The Malia Pendant is a gold

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ' ...

found in a tomb in 1930 at Chrysolakkos, Malia,

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...

. It dates to the

Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...

, 1800-1650 BC. The pendant was excavated by the French and first described by

Pierre Demargne Pierre Demargne () (8 February 1903 – 13 December 2000) was a French historian and archaeologist. Biography Pierre Demargne went to school at ''l'École normale supérieure'', where he took and passed the ''agrégation de lettres'' exam. He ...

. The pendant is commonly called "The Bees of Malia." The jewel takes the form of two insects, which are identical (

mirror image A mirror image (in a plane mirror) is a reflected duplication of an object that appears almost identical, but is reversed in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface. As an optical effect it results from reflection off from substances ...

s) joined head-to-head with the tips of their abdomens almost touching in a symmetrical or heraldic arrangement. The insects’ wings spread backwards. From the lower edges of the wings and a point close to the tip of the abdomen dangle three discs. With their legs, the insects are "grasping" a centrally placed circular disc and there is a second, smaller, smooth globule placed above this and between the insects' heads as if they were eating it. The Malia Pendant is on display at the

Heraklion Archaeological Museum The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Heraklion on Crete. It is one of the greatest museums in Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains by far the most important and complete collection of artefacts o ...

, on the island of

in Greece. It is probably the single most famous piece of

Minoan jewellery Minoan art is the art produced by the Bronze Age Aegean civilization, Aegean Minoan civilization from about 3000 to 1100 BC, though the most extensive and finest survivals come from approximately 2300 to 1400 BC. It forms part of the wider grou ...

Identity of the Insects

The insects resemble wasps or bees. The belief that the pendant displays bees is the reason the pendant is also known as the “bee pendant”. One paper states that the insects are not bees, but definitely from the wider grouping of

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typic ...

. It has been proposed that the goldsmith used the mammoth wasp Megascolia maculate as the model. For the three suspending discs, a plant is proposed as the model, and in particular the fruits of Tordylium apulum. Archaeologists point out that

Minoan art Minoan art is the art produced by the Bronze Age Aegean Minoan civilization from about 3000 to 1100 BC, though the most extensive and finest survivals come from approximately 2300 to 1400 BC. It forms part of the wider grouping of Aegean art, ...

often distorts forms for artistic effect. Thematically, the presence of

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primaril ...

is significant, since it was important in Minoan culture.

References

{{Commonscat, The Bees of Malia Crete Heraklion Archaeological Museum Individual pendants Minoan art Ancient art in metal