Hi Folks
Whilst trolling the Internet looking for Linear A and Semitic
languages I came on the following from Virginia Hicks. It seems to
suggest that Linear A was a very early form of Indo-European existing
mid-way between Greek and Anatolian.
"For instance, his [i.e. Bernal's] theory about Athena=Neit sounds
good until it is recognized that Athena shows up in the Linear A
tablets written by the Minoans. She shows either as A-ta-no-dju-wa-ja
(nominative) or A-ta-no-dju-wa-e (vocative). Not too surprisingly for
a people who Lucy Goodison showed conclusively have a sun goddess,
her name transparently means sun (atano- cf Luwian astanus) goddess
(djuwaja, cf Mycenaean and later Greek diwia). (In case there is a
question about sign #88 = dju, some of the Linear A name lists
alternate forms of the same name Te-tu and Te-dju.)
I don't want to sound totally unsympathetic to Cyrus Gordon, Martin
Bernal and others who have tried to find a Semitic language on Crete
at that early time. Gordon recognized that the Bible (Amos 9:7, for
instance) says the Philistines were descended from the Minoans, and
then made a wrong turn in assuming the Philistines started out
speaking a Semitic language. Since later studies have shown that the
Philistine language must have been Indo-European, then Bernal takes
another wrong turn and assumes that the Minoans spoke a Semitic
language, and the Philistines must have been Greek. (Never mind that
the Philistine name Padi shows up in the Linear A tablets in a
recognizable dative form (Pa-de), whereas when the same name shows up
in Linear B it is spelled differently on each of the 3 occasions
where it occurs (and it refers to someone at Knossos, I believe)).
The Philistine name Ikausu shows up in Linear A (I-ku-su) and not at
all in Linear B....
The Minoan language seems to be about mid-way between Hittite and
Luwian, on the one hand, and Greek on the other. Such inscriptions as
to-sa pu-re-ja (so much tribute, or so many contributions) on an
altar inscribed centuries before the Greeks showed up on Crete are
startling. Then, just when it is safe to assume the language is
related to Greek, then an inscription appears, like Si-ma i-ja-t(e),
Sima made the pot the inscription was written on. The language seems
to show gender much like early Greek, with feminine nouns (and neuter
plurals?) ending in a, masculine ending in u or o. The verbs, even
when they are based on Greek roots, often take Hittite endings. The
mix appears most clearly in the late writing on the Psychro stone -
epioi zetante Inete par Siphai (these words were taught (cf dateomai)
to Ineti by Sipha. Epioi is most closely related to epeos (Greek).
Then the ending -ante on the verb looks too close to -anda endings in
Hittite. Ineti wrote his name in the late Minoan script under his
words - I-ne-ti, so Inete must be the dative expected to follow a
passive verb. Par is a perfectly good Indo-European preposition which
occurs also in Linear A (pa-r(a) Tu-ru-nu-i-me).
Incidentally, the Philistine word for "helmet" shows up in the Hebrew
as qoba - related to Hittite kupahhi."
Also of relevance is her article
Minoan Origins of Athena
By
Virginia Hicks
B.A. (Class.)
Because of the purely accounting nature of the Linear B inscriptions
that have come down to the present, it is necessary to go to the
Minoan inscriptions of earlier centuries in order to understand the
Minoan elements which the Mycenaeans adopted and handed down, however
changed, to the later Greeks. The Mycenaeans already worshiped Zeus,
Apollo and other gods of their own, as evidenced in several Linear B
tablets. However, they also adopted the main goddess of the Minoan
pantheon.
A-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja (Mistress Athena) is referred to in the Knossos
Linear B text V 2, cited by John Chadwick (Chadwick 1976; p. 88).
(The full text refers to Athena, Enualios which is perhaps an early
name for Ares, Paiawon which is perhaps an alternative name for
Apollo,, and Poseidon.) This is the Mycenaean attempt to translate
the name of the Minoan goddess, A-ta-no-dju-wa-ja. This name means
Sun Goddess - the prefix atano is related to Luwian astanus = sun,
and the final part is the Minoan spelling of what we know from Greek
as Diwia (Mycenaean di-u-ja or di-wi-ja). The Mycenaeans even kept
the Minoan word order at this early time; by the time of Homer, the
name was Hellenized further, to Potni= Athenaie.
