Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/121

 92 Primitive Greece: Mvcenian Art. heads ; but the fragmentary and poor state in which they are found supply us with no sure indication wherefrom to define the religious conception of which they are the embodiment, save that they seem to belong to the religious stage which is some- times termed "polydemonism." The same uncertainties beset us when we turn to the archi- tectonic remains. Figured on five very similar golden plates that have come from two Mycenian pit-graves, is the facade of a building which has been identified with that of a temple (Fig. III). Doves are perched at the corners; that is to say, in precisely the same situation as they appear on a coin from Paphos, which shows the elevation of the famous temple of the Cypriote Aphrodite.' So too, in this same series of gold orna- ments, doves hover above a nude figure, and flutter about her ; her hands are pressed to her breasts (Figs. 289, 290), a gesture often pointed out and figured by us from numberless terra-cotta statuettes belonging to Chalda;a, Susiana, Phoenicia, and Cyprus." It also characterizes a unique lead idol discovered at Troy (Fig. 291). The attitude suggests the goddess of nature and fecundity, whom the nations of Anterior Asia worshipped under many names, Zarpanit, Mylitta, Nana, or Ashtoreth, according to localities. The Syrian origin of both temple and idol is further emphasized by the part played by the doves. These birds were selected by the Hellenes as appropriate victims to be ofifered on ' History of Art. - Ibid.