DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9804#0177
THE PR^SOS INSCRIPTIONS 151
to the Indo-European group;1 and there are pronominal
suffixes in all Semitic languages, case endings in Classical
Arabic, and survivals of them in Hebrew.2
It might carry the matter a stage farther if we could
be sure that the unknown script represents the same
language as the Stone Slabs from Praesos, in the interior
of Eastern Crete. Its three short inscriptions are written
in a fully developed Greek alphabet, although not in the
Greek language. They have been subjected to an ex-
haustive examination by Professor R. S. Conway,3 who has
made it not improbable that their language is an Indo-
European one, with a special kinship to Venetic. The
actual inscriptions only date from the sixth to the fourth
centuries B.C. respectively, but the fact that Praesos was
the centre 4 of the people whom classical Greek tradition,
as early as Homer, calls the " Eteo "—or True—Cretans,5
makes it certain that we are here dealing with a language
that was spoken there before the end of the Bronze Age.
It is significant, in this connection, to notice that
Praesos does not appear to have been a centre of Minoan
civilisation. That there was a shrine there is probable,
for the worship of Zeus and Rhea at Praesos in Classical
times preserves traces of the old religion.6 The excava-
tions, however, of the British School show that there
was no considerable settlement there, still less anything
that could be called a city, till the end of the Bronze Age.7
It is improbable that the Minoans themselves would
1 Krctschmer, E.G.S. pp. 289-400. So Fick, V.O. p. 3 ; Hall,
J.H.S. xxv. p. 324.
- For this I am indebted to my colleague, the Rev. D. Tyssil.
Evans.
3 B.S.A. viii. pp. 125-56, x. pp. 115-26.
* Staphylos, ap. Strabo, p. 475. 5 Od. xix. 170.
1 Cp. R. C. Bosanquet in B.S.A. viii. p. 257, with R. M. Dawkins,
ibid. x. p. 223, and Bosanquet, ibid. xi. pp. 304-5.
7 R. C. Bosanquet, ibid. viii. pp. 231-70; E. S. Forster, ibid.
pp. 271-81 ; J. EL Hopkinson, ibid. x. pp. 148-53 ; Forster,
ibid. xi.Jpp. 243-57.
to the Indo-European group;1 and there are pronominal
suffixes in all Semitic languages, case endings in Classical
Arabic, and survivals of them in Hebrew.2
It might carry the matter a stage farther if we could
be sure that the unknown script represents the same
language as the Stone Slabs from Praesos, in the interior
of Eastern Crete. Its three short inscriptions are written
in a fully developed Greek alphabet, although not in the
Greek language. They have been subjected to an ex-
haustive examination by Professor R. S. Conway,3 who has
made it not improbable that their language is an Indo-
European one, with a special kinship to Venetic. The
actual inscriptions only date from the sixth to the fourth
centuries B.C. respectively, but the fact that Praesos was
the centre 4 of the people whom classical Greek tradition,
as early as Homer, calls the " Eteo "—or True—Cretans,5
makes it certain that we are here dealing with a language
that was spoken there before the end of the Bronze Age.
It is significant, in this connection, to notice that
Praesos does not appear to have been a centre of Minoan
civilisation. That there was a shrine there is probable,
for the worship of Zeus and Rhea at Praesos in Classical
times preserves traces of the old religion.6 The excava-
tions, however, of the British School show that there
was no considerable settlement there, still less anything
that could be called a city, till the end of the Bronze Age.7
It is improbable that the Minoans themselves would
1 Krctschmer, E.G.S. pp. 289-400. So Fick, V.O. p. 3 ; Hall,
J.H.S. xxv. p. 324.
- For this I am indebted to my colleague, the Rev. D. Tyssil.
Evans.
3 B.S.A. viii. pp. 125-56, x. pp. 115-26.
* Staphylos, ap. Strabo, p. 475. 5 Od. xix. 170.
1 Cp. R. C. Bosanquet in B.S.A. viii. p. 257, with R. M. Dawkins,
ibid. x. p. 223, and Bosanquet, ibid. xi. pp. 304-5.
7 R. C. Bosanquet, ibid. viii. pp. 231-70; E. S. Forster, ibid.
pp. 271-81 ; J. EL Hopkinson, ibid. x. pp. 148-53 ; Forster,
ibid. xi.Jpp. 243-57.