DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0035
HIEROGLYPHIC ARCHIVES OF KNOSSOS sr
The inscriptions on these documents conclusively disproved a suggestion made Business
with reference to the sign groups on the gems, that they had merely a 'symbolized ocutnen s-
religious sense',1 since the very form of these clay records and the numerical entries
contained in them show that they had been employed for business purposes. The
pictorial and ideographic character of many of the signs in fact enables us to detect
references to the most varied possessions. A clay bar and ' label' are shown in
Fig. 10, but, as a detailed description of these hieroglyphic documents is contained
in Part III of the present volume, a somewhat brief reference to their character and
contents may here suffice.
A tablet in the same hieroglyphic script was found in the Palace of Phaestos Hierogly-
by the Italian Mission in ,1901.' A perfect clay bar of the same general class as j^*8 et
some of those from the Knossian deposit, but presenting characters of an exceptionally Palace of
primitive type, had been acquired some time since by the Berlin Museum. It had, and primi-
however, been put away among Gnostic and magical relics till, in view of the Cretan tive ex-
discoveries, its true associations were recognized by the Director of the Antiquarium, Berlin'"
Dr. Zahn, who has kindly allowed me to include it in the present work.3 Museum.
The first stage represented by the existing West Wing of the Knossian Palace goes
far back into the Second Middle Minoan Age—the age par excellence of ceramic poly-
chromy—but its contents seem almost exclusively to belong to the ensuing period.
This period, the Third Middle Minoan, if we may judge from the large deposits Third
by which it is represented—notably the contents of a walled circular area recently Minoan
discovered beneath the later West Court pavement4—appears to have been of long Period at
duration. Probably the greater part of the more advanced class (B) of engraved signets,
and the bulk of the hieroglyphic archives found in the Palace, come within the limits
of this Third Middle Minoan Age. As a matter of fact, side by side with sealings
from that deposit presenting hieroglyphic signs, there occurred seal impressions of
a purely pictorial kind illustrating the naturalistic style that characterizes this period.
Two examples of such sealings from this deposit are given in Fig. n, a and b. In
one case (a) there appears side by side with a signet impression showing three hiero-
glyphic signs, the impression of an oval intaglio with an animated scene of a dog chasing
a Cretan wild goat. On (b), which has evidently been impressed with a Ientoid bead-
1 R.Zahn,Arch. Anzeiger, 1901^.23,'...dieZeichenauf Religious formulae of a talismanie nature may also have
den Siege!steinen haben einen religiiisen symbolischen been engraved on these as on modern Oriental seals.
Sinn. Es folgt daraus, dass wir es nicht mit einer Bil- But, as shown in detail below, we have to do with a definite
derschrift in dem Sinne zu thun haben wie Evans will, form of script.
mit einer Schrift, in der beliebige Worte und Satze durch * L. Pernier, 'Scavi della Missione Itaiiana a Phaestos,'
die Nebeneinandersetzung der Bildzeichen ausgedrfickt 1900-1 {Mon. An!, xii. 1902), PI. Vil[, Fig. 2, and pp. 96,
sind. Vielmehr haben wir auf den krctischen Steinen in 97. F. Halbherr,' Resti dell' eta Micenea, etc., Rapporto
andeutenden, dem Eingeweihten verstandlichen Zeichen sulle ricerche di 1902' {Mon. Ant., vol. xiii. 1903), p. 26,
den kultlichen Inhalt ausgedrackt, den uns die mykeni- Fig. 11. See below, Part II, § 8, P. 121. Unfortunately
schen Goldringe im Bilde zeigen.' That religious signs the tablet had at first escaped detection, and its exact
should be frequent, especially on signets, is itself only find-spot is consequently unknown,
what we should expect according to Egyptian analogy. s See below, Part II, §8, P. r22.
Many of these are, doubtless, the equivaient of Egyptian * See my letter to the Times (' Further Discoveries in
cartouches presenting the names or titles of kings or offi- the Palace of Knossos'), July 15, 1907.
cials into which religious elements would probably enter.