Concerning the connection she noted between the Minoans, worship and
the sun, Lucy Goodison writes:
Thus, a closer look at early Cretan art suggests that the sun may
have been one of the most common symbols. Many sun-like designs
appear on seals (including motifs like the swastika which were used
in other cultures to represent the sun) but scholars have been
reluctant to connect these designs in any way with the sun. One
problem is that it is hard to be sure which circular and radiant
designs were actually intended to represent the sun, but we can get
an idea from comparisons with contemporary Egyptian and Near Eastern
solar symbols - which the Cretans knew - and from later Aegean
pictures of the sun and moon together.
In several instances in the early Cretan material the sun appears to
be playing a part in a cult scene, and in almost every case it is
linked with a woman or women. In one seal engraving two women appear
to be dancing to the sun.... An interesting clue is that the position
of the arms on this seal is identical to the contemporary Egyptian
gesture of sun worship. In his huge book, The Palace of Minos, the
archaeologist Arthur Evans actually described Figure 4 as depicting
>long-robed women...adoring a rayed solar symbol,= but he never
incorporated such activities into his explanation of Cretan religion
as a whole. (Goodison 1972; pp. 2)
To further show the connection in the Aegean of the Early Minoan
period between the female, the sun and the holy, Lucy Goodison
describes the so-called frying-pan objects, mostly found in the
Cyclades, a neighboring culture that at times influenced and at times
was influenced by the Minoans:
They are made of stone or pottery and are shaped something like
frying-pans with a very short handle, although they certainly were
not used for frying. Their weight and shape would make them unwieldy
for daily use. They are found mainly in graves, and a number of
ritual uses have been suggested for them.... Whatever their use, a
study of the decoration on the outside of these mysterious objects
reveals a tell-tale feature: just above the handle can often be seen
a clear delineation of the female public triangle. And on the belly
of the vessel in several cases there is a clearly depicted sun.
(Goodison 1992; pp. 302-3)
This connection between female reproductivity and the sun is
recognized most clearly in the person of the Minoan Athena herself,
who may well be represented by all of these frying pans, in her
duties as Kore, mistress of the Underworld, attested as A-ta-no-dju-
de-ka on Za Z3, dekan being cognate with Hittite tekan (earth).
Another name of the main Minoan goddess is A-sa-sa-ra-me (or Ja-sa-sa-
ra-me), my Lady (-me is an enclitic pronoun). The connection between
Jasasarame and the Hittite term ishasarasmis was pointed out by
Leonard R. Palmer (Palmer 1965; pp. 334-5). In an inscription found
at Palaikastro [PK Za11] the goddess is addressed in both ways, as
Atanodjuwae (vocative) and Asasarame - as Athena and as the Lady, for
which Potnia is the Mycenaean translation.
The Hittites also worshiped just such a duo, the Sun Goddess of
Arinna / Sun Goddess of the Earth. The original name for the Hittite
city Adana - Ataniya, or, in the Minoan version A-ta-nu-wi-ja-wa (on
HT Z159, a vessel fragment), also appears to be connected. A-ta-nu-wi-
ja-wa means the city of Adana, or the city of the sun - the ending wa
means city in either Minoan or Hittite.
In several Minoan religious inscriptions, Athena appears to be
bemoaning her separation from another goddess, Ida. This story lives
on in the myths about Demeter and Persephone (also known as Kore).
The gods assemble, just as they do in Homer; but there are Minoan
elements here which may have been believed by the Mycenaeans but were
lost to posterity. Ida herself - Ida Mate(r) - was taken into Greek
as Damater, later Demeter. (Since Greek tends to place the accent
near or at the end of words, and the Greeks who borrowed Ida Mate(r)
may have been no more aware of her origins than were those who
borrowed Atano-djuwaja and lost the sun goddess connection, it makes
sense for the name of the goddess to undergo further linguistic
changes as a unit, not as the sum of its parts.)
Another myth (Grant and Hazel, 1993, p. 281) involves Poseidon,
who "also took Demeter in the form of a horse, since she, to avoid
him, had become a mare (perhaps she was his original consort, as the
relationship between their names suggests), and she bore him the
divine horse Arion and a daughter Despoina." Poseidon is a compound
name, the first part (from posis) meaning husband, the second part
apparently referring to the goddess Ida, who became Demeter. This
myth is a remnant of the original mythology behind Demeter and
Poseidon, even going so far as to list Athena by a Greek translation
of her original title, Jasasara, the Lady.
