DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0368
7.8
SIGNS RELATING TO SAFFRON CULTURE
the export of oil from Minoan Crete to Egypt. The item on the present
tablet deals with 405 olive-trees, a fairly large plantation.
CAFFROflSlGN
ac compounds
Saffron Culture.
It is clear that, throughout the whole of the Palace period,1 one of the
sources of wealth to the lords of Knossos was to be found in the culture of
saffron. Its best record has been supplied by
the fresco of the Saffron Gatherer,2 in style
the earliest of the series, and above attributed
to the later phase of M.M. II. A child is there
seen collecting- the flowers in baskets. The
flowers, in clumps or rows, recur on the votive
robes of faience from the Temple Repositories.3
The saffron is found, too, both as a phonetic
sign in a name-group and before numbers, up
to 60, on tablets of the A class from Hagia
Triada, while its religious connexions seem
to be marked by its appearance on the Trullos
stone ladle 4 at the end of a sign-group.
Saffron is the prevailing colour of the robes
of ladies performing a religious dance on one
of the Miniature Frescoes.5 In the Ancient
World saffron was a favourite hue for the robes
of Goddesses, and vied with ' purple' as a
royal badge. And has not Virgil tolda how,
at Mycenae, Leda bore to her daughter Helen a saffron-bordered veil for
her fugitive marriage—to be recovered later from the flames of Ilion ?
Comparative examples of the 'saffron' sign are given in Fig. 703. In
<! H a?
Fig. 703. ( Saffron ' Sign and
Compounds.
1 For the earlier period compare the seal-
stones and impressions of the hieroglyphic
series showing saffron flowers. Scrip/a Mi'noa, i,
p. 213, No. 88.
- P. of M.} i, pp. 265, 266 and Coloured
Plate IV. On the saffron in Minoan Art see
now especially Prof. Martin Mobius' excellent
article, Pjlanzenbilder der minoischen Kunst in
botanischer Beirachtujig {Jahrb. d. d. Arch.
Inst., 1933), pp. 7-9 and Fig. 4. The plant
itself, Crocus salivus. does not seem to be known
in a wild stale. Dr. Mobius, however, suggests
that the ancestral stock is to be found in
Croats CartwrigkHanns, which is indigenous
in Crete.
3 Ibid., p. 506, Fig. 364.
1 Ibid., pp. 625, 626 and Fig. 463, 1. 2>
No. 21.
5 Ibid., iii, p. 71 seqq., and Coloured Plate
XVIII (' The Sacred Grove and Dance').
0 Virgil, Aen., i, 64S seqq.
SIGNS RELATING TO SAFFRON CULTURE
the export of oil from Minoan Crete to Egypt. The item on the present
tablet deals with 405 olive-trees, a fairly large plantation.
CAFFROflSlGN
ac compounds
Saffron Culture.
It is clear that, throughout the whole of the Palace period,1 one of the
sources of wealth to the lords of Knossos was to be found in the culture of
saffron. Its best record has been supplied by
the fresco of the Saffron Gatherer,2 in style
the earliest of the series, and above attributed
to the later phase of M.M. II. A child is there
seen collecting- the flowers in baskets. The
flowers, in clumps or rows, recur on the votive
robes of faience from the Temple Repositories.3
The saffron is found, too, both as a phonetic
sign in a name-group and before numbers, up
to 60, on tablets of the A class from Hagia
Triada, while its religious connexions seem
to be marked by its appearance on the Trullos
stone ladle 4 at the end of a sign-group.
Saffron is the prevailing colour of the robes
of ladies performing a religious dance on one
of the Miniature Frescoes.5 In the Ancient
World saffron was a favourite hue for the robes
of Goddesses, and vied with ' purple' as a
royal badge. And has not Virgil tolda how,
at Mycenae, Leda bore to her daughter Helen a saffron-bordered veil for
her fugitive marriage—to be recovered later from the flames of Ilion ?
Comparative examples of the 'saffron' sign are given in Fig. 703. In
<! H a?
Fig. 703. ( Saffron ' Sign and
Compounds.
1 For the earlier period compare the seal-
stones and impressions of the hieroglyphic
series showing saffron flowers. Scrip/a Mi'noa, i,
p. 213, No. 88.
- P. of M.} i, pp. 265, 266 and Coloured
Plate IV. On the saffron in Minoan Art see
now especially Prof. Martin Mobius' excellent
article, Pjlanzenbilder der minoischen Kunst in
botanischer Beirachtujig {Jahrb. d. d. Arch.
Inst., 1933), pp. 7-9 and Fig. 4. The plant
itself, Crocus salivus. does not seem to be known
in a wild stale. Dr. Mobius, however, suggests
that the ancestral stock is to be found in
Croats CartwrigkHanns, which is indigenous
in Crete.
3 Ibid., p. 506, Fig. 364.
1 Ibid., pp. 625, 626 and Fig. 463, 1. 2>
No. 21.
5 Ibid., iii, p. 71 seqq., and Coloured Plate
XVIII (' The Sacred Grove and Dance').
0 Virgil, Aen., i, 64S seqq.