"ivanovas/milatos" <
ivanova-@...> wrote:
original article:
http://www.egroups.com/group/cybalist/?start=391
> Hello,
> it seems we need some more archaeological facts to discuss this
subject!
> Let me give you some material:
> Proto-Canaanite, also known as Proto-Sinaitic, was the first
consonantal alphabet. Even a quick and cursory glance at its inventory
of signs makes it very apparent of this script's Egyptian origin. It is
thought that at round 1700 BC, Sinai was conquered by Egypt (for its
turquoise mines and trade routes). Egyptian influence must have poured
into the local West-Semitic speaking population, who, among other
things, adopted a small number of hieroglyphic signs (probably no more
than 22) to write down their language.
>
> from: http://alumni.eecs.berkeley.edu/~lorentz/Ancient_Scripts where
you'll find more( information, scipts, figures)
>
> Now as for other languages in this region, think about the following:
the oldest inscriptions in ancient Greek(alphabetic) are from the 8th
century, as far as I know. Before that were the Linear B writings in
Mycenean Greek that stopped around the middle of the 13th century all
over (Greek mainland, Crete, wherever). Until recently scholars
believed that Lin.B had developed in Crete from the writing system of
the Minoans, Lin.A (writing system not yet deciphered, but probably
phonetically roughly similar with Lin. B, language unknown - best
chances it is somehow related with later Luwian and - closer - with
even later Lycian). Some years now it looks as though Lin. B may have
developed - still on the basis of Lin. A, may be even by Minoan scribes
- not in Crete but in the 'Eastern Aegean': one Lin. B (!) inscription
dating back to the Middle Helladic period (17th cent., Kafkania,
Northern Peloponnese), together with some findings of inscriptions in
the Levant (Tel Haror, Tel Lachish) first thought to be Lin. A (because
of their age) with closer inspection may turn out to be an
'extra-Cretan' form of Lin. B, possibly used for 'General
Understanding' in the eastern Aegean (?). There may have been something
like a 'Cretan Koine', too, but that wouldn't explain the differences
in spelling (all these 'non-Cretan' and 'non-Mycenaean' inscriptions
consist unfortunately only of a few signs...)
>
> But: There are other Lin. A inscriptions outside Crete (few), one of
them in Miletus, dating to LM I B, made of local clay - that means: not
imported from Crete. So in the Cretan dominated Miletus (talking about
architecture and pottery) of the 14th cent. someone also spoke (or at
least wrote) the Cretan language. The Lachish inscription goes back to
the time of LM III B (Ramses III reigned at that time in Egypt, ring a
bell?).
>
> There was only LM III C and the Minoans vanished, leaving some
desperate sites far up on mountain peaks with very basic pottery and
figurines and no writing any more.
>
> Next we know there are early Archaic Cretan bilinguals (from Dreros,
an originally Doric city state), originally supposed to be Greek and
'Eteocretan' (a language supposed to be Phoenician by Herodotus) that
turned out to be Greek and some kind of late West-Semitic. Strange,
they reminded me of modern Cretan street signs Greek/English! (meaning:
cave, a second language doesn't necessarily mean a second people
inhabiting the region!)
>
> So to me it seems the Cretans may have influenced Canaan
artistically, may be even mythically (lots of parallels between Minoan
and early Judaic motives, as far as I can see), but the more powerful
language in the Eastern Aegean, may be even from the beginning of the
Iron Age, seems to have been Semitic (cf. also the early Semitic
language of Ugarit before).
>
> So if the Cretans were among the sea peoples, they were not on the
winning side!(same for the Mycenaeans who vanished from Greek maps
about that time and left the country without writing for centuries...
>
> This is about as much as I can say to the subject. For more
information on the above mentioned, see: M. Finkelberg: Bronze Age
Writing, Contacts between East and West, in: Aegeum 18/1998 (The Aegean
and the Orient in the Second Millenium).
>
> Best wishes from Crete, where everybody speaks Cretan (a kind of
Greek :-)) at the moment..
>
> Sabine.
>
You surely know that the Lycians are probably mentioned (as Luka or
however the hieroglyphic name should be vocalised) in the Egyptian
inventories of the Sea Peoples (I find this name rather clumsy,
especially if I need to use it adjectivally; shouldn't we call them
'Seafolk' or 'Thalassans' instead?). Like the Carians and Cilicians
(presumably also Anatolian-speaking ethnoi) they were good sailors and
notorious pirates. Perhaps the fellow in the feather-crowned hedgear on
the Phaistos Disk represents the syllable LU ;-).
Piotr