... The bull-Dionysos of Thrace, when he came to Crete,
found a monstrous god, own cousin to himself.... Of the ritual of
the bull-god in Crete, we know that it consisted in part of the
tearing and eating of a bull, and behind is the dreadful suspicion
of human sacrifice.' The actual evidence found on Minoan sites for
the existence of such a bull-headed divinity is somewhat slight, the
clearest instance being a seal-impression from Knossos, representing
a monster who bears an animal head, possibly a bull's, upon a human
body, and who is evidently regarded as divine, since he is seated
and reverently approached by a human worshipper; but, taken in
connection with the universal currency of the Minotaur legend,
it is probably sufficient. What relation this monstrous divinity
held to the other objects of Minoan worship is not apparent.
[Footnote *: _Annual of the British School at Athens_, xiv., p.
366. The suggestion is also made by Mosso, 'The Palaces of Crete,'
pp. 64-66.]
[Footnote **: 'Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion,' pp.
482, 483.]
It may be, then, that this deity was the one of whom the King was
supposed to be the representative and incarnation, and in that
case the bull-grappling, which was so constant a feature of the
palace sports, had a deeper significance, and was in reality part of
the ceremonial associated with the worship of the Cretan bull-god.
Pages:
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280