Responding to several of Sabine's messages, on the Labyrinth in general and
specific to the Etruscan vase art.
Sabine:
>I believe everybody seriously researching into historical linguistics in
the >field of early developments and migration-theories ought to have a look
at >the time-range and spread of labyrinths as artifacts and as linguistic
>reality.
Rex: I agree completely.
(Minoan Storehouse=Beehive=Labyrinth=Wealth=Status) as the meaning
of the symbology transferred from the Minoan to later
Achaean/Mycenean/Aegean cultures, and then wider adaptations.
The wealth side of it can not be overlooked..."labyrinthus" survives via
Latin into modern Spanish law..referring to estate and bankruptcy law
(wealth dispersal).
Sabine:
> A very interesting article in the IE (and possibly Anatolian, which I
would
> like to translate here as Pelasgian, which I believe early Cretan must
have
> been, too) origins of the word is by M. Guidi, Greco LABURINTHOS : Note >
di Linguistica Mediterranea. In: Minos XV-XVI, 1990/91 (in Italian).
Rex:
I agree here too. I can't sort which of the groups of (Anatolia to Italy)
languages are Pelasgic, or simply Pelasgic influenced, but am asserting
(till lingusitic evidence proves otherwise)..that that influence must be
there and is a common link that is generally overlooked.
Sabine:
> The Etruscan vase: It has been found in 1877 in an Etruscan grave near
> ancient Caere, dated to around 620 bc. made of local (Etruscan) clay after
> Protokorinthian (don't ask me what that is exactly, I've no idea :-))
> prototypes ...and bears also a little more Etruscan text (owner, maker).
> So there can be no doubt (archaeologically) of its actual Etruscan origin.
Thanks Sabine: The local clay and the script together satisfy me that
the vase (and therefore the design devices) are local, and not a sea trade
purchase of Aegean production. Plus, we have local production probable in
the first century of Italian occupation by Etruscans.
Protokorinthian: Trying to help on this point: A particular type/style of
vase/amphorae; first produced (or simply named after) the metro area of
Korinthos/Corinth (a city near Athens, and 2nd only to Athens in sea trade
artifact production in this period, particularly artsy pottery.) The style
gained wide market acceptance, and was copied by competitors: Attics.
The latter seeming to have the market savy to try to improve on a known best
seller :-) The best customers of the Attic produced Corinthian ware?
Etruscans. The type/style then also adopted by the local Etruscan
production. There is a variant called "Tyrrhenian Amphorae" still, because
initially it was believed to be made in Tyrrhenia by Etruscans, and derived
from the same Korinthian style (something like 200 examples survive). It was
discovered late, however, that all of these were Attic produced for the
Etruscan market. Which is why I asked for find/composition data on the
illustration you provided, to separate it from the imports. The "local
clay"
is a better indicator than I had hoped.
Sabine (snipped up a bit):
> Next: Age and origin of the Labyrinth
> ...most known depictions of labyrinths strictu sensu (cave, a maze is not
> necessarily a labyrinth, this connection was made only later!)
>..... gifts of honey to the 'Potnia of labyrinth'),
> ...general meaning of 'hewn by human or natural cave (winding)' in
>connection with ritual purposes, so we might well one time have to go >down
into Middle Minoan and earlier layers for the cave-beginnings of the >cult
(although it seems purely natural caves are excluded, there has to be >the
element of 'building', cf. the Cretan myth attributing the construction >of
the labyrinth to Daidalos).
The "Cretan Myth" is later Greek, applying older related mythos (cave) to
the very confusing remains of the man made examples of the complex Minoan
Storehouse (necessary for wealth storage before coinage displaced the need).
Later Greeks had access to the "maze like" aspects of the ruins of minoan
storehouses, all integral to leader's houses, like a beehive, feeding
Aegean and Greek relationships of Labyrinth and beehive to wealth storage
and the profitability of sea trade. Arch has proven later Greek access to
the "labyrinthine" ruins of storehouse walls. The ruin of Ariadne, rescuing
and loving Theseus..the hero..who is? Greek. And the lair of the Minotaur.
> The oldest known depictions of a labyrinth (Cretan-style, as on later
> Knossian coins) are one on the back side of a Linear B tablet from Pylos
> dated around the 12th cent. As the front side is an administrative list
> concerning the giving or taking of goats by several men (here you see the
> female goats -albeit probably tame, not wild - again, Christos!) the
> labyrinth on the back is understood to be an old case of 'doodling'
without
> deeper meaning but still proving the design must have been well known at
> that time.
Hmmm. Accounting of trade. Linked..however "doodly" to the labyrinth..
which at this point meant "wealth accrual by (sea) trade". In the visual
symbol of the "maze" in which it was stored.
> Kern sees the possible origin of the labyrinth as Bronze Age pattern only
> for Crete (3rd to 2nd millenium), proving the wide-spread influence of
> Cretan trade. He believes the original feature may have been the figure
> of an initiation-dance, possibly in connection with cranes - there are the
> waterfowl - symbolizing Theseus' mastering of the difficult way to ritual
> understanding and Ariadne's role in helping him (Christos: this might be
> the design for the 'one to be sacrificed': roughly a circle inscribed by
> other lines to be traced by inscribing a double axe first!)
Yes..waterfowl? as in birds..cranes.. even: _pelicans_?
with mystic meaning..like the Pelasgic tradition of Dodona..and the birds on
the Etruscan Sheilds? :-)
> As for the Etruscan context there are some more mentioned in classical
> literature that might be interesting even though the actual building
>doesn't seem to have existed (Plinius Book 36). Very interesting: near that
>ref. Plinius also mentions a (as building non-existent, as far a we know
until
> now) Lemnian labyrinth !!
The building wasn't necessary after coinage..It was still an established
symbol of the wealth of sea trade.
>
> So are we to look in Minoan Crete for Pelasgian origins, after all (Lykos,
> what do you say.?
No. But the beginning/center of the sea trade traditions that would civilize
Greece, and the Aegean..and Italy (as you indicate in your follow on
message). A vehicle for expediting spread of the theoretical single
influence (including linguistic influence): certainly. The beginnings of
the cultural rise that would eventually define classical Greece..and maybe
even Rome? I think so. The combination of EBA Pelasgic influence (and
everything EBA brought with it tech wise, passing through from Anatolia)
with the markets, the nautical ability, the production of marketable items,
control of the river mouths elsewhere, and the Aegean itself, assisted by
the natural defense of the island circumstance of Crete. (The same defense
the pre-EBA Tyrrhenians would use to survive the spread of this wealth
driven growth and power..to shrink to islands off the Tyrhhenian sea..until
even these were swamped.) And they were replaced even in name by daughters
of the Aegean, daughters of Crete if you wish, but the Grandparents were
born a bit to the east and north.
And, Sabine, re your following/next message in response to John:
I think your are hitting the nail precisely on the head.
Question: What does "Potnia" mean in your reference of a gift of
honey to "Potnia of labyrinth"?
La Revedere;
Rex H. McTyeire
Bucharest, Romania
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rexbo@...>