DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.805#0041
32 FROM CRETE AND THE PELOPONNESE. [301]
ciples, also, are traceable in the arrangements of the symbols in the
several groups. Some signs are almost exclusively found at the beginning or
the end of a line. The human eye appears thus three times out of four; the
instrument No. 16 of the list below occupies the extremity of the group in
seven, or perhaps eight, cases where it occurs. The same two symbols more-
over are seen on different stones in the same collocation. Thus the horns and
four-rayed star occur in close proximity on the stones (Fig. 235 and 325)
from Crete. The instrument (No. 16) above referred to occurs five times
on as many different stones in collocation with the ' broad arrow/ The arrow-
head, again, is twice placed beside the y-like sign No. 54 (Figs. 235 and
35a). In four cases where the bent leg makes its appearance (Figs. 225,
25«, 345 and Supplement, p. 136), it is in immediate contiguity with
a symbol that seems to stand for a door or gate. Such collocations in the
small number of instances at our disposal are alone sufficient to exclude the
supposition that the signs on these stones were engraved haphazard for
decorative purposes.
It further appears, when we come to file the several columns, as on the
Babylonian principle they would follow one another in the impression of a
seal, that in several cases a boustrophedon arrangement has been adopted
which recalls that of early Greek writing. This is specially noticeable in
Figs. 22, 23, 33, as well as in Fig. 34, where by the analogy of other Myce-
naean gems from Crete representing ships the vessel must be taken as
going in the direction in which the oars slope. It seems usual to begin from
right to left.
That these seals were designed to convey information regarding
their owners in a primitive form of writing is. clearly brought out by
another phenomenon with which we have to deal. On Fig. 86a7 the place
of the pictographic symbols is taken by linear characters which no one
will deny represent actual letters, and which fit on in fact to an Aegean or
Mycenaean syllabary the existence of which can be demonstrated from inde-
pendent sources. This phenomenon must certainly be taken to throw a
retrospective light on the hieroglyphic forms that replace the letters on the
bulk of these stones. It will be further shown in the course of this inquiry
that a certain proportion of these pictographic signs reduced to linear forms
actually live on in this Aegean syllabary.
In a succeeding section19a attention will be called to a still earlier class
of Cretan seal-stones presenting for the most part the same typical tri-
angular form as those of Class I. already described. These more primitive
stones, which cannot in fact be separated by any definite line of demarcation
from the later series, throw a valuable light on the original elements out of
which the more formalized pictographic system finally grew. In some cases
the same symbols are actually seen in a more primitive stage of development.
But on this earlier class the more purely pictorial and ideographic elements
19a See p. 324 scqq. The stones, Figs. 21, 37, 39, 40, might perhaps with greater propriety
have heen grouped with this earlier series.
P
ciples, also, are traceable in the arrangements of the symbols in the
several groups. Some signs are almost exclusively found at the beginning or
the end of a line. The human eye appears thus three times out of four; the
instrument No. 16 of the list below occupies the extremity of the group in
seven, or perhaps eight, cases where it occurs. The same two symbols more-
over are seen on different stones in the same collocation. Thus the horns and
four-rayed star occur in close proximity on the stones (Fig. 235 and 325)
from Crete. The instrument (No. 16) above referred to occurs five times
on as many different stones in collocation with the ' broad arrow/ The arrow-
head, again, is twice placed beside the y-like sign No. 54 (Figs. 235 and
35a). In four cases where the bent leg makes its appearance (Figs. 225,
25«, 345 and Supplement, p. 136), it is in immediate contiguity with
a symbol that seems to stand for a door or gate. Such collocations in the
small number of instances at our disposal are alone sufficient to exclude the
supposition that the signs on these stones were engraved haphazard for
decorative purposes.
It further appears, when we come to file the several columns, as on the
Babylonian principle they would follow one another in the impression of a
seal, that in several cases a boustrophedon arrangement has been adopted
which recalls that of early Greek writing. This is specially noticeable in
Figs. 22, 23, 33, as well as in Fig. 34, where by the analogy of other Myce-
naean gems from Crete representing ships the vessel must be taken as
going in the direction in which the oars slope. It seems usual to begin from
right to left.
That these seals were designed to convey information regarding
their owners in a primitive form of writing is. clearly brought out by
another phenomenon with which we have to deal. On Fig. 86a7 the place
of the pictographic symbols is taken by linear characters which no one
will deny represent actual letters, and which fit on in fact to an Aegean or
Mycenaean syllabary the existence of which can be demonstrated from inde-
pendent sources. This phenomenon must certainly be taken to throw a
retrospective light on the hieroglyphic forms that replace the letters on the
bulk of these stones. It will be further shown in the course of this inquiry
that a certain proportion of these pictographic signs reduced to linear forms
actually live on in this Aegean syllabary.
In a succeeding section19a attention will be called to a still earlier class
of Cretan seal-stones presenting for the most part the same typical tri-
angular form as those of Class I. already described. These more primitive
stones, which cannot in fact be separated by any definite line of demarcation
from the later series, throw a valuable light on the original elements out of
which the more formalized pictographic system finally grew. In some cases
the same symbols are actually seen in a more primitive stage of development.
But on this earlier class the more purely pictorial and ideographic elements
19a See p. 324 scqq. The stones, Figs. 21, 37, 39, 40, might perhaps with greater propriety
have heen grouped with this earlier series.
P