Source: East and West, Vol. 28, No. 1/4 (December 1978), pp. 263-282 Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29756463 . Accessed: 25/07/2013 08:25 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO) is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to East and West. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Notes on Two Ancient Fertility Symbols by Balaji Mundkur The importance of human fertility cults, ranging from those of the civilized cultures of antiquity to the most primitive of existing societies, is amply illustrated by myths, rituals and taboos which have been recorded world-wide. In the agrarian communities of the neolithic and chalcolithic periods, anxieties about female fecundity must have been severe and no doubt were sharpened by individual or communal needs for sufficient offspring to overcome high infant mortality and the toll taken by disease. This concern is evident in countless archaeological relics which carry symbols connected with the propitiatory rites of fertility cults. The artistic expressions of these were diverse, but commonly focussed upon a "mother goddess" who presided over, and granted the boon of, fertility to her devotees. This power was symbolized by her images, in which her genitals and breasts were exhibited promi? nently, or invitingly portrayed. She was frequently imagined as pregnant, or as suckling an infant, and her idols were often steatopygous. Such representations are well-known and need no further discussion. In several ancient cultures, the symbolic abstraction of the mother-goddess and her maternity-granting potential was a triangle whose apex pointed downward, and which was reminiscent of the pubic region of her idols. This motif ? the pubic, or sexual, triangle ? was variously depicted: it was unadorned or filled with decorative detail, or a simple bisecting line or depression indicated the vulva. Frequently, the pubic triangle was anatomically inappropriately located or so casually represented that its apex pointed upward, but without at all impairing its powerful sym? bolism. An incised phalanx of a horse, found in the Danubian region of Rumania and radiocarbon dated to the epipaleolithic period, about 8,759 years ago C) is an example (fig. la, b, c). It is shaped like a headless, limbless, human body. The inverted pubic triangle, at the lower extremity, is shown by stacked chevrons. Adjoining it is a diamond shaped pattern which depicts the navel; clever use seems to have been made of the condyles of the bone to suggest the breasts. The nine horizontal strokes on the upper (*) This work is part of a project supported by the University of Connecticut Research Foun? dation. I am grateful to Dr William W. Hallo of the Babylonian Collection, Yale University, for permitting me to photograph the shrine shown in fig. 5 and for drawing my attention to the article by Heimpel. (*) V. Boroneant, ? Noi date despre cele mai vechi manifestari de arta plastica pe teritoriul Romanei?, Studii ?i Cefcet?ri de Istoria Artet, Ser. Plastica, 19, 1972, pp. 109-16. 263 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions back may have had magical significance or may represent hair. Other bones found near it bore incised meanders, zigzags and triangles. Fig. 2 a, b, shows ochre-painted human bones, of the "advanced eneolithic" period, from Southern Spain. The inverted triangle on one of them is recognizable as pubic only because a stylized face with eyes is depicted above it and because it is correctly oriented on other specimens. Zigzags sometimes replace the triangle. Another remarkable bone, also from the neolithic period, found in north? eastern Italy, near Trento, is seen in fig. 3 a, b (2). Suggestions of maternity are conveyed by a human figure, perhaps of an infant, incised on it. Below the figure are three zigzag lines whose meaning is conjectural. Pointing towards the inverted pubic triangle at the base of the bone is what appears to be a symbolic representation of a phallus and tes? ticles. Whether at this early stage in man's social evolution, a biological connection was seen between copulation and eventual childbirth is moot and, in any case, irrelevant for our purpose. Yet another ancient example of the pubic triangle are the small natural clefts or depressions occurring in rock formations in northwestern Libya (3). Engravings of female figures in exhibitionist, "erotic" postures incorporate these natural shapes as vulvar representations. The purpose of all these objects was in all probability cultic. Clearly, the pubic triangle has had a long history paralleling the development of mo? ther-goddess figurines. However, on artifacts of the neolithic and subsequent periods from the particular regions discussed here, the use of triangles as isolated motifs is so frequent and seemingly so decorative, that their value as expressions of cultic fervour may be questioned. The danger is that even triangles whose pubic connotations are indubitable are apt to pass unrecognized or at least, to be neglected. This is particularly true in the great majority of archaeological studies of painted or engraved ceramics, or of glyptic objects, such as seals and amulets, where the analytic emphases generally lie in directions other than the interpretation of symbols. Even less stressed is an ancillary motif which often occurs alongside of the triangle in so stylized and "disintegrated" a manner as to obscure its equally long history as a decor? ative device of symbolic value. This is the representation of the serpent; and its origins are rooted in the primitive religions of the neolithic period. For, the belief that the serpent is the harbinger of human fertility was held almost universally, as it is among innumerable societies even today (4). Veneration of the living reptile, or of an image of a fully therio morphic or anthropomorphic deity with ophidian attributes, derives from human attitudes of great antiquity. This requires separate and detailed consideration in anthropological, archaeological, psychological and mythological terms. Thus the association of the serpent with the pubic triangle was a joining of two sacred elements, and it must have seemed a (2) B. Bagolini, ? Scoperte di arte neolitica al riparo Gaban (Trento). 1. Figurina femminile e manico decorato in osso dai livelli della cultura dei vasi a bocca quadrata ?, Bollettino del Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, 10, 1973, pp. 59-78. (3) P. Graziosi, ?Le incisioni rupestri del FUdei El Chel in Tripolitania ?, Libya Antiqua, 5, 1968, pp. 9-36, pis. 10, 28, 29. (4) J. Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, 13 vols., Edinburgh, 1952-56. 264 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions logical one for primitive mankind in certain areas of the world. This aspect of the evolution of early religious beliefs can be illustrated by archaeological examples so as to facilitate the derivation of imagery which, at first, might seem merely decorative. I must at the outset state my view regarding the symbolic depiction of serpents. Zigzags and sinuous lines, with or without a terminal arrowhead or dilatations signifying the serpent's head, stacked chevrons and scale-patterns are the commonest substitutes for naturalistic depictions of the animal, though chevrons are sometimes used in place of a pubic triangle. This is specifically justified by examples given below, but it holds true even in innumerable cases where the pubic triangle is not involved. Zigzags and undulat? ing lines have sometimes been equated with lightning or water; and chevrons, with or without a central connecting line, have been regarded as symbols for vegetation. This may be so in particular cases; and there is always the need for cautious separation of those situations where similar designs may be purely decorative. Yet there is compelling evidence from the regions where ophiolatry was an established cult that these symbols primarily identify the serpent in certain objects included among grave-goods and devotio? nal offerings. Thus, a naturalistic effigy of a coiled serpent of the neolithic period from Pristina, Southern Yugoslavia, is engraved dorsally with a prominent zigzag which follows the coils from head to tail-tip (5). Archaic seals from Susa bear serpent and scorpion figures, identically arranged except that both are natural-looking in some but stylized in others, the serpents being represented by zigzags (6). Effigies