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Evans, Arthur J.
Scripta minoa: the written documents of minoan Crete with special reference to the archives of Knossos (Band 1): The hieroglyphic and primitive linear classes — Oxford, 1909

DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0050
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36

SCRIPTA MINOA

Personal
names and
suffixes.

Approxi-
mation in
form of
documents
of Class A
to hiero-
glyphic.

Compari-
sons be-
tween

A and B.
Contents
of the in-
scriptions.

Inscription
on Dic-
taean Liba-
tion Table
belongs to
this class.

inscriptions belonging to Class B, moreover, these two signs appear in sign-groups
having after them the determinative signs of 'man* or 'woman'. In these groups
it is followed by other characters (see Fig. 17) which from a variety of evidence
must be regarded as masculine and feminine suffixes. On the reverse of a sealing
on the other hand they occur alone, and probably represent the signature of an
official. There is every reason to believe, therefore, that the characters on the base of
the Melian bowl give the personal name of the owner. It is to be remarked, however,
in this case that the inscription apparently reads from right to left, which itself may be
taken as an indication of an early date. As a matter of fact, while in the hieroglyphic
script the characters run indifferently either way, the fixed direction of the linear
inscriptions is from left to right.

It is worth noting, as an archaic characteristic of this type of script in
general, that the clay documents belonging to Class A show a certain approximation
in their forms to those presenting the hieroglyphic inscriptions. In both cases we find
comparatively small rectangular tablets; there are similar ' labels', and some of the
clay disks and sealings show a certain conformity. The system of numerals is also
in some respects intermediate between that of the hieroglyphic documents and that
of the linear Class B.

The inscriptions of the linear Class A, when compared with those of the system (B)
by which they were superseded at Knossos, are on the whole less lucidly disposed.
There is a greater proportion of compound signs, and pictorial figures, indicating the
contents of the document, are more sparsely used. Those that are found, however, and
the accompanying numerals show that, as in the case of the other class, the bulk of the
tablets had probably a business purpose. Among the pictorial figures that occur
is the saffron flower, various vessels, including tripods, no doubt of bronze, and balances
which must naturally be connected with the weighing of precious metals.

Remarkable examples exist of the application of linear script of this class to
other objects besides the clay tablets and sealings. The two cups of characteristic
Third Middle Minoan shape with ink-written inscriptions have been already mentioned.1
Another application of this form of script curiously anticipates the discoveries at
Pompeii. On the stucco face, namely, of some of the walls of the Royal Villa at Hagia
Triada were found graffito inscriptions belonging to the present class, some of them
repeating the same formulas.2

But perhaps the most interesting discovery bearing on the use of this widely
diffused type of linear script was the inscribed Libation Table from the Dictaean Cave
of which mention has already been made.8 The penultimate letter on the right of
the inscription seems to represent OL a characteristic form of Class A4 which is absent
from the other linear system. As a matter of fact, moreover, the cup-like receptacles
of the Dictaean Table, with their raised rims, exactly resemble those of smaller

1 See above, p. 29 and Fig. 12. ' A detailed analysis of this inscription must be re-

- The graffiti are themselves as yet unpublished, served for the part of this work devoted to the illustration

1 See pp. I3seqq. of the documents belonging to Class A of the linear script.
 
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