Byssus

The Griffin Warrior Ring No. 2 is a gold Minoan-style engraved signet ring from Pylos dating to the Late Helladic IIA (1580–1490 BCE). The ring’s bezel depicts a seascape with a columnar tree shrine flanked by palm trees situated on a rocky outcrop. Five elaborately dressed female figures stand on either side of the shrine. The tree shrine features a net pattern in the space between its stone or brick piers. It is proposed that this represents a fishing net and that the structure is a sea altar dedicated to an unnamed Minoan tree goddess. The ring’s hoop is decorated with cockle shells, further emphasising its marine theme. It will be argued that the iconography alludes to marine food resources, practical and luxury textile fibres, sea trade, transculturality and cult, and is testament to the importance of the sea in the Aegean Bronze Age.

summAry: Fabrics such as byssus and crimson wool can provide us with a surprisingly large amount of information about the circumstances of Biblical books origin. Analysis of lexis related to mentioned textiles, present in Exodus and in Chronicles, allows to notice a meaningful change, occurring in technical biblical terminology. In Exodus, byssus is represented by ‫ׁש‬ ֵ ‫ׁש‬ and crimson – by ‫ִי‬ ‫נ‬ ָ ‫ׁש‬ ‫ַת‬ ‫ַע‬ ‫,ּתֹול‬ whilst in Chronicles naming is changed respectively to ‫ּבּוץ‬ and ‫יל‬ ִ ‫מ‬ ְ‫ַר‬ ‫.ּכ‬ Analysis of etymology leads to the conclusion, that textiles mentioned in Torah belong to an early vocabulary, created in the times before the exile, in Chronicles, on the other hand, encountered terms belong to period of Babylonian captivity or after the exile. Confrontation of these textiles with the other, non-biblical sources, provides a confirmation of proposed dating and facilitates identification of mysterious biblical byssus, which turns out to be a very thin linen and not – as sometimes confused – sea silk. Juxtaposition of the Greek equivalents allows to draw a conclusion, that terminology of both Torah and Chronicles was known to the LXX translators, who – despite a clear caesura – translate terms consequently: ‫ׁש‬ ֵ ‫ׁש‬ and ‫ּבּוץ‬ to βύσσος/βύσσινος, and ‫ִי‬ ‫נ‬ ָ ‫ׁש‬ ‫ַת‬ ‫ַע‬ ‫ּתֹול‬ and ‫יל‬ ִ ‫מ‬ ְ‫ַר‬ ‫ּכ‬ to κόκκινος. T he research on the Biblical material culture constitutes mainly the archeological domain. The Biblicists reach for it readily in order to come to conclusions as regards the text. What is of a popular interest here is mainly sculpture, glyptic, writing culture and architecture. It is rare for the research to focus on the more prosaic elements of everyday life, such as wine, food or textile production. As far as the last case goes, the most numerous are the studies regarding purple. It is one of many fabrics (we are considering here not the color but the wool dyed

Les traducteurs confondent le lin fin et le byssus, une fibre précieuse utilisée dans l'Antiquité.  Pourtant l'auteur de l'Apocalypse a pris le soin de placer le byssus entre deux autres produits de la mer, les perles et la pourpre, pour être sûr d’éviter la confusion avec d’autres matières textiles.
La pourpre de Tyr, aussi appelée pourpre impériale, est une teinture rouge violacée créée par les Phéniciens. Tyr (dans l'actuel Liban) était un site très ancien de production de la pourpre, produite à partir d’un coquillage, le murex, massivement récolté dans l’Antiquité pour son extraction.

The Griffin Warrior Ring No. 2 is one of four gold Minoan-style engraved signet rings recently discovered in a large stone-built tomb of Late Helladic IIA date (1580–1490 BCE) near Tholos Tomb IV, at the Palace of Nestor, Pylos. The image on the ring’s bezel depicts a seascape with a columnar tree shrine flanked by palm trees situated on a rocky outcrop. Five female figures wearing elaborate garments stand on either side of the shrine on a sandy beach, below which is the familiar Minoan pattern indicating the sea. Rocks appear at the top of the image, suggesting a rocky landscape or even an island. The ring’s hoop is decorated with cockle shells, further emphasising its marine theme. The tree shrine features a net pattern in the space between its stone or brick piers, a motif that is unprecedented in the depiction of cult structures in Minoan art. It is proposed that this represents a fishing net draped over the shrine, and that the structure is a sea altar dedicated to an unnamed Minoan tree goddess akin to the Levantine Asherah, a deity who had power over vegetation, the sea, and textiles. The ring will be discussed in conjunction with two gold rings with embossed bezels: one from Crete decorated with cockle shells and rocks from the Áyios Charalambos Cave; and the other ornamented with mussels or Pinna shells from the Aidonia cemetery on the Greek mainland. That cockle shells had cultic associations is evident from their presence in the Temple Repositories assemblage at the Palace of Knossos, while Pinna shells are the source of Byssus or sea-silk used for luxury textiles. Both types of bivalve were also eaten. The iconography on the Griffin Warrior Ring No. 2, with its allusions to marine food resources, practical and luxury textile fibres, sea trade, transculturality and cult, is testament to the importance of the sea in the Aegean Bronze Age.