It is paradoxical that the pillar hewn for an architectural purpose, to support the habitations of men, should be attended by creatures either real or fabulous that are such potential dangers to men as lions, sphinxes, and griffins. Enigmatic too that such horrendous beasts should appear so docile as they do in these Bronze-Age portrayals. Without more information about Minoan and Mycenaean ritual than has been discovered to date, it is certainly not possible to know whether the paradox of the benevolent ogre figured in Bronze-Age ritual, but the paradoxical scene depicted in Figures 26-29 is entirely consistent with the character of man-killers and ogres in the narrative pattern of the Two Trees. By the vineyards of Timnah Samson’s lion threatened him at one moment, and benevolently fed him the next; Moses’ supernal being in the burning bush promised him and his people food and protection against Pharaoh (Exodus 3:7-8), but soon after tried paradoxically to kill him (Exodus 4:24); the Mukuni Rain-Lord sheltered and fed Mandu, and then threatened him with mortal dangers. The same enigmatic duality of character informs the real and imaginary predators who appear so docile and inoffensive in the iconography of the Aegean Bronze Age, but who are by nature the most terrifying and most dangerous to men of all creatures:
Significantly, the potential man-killers were sometimes shown tethered to the pillar:
