xMORE AS TO THE BARNACLE AND GOOSE 131 



the great mother—" Nature "—as Astarte or Aphrodite 

 risen from the foam of the sea. Being sailors and 

 fishermen, marine life was even more familiar to them 

 than that of the land, and they placed little models of 



Fig. 14.— Fanciful designs by Mykenaean artists, showing change of the cuttle- 

 fish (octopus or "poulpe") into a bull's head and other shapes. 



a, Octopus drawn on a goblet from Crete, the arms reduced to two, the eyes 



detached, 

 b and c, Bull's head variations of the octopus, from designs found at Koban 



in the Caucasus. 



d, Spiral treatment of the arms of the octopus (a pose actually seen in living 



specimens). 



e, f, Human faces painted on Cretan jars across the whole width of the neck, 



the design being derived from the octopus with detached eyes as in Fig. a. 

 Such designs survive long after their origin is forgotten, as (according to 

 M. Houssay) the legend of the barnacle and the goose survived two 

 thousand years after the Mykenoean drawings assimilating one to the 

 other had been forgotten. 



sea animals as votive offerings in the temples of the 

 great mother, and also honoured her in decorating their 

 pottery with marine creatures. The little fish, Hippo- 

 campus, called the sea-horse, the sea-urchin, the octopus, 

 the argonaut and its floating cradle, the sea-anemone, 



