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Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Knossos Archaeoastronomy - The Ivory Cup of Katsambas

The picture in the graphic shown below was scanned from "Das antike Kreta" (Ancient Crete), with photography copyright by Leonard von Matt (reproduced here as "fair use"), text by Stylianos Alexiou, Nikolaos Platon and Hanni Guanella, Echter-Verlag, Würzburg, 1967.



The photograph is found on page 95 and is decribed at page 93 as being an ivory cup from a necropolis near Katsambas (Katsaba, in antiquity Kairatos, the ancient port of Knossos on Crete). The above scan and drawing was made by Andis Kaulins, and we think that it supports the interpretation of the Knossos "Bull and Gymnast Fresco" by William Glyn-Jones with the bull marking Taurus, and the gymnast representing Perseus. Here, however, the man with the spear more likely marks Orion, as also found at the tomb of Senenmut (sometimes written Senmut) in Egypt ca. 1470 BC. The bird above in the graphic marks Horus, as on the Zodiac of Denderah, Egypt (now found in the Louvre). There is also a bird found in the same position on the similar Minoan cylinder seal referred to by Glyn-Jones in the previous posting.
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