in clay of bulls, from Bronze Age Cyprus, where both the serpent and the bull were cult animals, sometimes bear a natu? ralistic serpent in applique winding over the bull's foreleg and the side of the neck. It is more often duplicated as an incised or painted zigzag or sinuosity (7). Chevrons, scale patterns, undulations and zigzags, all clearly intended to signify serpents, are legion on the funerary pottery of neolithic and Minoan Crete and of classical Greece (8), where these animals were connected with the regeneration of the dead Our examples will be taken primarily from Western Asia, and from the Hellenic world of the Eastern Mediterranean. In certain regions where ophiolatry and fertility cults were important, as in Central America and India, the joint symbolism of serpent and pubic triangle is absent. This is remarkable in the case of India, where traditions of yoni- or vagina-worship and of ophidian fertility goddesses are strong; remarkable also because (5) J. Pavuk, ? Grab des 2eliezovce-Typus in Dvory nad Zitavou ?, Slovensk? Archeologia, 12, 1964, (pp. 5-68), pp. 13 f. (6) G. Jequier, Cachet et cylindres archdiques, (Memoires de la Delegation en Verse, VIII), Pa? ris, 1905, p. 25, figs. 56, 68. (7) E. Gjerstad, ?Supplementary Notes on Finds from Ajia Irini in Cyprus ?, Medelhavsmu seet Bull, 3, 1963, pp. 3-40, figs. 2a, 4; V. Karageorghis, ?A Deposit of Archaic Terracotta Figures from Patriki, Cyprus ?, Report, Dep. of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1971, pp. 27-36. (8) W. M?ller, F. Oelman, Tiryns, I., (Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut), Athen, 1912; C. Zervos, L'art de la Crete neolithique et Minoenne, Paris, 1956, pi. 56. (9) J. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 3rd ed., Cambridge, 1932, pp. 328 ff. 265 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions India's cultural links with Elam and Mesopotamia, where the joint symbolism is outstand? ing, go back at least to the Sargonid period, c. 2370-2284 B.C. I will show by means of a selected series of early archaeological relics the artistic range of this dual symbolism, leading from the most obvious to the highly stylized. This assemblage demonstrates cer? tain underlying regularities of pattern over a far-flung area of the ancient world. How much these regularities derive from independent expressions of basic human attitudes about pro? creation, and how much from protohistoric diffusion from a central area or areas of an thropogenesis, it is difficult to say. I shall comment briefly in terms of migration patterns in the concluding section. I. The Near East Among the earliest Mesopotamian examples of the association of the serpent with child-birth are the nude, terracotta figurines (fig. 4) from al-Ubaid, c. 4200 B.C., excavated by Woolley (10). Their svelte bodies, reptilian visages and the circumstances of their dis? covery leave no doubt that they were intentionally fashioned to represent an ophidian deity, and had votive or magical significance. Their precise identity is not known, but Lang don C1) provided strong evidence of the ophidian nature of several deities in the Sumerian and Assyrio-Babylonian pantheon. The pubic triangle of the al-Ubaid idols is prominent and shown by four or five chevrons. It is of interest that pottery accompanying them bore simple, bold rows of four chevrons, or a prominent triangle, or a single, narrow, hatched parallelogram which may have symbolized the serpent. The object in fig. 5 is Babylonian, and is dated to c. 2700 B.C. (12). It is of baked clay and measures 35 x 15 x 7 cm. A pair of hand-moulded, entwined serpents, a well known Mesopotamian symbol of fertility, is affixed all around the outer sides except in the rear. Inside, three undulating serpents in applique are aligned in parallel, their heads resting on inclined planes set before a stepped chair, or throne, whose back is now dam? aged. This object was probably meant to represent a private shrine; its exact significance is not clear but it is likely that it is a portable votive offering of the kind commonly placed in temples before the principal deity. In this case, the personage imagined as seated on the throne, or whose effigy may once have occupied it, could have been the Sumerian Innana, or Ishtar, her Semitic equivalent. As the goddess of love and fertility, her primeval, ophidian aspect is evident in a number of ways in liturgical and oracular texts translated by Langdon from cuneiform tablets. It is explicit in her title usumgal (Akkadian for cgreat serpent5); and Sumerian hymns which invoke a specific "wombsnake" {mus-satur) are (10) Sir L. Woolley, Ur Excavations, IV. The Early Periods, Philadelphia, 1955. (u) S. H. Langdon, Tammuz and Ishtar, Oxford, 1914. (12) E. D. van Buren, ?Gay Figurines of Babylonia and Assyria?, Yale Oriental Series, Researches, 16, (Yale Babylonian Collection, No. 2240), 1930, p. 248 266 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions listed by Heimpel (13). Thus the three appliqued serpents before the stepped throne pro? bably represent the numinous attributes of the goddess. That miniature shrines of this kind were the appurtenances of a fertility cult is evident from the simple, yet powerfully suggestive votive thrones or chairs found at Lagash, in Babylonia (figs. 6, 7). These are datable to the third dynasty of Ur (I4). The front legs of one of these also serve as the deity's legs. In the other, the artist, by masterly place? ment of the hands, has utilized the pregnant belly and the entire pubic triangle as if to represent the head and torso, respectively. In both these cases, the ophidian character of the goddess is stressed by zigzags incised within the triangles. These symbols were anti? cipated even in pre-Sargonid times on a sherd from Lagash (fig. 8) painted with paired sinuous lines to outline the pubes, which is recognizable as such only because the vulva also is painted on it. That zigzags and sinuous lines were not merely decorative, but meant to recall the fertility goddess's primeval ophidian nature, is proven by numerous images of Ishtar, and of her Canaanite and pre-Israelite counterparts, Astarte or Ashera, and Ashtoreth, respec? tively. In these, the goddess is portrayed naked and offering her breasts. Serpents en? graved on her body, usually one on each leg and thigh, creep toward her pubes. Such idols occur early in the 3rd millennium, for example at the important temple of Ishtar at Ashur, in Assyria (15). These images were crudely fashioned in clay, and are eloquent expressions of the devotee's desire to be fertile. In some of them, lines re? presenting a serpent actually touch the pubic triangle (fig. 9). In addition to votive chairs like those from Lagash, pottery found in this temple often bore chevrons incised within bisected triangles. At Nahariyeh, now on Israel's northern coast, Ben-Dor (16) excavated a remarkable silver idol of Astarte measuring only about 50 mm. in height, from below the lowest floor of a Canaanite temple dedicated to this deity (fig. 10). This location clearly suggests her chthonic, ophidian character, which is further emphasized by the lithe body and the form of the head. In addition, upon careful inspection one can notice a gently wavy ridge over each leg and knee ? emblematic serpents creeping toward the genitals. There are several other idols (17) in which the association of serpent and pubes is very pronounced. In still others, the deity assumed serpent form fully. One of these specimens even has human breasts and a cup beneath to catch their milk (18). All of these examples prepare us for the recognition of pudenda as symbolized by (13) W. Heimpel, ? Tierbilder in der Sumeri? schen Literatur ?, Studia Pohl, 2, 1968: cf. hymns nos. 87 ff. (14) H. de Genouillac, Fouilles de Telloh, II, Paris, 1936. (15) W. Andrae, Die archaischen Ischtar-Tem pel, Leipzig, 1922, pp. 36-38, fig. 5. (16) I. Ben-Dor, in QDAP, 14, 1950, (pp. 1-41), p. 26, pi. XII 5. (n) W. F. Albright, ? The Second Campaign at Tell Beit Mirsim (Kiriath-Sepher) ?, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 8, 1928, pp. 1-11; E. Grant, ?Beth Shemesh, 1928?, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 10, 1929, pp. 1-15; C. F. A. Schaeffer, Ugaritica, II. Mission de Ras Shamra, vol. 5, Paris, 1949, fig. 10. (18) A. Rowe, The Four Canaanite Temples of Beth Shan, Part 1, Philadelphia, 1940, pi. 42A, 2, 5, pi. XLIV A, 4. 