Abstract
THE BULL ACROBATS AT KNOSSUS.—In the Journal of Hellenic Studies (vol. xli. part 2) Sir Arthur Evans describes a remarkable bronze group from Knossus in Crete, representing an acrobat jumping over a galloping bull in the arena. The high action and skilful modelling of this animal are altogether unique among the relics of Minoan metallurgic craft, and for vigour and beauty this far exceeds two representations of such feats discovered by Schliemann and others. The full stretch of the bull's legs conforms to what is known as the “flying gallop” scheme, and the small figure of the acrobat, apart from the conventional attenuation of the waist, is finely executed, and even his features, though abnormally diminutive and incompletely brought out by the casting, with the sinewy development of form, due to athletic training, are well indicated. In other examples of feats of this kind the performer is usually a girl, but there can be no doubt that this figure is a male. In a representation of the same class on the bull rhyton it is clear that at the epoch to which it belongs, that is, about 2000 B.C., the long-horned Urus breed of cattle had been already introduced into Crete. The earlier indigenous variety, a form of shorthorn, Bos Creticus of Boyd Dawkins, was not well adapted for such a form of sport.
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Research Items. Nature 109, 387–388 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109387a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109387a0