Incidentally, John Chadwick mentions that in later times, there was a
district outside of Thebes that was known as Potniai, "Ladies." In
the classical period, this was understood to refer to Demeter and
Persephone. Perhaps it is an echo of the confusion Chadwick found in
the Linear B tablets, where he shows on the one hand that Potnia
usually refers to the "Earth Mother," later known as Demeter - and
yet often refers to Athena as well (Chadwick, 1976; p. 93).
John Chadwick also notes a connection between Athena and Hephaistos:
One of the interesting features of Mycenaean Potnia is that an
adjective derived from her name is used to describe flocks of sheep
at Knossos, and bronzesmiths at Pylos. The sheep were doubtless
assigned to the goddess to provide an income for her shrines and
attendants. But the association with smiths requires comment. In this
aspect Potnia is probably the predecessor of Athena, though
Hephaistos too can claim a share as the smith of the gods. (Chadwick,
1976; p. 93)
A hint of the original version of the Persephone - Hades story
appears in the myth of Athena and Hephaistos. As told by Walter
Burkert, "Hephaistos, the violent obstetrician, demanded to deflower
the virgin whom he had brought into the world [by splitting the head
of Zeus with an axe] and pursued her, spilling his semen on her
thigh; she wiped it off and threw it on the earth: thereupon the
earth gave birth to the boy Erichthonios - Erechtheus whom Athena
brought up in her temple." (Burkert , 1985; p 143) It would appear
from the Minoan inscriptions that originally, Hephaistos was far more
successful.
Along with remnants of their stories in later Greek mythology, the
Minoans left posterity with several inscriptions which refer to
Athena or Demeter, or both at the same time. These amount to a high
percentage of the Linear A religious inscriptions - no other goddess
is referred to as often as either of them. Representative
inscriptions are included here, to show Athena=s importance and some
of the related mythology.
The inscription PK Za11 is incomplete; what we have of it reads:
Atanodjuwae adikitet(e)[...] O, Sun Goddess, you were wronged (cf.
Greek adikeo)
piteri akoane You are persuaded by the assembly (for
piteri, cf. peitho; for
akoane, cf. agon)
Asasarame unarukanati My Lady, you appear in a dream....
(Unarukanati, perhaps better
written unargnati, appears related to
onar = dream and gignomai=
to be born or appear)
A-di-ki-te-t(e) alternates with a present form, a-dju-ki-ta-a (TY
Zb4).
Athena is also mentioned in an inscription from Kophinas (KO Za1):
line 1: A-ta-no-dju-wa-ja tu-ru-sa du-ra2-re I-da-a
line 2: u-na-ka-na-si I-pi-na-ma si-ru-te
(Athena, distressed, lamented and Ida
appeared in [her] dream; the [one of] strong name tore her hair.)
tu-ru-sa: cf. truo
du-ra2-re: third singular past medio-passive, cf. duromai
-a: cf. Hittite enclitic "and"
u-na-ka-na-si: unarkanasi - third singular past medio-passive
(alternate conjugation)
I-pi-na-ma: cf. Iphi - nama
si-ru-te: cf. tillo (note s in place of t, just as in
unarkanasi, where Hittite
has -ti in a parallel place; e.g. esati As/he
sat@). Another possible
relationship could be with siloo, to mock, if
this is taken to mean that
she was so upset she mocked her mother=s
attempt to comfort - or even
find - her.
Two axes from Arkalokhori (AR Zf1 and AR Zf2) are inscribed I-da ma-
te - mother Ida.
Another inscription is PR Za1 (Praisos) (on a libation table):
Ta-na-su te-ke Se-to-i-ja A-sa-sa-ra-me
Tanasu established (this libation table) at Setoia, o my Lady.
Te-ke - same as in Linear B - surprised me as being entirely too
Greek. More often, Minoan
verbs follow the more expected Hittite form.
KN Zc7 (a magic cup) is inscribed:
a-ka-nu-we-e du-ra2-re a-do-ra
Ja-sa-sa-ra a-na-ne wi-..[
Unperceived, you lamented, without gifts.
The Lady established....
a-ka-nu-we-e: cf. agnoeo, agnos, - note the -e ending for the
vocative case.
a-na-ne: cf. ananesai [=katastesai(Hsch.)]
This last fragment could almost as easily have applied to
Persephone=s time in the Underworld, in between the time when Hades
kidnapped her and the time when she was finally located by her mother.
