Haiku in Minoan Linear A: the Prince of Lilies, a rose

Haiku in Minoan Linear A: the Prince of Lilies, a rose:

 

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How beautiful the Prince of Lilies and his consort on the Knossos fresco must have looked!

How beautiful the Prince of Lilies and his consort on the Knossos fresco must have looked!

On the fresco:

In life, ready for marriage to the equally beautiful Princess of Knossos:

As she might have appeared on one of the Knossos frescoes:

And in life:

 

The beautiful “Prince of Lilies” Fresco, Knossos, showing his belt = ZONE

The beautiful “Prince of Lilies” Fresco, Knossos, showing his belt = ZONE:





This stunning fresco from the Late Minoan IIIb Palace at Knossos (ca. 1450 BCE) shows us the famous so-called “Prince of Lilies” wearing his beautiful azure belt.  Note that the supersyllabogram, the single syllabogram ZO, is the first syllable of the Linear B word zone, which is equivalent to its ancient Greek counterpart as illustrated on the tablet and on the fresco. This is the one and only tablet in the entire Linear B repertoire on which this SSYL appears, but I am quite convinced that it means what I take it to mean, i.e. a belt.

The Prince of Lilies (Sonnet) Knossos Fresco 1500 BCE

The Prince of Lilies (Sonnet)

(Knossos Fresco 1500 BCE)

yZn ,<V wanaka kirino #a&nac xri&nwn

Lilies at his feet, lilies in his hands,

the Prince of Lilies casts his sortilège.

proceeds with friends, with loved ones and his bands

of cuirassiers, and their white manège.

His loin cloth purled in alabaster folds,

a lily chaplet crowns his onyx hair,

a peacock feather glistening with golds

and azures in the fragrant air.

In sea green silk soigné for Royalty,

this way he casts and that his princely glance

the bridegroom incarnates for all to see,

before they commence the epipthalamic dance.

To come and wed his modest virgin bride,

her fine illumined grace he’ll take in stride.

Richard Vallance © 2015

Sonnet revised, previously published in

Sonnetto Poesia, ISSN 1705-4524, pg. 15. Vol. 6 No. 2, spring 2007

10 of the Loveliest Frescoes from Knossos (Composite): Choose your Favourite(s)

10 of the Loveliest Frescoes from Knossos (Composite): Choose your Favourite(s)! Click to ENLARGE:


These frescoes are as follows:
[1] The Fresco of the Dolphins in the Queen’s Megaron 
[2] The Spectators Fresco (most likely of the bull leaping contest)
[3] The Octopus Fresco
[4] The Griffin Fresco in the Throne Room of the Queen’s Megaron
[5] The Cup bearers Fresco at the Ceremonial Entrance to the Palace of Knossos
[6] The “Prince of Lilies Fresco”
[7] The “Bluebird Fresco” from the “House of Frescoes” at Knossos
[8] The Bull Fresco on the outer wall of the Bull Portico 
[9] The Fresco often called “Les Parisiennes”
[10] The Spectators Fresco (probably at a dance performance at the theatre of Knossos)

Please note that the originals of all the frescoes at Knossos are now housed in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Those found onsite at Knossos are copies, though splendid ones at that. 

Simply choose your favourite fresco(es), just one (1) if you like, or as many as three (3) and either post your choice(s) in Comments for this post, or if you like, you can send you answer(s) to me at either of my e-mail addresses: vallance22@gmail.com OR vallance22@gmx.com

The addresses are not hot linked here. You will have to copy them into your address book, and then send me your answer(s). The more folks who answer, the merrier. So let’s all have a bit of fun! Once I have all the results in, I shall list your own favourite(s), and mine too, of course! This should be plenty of fun for everyone, and besides, I do wonder how much overlap there is in people’s tastes.

Please do participate! We do not usually get much participation from our followers, so now is your chance to rectify the situation. Once we have all the results in, I shall repost all 10 frescoes in a slide show.

Best,    

Richard