DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0306
658 'SCALES' OR ' BALANCE \ SIGN OF STEWARDSHIP
The conclusion that the ' drop ' sign in its variant forms originated in
a [ rain ' pictogra'ph had long since suggested itself to me, and its recurrence
in a series of libation vessels may well indicate that it could be used in the
sense of pouring. Its connexion with the figure of the hand held forward
and grasping some offertory object is itself most significant.
' Scales'
here, pre-
sumably,
determi-
native of
Steward-
ship.
?r!JT!?'
<
Fig. 644. Transcript from H.
Triada Tablet showing ' Balance '
Sign.
Fig. 645. Transcript from
H. Triada Tablet with
' Balance ' Sign.
Steward
holding
scales, 011
Cypro-
Minoan
vase.
It would appear that on the offertory bowl from Knossos the 'balance'
sign, which in other cases is followed by numbers, stands at the end of
a group and may rather refer to a title of some steward or Treasury official.
This interpretation, moreover, is supported by two tablets from Hagia
Triada, where in each case the ' balance' sign appears, unconnected with
numbers, after what there is good reason to regard as a personal name. In
both cases (Figs. 644, 645)* the preceding sign group is the first of the inscrip-
tion and terminates in the ' facing head' sign "01, from which in Fig. 645
it is separated by a punctuation. This character is also found repeated in
an isolated position, and is clearly connected with persons. Here, too, the
'balance' may be taken as a determinative indicating that the individual
referred to was some kind of accountant.
This earliest representation of the ' scales' or ' balance' as seen on a
Minoan vessel of offering" in this way finds a curious comparison with the veiy
latest. On a painted Cypro-Minoan ' krater ' recently brought to light by
the Swedish excavators at Enkomi (Salamis)—Fig. 646—in connexion witn
one of the usual chariot scenes (themselves taken over from Cretan sarco
1 Both tablets relate to vegetable products. On Fig. 644,1. 3, we see the ' olive tree sign ,
on Fig. 645,1. 3 the 'saffron'.
The conclusion that the ' drop ' sign in its variant forms originated in
a [ rain ' pictogra'ph had long since suggested itself to me, and its recurrence
in a series of libation vessels may well indicate that it could be used in the
sense of pouring. Its connexion with the figure of the hand held forward
and grasping some offertory object is itself most significant.
' Scales'
here, pre-
sumably,
determi-
native of
Steward-
ship.
?r!JT!?'
<
Fig. 644. Transcript from H.
Triada Tablet showing ' Balance '
Sign.
Fig. 645. Transcript from
H. Triada Tablet with
' Balance ' Sign.
Steward
holding
scales, 011
Cypro-
Minoan
vase.
It would appear that on the offertory bowl from Knossos the 'balance'
sign, which in other cases is followed by numbers, stands at the end of
a group and may rather refer to a title of some steward or Treasury official.
This interpretation, moreover, is supported by two tablets from Hagia
Triada, where in each case the ' balance' sign appears, unconnected with
numbers, after what there is good reason to regard as a personal name. In
both cases (Figs. 644, 645)* the preceding sign group is the first of the inscrip-
tion and terminates in the ' facing head' sign "01, from which in Fig. 645
it is separated by a punctuation. This character is also found repeated in
an isolated position, and is clearly connected with persons. Here, too, the
'balance' may be taken as a determinative indicating that the individual
referred to was some kind of accountant.
This earliest representation of the ' scales' or ' balance' as seen on a
Minoan vessel of offering" in this way finds a curious comparison with the veiy
latest. On a painted Cypro-Minoan ' krater ' recently brought to light by
the Swedish excavators at Enkomi (Salamis)—Fig. 646—in connexion witn
one of the usual chariot scenes (themselves taken over from Cretan sarco
1 Both tablets relate to vegetable products. On Fig. 644,1. 3, we see the ' olive tree sign ,
on Fig. 645,1. 3 the 'saffron'.