Crete…..and goats….
by Bernie Bell - 09:11 on 04 August 2022
Cretan Memories
One thing so often leads to another – Bartholomew Barker’s ‘Orangery’ poem…. https://bartbarkerpoet.com/2022/08/01/orangery/ reminded me of when I visited Crete and stayed in a small village where orange and lemon trees grew right outside my bedroom window. I’d never seen oranges other than in a shop before……it’s these differences that …make the difference.
The Minoan civilization in Crete was at its height in the Bronze Age, built mainly on trade. It’s likely that the Bronze Age Cretans travelled to and traded with the people of Britain – and Orkney! Shows what a small nation can achieve – Oh, YES.
Likewise, folk may have travelled from Orkney to Crete and exchanged ideas, forms of art and of manufacturing, maybe even styles of fashion in dress and personal adornment. That’s almost impossible to know for sure as textiles from that time have perished but if there was travel and trade, there will have been all kinds of exchanges. It’s a thought.
The Knowes O’ Trotty is a major Orcadian Bronze Age site…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/02/07/the-knowes-and-thens-of-trotty-2/
And now…….my memories of Crete ………
The Gorge of Samaria is a wonder…… https://www.we-love-crete.com/samaria-gorge.html
.....and full of wonders, including big, weird plants which look like they’d eat you………
The Palace of Knossos – the main reason I was visiting Crete….
They were big
They weren’t Grooved
But still merry hell to move…
The big pots…
The big pots….
I can’t help thinking of Structure 12 at the Ness of Brodgar ……. http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=15850 ….
I know – Brodgar is Neolithic, Knossos is Bronze age – are the dividing lines so rigid? And what about all that possible travelling and exchange of ideas and styles? Thinking thinking thinking…..
Painted walls & pillars….
And in Heraklion Archaeological Museum…. https://heraklionmuseum.gr/language/en/home/
The Bull…..
Bull
(Written after reading ‘Skara – The Fourth Wave’ by Andrew Appleby )
Bull – on the walls of caves.
Bull – in His glory at Knossos.
Bull – brought to Britain
In the Mithras cult
From Rome.
Bull – in Alan Garner’s ‘Thursbitch’ –
“Bull can bide, while folk forget.”
Are we remembering?
And Bull – Dances.
BB
PS....
One thing leading to another…again….
Reading about Celine Murphy’s exhibition at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum….. https://heraklionmuseum.gr/language/en/abfutura-contemporary-art-exhibition-by-celine-murphy/, reminded me of exchanges I’ve had about - traces – marks left and how they can be interpreted…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2018/10/18/echoes-shadows-nothing-ceases-to-be/.
And….. https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/07/29/jo-mckenzies-layers-of-colour/
It’s the little things that tell a lot – ask Sherlock Holmes.
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The Gorge of Samaria is home to herds of wild goats, and I was writing this blog when a newsletter arrived from Hillside Animal Sanctuary….. https://www.hillside.org.uk/ …telling a tale of some feral goats from nearer to home.
The Sanctuary was recently asked by Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council if they could give a home to some feral goats which had been living in the ’Valley of Rocks’…… https://www.discoveranimals.co.uk/news/wild-goats-valley-rocks/
After a Billy had been introduced, the herd numbers increased dramatically (surprise surprise!). Thank goodnes, rather than taking the option of euthanizing, the Council asked Hillside for help to reduce numbers.
The Council did a ‘round up’ and 40 goats were safely moved to Hillside where they won’t have quite the same freedom they had in the Valley, but life at Hillside with the other rescued anmals is a very good alternative.
By the way – Hillside vets have given the Billies in the group ‘the op’ – so the same problem shouldn’t arise again!
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Here’s one I made earlier….. https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/07/08/vegeburgers/
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