Understanding Relations Between Scripts Understanding Relations Between Scripts The Aegean Writing Systems edited by Philippa M. Steele Oxford & Philadelphia Published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by OXBOW BOOKS The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE and in the United States by OXBOW BOOKS 1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083 © Oxbow Books and the individual contributors 2017 Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-644-8 Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-645-5 (epub) A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Steele, Philippa M., editor. Title: Understanding relations between scripts : the Aegean writing systems / edited by Philippa M. Steele. Description: Oxford ; Philadelphia : Oxbow Books, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2017015744 (print) | LCCN 2017019903 (ebook) | ISBN 9781785706455 (epub) | ISBN 9781785706462 (mobi) | ISBN 9781785706479 (pdf) | ISBN 9781785706448 (pb) Subjects: LCSH: Inscriptions, Linear B. | Inscriptions, Cypro-Minoan. | Inscriptions, Linear A. | Writing--Aegean Sea Region. Classification: LCC P1035 (ebook) | LCC P1035 .U53 2017 (print) | DDC 487/.1--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017015744 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing. Printed in Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd For a complete list of Oxbow titles, please contact: UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Oxbow Books Oxbow Books Telephone (01865) 241249, Fax (01865) 794449 Telephone (800) 791-9354, Fax (610) 853-9146 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] www.oxbowbooks.com www.casemateacademic.com/oxbow Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate Group Front cover image: Linear B tablet. Photograph courtesy of Silvia Ferrara. Back cover: Cypro-Minoan tablet. Photograph courtesy of Silvia Ferrara. To the memory of our dear friend, Anna Morpurgo Davies The conference attendants, taken at the dinner in the Parlour Room, Magdalene College. Photo by James Bowe. Cake depicting the early Cypro-Minoan inscription ##001 ENKO Atab 001, made by Anna Judson. Photo by Anna Judson. Contents List of fi gures ..........................................................................................................................ix Preface ...................................................................................................................................xii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................xiv 1. Introduction: The Aegean writing systems ...................................................................1 Philippa M. Steele 2. Another beginning’s end: Secondary script formation in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean ......................................................................................7 Silvia Ferrara 3. Cretan ‘Hieroglyphic’ and the nature of script ..........................................................33 Roeland P.-J.E. Decorte 4. Linear B script and Linear B administrative system – diff erent patterns in their development ......................................................................................................57 Helena Tomas 5. Reconstructing the matrix of the ‘Mycenaean’ literate administrations ..............69 Vassilis Petrakis 6. From Linear B to Linear A: The problem of the backward projection of sound values .................................................................................................................93 Philippa M. Steele and Torsten Meißner 7. Processes of script adaptation and creation in Linear B: The evidence of the ‘extra’ signs .........................................................................................................111 Anna P. Judson 8. Script comparison in the investigation of Cypro-Minoan ......................................127 Miguel Valér io viii Contents 9. Is there anything like a Cypro-Minoan 3 script? ...................................................162 Yves Duhoux 10. Script and language on Cyprus during the Geometric Period: An overview on the occasion of two new inscriptions .........................................180 Markus Egetmeyer Bibliography .........................................................................................................................202 List of fi gures Figure 3.1 CHIC #256/CMS VI,95a-c. Evans’ ‘keeper of the swine’. Figure 3.2 CHIC #262/CMS XII,117. Face a-b with supposed formulae 036- 092-031 󲀟󲀯󲄔 and 038-010-031 󲁅󲃱󲄔. Figure 3.3 Instances of 044-005 󲀜󲀅 with recurring CHIC signs. Figure 3.4 Instances of just 044-005 󲀜󲀅 and 044-049 󲀜󲄴 on a single seal- face according to CHIC. Figure 3.5 CHIC #56. Figure 3.6 Selected instances of 044-005 󲀜󲀅 with recurring Jasink signs. Figure 3.7 Left: CHIC #300c/CMS X,52c. Right: CHIC #131/CMS II.6,179. Figure 3.8 CHIC #309a. Figure 3.9 Impressions and drawings of #308g-d in CHIC. Image courtesy of J.-P. Olivier and L. Godart. Figure 3.10 All instances of 044 󲀜 on clay documents in CHIC. Figure 3.11 Phonetic complementation in Mayan: ‘jaguar’ in logographic, phonetic and phonetically complemented logographic form. Figure 3.12 The royal name Yaxun Balam or ‘Bird-Jaguar’ on Yaxchilan lintel 43 and lintel 30 and further examples of preposed, postposed and full phonetic complementation in iterations of the word WAY ‘spirit/co-essence’, and MUYAL ‘cloud’. Figure 3.13 Left: opening lines of the famous law code of Hammurabi. Right: ‘dingir’ in art, accompanying a ewe suckling a lamb on a 13th century BC cylinder from Ashur. Figure 3.14 Elements signifying ‘night animals’, human body parts, and the ‘syllabic doubling sign’ accompanying the word ‘ka-wa’. Figure 3.15 Possible ligatures in sealings found on the Knossos crescent nodules. Figure 3.16 Tentative identifi cation of script values in fi gurative sealing CMS II.8,195. Figures 3.17 and 3.18 CHIC #207b/CMS II.1,420b and CHIC#274a/CMS XII,105a. Figure 3.19 Row 1: CHIC #298d/CMS XI,14b; CHIC #298b/CMS XI,14d; CHIC #147/ CMS II.8,88. Row 2: CHIC #268a/CMS III,229a; CHIC #309b; CHIC #309g. Row 3: CHIC #268b/CMS III,229b; CHIC #161/CMS II.8,83. Figure 5.1 The three-sided bar from the Knossos ‘Hieroglyphic Deposit’ KN Hg 01 = CHIC #048; and the three-sided bar MA 2 from the Malia ‘Dépôt Hiéroglyphique’.