267 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions triangles, and of serpents as zigzags, chevrons and wavy lines in works of art which evoke the goddess of fertility only in subtle ways. A few illustrations will suffice to call atten? tion to the range of specimens in which the symbolism becomes progressively less obvious. It was customary for devotees at the temple of Ishtar at Ashur, mentioned above, to place before her main image offerings in the form of small terracotta altars in the shape of houses (fig. 11). Most were in two stages, with rectangular doors and triangular windows. They were normally empty, yet pregnant with meaning. Each represented the house of Ishtar, or rather, her brothel, since in her capacity as universal lover and pro? genitor she was the archetypal harlot. In Assyria and Babylonia she was called Kilili, and the epithets Kilili Musirtu, cKilili who leans [peeps] out*5 and Kilili sa ap?ti, cKilili of the windows5 aptly call attention to the characteristic stations used by her profession for enticing men passing by and filling them with lust. Thus the triangular windows are hardly coincidental; and the appliqued serpents winding about them, as also Ishtar's other emblem signifying love ? tiny doves affixed to the eaves ? complete the symbolism. Such a terracotta house is also known from Palestine (Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem, Acc. no. P. 1804) but its windows are not triangular. It is thought by some to be an "incense burner". However, a figurine of a woman is seated in one of its window, her thighs spread out to exhibit her genitals. There is a serpent in attendance, and remnants of the forefeet of a goat and the head of a lioness in relief ? Astarte's other emblems ? enhance the homology with KililFs house. Garstang (19) describing his extensive, carefully catalogued finds at Jericho, stated that ? the snake is the only cult emblem appearing among Middle Bronze Age [c. 1700 B.C.] deposits ?. This assertion is a commentary on how even an experienced and perceptive archaeologist is liable to overlook the emblematic triangle occurring on the same objects. For, by the Middle Bronze Age this motif had become so common on painted pottery that it is easy to see how it might strike one as only an embellishment, especially when it oc? curs in clusters or is inverted. History attests that the cult of Astarte or Ashtaroth was still firmly entrenched in Palestine. Both of her fertility symbols appear in profusion on the pottery from the palace store-rooms at Jericho (figs. 12, 13, 14). Naturalistic models of serpents occur on jugs and their handles during the Early and Middle Bronze Ages; but, according to Garstang, by the Late Bronze Age, c. 1500 B.C., these serpent effigies gave way ? in the course of time [to] a wavy line between two straight lines which presumably represents its hole or cage ?. Epstein (20), describing Palestinian pottery of the 16th century B.C., does not discuss symbolism yet goes so far as to regard as unlikely that even wavy lines were originally intended to represent any specific object. But this is an extreme view and it is disproved by innumerable works of art about a millennium older, for example by the sherd in fig. 8 and the terracotta thrones and shrine in figs. 5, 6 (19) J. Garstang, ? Jericho: City and Necrop? olis ?, Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, XXI, 1934, pp. 99-136. (20) C. Epstein, Palestinian Bichrome Ware, Leiden, 1966. 268 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions and 7. Droop (21) noted that the sinuous lines, chevrons and triangles of Bronze Age pottery from Jericho are anticipated earlier in the neolithic period. The high frequency of such stylized decorations on Palestinian ware can be appreciated in the documentation by Amiran (22). A simple, but symbolically forceful, painted, Canaanite jug of this kind found in the royal tombs of the First Dynasty of Egypt, c. 2900 B.C. (23) is shown in fig. 15. The cultural ties between Mesopotamia and the western Iranian regions of Luristan and Elam were as continuous and ancient as were Mesopotamia's links with her Semitic neighbours in Palestine and Syria. The western Iranians shared with the Mesopotamians certain features of early religious development, and these are reflected in the many simi? larities in works of art of the protohistoric and later periods. Mother-goddess figurines (24) were common, and cult-practices involving serpents were pronounced (25). I have submit? ted for publication elsewhere a discussion of specific historical and archaeological facets of the early religions of these contiguous regions. The glyptic art and painted pottery of Elam are a rich, varied source of geometric motifs and of animal representations, principally caprids, cervids, birds and serpents. Though these were on occasion treated naturalistically, the decorative patterns shown in figs. 16 to 20 speak for themselves. They are taken from the extensive description of the serpent motif in Elam by Toscanne (26) who, however, does not comment upon the symbolic implication of the triangle. Fig. 17 is an obvious variation of the pattern already encountered in Lagash and in Jericho. In fig. 19 three opposed pairs of serpents placed concentrically in "kissing" attitudes as a group come so close to suggesting the vagina that one might well suspect this was the artist's intent. That these decorative patterns and their countless variations were originally inspired by religion is clear from relics of appa? rently cultic significance. I shall cite two such. Fig. 21, taken from Mecquenem (2T), represents a small archaic button-seal ? en pierre tendre ?, possibly steatite, excavated at Tepe Cheshme Ali, just outside Tehran. A simi? lar one is also known from Susa (28). Deeply incised undulations and triangles mark its surface. The boss on the reverse side bears a hole from which a clay effigy of a ram was suspended. Fig. 22 shows an impression of one side of an archaic stamp seal, c. 4th (21) J. P. Droop, ?Jericho: City and Necro? polis, VIII. Pottery of the Chalcolithic and Neo? lithic Levels ?, Annals of Archaeology and Anthro? pology, XXII, 1935, pp. 169-73. (22) R. Amiran, Ancient Pottery of the Holy Land, Rutgers, New Jersey, 1970. (23) H. Bonnet, Ein fr?h geschichtlich es Gr?? berfeld bei Abusir, Leipzig, 1928. (24) Ph. Ackerman, ?Cult figurines?, in A. U. Pope, ed., A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, vol. I. (25) P. Amiet, Elam, Paris, 1966; W. Hinz, The Lost World of Elam, London, 1972; P. Toscanne, ?fitudes sur le serpent: figure et symbole dans l'antiquite filamite ?, Memoir es de la Delegation en Perse, s. 4, Paris, 1911, pp. 153-228. (26) Toscanne, loc. cit. (27) R. de Mecquenem, ?Notes sur la cera mique peinte archa'ique en Perse ?, Memoires de la Mission Archeologique de Perse, 20, Paris, 1928, pp. 99-132. (28) M. Pezard, ? Etudes sur les intailles Su siennes?, Memoires de la Delegation en Perse, 12, Paris, 1911, pi. 1, fig. 149. 269 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions millennium B.C., from Luristan, whose intimate and early cultural links with Susa, in Elam, are reflected in art. It portrays the fagade of a shrine, or house. Clearly, the zigzag and triangles above the portals are not only analogous to the design on the button seals, they also do not fail to recall the serpents and the triangular windows of Ishtar's (Kilili's) votive houses from a later epoch in Assyria. The reverse side of the Luristan stamp-seal bears a human figure with the head of a mountain-goat, or other caprid. This personage is quite commonly represented on seals (of a type also found at Tell Asmar in central Mesopotamia) accompanied by naturalistically depicted serpents (29) and is believed to be a primitive divinity comparable with divinities with caprine associations from a later epoch in Iran (30). However, as I have elaborated elsewhere (31), the primeval antecedents of this goat-headed deity may well have been totemic animals or fully theriomorphic caprid-deities of either sex; whether these were the precursors of the Sumerian Innana and her consort Dumuzi (the Assyrio-Babylonian Ishtar and Tammuz) cannot be proven. But it is highly pertinent that these Mesopotamian divinities were not only intimately involved in rites of fertility and regeneration but also possessed both ophidian and caprine aspects, as the liturgies translated by Langdon (32) and Jacobsen (33) clearly indicate. Fig. 