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Evans, Arthur J.
Scripta minoa: the written documents of minoan Crete with special reference to the archives of Knossos (Band 1): The hieroglyphic and primitive linear classes — Oxford, 1909

DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0226

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SCRIPTA MINOA

85. a, P. i c; b, P. 29 b.

The spider. Type a appears by itself on a prism-seal ol Class A; bis attached to
the ' trowel' and ' adze' formula.

The spider is also very frequent on the more primitive class of pictographic seals
(see F. D. pp. 332, 333). This is the more remarkable when it is remembered that
this insect is conspicuous by its absence on the engraved stones and coin types of
the classical period of Greece, though other insects, such as the ant, the bee, or the
cicada, are common enough. In Greek mythology the spider appears in the legend
of Arachne as the representative of Lydian textile art, and with that old Anatolian
race this insect evidently typified the spinning industry. The undoubted affinities
between the earlier indigenous elements of Crete and those of Western Asia Minor
make the prominence of the spider in its primitive pictographs the. more suggestive,
and we may infer that here, too, the insect as a symbol indicated the possession of
looms.

The spider, which also seems to have possessed a talismanic virtue, occurs with
the scorpion, snake, and human hand on a heart-shaped pendant of gold from Hagia
Triada, which doubtless served as an amulet.1 The spider also occurs on the primitive
class of Egyptian cylinders referred to above, and on a Libyan bead-seal from near
Constantine published by me, F. D. p. 368, Fig. 32.



86. a, P. 75 a, 1; b, P. 20b; c, P. 54b; d, P. 86b; e, P. 76a.

The bee. The large abdomen and the indications of the proboscis enable us to
identify the insect with great probability. The grains introduced within the outline
of the abdomen on e recall those seen in the sections of the jars given under No. 50.
If in the case of the insect this may be taken to indicate honey we also possibly obtain
a clue to the contents of the jars.

The bee in ancient F-gypt was one of the earliest signs of royalty. Byty, repre-
sented by the bee sign, occurs in the Royal title with the meaning ' he that belongs to

1 Paribeni, Sepolcreto di Haghia Triada (Mon. Ant., 1905 [XIV], pp. 64-6).
 
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