Mycenaean Rosette-Rodakas - History & Meaning

The rosette (rodakas in Greek) a motif that was widespread throughout Mesopotamia, Egypt and other ancient civilizations appears as well in many ancient Greek-Mycenaean jewels, among its other decorative uses in architecture and pottery from 1500 BC.

Mycenaean rosettes come usually in 6 or 8 or 12 leaves. They were made of gold and were used to decorate cloths for both men and women, sewn directly on them. They were also used in belts or as repeated motifs in necklaces, and as single decorations in earrings and rings.

It is believed that these rosette motifs represent a kind of wild rose, a flower represented in frescoes of this era. Their use in celebration garlands, their presence in rites as offerings in women’s hands and the evidence in the Linear B of Knossos of one “month of the roses” that reflects the idea of a religious celebration, indicate the symbolic meaning of the wild roses and consequently the symbolic meaning of the rosette motif.

(Photo: Ancient gold rosettes - around 1500 BC).