural to expect that something
corresponding to it would not be lacking at Knossos.
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