The Sissi Genius Lentoid: A Lapis Lacedaemonius Seal from Final Palatial Crete

by Diana Wolf

Hesperia, Volume 91, Issue 3
Page(s): 351-384
Stable URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/865517
Year: 2022
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ABSTRACT:

A Final Palatial lapis lacedaemonius seal, here called the Sissi Genius Lentoid, was recovered during the 2018 excavation of the Court-Centered Building at Sissi, East Crete. The seal instantly drew attention because of its rare material and unique iconography that shows a Minoan genius flanked by the foreparts of two agrimia. An examination of the object within the context of Late Minoan II-III hard stone glyptic, particularly the lapis lacedaemonius seals, reveals ideological and sociopolitical links between Sissi and other Cretan sites, including neighboring Malia. The lentoid belongs to a group of seals that clearly formed prestige items used by sociopolitical elites who were exercising control over the surrounding land, possibly as delegates of the Knossos palace.