The inscriptions on these documents conclusively disproved a suggestion made Business
with reference to the sign groups on the gems, that they had merely a 'symbolized ocutnen s-
religious sense',1 since the very form of these clay records and the numerical entries
contained in them show that they had been employed for business purposes. The
pictorial and ideographic character of many of the signs in fact enables us to detect
references to the most varied possessions. A clay bar and ' label' are shown in
Fig. 10, but, as a detailed description of these hieroglyphic documents is contained
in Part III of the present volume, a somewhat brief reference to their character and
contents may here suffice.
A tablet in the same hieroglyphic script was found in the Palace of Phaestos Hierogly-
by the Italian Mission in ,1901.' A perfect clay bar of the same general class as j^*8 et
some of those from the Knossian deposit, but presenting characters of an exceptionally Palace of
primitive type, had been acquired some time since by the Berlin Museum. It had, and primi-
however, been put away among Gnostic and magical relics till, in view of the Cretan tive ex-
discoveries, its true associations were recognized by the Director of the Antiquarium, Berlin'"
Dr. Zahn, who has kindly allowed me to include it in the present work.3 Museum.
The first stage represented by the existing West Wing of the Knossian Palace goes
far back into the Second Middle Minoan Age—the age par excellence of ceramic poly-
chromy—but its contents seem almost exclusively to belong to the ensuing period.
This period, the Third Middle Minoan, if we may judge from the large deposits Third
by which it is represented—notably the contents of a walled circular area recently Minoan
discovered beneath the later West Court pavement4—appears to have been of long Period at
duration. Probably the greater part of the more advanced class (B) of engraved signets,
and the bulk of the hieroglyphic archives found in the Palace, come within the limits
of this Third Middle Minoan Age. As a matter of fact, side by side with sealings
from that deposit presenting hieroglyphic signs, there occurred seal impressions of
a purely pictorial kind illustrating the naturalistic style that characterizes this period.
Two examples of such sealings from this deposit are given in Fig. n, a and b. In
one case (a) there appears side by side with a signet impression showing three hiero-
glyphic signs, the impression of an oval intaglio with an animated scene of a dog chasing
a Cretan wild goat. On (b), which has evidently been impressed with a Ientoid bead-
1 R.Zahn,Arch. Anzeiger, 1901^.23,'...dieZeichenauf Religious formulae of a talismanie nature may also have
den Siege!steinen haben einen religiiisen symbolischen been engraved on these as on modern Oriental seals.
Sinn. Es folgt daraus, dass wir es nicht mit einer Bil- But, as shown in detail below, we have to do with a definite
derschrift in dem Sinne zu thun haben wie Evans will, form of script.
mit einer Schrift, in der beliebige Worte und Satze durch * L. Pernier, 'Scavi della Missione Itaiiana a Phaestos,'
die Nebeneinandersetzung der Bildzeichen ausgedrfickt 1900-1 {Mon. An!, xii. 1902), PI. Vil[, Fig. 2, and pp. 96,
sind. Vielmehr haben wir auf den krctischen Steinen in 97. F. Halbherr,' Resti dell' eta Micenea, etc., Rapporto
andeutenden, dem Eingeweihten verstandlichen Zeichen sulle ricerche di 1902' {Mon. Ant., vol. xiii. 1903), p. 26,
den kultlichen Inhalt ausgedrackt, den uns die mykeni- Fig. 11. See below, Part II, § 8, P. 121. Unfortunately
schen Goldringe im Bilde zeigen.' That religious signs the tablet had at first escaped detection, and its exact
should be frequent, especially on signets, is itself only find-spot is consequently unknown,
what we should expect according to Egyptian analogy. s See below, Part II, §8, P. r22.
Many of these are, doubtless, the equivaient of Egyptian * See my letter to the Times (' Further Discoveries in
cartouches presenting the names or titles of kings or offi- the Palace of Knossos'), July 15, 1907.
cials into which religious elements would probably enter.