23 shows a terracotta fertility bed viewed from above. It is from Susa, and dated to the 2nd millennium B.C. Other beds show a copulating couple. These objects, mea? suring no more than about fifteen centimetres by seven, are votive gifts importuning the fertility goddess for her favours. Whether the naked occupant of the bed is the goddess or the devotee is not clear. Her submissive posture and the engraved pubic triangle ad? vertise concupiscence plainly, but the zigzags incised on the bed need more thoughtful interpretation. They may at first be taken to represent woven rushes used as webbing; and this may be so. Yet, because symbols played so dominant a role in ancient beliefs, and considering the innumerable archaeological relics connected with the cult of fertility where zigzags have obvious connotations of the serpent, I am inclined to regard the present instance as no exception. Indeed, a stamp seal from Tepe Gawra, of the early Uruk period, c. 3400 B.C. (34) depicts a couple in sexual embrace on a small bed or couch under which a huge serpent is seen emerging. To conclude this section I have selected an intriguing example from northern Meso? potamia. An amulet or stamp-seal of c. 2900 B.C., from Tell Brak (35), bears on one face three rows of three inset triangles, probably intended to take inlay; the other face is en? graved with what appear to be representations of human footprints (a deity's?) which point (29) P. Amiet, ?Quelques aspects peu con nus de Fart iranien?, Revue du Louvre et des Musees de France, 4-5, 1973, pp. 215-24. (30) R. D. Barnett, ?Homme masque ou dieu-ibex? ?, Syria, XLIII, 1966, pp. 259-76; E. Porada, The Art of Ancient Iran, New York, 1965. (31) B. Mundkur, ?Bull versus Serpent: Glimpses of Three Ancient Civilizations ? (to be published). C32) Langdon, op. cit. (3S) T. Jacob sen, Toward the Image of Tarn muz (W. L. Moran, ed.), Cambridge, Mass., 1970. (34) A. J. Tobler, Excavations at Tepe Gawra, vol. 2, Philadelphia, 1950, pi. CLXIII 87. (35) M. E. L. Mallowan, ?Excavations at Brak and Chagar Bazar?, Iraq, IX, 1947, (pp. 1-259), p. 122, pi. XVIII a. 270 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions in opposite directions; coursing between these is the neatly engraved figure of a serpent. The meaning of these patterns is not clear, but they recall certain north African rupestral engravings to be discussed below which also include footprints and a serpent-like design. II. The Eastern Mediterranean The artistic treatment of the symbols of fertility in the relatively isolated maritime regions of the Mediterranean has complex origins and is distinct from that of the Near East. There are no religious texts comparable in age, clarity and abundance with those of Meso? potamia and its cultural dependencies to enable more than a superficial characterization of the earliest icons, or deities, of a developing pantheon. Nude figurines are not known in which an overt pubic triangle is linked with the serpent; and it is generally much harder to deduce the meaning of the symbols one encounters. These are problems whose answers depend finally on knowledge of the spread of the earliest primitive societies across the sea, their insular religious evolution, and the diffusion of their crafts once these societies differentiated to higher levels. Migrations, chronologies and culture sequences enter in a manner too complex for discussion in an article concerned primarily with the significance of certain symbols linking archaeology with a phase of man's social evolution. The reader should refer to detailed treatments of the archaeological background by Renfrew (36) and Brice (37) among others. Suffice it to state now that Anatolian, Syro-Cilician, and north African culture elements have variously been invoked in explaining the material products of the Aegean cultures. The cult of Kilili, or Ishtar the harlot, is believed by some to have spread westwards from Mesopotamia, via Syria and Phoenicia, to Cyprus. Here, as Aphrodite Parakyptousa or Aphrodite Porne, she personified fertility in her role of patroness of lewd love. However, one must remember that Phoenician penetration of Cyprus occurred not much earlier than 800 B.C. Proponents of the view that Aphrodite's presence in Cyprus ante? dates the Phoenicians' point to the many Anatolian rather than Semitic features of her cult. In any case, crude, votive, terracotta naked goddesses of the kind shown in fig. 24 are known in large numbers from Enkomi, eastern Cyprus (38). It is improbable that they are local versions of the Phoenician, Canaanite or Mesopotamian models, for they are dated to late Cypriot III, 1220-1100 B.C. Neither relief nor incised sinuosities re? presenting serpents occur on these Cypriot goddesses. Their pubic triangles are extraordi? narily large and are as a rule incised by chevrons or herringbones. These incised motifs are sometimes described as "pubic hairs", but there are strong (36) C. Renfrew, The Emergence of Civiliza? tion [The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium B.C.], London, 1972. (37) W. C. Brice, ?The Anthropological and Epigraphic Evidence for Culture Contact in the Early Aegean?, Acta, 2nd International Collo quium on Aegean Prehistory, Athens, 1972, p. 15-17. (38) A. Caubet, ? Terre cuites chypriotes ine dites ou peu connues de Tage du bronze au Louvre?, Report, Dept. of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1971, pp. 7-12. 271 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Fig. 1 - Incised phalanx of a horse. Danubian Epipalaeolithic, c. 8700 years B.P. Fig. 2 - Ochre-painted human bones, Late Eneolithic. Southern Spain. Fig. 3 - Incised human bone. Neolithic period, Northern Italy. 272 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Fig. 4 - Ophidian idol, suckling an infant. Sumerian, c. 4200 B.C. Terracotta. Fig. 5 - Votive shrine. Babylonian, c. 2700 B.C. Terracotta. Figs. 6, 7 - Votive thrones representing the seated goddess of fertility. Third Dynasty of Ur. Terracotta. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Fig. 8 - Painted sherd. Third Dynasty of Ur. Fig. 9 - Terracotta idol. Temple of Ishtar, Ashur, Assyria, c. 2800 B.C. Fig. 10 - Silver figurine of Ashtoreth. Nahariyeh, Israel. Middle Bronze Age. Fig. 11 - Votive house. Temple of Ishtar at Ashur, c. 2800 B.C. Figs. 12-14 - Painted pots. Palace store-rooms at Jericho, c. 1700 B.C. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Fig. 15 - Painted jug. Canaanite, c. 2900 B.C. Figs. 16-20 - Painted designs on Elamite pottery. Fig. 21 - Archaic button-seal. Northern Iran. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ^^^^^ ' Fig. 22 - Stamp seal. Luristan, Western Iran, c. 4th millennium B.C. Fig. 23 - Fertility bed. Susa, Elam, 2nd millen? nium B.C. Fig. 24 - Idol from Enkomi, Cyprus, c. 1200 B.C. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 26 ^^M^^^ ^^Wi^^ Fig. 25 - Neolithic stone bowl. Khirokithia, Cyprus, c. 5800-5250 B.C. Fig. 26 - Composite mortuary vessel. Vounous, Cyprus, mid-2nd millennium B.C. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Fig. 27 - Idol from Southern Anatolia, c. 5000 (?) B.C. Painted ceramic. Fig. 28 - Idol from Kos. Dodecanese. 8th cen? tury B.C. Painted ceramic. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Figs. 29-32 - Cretan terracotta images. Early Minoan or earlier. Fig. 33 - Small clay object with incised patterns. Neolithic Crete. Fig. 34 - Slip decoration on Amratian vase. Southern Egypt. Fig. 35 - Ship motifs incised on Cycladic "frying pans*'. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~"*^r^^^u^^<^^?S^?