DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0258
244 SCRIPTA MINOA
essentially early civilization of the island as it existed about the end of the third millennium before
of home
growth. our era.
A record of A certain number of signs (Nos. 2,3, 7,8,10) give us hints of gesture language; arms
arts°'aid an<* implements are Passed in review, and we see the tools, some of them obviously of
tries, and Egyptian origin, used by the masons, carpenters, and decorators of the great Cretan
■ Palaces. The 'lyre' of eight strings (No. 29) shows that this musical instrument had
already reached the same stage of development as that of the Classical Age of Greece,
over a thousand years before the days of Terpander.
We have before us the indications of a mercantile and industrial as well as ol
a pastoral and agricultural community. The recurrence of the ship sign is specially
suggestive, and if Nos. 92 and 93 may be interpreted to stand for the plant and heart-
like fruit of the silphtum we have already proofs of maritime and commercial inter-
course with Cyrene. The ingot (No. 56) illustrates the medium of currency otherwise
recorded by the clay tablets of the linear class and by the actual deposit of bronze
ingots in the Palace of Hagia Triada. The varieties of vases and other domestic
utensils are numerous. The spinning and bee-keeping industries seem to be represented
by the spider (No. 85) and the bee (No. 86).
Among domesticated animals we see more than one kind of ox and may watch the
supersession of the Cretan short-horn, the Bos Creticus of Boyd Dawkins, by the long-
horned Urus breed of cattle prevalent throughout the later Minoan Age. The
frequency of the goat sign makes it probable that we have not always to do with
the wild goat, but also with a domesticated variety. Swine and horned sheep are also
found, and the head of a dog, perhaps of the big Molossian type, otherwise represented
on the gems. Species of wild animals are illustrated by the lion's mask and wolfs
head, and in No. 75 we see the cat already acclimatized in the European area. The
goats may in many cases at all events be intended for the Agrimi or Cretan wild goat,
and the horned sheep (No. 67) recalls the fact that the hunting of the moufflon is
certainly depicted on the later Minoan gems.
Agriculture is well to the fore. The plough (No. 27) is of constant recurrence, and
there were evidently a great number of plants and trees under cultivation. No. 94 shows
the grain of a cereal in flower, No. 95 is probably an ear of barley. No. 96 apparently
a gourd, and the olive branch (No. 101) and the fig (No. 103) contribute to the list of signs.
An important branch of cultivation seems to have been that of the saffron crocus (cf.
No. 88), which supplied the brilliant dyes for the Minoan ladies' robes, and many later
tablets of the two linear classes refer to the same plant.
The hieratic element is not by any means so prominent as in the Egyptian hiero-
glyphic series, and in two cases where it is traceable, the appearance namely of the
ankh and the libation vase, we have already noted the probable influence of Egyptian
religious usage. In addition to these, however, the double axe and the altar horns
(No. 37), as well as the bucranium (No. 38), have an obvious reference to the cult of the
great Minoan divinities.
essentially early civilization of the island as it existed about the end of the third millennium before
of home
growth. our era.
A record of A certain number of signs (Nos. 2,3, 7,8,10) give us hints of gesture language; arms
arts°'aid an<* implements are Passed in review, and we see the tools, some of them obviously of
tries, and Egyptian origin, used by the masons, carpenters, and decorators of the great Cretan
■ Palaces. The 'lyre' of eight strings (No. 29) shows that this musical instrument had
already reached the same stage of development as that of the Classical Age of Greece,
over a thousand years before the days of Terpander.
We have before us the indications of a mercantile and industrial as well as ol
a pastoral and agricultural community. The recurrence of the ship sign is specially
suggestive, and if Nos. 92 and 93 may be interpreted to stand for the plant and heart-
like fruit of the silphtum we have already proofs of maritime and commercial inter-
course with Cyrene. The ingot (No. 56) illustrates the medium of currency otherwise
recorded by the clay tablets of the linear class and by the actual deposit of bronze
ingots in the Palace of Hagia Triada. The varieties of vases and other domestic
utensils are numerous. The spinning and bee-keeping industries seem to be represented
by the spider (No. 85) and the bee (No. 86).
Among domesticated animals we see more than one kind of ox and may watch the
supersession of the Cretan short-horn, the Bos Creticus of Boyd Dawkins, by the long-
horned Urus breed of cattle prevalent throughout the later Minoan Age. The
frequency of the goat sign makes it probable that we have not always to do with
the wild goat, but also with a domesticated variety. Swine and horned sheep are also
found, and the head of a dog, perhaps of the big Molossian type, otherwise represented
on the gems. Species of wild animals are illustrated by the lion's mask and wolfs
head, and in No. 75 we see the cat already acclimatized in the European area. The
goats may in many cases at all events be intended for the Agrimi or Cretan wild goat,
and the horned sheep (No. 67) recalls the fact that the hunting of the moufflon is
certainly depicted on the later Minoan gems.
Agriculture is well to the fore. The plough (No. 27) is of constant recurrence, and
there were evidently a great number of plants and trees under cultivation. No. 94 shows
the grain of a cereal in flower, No. 95 is probably an ear of barley. No. 96 apparently
a gourd, and the olive branch (No. 101) and the fig (No. 103) contribute to the list of signs.
An important branch of cultivation seems to have been that of the saffron crocus (cf.
No. 88), which supplied the brilliant dyes for the Minoan ladies' robes, and many later
tablets of the two linear classes refer to the same plant.
The hieratic element is not by any means so prominent as in the Egyptian hiero-
glyphic series, and in two cases where it is traceable, the appearance namely of the
ankh and the libation vase, we have already noted the probable influence of Egyptian
religious usage. In addition to these, however, the double axe and the altar horns
(No. 37), as well as the bucranium (No. 38), have an obvious reference to the cult of the
great Minoan divinities.