The Minoan Athena is referred to in various inscriptions as I-na-ja
Pa-qa, meaning strong goddess; inaja is related to Luwian enaja (or
Hurrian eni) and paqa is later Greek pege. Her sign is the double
axe - so much so that that sign is used to denote the letter "A,"
even though her designation by the Mycenaeans as da-pu2-ri-to-jo
Potnia (the Lady of the Labyrinth, or the Lady of the Double-Axe)
points to a word for double axe that has a cognate in later Greek
labrys. As W.K.C. Guthrie notes, "Nilsson sees her in a painting from
Mycenae representing a goddess carrying a shield." (Guthrie, 1950: p.
106) These warlike attributes stay with Athena throughout her
existence.
Other evidence of continuity between Mycenaean/Minoan and later
worship of Athena comes from a Minoan description as o-su-qa-re,
related to her festival, Skira, or the vine branches or oschai which
were waved by young men during that festival. The inscription on a
stone ladle from Troullos, TL Za1, reads in part:
A-ta-no-dju-wa-ja o-su-qa-re Ja-sa-sa-ra-me u-na-ka [faded] na-ma si-
ru[...]
The sun goddess [of the Skira?], the Lady [appeared in ] a dream....
R.F. Willett describes the following religious scenes involving
branches of sacred trees:
On a bronze signet from Knossos a goddess stands outside a shrine or
enclosure of squared masonry with a sacred tree in or behind it. A
female attendant seems to have climbed the wall of the enclosure and
is pulling down a bough of the tree. Behind the goddess, stooping as
if in sorrow, is an object shaped like a jar of the sort used for
burials in many parts of Crete during the Middle Minoan period from
c. 2000 BC onward. A gold signet ring of similar theme from a tomb at
Arkhanes shows a goddess in the middle with an elaborately flounced
dress. A man on the right attacks a tree in or behind a shrine.
Another man on the left clasps an object like a large storage jar
upside down in the way that burial jars were often set in tombs. The
question is whether such scenes represent a rite or mourning for a
dead god, while a search is made for a magic bough or fruit to
restore him to life. (Willetts, 1995; p. 117)
This is a depiction of mourning, but not for a dead god - for a dead
goddess. The inscriptions tell an important part of this story.
R.F. Willetts goes on to tell of other attributes of the Minoan
goddess in the art of the period, not separating out Ida or Athena,
or other incarnations:
She is represented with animals, birds and snakes, with the baetylic
pillar and sacred trees, with poppies and lillies, with swords and
double-axes. Huntress and goddess of sports, armed or presiding over
ritual dancing, with the apparent dominion over mountain, sky, earth
and sea, over life and death, she is at once a household-goddess, a
palace goddess, vegetation and fertility goddess, a Mother and a
Maid. (Willetts, 1995; p. 121)
Later, Athena was so closely interwoven with Greek civilization and
worship that her Minoan roots were lost to memory. She had a new
pedigree - coming from the forehead of Zeus, without a mother - to
fit her into the new pantheon. Yet her Minoan attributes of bird,
snake and sacred tree remain. Her "constant companion was the snake
and [she] had her sacred olive-tree on the Acropolis which was burned
down by the Persians and grew again in a single night." (Guthrie,
1950; p. 106-7) Her owl also was firmly associated with her - perhaps
a local bird to replace the doves of Crete. Athena, however changed,
retained evidence of her Minoan origins.
Appendix A
Further Information on the Minoan Language
As shown comprehensively by David W. Packard in Minoan Linear A
(1974), the Linear A syllables can be read sensibly with linear B
values. Two values he does not include are L 85 = dja, and L 88 =
dju. Evidence for L 85 includes the alternation between da-s-85 (Ht
13, 85, 99, 122) and da-si-di-ja (HT 126), both referring to the same
town. Evidence for L 88 = dju includes the alternation between Te-tu
(HT 7, 13 and 85) and Te-88 (HT 8, 98). The man=s name Te-tu recurs
with a form of the name Te-ki, whether or not the former is spelled
with L 88.