^H^^^^^^^^^^^^I n&iiuluLv^ Fig. 36 - Cycladic "frying pans". Terracotta. Fig. 37 - Stone stele from Souphli, Thessaly. Neolithic Greece. Fig. 38 - Statue-menhir. Mas Capelier, Southern France. Megalithic period. This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions evidences of a serpent cult in Cyprus and similar markings occur much earlier on pottery with definite neolithic characteristics (39). A jug of red polished ware from Vounous, like many others from this site, is decorated with serpents in relief flanked by incised herring? bones (40). In addition, pyxides of red polished clay are known (41) which I suspect were ritual containers for snakes, unlike the type of "snake house" described by Karageor ghis (42). These pyxides have lids with clear connotations of the fertility cult. One is decorated in relief with figures of a sleeping man and woman in embrace. Chevrons are incised on their necks and on the woman's forehead. A bird in the round is affixed at each corner of the "bed". In another pyxis (Cyprus Museum, No. VT 2/91) the lid bears a large central zigzag, at one end of which stands the figure of a man and at the other of a woman holding an infant. Still another lid is flanked by birds in the round. It is incised with two long rows of stacked chevrons, five parallel zigzag lines and dashed parallel lines. That the serpent, like the bull, figured very prominently in the fertility rites of pre? historic Cyprus is traceable at least to the Early Bronze Age, c. 2800 B.C. The use of chevrons on pottery continued up to about the 8th century B.C. But whether the origins of ophiolatry were indigenous or should be ascribed to migrations prior to the Early Bronze Age, perhaps from the Asian mainland, we do not know. Neither serpents nor bulls, caprids, cervids or other animals are naturalistically depicted on the Neolithic I (5250-4750 B.C.) pottery of Cyprus. Groups of wavy incisions occur quite frequently on the "combed ware" of Neolithic II (3500-3200 B.C.). It is difficult to establish their symbolic cor? respondence to serpents. The finds at Khirokitia, one of the neolithic sites illustrating the earliest stages of human activity in Cyprus, now dated to 5800-5250 B.C., include two mortuary objects of interest. Both are of stone. Judging from the craftsmanship bestowed on them, they appear to be cultic vessels. One is a tray (43) with five parallel zigzags engraved across its face. As we shall see later, there are several instances from the Mediterranean area where the number five seems to have a mystical value and is sometimes involved in relics which depict serpents. The other (fig. 25) is a square, spouted bowl with a cruciform pattern of raised points on the side and edges. However, its distinguishing decor comprises groups of five chevrons carved in relief on either side of a triangular spout. It is tempting to regard these as the joint symbols of our theme, but this should be resisted in the present case, which is exceptional, until more direct evidence is yielded by other early neolithic finds. (39) P. Dikaios, ?The Excavations at Vou nous-Bellapais in Cyprus, 1931-1932?, Archae ologia, 88, 1940, pp. 1-174, pi. XXXV a; E. Sj?qvist, ?Die Kultgeschichte eines Cyprischen Temenos?, Archiv f?r Religionswissenschaft, 30, 1932, pp. 308 ff. (40) E. Stewart, J. Stewart, Vounous 1937 38. Field Report on the Excavations Sponsored by the British School of Archaeology of Athens, Lund, 1950, pi. LUIa (41) Dikaios, loc. cit. (42) V. Karageorghis, ? A "Snake House" from Enkomi?, Report, Dep. of Antiquities, Cyprus, 1972, pp. 109-12. (43) P. Dikaios, Khirokitia [Final Report on the Excavations of a Neolithic Settlement in Cyprus, 1936-1946], Oxford, 1953, pL LXII 1. 273 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions For clearer suggestions of serpents linked with the mother-goddesses of Cyprus, we must turn to Vounous for its red polished pottery, which abounds in relief-figures of serpents, and to a special type of composite vessel found in the elaborate tholoi of Early Cypriot II and III (2500-2100 B.C.). In one such group-burial, bodies of twenty-five infants were located on successive floors in small holes covered with stone slabs. On an upper level, a clay head, perhaps a deity's, bore a serpent-design on its back. The composite vessels consist of four hemispherical bowls adhering by their edges, the front right bowl often having sinuosities, stacked chevrons or zigzag incisions. Rising vertically from the centre of the grouped bowls, and similarly ornamented, is a thin rec? tangular plaque of varied form. Some are simple with no appliqued reliefs, others have snake-like appliques or a miniature jug at the top. Almost all plaques have two, some? times three, prominent oval openings. In the specimen in fig. 26, the armless human figure with its long neck may or may not be ophidian in nature but, as if to denote childbirth, a pair of limbs in relief emerges from above the upper opening. Thus the latter probably represents the vagina, no more bizarre in its location than in the specimens shown in figs. 1-3. The lower opening defines the legs. In another composite vessel, there are diminutive arms holding an infant near the upper opening but the infant's body is separate from the limbs, which emerge from the opening exactly as in fig. 26. The idea of rebirth could not have been conveyed more plainly by these composite, mortuary vessels. If, as seems plausible, they bear witness to the primitive notion of the serpent's involvement in rebirth, vessels of this type must have served as feeders, with the openings and the plaques meant to be sanctuaries for the twisting reptile like the "snake-tubes" and perfor? ated vessels of Crete and Greece. Passing westwards from Cyprus we need pause only briefly just five kilometres off the southwest Anatolian coast at the island of Kos, which, like the nearby Rhodos, was a maritime waystation for the Achaean Greeks who colonized Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age. The circular alabaster idols with long necks and prominent pudenda, of the late 3rd millennium, from Kiiltepe in central Anatolia (44) are well-known. Yet in none of these can the connection between serpents and human fertility be deduced more vividly than in certain prehistoric Anatolian ceramic idols of another type. One such specimen (fig. 27) should be compared with a ceramic idol from Kos (fig. 28). The latter was excavated from a tomb for children and is dated to the 8th century B.C. (45). That it portrays a pregnant female as part human and part serpent is a reasonable pre? mise consistent with the deeply rooted veneration, throughout the Aegean world, of ophi? dian deities and of serpents as the harbingers of new life (46). In addition, the emblems (44) N. ?ZG?g, ?Marble Idols and Statuettes from the Excavations at K?ltepe ?, Bell, 21, 1957, pp. 71-80. (45) L. Morricone, ? Scavi e ricerche a Coo (1935-1943)?, Bollettino d'Arte, XXXV, 1950, p. 320. (46) Harrison, op. cit., pp. 269 ft.; M. P. Nils son, The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion, Lund, 1950. 274 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions painted on the distended bellies o? the Kos and Anatolian idols are basically alike and, together with other features, bespeak a continual stylistic influence from the Anatolian peninsula. The emblem on the Kos idol can hardly tax one's imagination. It is that of an infant, whose body is triangular. Its arms and legs are recognizable enough but, like the processes at the apex, even they carry suggestions of a serpent's bifid tongue. In describing the Anatolian specimen, Parrot (47), despite the symbolic infant marked on its belly, the pubes represented by a chevron beneath it, and the zigzags, summed up too cautiously: ? Le visage n'est, en aucune fagon, celui d'une femme, mais d'un animal bien difficile ? identifier ... Cet etre etrange se derobe ? toute explication ?. Its comparison with the idol from Kos should reduce doubts as to what the artist intended to deify. The bare-breasted *csnake-goddesses" of Crete are famous. These faience figurines of the Palatial, Middle Minoan III period with their colourful flounced skirts, headgear, ample bosoms and serpents twisting about their arms and torsos have popularized aware? ness of the cult more effectively than any other Cretan relic. Totemistic aspects of the goddess's evolution are considered by Willets (48), and Branigan (49) has discussed a few disparate religious appurtenances of the Early Minoan period which eventually were ab? sorbed into a single cult with the serpent as its dominant symbol. This dominance, and the characteristic exposure of the goddess's breasts contrasting with her otherwise elabor? ately concealed nudity, culminated a long development going back to the neolithic, from the naked figurines of which period she cannot be dissociated. There is hardly a naked figurine from neolithic Crete in which the pubic region is as clearly delimited as in the cases described above, or which has a serpent in intimate association with it. For the closest Cretan parallel to the Mesopotamian or Canaanite images of the latter kind, one should turn to a small, neolithic, three-sided prism bead from Kalochorio discussed by Kenna (50). One face of it shows a human figure