DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0288
274
SCRIPTA MINOA
with linear
tablet of
Class A-
Their
numbers
Disk found the Linear Class A first appear, and it is therefore of special interest to note that
a broken tablet of this class was found in the repository with the Disk.1 To the
full import of this fact there will be occasion to return.
The Disk itself is composed of such refined clay that it is compared by
Dr. Pernier with the material of the ' egg-shell' cups of the Knossian Palace fabric.
Dr. Mackenzie, however, who is a specially competent judge in such matters, is of
opinion that the clay is not Cretan. The Disk is not perfectly round, the diameter
Method of varying from 158 to 165 millimetres, while its thickness is from 16 to si.2 The
thTcharac- characters were stamped in relief with punches when the clay was wet, each
ters. separate variety of sign being impressed in all cases by the same stamp, so that
the total number of the stamps used was thus 45, answering to the number of the
signs. Dr. Pernier suggests that their material was hard wood or ivory.3 It seems
possible, however, that they were of metal cast in matrices of engraved steatite.
Face A (PI. XII and Fig. 128) contains 31 sign-groups, separated from one
another by incised lines, and containing 123 signs in all. Face B (PI. XIII and
Fig. 129) presents in the same way 30 groups and 118 signs. The total number of
characters is thus 241, and of the groups, 61. The ends of the inscription on
both sides of the Disk are marked by a line showing five punctuations. Another
curious feature in the inscription, to be referred to below, is the marking off of
certain signs at the beginnings of groups by a vertical or sloping dash below.
It will be seen that the arrangement of the inscriptions on both sides of the
Disk, winding outwards from the centre, presents a prima facie resemblance to
that of an inscription of the Linear Class A written in some kind of ink in the
inside of a cup from the Palace site of Knossos.4 In that case, however, the in-
scription is not, as is the present one, spiral and continuous, but consists of two
concentric rings of writing round the initial group.
On the other hand, on some of the clay bars and labels from Knossos we see
at times a curved and incipient spiraliform arrangement of the sign-groups5 which
shows a certain affinity with the more elaborate ordering of the inscriptions on the
Disk. The guiding lines above and below, with cross-divisions between the several
sign-groups, also find analogies in the Minoan system. Horizontal lines accompany
the inscriptions in both the linear classes, but on those the ends of the sign-
groups are marked by short upright strokes or dots. In the case of some of the
Minoan hieroglyphic inscriptions, however, we have both the guiding lines above and
below, and vertical lines uniting them at intervals which mark the division between
one sign-group and another.0
Arrange-
ment com-
pared with
Minoan.
1 Op. cit., pp. 266 seqq. and Fig. 10. The signs present
a few individual peculiarities, but in their general aspect
are quite characteristic of Class A. Careful comparisons
with linear signs of this class from Hagia Triada are
given by Dr. Pernier on p. 269 (Fig. 11).
s Op. cit, p. 271.
1 Op. cit, p. 278. Dr. Pernier does not think that the
punches were either of stone or metal.
4 'Knossos,' Report, 1902, p. j
5 e. g. "
i,Fig.66«.
Compare, for instance, P. 100, 117. At the same
time, as noticed above (p. 251), the initial X mark more
frequently denotes the beginning of the new group. On
P. 100 and elsewhere we see this superimposed on the
vertical dividing line.
SCRIPTA MINOA
with linear
tablet of
Class A-
Their
numbers
Disk found the Linear Class A first appear, and it is therefore of special interest to note that
a broken tablet of this class was found in the repository with the Disk.1 To the
full import of this fact there will be occasion to return.
The Disk itself is composed of such refined clay that it is compared by
Dr. Pernier with the material of the ' egg-shell' cups of the Knossian Palace fabric.
Dr. Mackenzie, however, who is a specially competent judge in such matters, is of
opinion that the clay is not Cretan. The Disk is not perfectly round, the diameter
Method of varying from 158 to 165 millimetres, while its thickness is from 16 to si.2 The
thTcharac- characters were stamped in relief with punches when the clay was wet, each
ters. separate variety of sign being impressed in all cases by the same stamp, so that
the total number of the stamps used was thus 45, answering to the number of the
signs. Dr. Pernier suggests that their material was hard wood or ivory.3 It seems
possible, however, that they were of metal cast in matrices of engraved steatite.
Face A (PI. XII and Fig. 128) contains 31 sign-groups, separated from one
another by incised lines, and containing 123 signs in all. Face B (PI. XIII and
Fig. 129) presents in the same way 30 groups and 118 signs. The total number of
characters is thus 241, and of the groups, 61. The ends of the inscription on
both sides of the Disk are marked by a line showing five punctuations. Another
curious feature in the inscription, to be referred to below, is the marking off of
certain signs at the beginnings of groups by a vertical or sloping dash below.
It will be seen that the arrangement of the inscriptions on both sides of the
Disk, winding outwards from the centre, presents a prima facie resemblance to
that of an inscription of the Linear Class A written in some kind of ink in the
inside of a cup from the Palace site of Knossos.4 In that case, however, the in-
scription is not, as is the present one, spiral and continuous, but consists of two
concentric rings of writing round the initial group.
On the other hand, on some of the clay bars and labels from Knossos we see
at times a curved and incipient spiraliform arrangement of the sign-groups5 which
shows a certain affinity with the more elaborate ordering of the inscriptions on the
Disk. The guiding lines above and below, with cross-divisions between the several
sign-groups, also find analogies in the Minoan system. Horizontal lines accompany
the inscriptions in both the linear classes, but on those the ends of the sign-
groups are marked by short upright strokes or dots. In the case of some of the
Minoan hieroglyphic inscriptions, however, we have both the guiding lines above and
below, and vertical lines uniting them at intervals which mark the division between
one sign-group and another.0
Arrange-
ment com-
pared with
Minoan.
1 Op. cit., pp. 266 seqq. and Fig. 10. The signs present
a few individual peculiarities, but in their general aspect
are quite characteristic of Class A. Careful comparisons
with linear signs of this class from Hagia Triada are
given by Dr. Pernier on p. 269 (Fig. 11).
s Op. cit, p. 271.
1 Op. cit, p. 278. Dr. Pernier does not think that the
punches were either of stone or metal.
4 'Knossos,' Report, 1902, p. j
5 e. g. "
i,Fig.66«.
Compare, for instance, P. 100, 117. At the same
time, as noticed above (p. 251), the initial X mark more
frequently denotes the beginning of the new group. On
P. 100 and elsewhere we see this superimposed on the
vertical dividing line.