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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#0227

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CATALOGUE OF- HIEROGLYPHIC SIGNS 213

the bee' or, perhaps originally 'the Bee-Keeper'. A high official also had the title of
'Sealer of the Honey [jars]', perhaps the oldest Egyptian title.1

It is, therefore, specially interesting to find the bee coupled with the 'Palace'
sign (No. 41) on the sealing P. 75 a and on P. 20 b grouped with two recurring formulas
which there is good reason to regard as royal titles.2 On P. 86 b it is associated with
a spray or flower with speckled leaves. On P. 54 a it is collocated with the sieve
(No. 54) and followed by the 'trowel' and eye formula. On P. 76a there stand in
connexion with it an animal's head, a heart-shaped figure with grain (No. 93), and the
' gloved hand' (No. 9 b). The latter article, as already suggested, may have been
a special badge of the bee-keeper's industry.

Plants and Trees.

f

87. An uncertain flower, probably a lily with recurved petals. The sign appears
by itself on the clay label P. 81 b.

%

1

88. a, P3ia; b, P. 81 a; c, P. 110a; d, P. 86a(cf. P. 100 b); e, P. 85a; /P. 109b;
g, P. 54c; h, P. J2i;j, P. I04d; k, P. 86b.

To judge by the more detailed reproduction on the Minoan frescoes this flower,
with the stamens on either side of the central petal, is rather the crocus or ..
saffron than the lily. It appears in a very similar shape on the early wall- m$lm
painting of the 'Saffron Gatherer' from the Palace at Knossos. The flower iBr
had, no doubt, a distinct commercial value and supplied the dye which J
produced the brilliant yellow robes like those of the dancing women on one
of the Knossian Miniature Frescoes.

1 See Newberry, Scarabs, pp. 30, 31, and p. 239, below. * See below, § 15.
 
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