Le sceau à ‘‘la figure féminine aux bras levés’’ du secteur Pi de Malia

Abstract

The seal with the “ female figure with up-raised arms” from Area Pi at Malia The article presents a three-sided Middle Minoan prism recovered in a neopalatial context at Malia Sector Pi in 2007. The motifs on the three sides of the seal are of particular significance because of their scarcity in Protopalatial glyptic and the established comparanda. The female figure on side (a) seems to represent an hybrid creature, whose face is often represented alone or attached to a human or animal body on MM seals, and finds some parallels in representations of the Egyptian god Bes and the Greek Gorgos. The quadruped on side (b) is depicted in a rarely observed pose suggesting an animal enrolled upon itself. The “ snakes” that flank the vessel on side (c) can be compared to similar elements associated with a cat on a Protopalatial prism or with the Snake Goddess on whose head there also sits a feline. These considerations suggest that those depictions on the prisms articulated a symbolic significance.