The Ring of King Minos 米諾安的戒指 蔣勳

The Ring of King Minos

King Minos - The story of an ancient Ring

The story of the ring, known as the "ring of King Minos", started in1928, when a little boy found it by accident in the area of thearchaeological site of Knossos.

The boy’s father, a destitute farmer in the same area, handed the ring over to the meddlesome village priest father Polakis who presented it to Sir Arthur Evans with the intention to sell it. However, there was no deal between the two, since the former demanded a whole lot of money. Nevertheless, Evans made twocopies of the ring, one in gold and another in amber. Today these copies are found in the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxfordshire.

Approximately in 1933 or 1934 father Polakis turned to the Museum of Heraklion. It was the period when distinguished archaeologistsNikolaos Platon and Spyridon Marinatos were in service. N. Platon decided that the ring was genuine while S. Marinatos thought the ring was forged. Being in disagreement, the archaeologists decided to return the ring to the priest.

However, N. Platon kept a copy of the ring by casting it inplasticine. The cast was later found in Platon's archive. Many years later, when N. Platon manifested fresh interest in the ring, the priest reported that he had given it to his wife for safekeeping butshe had lost it!

Since then all traces of the ring were lost. The only information about the ring came from the copies made and a number ofarchaeological reports associated with those copies.

On the basis of those published reports Minoan civilization experts support the view that the ring is genuine – a royal ring – judging by its size, wealth of representations and the fact that it was found near a royal tomb.

The ring is a magnificent gold jewel-seal with representations oftree worship (dendrolatry).

There is a representation of a goddess descending from heaven to earth and into a rowing boat.

There is a symbolism in this representation linking the heavens, earth and sea. A more detailed description of the ring can be found in Evans book "Palace of Minos" as well as in the treatise of N. Platon on the subject of Minoans' ruling of the seas ("thalassocracy").

The story ends with a heir of priest Polakis delivering the ring to agroup of experts who examined it thoroughly to rule that the ring was genuine. This expert opinion was ratified by the Central Archaeological Council.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Culture awarded permanent custody of the ring to the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion where it is now on exhibit.

from STIGMES Magazine

‹ The Minoans up Heraklion Historical Museum ›

米諾安的戒指 蔣勳 

廢墟裡的戒指

    我正在克里特島，去了米諾安（Minoan）文化重要的遺址克諾索斯（Knosos）。在傳說中的迷宮行走，看到牆壁上彩繪的人像、海豚。頭上卷髮的小男孩，雙手提著用草繩或柳枝串起的魚，赤裸的身體，帶著被海洋與陽光炙曬過的褐紅膚色。美麗的女子穿著華麗長袍，兩鬢垂下彎曲的卷髮，睜著明亮如星辰的眼睛，款款而來。

    這是一個毀滅的文明嗎？

    我在遺址間行走，看到有一個人高的陶甕，整列排在倉庫地窟裡，據說當年裝滿了橄欖油和葡萄酒，物質豐裕，使一個城邦感到富足的喜悅吧！ 

    考古學家證明，克里特島的米諾安文化更早於愛琴海希臘半島的文明。

    古希臘神話裡傳說著克里特島的皇后，私通一頭公牛，生下了半人半牛的怪物米諾托斯（Minotaus），國王非常寵愛米諾托斯，為他蓋了迷宮。米諾托斯每年要希臘半島雅典城邦進貢童男童女，引起英雄提修斯不滿，借乘船送童男童女入貢時，藉機進入迷宮，殺了米諾托斯。

    一般人認為，這個神話隱含著雅典文明戰勝克里特島的歷史記憶，提修斯是創建雅典城邦的第一代君王；因為是四千年的事，所以歷史變成了神話。 

    克里特島的博物館收藏了很多從克諾斯以及其他米諾安文化遺址出土的文物，有陶罐，文字記錄的天文曆法圖版，有棋盤，青銅武器，貝殼項鍊，而其中最重要的一項即是印章戒指。

    克里特島的印章戒指，製作精美，使我想到它與埃及古文明，或美索不達米亞的關係，這兩處古文明都曾經製作精美的印章戒指。

    博物館的二樓，有一個特展，只展出一枚戒指，卻把戒指各個局部作成圖片，探討印章戒指的內容，並且出版了一冊專門的圖集，有詳細解說，敘述這一枚戒指的來由和內容。我即刻買了一本寄給Nike，覺得這是祝賀他的展覽開幕最好的禮物。 

    這枚戒指大約在1926年，由一位當地兒童在廢墟裡發現。純黃金的戒指，長3.55公分 ，寬2.45公分，戒圍四周鑲滿大大小小的金粒，將近四公分長的戒面，剛好可以蓋滿一個成年人的指節。

    戒指被當時著名的考古學者伊凡斯（Arthun Evans）得到，成為米諾安出土文物中最受人讚美的一件精品。Ev·ans (ĕv'ənz) , Sir Arthur John 1851–1941.

British archaeologist who unearthed in Crete remnants of a Bronze Age civilization that he named Minoan, after the legendary King Minos. 


    這枚戒指被考古學家鑑定，製作的年代大約在公元前1450﹣1400年之間，據今有三千四百年左右。

    我感到興趣的是戒面上浮雕鐫刻的圖像，尤其經過放大之後，每一個局部人體都使人聯想到二十世紀野獸派的馬諦斯（Matisse）。裸體的女子，袒露著乳房，豐厚的肩膊，渾圓飽滿的臀部和大腿，她右手攀著樹枝，闊大的樹葉，一條一條清晰的葉脈，很像台灣的麵包樹。考古學家認為手攀樹枝是米諾安文化祭祀的一種，祈求生命繁殖、蔓延、豐收。

    從戒面上的圖像來看，手攀樹枝的不只是女性，另一名裸體男性，左手提尖底壺（盛酒？），右手攀抓樹枝，身體弓起，仰面向天，以舞踊的姿態進行儀式，像是一名祭司。

    除了兩名樹祭的男女，小小的橢圓形戒面上還有天空女神，和撐長篙滑過水面的海洋女神，一葉小舟，行駛過波光閃耀的海面，海浪用菱形方格表現。整個畫面上洋溢著米諾安上古文明初民的喜悅。他們和天空有約定，和海洋有約定，和大地，樹木，天上的星辰與日月，都有約定，他們因此要鑄造一枚黃金的戒指，紀念他們的存在，見證他們的存在，見證美，也見證愛。 

    因為一次大地震，引起地中海海嘯，米諾安的繁華一夕化為灰煙，一枚黃金的戒指，沉埋在灰燼中，沉埋了三千四百年，但是，仍然被發現了，被一個天真的孩子發現。一個文明彷彿不甘心被遺忘，不甘心一切努力化成灰煙。

    許多歷史過去了，戰爭的輸贏，權力的爭奪，財富的貪婪，在翻天覆地的大毀滅過後，留在灰燼中的竟然是一枚戒指，閃閃發亮，如此華美，好像還帶著人的體溫。