L.R. Palmer, following the hypothesis that Linear A words could be
read using Linear B sign values, showed in 1965 that some phrases
could be understood if seen to be related to the Luwian language of
Asia Minor. Besides his figuring out of Athena=s title Jasasarame, he
also partially translated the libation table inscription, KN Za 10:
Ta-nu-a-ti ja-sa-sa-ra-ma / na da-wa-a- du-wa-na i-ja
According to Palmer, ta-nu-a-ti is the third person singular of the
Luwian verb tanu-, meaning, "he erects." Ja-sa-sa-ra-ma is dative,
paralleling the Old Hittite dative ishasara-ma. Na is the negative
imperative in Luwian. (Palmer, 1965; p. 334-5) He had some difficulty
with the rest of the second line, which reads as follows:
Do not take (na dawa-a, negative imperative) the offerings (du-wa-na,
which as Palmer noted is related to Hittite duwa- or Luwian tuwa-, to
put) from here (i-ja, recognized by Palmer as a probable adverb based
on the demonstrative pronoun stem i-).
In the Minoan Linear A tablets, there are loan words from different
languages: for instance, the abbreviation te, commonly used on the
tablets, has convincingly been shown by Jan Best and Fred Woudhuizen
to be an abbreviation of an expression telu which appears to be
related to an Assyrian word meaning delivery. (Best and Woudhuizen,
1988; p. 24) These help to make sense of the inscriptions. It is also
possible to tell approximately what should be on many tablets from
context - like commodity signs that are shared with Linear B, or
words such as ru-ja (pomegranates - KN W 26), ka-pa (olives - HT 6
etc.) and ma-lu (wool - HT 117) which are shared with Mycenaean or
later Greek.
There is also evidence of inflection (nominative, genitive, dative
and vocative), as follows:
nom. (masculine) Dataro Saro Ineti (from the
Psychro Stone)
genitive Datara Sara2
dative Datare Saru Enete (in Greek
letters from same)
nom. (feminine) Atanodjuwaja Sima
vocative Atanodjuwae
The genitive is somewhat harder to attest than the dative - many
tablets take the form of commodity delivered to X x amount, to Y y
amount, etc. Sometimes I have found a form AX=s commodity@ - as in
kapa Datara, Dataro=s olives, or kapa Sara2, Saro=s olives.
The evidence I have found for verb endings includes:
present active: medio-passive:
3 per. -ati -ri, -ati, -ta-a (TY Zb4: adikita-a_
past active: medio-passive:
2 pers. -re
3 pers. -t(e), -e -tet(e), -re, -asi
Words like kapa and ruja made me realize that there was a possibility
that parts of the vocabulary were shared between Minoan and Greek.
However, I have tried my best to analyze the tablets and inscriptions
rather than try to force any one previously attested language into
them. This has paid off, because for every inscription like tosa
pureja (inscribed on a libation table or altar, PK Za16) - so many
things brought, or offerings? - which is readable to those who know
Greek (in spite of the u where a Greek student would expect an o),
there are others like Sima ijat(e) = Sima made (the pithos she
signed, PH Z4), that show a relationship to Hittite that is muted in
Mycenaean and later Greek.
I have found it necessary to try to reconstruct a language which is
related to both Greek and Hittite (and also Luwian) - with some help
from loan words which show up in my Liddell and Scott=s as Cretan,
attested by Hesychius. I believe others have been stymied because
they looked for connections to one language alone, and ignored other
evidence.
Bibliography
Best, Jan and Fred Woudhuizen. Ancient Scripts from Crete and Cyprus.
Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1988.
Burkert, Walter; John Raffan trans. Greek Religion. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press. 1985.
Chadwick, John. Linear B and Related Scripts. Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press. 1987.
Chadwick, John. The Mycenaean World. Cambridge: University of
Cambridge Press. 1976.
Godart, Louis and Jean-Pierre Olivier. Recueil des Inscriptions en
Lineaire A. Vols. 1, 4, 5. Paris: Paul Geuthner. 1976, 1982, 1985.
Goodison, Lucy. Moving Heaven and Earth - Sexuality, Spirituality and
Social Change. London: Pandora Press. 1992.
Grant, Michael and John Hazel. Who=s Who in Classical Mythology. New
York: Oxford University Press. 1993.
Guthrie, W.K.C. The Greeks and Their Gods. Boston: Beacon Press. 1950.
Gurney, O.R. The Hittites. London: Penguin Books. 1990.
Packard, David W. Minoan Linear A. Berkeley and Los Angeles:
University of California Press. 1974.
Palmer, L.R. Mycenaeans and Minoans. Second ed. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf. 1965.
Willett, R.F. The Civilization of Ancient Crete. New York: Barns and
Noble. 1995.
Revision of a paper presented at the April 2-4 (1998) conference on
Athena in the Classical World, at Lincoln College, Oxford University.
Comments anyone?
Regards
John