with outstretched arms and legs. On either side is a winding serpent, its head directed towards the groins or hips. But one cannot be certain whether this personage is male or female. In another neolithic specimen (51) a small figurine with stubby outstretched arms, pre? sumably a female deity, a symbolic serpent is emblazoned across the chest, not the pubes. The symbol is a five-fold zigzag of two parallel lines which widen at one end and termin? ate in short indents as if to suggest a serpent's gaping mouth and fangs. On the other hand, there are innumerable crudely made terracotta figurines of females of a type not considered by Branigan. They occur in Crete and elsewhere in the Aegean over an extended period beginning with the Late Neolithic and especially Early Minoan I. They have sinuous lines, zigzags or intertwined meanders incised or painted (47) A. Parrot, ? Figurines et ceramiques ana toliennes ?, Syria, XLVI, 1969, pp. 45-56. (48) R. F. Willets, Cretan Cults and Festivals, London, 1962. (49) K. Branigan, ? The Genesis of the House? hold Goddess ?, Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, 8, 1969, pp. 28-38. (50) V. E. G. Kenna, Cretan Seals, with a catalogue of the Minoan gems in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1960, fig. 30. (51) Zervos, loc. cit., pi. 56. 275 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions on them. These markings usually rise vertically over the front part of full-length skirts from foot-level to the level of the pubes. Thus, they are reminiscent of a symbolism al? ready encountered in the idols of Ishtar and Astarte. It must be admitted, however, that while more evidence than this is needed to prove a derivation from Mesopotamia or the Levant, an ideological equivalence with the symbolism of these regions seems not unlikely since survivals of the anthropologically primitive notion that women can be fertilized by serpents are equally well-entrenched in Aegean mythology: Alexander of Macedonia was fathered by a serpent; and Zeus, whose origins are Cretan, assumed the form of a serpent for intercourse with Kore, his daughter by his own mother (52). A specimen with a zigzag on the skirt (fig. 29) was found at Inatos in the sacred cave of the goddess Eileithyia, protectress of childbirth, amidst clay models of ships, double axes and couples in erotic postures. In another (Iraklion Museum, No. 13196, case 149) from the same cave, a figurine in black-painted, buff pottery, now damaged, has an infant feeding at the breast and a pair of intertwined meanders rise upward to the level of the pubes. In an anthropomorphic vase from Koumasa a serpent is coiled around the neck and a pair of intertwined zigzags ascend towards the breasts (53). A Mycenaean figurine of a woman offering her breast, found amid two complete effigies of coiled serpents and fragments of at least four more, is illustrated by Ervin (54). Intertwined, meandering lines decorate the front of her robe. In an archaic, Boeotian cult vessel, sinuous bands are painted vertically on the fronts of the skirts of Hera, goddess of maternity and conjugal love (55). In most cases, the embellishments rise no higher than the level of the crotch and are not mere decorative representations of laced-up skirt fronts. Ceremonial skirts, at least those worn by Cretan priestesses, were slit in the back or partway up on either side, but not in the front, and surviving costumes continue the ancient traditions (56). Thus, in the context of Aegean ophiolatry, such zigzags, meanders and sinuosities must represent the serpent. This view is fortified by the depiction of an open-mouthed, naturalistic serpent on an unpublished Cretan image in black-painted, buff pottery (fig. 30). The serpent's pubic association, if one may envisage such in this idol, is only subtly manifest, and its orientation seems to symbolize not the phallus, but birth itself; or, as the Greeks of a later epoch believed, rebirth of a dead hero in the form of a serpent. Another symbol sometimes seen on archaic Cretan terracottas has heretofore been neglected. It consists of a series of miniature cupmarks, and is as intriguing as it is hard to interpret. A hollow, cylindrical figurine of the Protogeometrie phase, from Anavalokhos (fig. 31) has a noseless, mouthless face with pellet-eyes, of which the right one is missing. (52) A. B. Cook, Zeus. A Study in Ancient Religion, 2 vols., New York, 1964-65, vol. I, p. 394. (53) Zervos, op. cit., pi. 222. (54) M. Ervin, ?Newsletter from Greece?, AJA, 73, 1969, pp. 341-57, pi. 88, fig. 22. (55) E. Simon, ? Hera und die Nymphen. Ein B?otischer Polos in Stockholm?, RA, 1972, II, (pp. 205-20), p. 209, fig. 6. (56) J. L. Myres, ? Minoan dress ?, Man, 50, 1950, pp. 1-6; A. C. Vaughan, The House of the Double Axe, New York, 1959, pp. 125-26. 276 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions It is only about 8 cm. in height. The head is shaped as if a cloth hood covers it up to the shoulders. The left arm is stubby and outstretched, the right arm is broken. Two vertical rows of seven cupmarks, each with a central pin-prick, are engraved in front and on each side. The idol probably represents a female with pellet-bosses for breasts, now detached, for there is faint indication of this on the proper left side. A flat, notched strip of clay, now broken, is appliqued to the torso and may once have passed over the shoulders. The unbroken end tapers, giving the impression that it represents a serpent's head. The cultic character of the figurine comes through strongly. A second type of cupmark symbol found in Crete occurs on an archaic, damaged ter? racotta measuring about seven centimetres in height (fig. 32). The body is solid, roughly rectangular and represents a female. A straight narrow groove is incised from foot level to the level of the pubes; five shallow cupmarks are aligned on each side of the groove. This symbol also occurs on a very tiny, clay object of the neolithic period (fig. 33). The sketch combines features seen in a photograph by Zervos (57) of the unrestored object with features observed by the author after its restoration. Evans (58) regarded it as a spool for winding thread, but the numerological overtones of the markings on its surface betray a cultic significance. The symbol in question is on the upper surface and has six pairs of "cupmarks" filled with white paste. Diagonally from it is a group of five tiny circular marks in each of five rows (Zervos' photograph shows only three rows). A sinuous line with two "eyes", and a broad zigzag also mark the upper surface. Two groups of incised circlets occur on one of its sides. Each group has five circlets in each of three rows. There are two five-fold zigzags incised on the lower surface. The symbol common to the upper surface of this object and to the one in fig. 32 has a counterpart outside Crete: It occurs on the neck of a Late Mycenaean terracotta bull (59) and consists of five pairs of circular, painted spots separated by a line. Such symbols, typified by a painted line or groove which separates pairs of circular spots or cup-marks, have a parallel in Libya, and this may be of interest to proponents of north African contacts with Crete during pre-Minoan times. At Udei El Chel in Tripolitania, where "erotic" female figures are inscribed around natural, pudenda-like depressions in rock surfaces, there is a large, rocky outcrop which probably was used in primitive rituals (60). Its surface has a slightly wavy, narrow groove about three metres long. It is mainly a natural fissure, which terminates at one end in a man-made, oval cupmark and continues on the other side of this cupmark as a short taper. Aligned on either side of the fissure is a row of five circular or oval cupmarks scooped in the rock. There is also a cluster of five (?) spots engraved within a circle close by. Footprint patterns, of which at least one pair is pointed in opposite directions, are also engraved in the rock. If the symbols on the terracottas described above are at all cultic homologues of this narrow fissure, the (57) Zervos, op. cit., pi. 63. (58) Sir A. Evans, The Palace of Minos, vol. I, London, 1921, p. 42. (59) V. M?ller, ? Mykenische Fundgegenst?n de in Berliner V?lkerkunde Museum ?, Prae his to? risches Zeitschrift, 19, 1928, pp. 307-39, pis. 34, 35. (60) Graziosi, loc. ciL, pl. 29 a. 277 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions terminal cupmark and tongue-like taper