who is wearing a crown is carrying two vessels. By her side, a man dressed in a long robe is playing a seven-stringed lyre. This is the earliest known picture of the classical-Greek lyre. In front of them, another woman is emptying the contents of a vessel—perhaps the blood of the sacrificed bull—into a second vessel, possibly as an invocation to the soul of the deceased. It seems that the blood of the bull was used for the regeneration of the reappearing dead. This scene is reminiscent of a description of Homer, where the dead needed blood. On the left, three men holding animals and a boat are approaching a male figure without limbs; he presumably represents the dead man receiving gifts. The boat is offered for his journey to the next world . According to a Minoan belief, beyond the sea, there was the island of the happy dead Elysion, where the departed souls could have a different but happier existence. Rhadamanthys was the judge of the Elysion, and this idea probably predates some later Orphic beliefs. It seems that, in Crete, some festivals corresponded to later Greek festivals. An agrarian procession is depicted on the "Harvesters' Vase", or "Vase of the Winnowers", which was found in Hagia Triada. The vase is dated from the last phase of the neopalatial period (LM II). Men are walking in twos with rods on their shoulders. The leader is dressed in a priestly robe with a fringe and is carrying a stick. A group of musicians accompany with song, and one of them holds the Egyptian sistrum. See also Asterousia Mountains Kalyvia Kommos Psiloriti Range References Heraklion (regional unit) Minoan sites in Crete Populated places in ancient Greece Former populated places in Greece Individual vases