DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7519#0177
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CRETE
the forms of domestic and agricultural implements. We see
jugs, adzes, carpenters' right angles, saws, plumb-bobs, ploughs,
lyres, and sistra. We see olive sprays, and those often in com-
pany with a ship as if to prove the export of olive oil. Wheat,
saffron, perhaps silphium are there. Ships with a central mast,
high prow and stern and oars, both galleys and ' busses ' seem
to be there. The domestic animals are shown, dogs, horned
sheep, goats, short-horned and long-horned cattle and a
quantity of other objects of whose existence we know but
whose shape we could not tell but for the script.1
The clay seal impressions which were found are roughly
three-sided. They have been pinched round the string with
which the object to be sealed was bound, and often more than
one face is stamped.
Two impressions are of particular interest, for they seem to
represent the first attempt at portraiture. One shows a man
with a big aquiline nose and either a crown or an elaborate
arrangement of hair, the other a boy with a sharp straight nose
and close-cropped curly hair just like the intelligent small boys
you meet in any Greek village.2 It has been suggested that we
have here portraits of a reigning king of Knossos and of his son.
On the same lump of clay which bears the man's head is another
impression consisting of three hieroglyphs, a five-barred gate,
a leg and a sign which may represent the silphium plant. Very
likely this is his name, and it is noteworthy that a magnificent
three-sided bead seal of carnelian bears the same signs, with the
addition of a snake, surrounding a cat sejant gardant3 (Fig. 256).
Other impressions show a hind beside a stream, a wild goat, a
fish and an octopus stranded in a pool and a small boy attending
a ram by a manger.4
The seals themselves are cut in harder stones than those of
M.M.i. Carnelian, agate, rock crystal, chalcedony, and jasper
are common. Favourite shapes are the signet (Fig. 25a),
three- and four-sided bead seals, lentoids, and circular seals
with two sides or with one side only, the back being carved to
1 P. of M., I, Fig. 214. 2 Ibid., Fig. 201.
3 Ibid., Fig. 204a. The other sides also show hieroglyphs, in one
case a very similar group occupying the centre of the field between
palmettes. Is it possible that we have here a trace of the different
official names of the king ? Pharaoh often showed his ' Son of Ra '
name, his King of Upper and Lower Egypt name and his Golden
Horus name on one object.
4 Ibid., Fig. 202.
the forms of domestic and agricultural implements. We see
jugs, adzes, carpenters' right angles, saws, plumb-bobs, ploughs,
lyres, and sistra. We see olive sprays, and those often in com-
pany with a ship as if to prove the export of olive oil. Wheat,
saffron, perhaps silphium are there. Ships with a central mast,
high prow and stern and oars, both galleys and ' busses ' seem
to be there. The domestic animals are shown, dogs, horned
sheep, goats, short-horned and long-horned cattle and a
quantity of other objects of whose existence we know but
whose shape we could not tell but for the script.1
The clay seal impressions which were found are roughly
three-sided. They have been pinched round the string with
which the object to be sealed was bound, and often more than
one face is stamped.
Two impressions are of particular interest, for they seem to
represent the first attempt at portraiture. One shows a man
with a big aquiline nose and either a crown or an elaborate
arrangement of hair, the other a boy with a sharp straight nose
and close-cropped curly hair just like the intelligent small boys
you meet in any Greek village.2 It has been suggested that we
have here portraits of a reigning king of Knossos and of his son.
On the same lump of clay which bears the man's head is another
impression consisting of three hieroglyphs, a five-barred gate,
a leg and a sign which may represent the silphium plant. Very
likely this is his name, and it is noteworthy that a magnificent
three-sided bead seal of carnelian bears the same signs, with the
addition of a snake, surrounding a cat sejant gardant3 (Fig. 256).
Other impressions show a hind beside a stream, a wild goat, a
fish and an octopus stranded in a pool and a small boy attending
a ram by a manger.4
The seals themselves are cut in harder stones than those of
M.M.i. Carnelian, agate, rock crystal, chalcedony, and jasper
are common. Favourite shapes are the signet (Fig. 25a),
three- and four-sided bead seals, lentoids, and circular seals
with two sides or with one side only, the back being carved to
1 P. of M., I, Fig. 214. 2 Ibid., Fig. 201.
3 Ibid., Fig. 204a. The other sides also show hieroglyphs, in one
case a very similar group occupying the centre of the field between
palmettes. Is it possible that we have here a trace of the different
official names of the king ? Pharaoh often showed his ' Son of Ra '
name, his King of Upper and Lower Egypt name and his Golden
Horus name on one object.
4 Ibid., Fig. 202.