tempt one to suggest that it may be a serpent symbol. However, I know of no clear evidence from Libya itself to support this inter? pretation. The nearest African rupestral engravings of footmarks and cupules (not grouped) amid an obvious serpent representation are from Ango, Uele, in Zaire, bordering southern Sudan and Uganda (61). Still, the parallelism between the five pairs of rupestral cupmarks alongside the cana licular fissure at Udei El Chel and the symbols on the Aegean objects remains an extraordi? nary fact. An equally intriguing parallel between north African and Cretan symbolism may exist on a painted jar from pre-Dynastic Egypt (fig. 34). It belongs to the Amratian culture, a neolithic society with Libyan affinities. Hornblower (62) identified the taller of the two painted figures as masculine owing to the penis-like appendage with its apparent penis sheath, a device of Libyan origin but also known in early Crete. However, Scharff (63) suggested that the figure could represent a female since another Libyan relic is known which shows a woman wearing an object shaped like a penis-sheath. Murray (64) regards both figures on the Amratian jar as female. That the scene in fig. 34 represents a fertility rite is not disputed. The features of interest are that the zigzags between the legs are analogous to the zigzag on the Cretan idol in fig. 29, and that the hatched triangle has numerous, exact counterparts in the Aegean: Matz (65) describes a Late Minoan jar with a band of small, closely spaced triangles of this kind painted below a broad panel consist? ing of a [probably] serpent-scale motif. Hogarth and Welch (66) noted a ? predilection for [hatched and chevroned] triangles and zigzags ? on the Kamares ware of Crete and its immediate neolithic predecessors. A pot from the Cyclades (67) has large hatched tri? angles and immediately below them is an encircling sinuous line. However, the symbolism of serpent and pubic triangle cannot be firmly deduced in such examples, since naturalistic equivalents are, as far as I am aware, unknown, and the analogies ultimately hinge sole? ly upon how one interprets motifs like those in figs. 29 and 30. Though pudenda are generally not depicted on Aegean anthropomorphic figurines, the folded-arm idols of the Cyclades are an exception. In Early Bronze Age II, c. 2500 B.C., pudenda are common on the Cycladic ritual vessels termed frying pans (fig. 36). Placed in the exergue of these clay vessels, the sexual symbolism contrasts with the uncertain meaning of other motifs accompanying the pudenda ? the sun, the ship, and the sea as represented by linked spirals. To these should be added the zigzag, whose interpretation (61) G. Derkinderen, Atlas du Congo Beige et du Ruanda-Urundi, Paris-Brussels, 1955, fig. 5. i62) G. D. Hornblower, ? The Egyptian Fer? tility Rite: a postscript?, Man, 43, 1943, p. 29. (63) A. Scharff, ?Some Prehistoric Vases in the British Museum?, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 14, 1928, pp. 261-76. (64) M. A. Murray, ?Burial Customs and Beliefs in the Hereafter in Predynastic Egypt?, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 42, 1956, p. 92. (65) F. Matz, Forschungen auf Kreta, 1942, Berlin, 1951, pi. 49.3. (66) D. G. Hogarth, F. B. Welch, ? Primitive Painted Pottery in Crete?, JUS, 21, 1901, (pp. 78-98), p. 96. (67) C. Zervos, L'art des Cyclades du debut a la fin de Vage du bronze, 2500-1100, Paris, 1957. 278 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions so far has been neglected. It figures prominently on the sides of, sometimes above, ships incised on these ritual objects as in the examples from the island of Syros in fig. 35, taken from Tsountas (68). In a polychrome sherd from Iolkos, Thessaly, a bold zigzag enclosed within an ellipse is the only decoration on the side of a ship with a ramming fore-end (6e). It is dated to c. 1600 B.C., which indicates the prevalence of the symbol over an extended period outside the Cyclades as well; similar specimens are also known from Mycenae. The only clue as to the meaning of these zigzags comes from literary sources: ? Hip ponax urges a painter called Mimnes "not to go on painting a snake on the many-benched side of a trieres, so that it seems to be running away from the ram towards the helmsman" (possibly the ship's peculiar device or semeion) ? (70). But Hipponax lived in the 6th century B.C., so, even granting a continuity of artistic traditions, it is not clear whether the serpent motif on the trieres preserved an ancient religious sentiment or was no more than a naval badge. Thus, though the primeval meaning of the symbols on Cycladic frying pans remains obscure, there is, is view of their undisputed cultic character, a plausible basis for the belief that the zigzag inscribed over their ship motif denotes the serpent. It will be noticed that a profusion of tiny, stamp-incised triangles fill the borders of these pans. Whether they are purely decorative or repeat emblematically the pubic triangle which is so unambiguous on the exergue near the handles is conjectural. In many Cycladic pots, these tiny, incised triangles fill bands and large, triangular spaces. In the frying pans, they fill triangular spaces between the rays issuing from the sun's disc (fig. 36). Or they fill the circular borders in double rows. The close association of these tiny, stamp incised triangles with the sun motif and with zigzags on the ships in fig. 35 is noteworthy. In the complex symbolism of the Cycladic Islands these motifs probably are more than a part of the decorative art of a cult centered around fertility or rebirth and the veneration of serpents. Excavations on the island of Melos, which had cultural contacts with Crete at least by Early Minoan II, have yielded not only sherds bearing naturalistically drawn serpents but forms suggestive of them occur also as "serpent ring vases", as markings on a bull (?) rhyton and on numerous other mortuary clay objects (71). Conclusion As some of our examples show, it is possible to envisage the derivation of symbols from cult objects which express the notion of fertility or rebirth unambiguously through motifs of the pubic triangle and the serpent. This is most apparent in certain anthropomor? phic figurines of the Near East and we need not discuss the evidence further. But in (68) Ch. Tsountas, ?Kykladika II?, Ephe metis Archaiologike, 1899, p. 90. (69) D. R. Theochares, Archaeology, 11, 1958, (pp. 13-18), p. 15. (70) J. S. Morrison, R. T. Williams, Greek Oared Ships, 900-322 B.C., Cambridge, 1968, p. 120. (71) T. D. Atkinson et al., Excavations at Phylakopi in Melos, London, 1904, p. 21 and pi. 4 q. 279 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the Aegean world the evidence is not equally direct; it is only highly suggestive in some cases and concealed or absent in others. In general terms, the hazards of reading meanings different from those intended by the prehistoric artist are formidable. It is surely for this reason that concerted efforts at interpreting a particular genre of symbols over a wide geographical area are infrequently made. Archaeological reports do not often overstep broad comparisons of style; or are "scientific" in the sense that the hazy zone of symbolism, excepting the obvious cases, is either avoided or the more elusive graphic and plastic forms are subjected to accurate, but neutral, analysis under the category of decoration. Yet, it is likely that primitive man embellished his cult objects not for decorative effects alone, but to identify their ritual connections and to enhance their magical power. Of course, with the passage of time the original designs become stylized and tend to lose meaning with repeated or mechanical use, especially on secular articles. But the symbols of the serpent and of the mother-goddess's sexuality are expressed directly so often that the more cryptic artistic examples need not be played down overcautiously. Ophiolatry appears to have been prevalent with varying emphasis almost everywhere in the ancient world. The serpent is regarded by some as a phallic emblem. There is support for this view from the areas we have considered, but owing to the complex origins of serpent worship a world-wide generalization is not warranted. In particular, serpent worship must be analysed as a phase of man's religious and social evolution, using very diverse sources of data, including extensive support from anthropology. The ophiolatrous side of man's religious development must already have been an old one as the migrations of the earliest neolithic period were taking shape. Symbols of the cult were constantly undergoing regional differentiation, and transmuting and submerging themselves into the designs we today term "art". The remarkable thing, however, is that striking parallels can also be found in far-flung regions. Proponents of the view that north Africa and Crete had affinities in neolithic and Early Minoan times might see significance in the peculiar design and numerological features common to the rupestral engravings at Udei El Chel, in Libya, and the Cretan and Myce? naean objects described above; some might consider the zigzags on the skirts of archaic Cretan figurines and on the figures on the Amratian jar in fig. 34 as more than coinci? dences ? not to mention the widespread prevalence in the Aegean of the hatched triangle, also seen on this jar. Still others might see parallels in the upraised hands of the Amratian figures and of certain mortuary figures described by Iakovidis (72). These are known from Rhodos, Naxos, Boeotia, Attica and Cyprus but are commonest in Mycenae. In one Mycenaean specimen, four such figures alternate with triangles and are dressed in typical Minoan rather than Mycenaean skirts. These analogies must be examined vis-?-vis other facets of north Africa. The important serpent-goddess, Mert Seger, of southern, Pharaonic Egypt, as Bruyere (73) points out, is C2) S. E. Iakovidis, ? A Mycenaean Mourning Custom ?, A]A, 70, 1966, pp. 43-50. (73) B. Bruyere, ?Mert Seger ? Deir el Me dineh?, Memoir es de ITnstitut Francais d* Ar? che ologie Orientale du Caire, 1930, pp. 36-37. 280 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ? thebaine de naissance, mais de filiation libyenne ?. Archaic Nubian terracottas from Aniba, in southern Egypt, whose populace is generally believed to have been Libyan in origin, include boat-shaped cult vessels with vagina-like spouts (even flecked to represent pubic hair and ridged to identify the vulva); the oldest of the black polished bowls with white filled incised decoration from Aniba bear zigzags, chevrons, triangles and naturalistic representations of serpents but of no other animals (74). Proponents of Anatolian influence in the Aegean might point to specific resemblances besides those noticed in the idol from Kos (fig. 28). Excavations at the Bronze Age (c. 2400 B.C.) cemetery at Karatas-Semay?k, not far inland from the coast of southwestern Anatolia, an area known to have had ties with Minoan Crete and with Mycenae (75) include painted, beaked pitchers with a remarkable motif. A zigzag design divides the body of these pitchers into large triangular panels. The triangles whose apices point downward each contain a prominent, rope-like loop. Whether this Anatolian design symbolizes the pubic triangle and serpent cannot be proven. However, on Mycenaean mortuary vases {c. 1400 1100 B.C.) on which zigzags and naturalistic serpents are so common, the Anatolian loop and triangle design is paralleled by many variations (76). The latter have been identified as flower-buds (77) but since floral motifs are hardly seen in related Mycenaean mortuary ware, this interpretation seems unlikely. Indeed, Desborough (78) shows two almost ident? ical vases, one from Ialyssos, in the Dodecanese, and the other from the Cycladic island of Naxos, midway to Mycenae. On each there is a pair of serpent effigies appliqued to the top of the vessel. Between these is a hatched triangle (eroded in the Naxos vase) but a loop is absent. We shall conclude with two intriguing examples, whose symbolic features if not ac? tual affinities take us much farther afield from the eastern Mediterranean. We have seen in the Cycladic frying pans that while a sexual emblem is clearly recognizable there is no direct evidence as to the meaning of the zigzag. For at least one variety of the latter, that associated with ships (fig. 35), there are close analogies from Scandinavia, where sun and ship motifs are frequent in rupestral engravings. In several of these, serpents loom over longships much like the Cycladic zigzag (79). The second example is an extraordinary stele (fig. 37), the only one of its type known from Greece. It was excavated in Thessaly by Biesantz (80) at Souphli, near Larissa, a tract (74) G. Steindorff, Aniba. Mission Archeolo gique en Nubie 1929-1934, Gl?ckstadt-Hamburg, vol. I, 1935, pi. 33.2-6. (75) M. Mellinck, ?Excavations at Karatas Samay?k in Lycia, 1965?, A]A, 70, 1966, pp. 245-57, pi. 58, figs. 11, 12. (76) R. Wolf, ?Die Nekropole an Prophitis Elias bei Tiryns?, in Tiryns, vol. 6, Mainz am Rhein, 1973, pis. 55, 56. (77) W. Voigtl?nder, ?Zur Chronologie der Sp?tMykenischen Burger?, in Tiryns, vol. 6, Mainz am Rhein, 1973, p. 251. (78) V. R. d'A. Desborough, The Last My cenaeans and Their Successors, Oxford, 1964, pl. 7c, d. (79) P. Gelling, H. E. Davidson, The Chariot of the Sun [and other rites of the northern bronze age]> New York-Washington, pp. 41 ff., fig. 19. (80) H. Biesantz, ?Bericht ?ber Ausgrabun? gen im Gebiet der Gremmon-Magula ?, AAnz, 72, 1957, cols. 38-52. 281 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions where, as Cook (81) observes, a chthonian cult of Zeus as the serpent Meilichios is attested since prehistoric times. The stele is not precisely dated; but it is significant that it was found in the vicinity of neolithic, cremation burials which are very rare in the region, but nothing of later periods occurred here. It has diminutive breasts and probably represents a mother-goddess. The right hand apparently rests over the pubes. It is important to note that the "head" is triangular, with a small face (that of an emerging foetus?) peering out of its centre, and that serpents are carved in low relief on the sides of the stele. The resemblance of this Thessalian stele to the statue-menhirs of southern France, such as the one from Mas Capelier (Aveyron) (fig. 38) is notable, particularly owing to an analogous positioning of the paired feet. Equally remarkable are the heads of the Mas Capelier statue-menhir and a related one from Serre-Grand. They are non-human and triangular, markedly so in the latter, and their visage seems reptilian. It is noteworthy, moreover, that a stone head with a face very akin to that of these southern French spe? cimens is also known from Malta (82). It is the island's earliest known datable piece of sculpture. There are occasional overtones of ophiolatry in the archaeological records of Brittany, for instance on dolmen no. 4 from GavrTnis there are five (six?) parallel, vertical sinuous bands with knobbed "heads" and slightly tapered "tails". They are obvious re? presentations of serpents, identified as such and considered to be datable to the French megalithic period (83). The many-stranded "necklace" pattern of the Thessalian stele is repeatedly paralleled by the engravings on the menhirs of Brittany. The relevance of these observations is that current views regarding early patterns of culture diffusion reject the possibility of Aegean origins and hold that developments of the megalithic cultures of Malta, Iberia and France were independent (84). Thus, the Thessalian stele is an enigma. Its salient emblems, the serpents on its sides and the trian? gular head, lead us back to the Aegean where traditions of serpent worship and the mother-goddess are more pronounced, and ultimately to the Levant and Mesopotamia where the symbols of her cult are most transparent. Their assemblage in these brief notes, how? ever, merely calls attention to the occurrence of artistic convergences among ethnically un? related peoples without implying that symbols are necessarily indicators of culture diffusion. (81) Cook, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 1155. (62) J. D. Evans, Malta, London, 1959, pi. 48. (83) S. Minot, ?Les gravures et la religion megalithique? (chap. 12), in Y. Rollando, La Prehistoire du Morbihan, Vannes, 1971; M. et St. Just Pequart, Z. Le Rouzic, Corpus de signes graves des monuments megalithiques du Morbihan, Paris, 1927, pis. 5, 101, 110, 125. (84) G. Daniel, ? Spain and the Problem of European Megalithic Origins ?, in Estudios dedi cados al Professor Dr. Luis Pericot, Barcelona, 1973, pp. 209-14. 282 This content downloaded from 71.172.231.99 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:25:13 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions