Gold “Ring of Minos”

Gold signet ring with cult scene. Ring of Minos

With cult “ehiphany” scene.

“In the seascape scene, which occupies the lower part of the iconic field, the goddess has embarked and paddles a ship, which carries a shrine with horns of consecration. The end of the stern shaped as a hippocampus [sea horse] head has an exact parallel on the ring from Mochlos. In the latter the Goddess appears in a seated posture while the addition of the sacred tree may hark back to the episode of tree-cult, depicted analytically on the Ring of Minos. Sea navigation seems to be the last episode of the Goddess’s passage through the sky, the earth and the sea…” (museum label)

Exhibited at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece.