Willdenowia – Annals of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem
ISSN 0511-9618
© 2006 BGBM Berlin-Dahlem.
Baumann, H.: Von Lilienblüten aus minoischer Sicht [Lily flowers in Minoan art].
Willdenowia 36 (Special Issue): 389-395.
doi:10.3372/wi.36.36135
Abstract
The numerous Minoan wall paintings known from excavations in Crete and on Thera, Greece, display a remarkable freshness of approach in their detailed naturalistic portraying of plants. Among the most spectacular is the fresco displaying lily-like flowers in the excavated Room of the Ladies at Akrotiri on Thera (Santorini island), which can be identified as sea daffodils (Pancratium maritimum, Amaryllidaceae). However, the large, crescent-shaped anthers of the flower are represented as standing on the teeth of the corona instead of on slender filaments between the teeth. Seemingly the Aegean artist strived by this arrangement to achieve a better harmony of design, but he thus came to show seven anthers instead of six. The magic attached in the number seven may have played a part. In contrast, in a motive of the sea daffodil on a bronze Mycenaean sword, the number of anthers is six.
Key words:
archaeology, Minoan art, botany, Pancratium, Santorini.