e of
objects connected with the palace cult. The cist which was first
opened was closely packed, to a depth of 1.10 metres, with vases; and
below these there was a deposit of fragments and complete examples of
faience, including the figures of a Snake Goddess and her votaresses,
votive robes and girdles, cups and vases with painted designs, and
reliefs of cows and calves, wild goats and kids. In fact, this
Repository was a perfect treasure-house of objects in faience; but
in the second cist such objects were wanting, with the exception
that a missing portion of the Snake Goddess was found, the place
of the faience being taken by gold-foil and crystal plaques.

Some of the small faience reliefs are of particularly exquisite
design and execution, particularly one of a Cretan wild-goat and
her young, the subject being executed in pale green, with dark
sepia markings, and characterized by great directness and naturalism
of treatment. Most interesting, however, were the figures of the
Snake Goddess and her votaresses. The goddess is 13-1/2 inches in
height. She wears a high tiara of purplish-brown, with a white
border, and her dress consists of a richly embroidered jacket,
with laced bodice, and a skirt with a short double _panier_ or
apron. Her hair is dressed in a fringe above her forehead, and
falls behind on her neck and shoulders; the eyes and eyebrows are
black, and the ears are of extraordinary size; the bust is almost
entirely bare. But the curious feature of the little figure is
that around her are coiled three snakes. One, which is grasped in
the right hand, passes up the arm, descends behind the shoulders
and down the left arm to the hand, which holds the tail. Two other
snakes are interlaced around her hips, and a fourth coils itself
around the high tiara. The figure of the votaress is somewhat similar;
but her skirt is flounced all the way down in the regular Minoan
style, and she holds a snake in her right hand. The characteristic
feature of both figures is the modernness of their lines, which
are as different as possible from those of the statues of classic
Greece. The waist is exceedingly slender, and altogether 'the lines
adopted are those considered ideal by the modern corset-maker rather
than those of the sculptor.'

There can be little doubt that these tiny figures point to the
worship of an earth goddess, whose emblem is the snake--the other
aspect of the heavenly divinity whose symbols are the doves.