DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0319
M. M. II: HIEROGLYPHIC DEPOSIT : SEALINGS & SEALS 285
manner, we see a very close approximation to certain forms of the Minoan
sign. There is, moreover, another remarkable feature. To the left of the
plant in Fig. 218, a appears a heart-shaped object, which in Fig. 218, d, e,1 is
repeated by itself accompanied by grains, and which reproduces the seed
vessel of the Silphium. But in this heart-shaped figure we recognize a
close parallel to another sign of the hieroglyphic series, Fig. 217, a, 5, c,
containing grains or seeds in its interior space.
The heart-shaped figure recurs on a series of Minoan intaglio types,
apparently of amuletic significance, and for the most part of somewhat later
date. What, however, is especially significant is the occurrence of a version
of this figure in which triple shoots with annular terminations, resembling
those of Fig. 216,g-j, above, are seen proceeding from it. This combination
may be regarded as a strong corroboration of the view that the heart-shaped
objects of the hieroglyphic signary connect themselves with the vegetable
forms seen in Fig. 216. At the same time the double comparison thus
established lends additional probability to the identification of both with the
Silphium plant and its seed vessels.
So far as is known the Silphium, of which the virtues were so highly
prized in antiquity, is now extinct. It is clear that it was an umbelliferous
plant, and the nearest available comparison seems to be supplied by ATarthex
of North Kashmir. The possibility suggests itself that the plant may have
been actually introduced into Crete and cultivated there in Minoan days.
The climate of Cyrene and of the Cretan highlands must closely approximate,
and African species form to-day a notable ingredient in the Cretan flora.
Of the manifold character of the Minoan intercourse with the North
African shores much evidence has been already adduced. We see indeed
that ostrich eggs actually at this time supplied the source of a whole series of
Minoan libation vessels.2 As will be more fully illustrated in the succeeding
Section, the relations with the Nile Valley were at this time specially intimate.
But, whereas the mouth of the Nile is some 320 miles distant from the nearest
Cretan harbour, the port of Dibaki on the South Coast is only 180 miles distant
from Derna on the coast of Cyrenaica, and the prevailing Mediterranean
current on that side, as well as the alternating spells of prevailing winds from
the North-West and the South-West, greatly facilitate this intercourse.
1 L. Miiller, Numismatique de VAfrique ancienne, p. 12, Fig. 30.
2 See above, p. 170, and Vol. II.
manner, we see a very close approximation to certain forms of the Minoan
sign. There is, moreover, another remarkable feature. To the left of the
plant in Fig. 218, a appears a heart-shaped object, which in Fig. 218, d, e,1 is
repeated by itself accompanied by grains, and which reproduces the seed
vessel of the Silphium. But in this heart-shaped figure we recognize a
close parallel to another sign of the hieroglyphic series, Fig. 217, a, 5, c,
containing grains or seeds in its interior space.
The heart-shaped figure recurs on a series of Minoan intaglio types,
apparently of amuletic significance, and for the most part of somewhat later
date. What, however, is especially significant is the occurrence of a version
of this figure in which triple shoots with annular terminations, resembling
those of Fig. 216,g-j, above, are seen proceeding from it. This combination
may be regarded as a strong corroboration of the view that the heart-shaped
objects of the hieroglyphic signary connect themselves with the vegetable
forms seen in Fig. 216. At the same time the double comparison thus
established lends additional probability to the identification of both with the
Silphium plant and its seed vessels.
So far as is known the Silphium, of which the virtues were so highly
prized in antiquity, is now extinct. It is clear that it was an umbelliferous
plant, and the nearest available comparison seems to be supplied by ATarthex
of North Kashmir. The possibility suggests itself that the plant may have
been actually introduced into Crete and cultivated there in Minoan days.
The climate of Cyrene and of the Cretan highlands must closely approximate,
and African species form to-day a notable ingredient in the Cretan flora.
Of the manifold character of the Minoan intercourse with the North
African shores much evidence has been already adduced. We see indeed
that ostrich eggs actually at this time supplied the source of a whole series of
Minoan libation vessels.2 As will be more fully illustrated in the succeeding
Section, the relations with the Nile Valley were at this time specially intimate.
But, whereas the mouth of the Nile is some 320 miles distant from the nearest
Cretan harbour, the port of Dibaki on the South Coast is only 180 miles distant
from Derna on the coast of Cyrenaica, and the prevailing Mediterranean
current on that side, as well as the alternating spells of prevailing winds from
the North-West and the South-West, greatly facilitate this intercourse.
1 L. Miiller, Numismatique de VAfrique ancienne, p. 12, Fig. 30.
2 See above, p. 170, and Vol. II.