DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0339
HORNED HELMET SIGN
689
The form of this document, a clay
bar, is interesting since it represents a
survival of the hieroglyphic tradition.
Its initial X is also taken over from
the same system, as well as a decad-
ent variety of an animal's head, though
the O crossed by an X is a unique
feature. Otherwise, the script must
be attributed to a primitive phase of
the Linear Class A,1 and the inscrip-
tion has a special importance from the
early examples that it presents of the
LINEAR CLASS A (|It)
LINEAR CLASS B
Fig. 672. 'Horned Helmet' Sign and
its Derivatives, j, k represent a variant
FORM OCCURRING IN THE SAME SlGN-GROUPS
WITH i.
Fio\ 672 a, b, c). It twice follows the
'fodder'sign, (f?), and at the begin-
ning of line b it is grouped with a form
of the Double Axe, ty, and appears
under a variant aspect. That we have here some kind of peaked head-
piece can hardly remain in doubt.2
These examples, which stand at the head of the comparative series Hittite
belono-ino- to the Linear Classes A and B, grouped in Fig. 673. brine us ,Vd
e> s > t> 1 a 1 & Minoari
within sight of the pictographic origins of the type. Of the wide diffusion parallels,
of forms of more or less conical horned helmets on the Anatolian side
more nearly to the H, which it clearly repre-
sents, as does the terminal of line 2. The
penultimate character seems to be identical with
an 'animal's head' sign that recurs on the Mallia
Tablets (see op. tit, p. 3$, Fig. 14). The
little group of clay 'bars' to which this be-
longs is rightly attributed to the linear Class A
ofM.M. Ill, op, tit, pp. 57, 58.
Part of a clay bar from Palaikastro also
presents script of this class.
It is impossible to accept Chapouthier's in-
genious suggestion {op. at, pp. 59, 60) that this
sign is copied from a class of objects variously
regarded as 'idols' or 'votive robes' or—as
maintained in P. of M., i, p. 175—'votive
sheep bells'. The apex, visible in all phases
of the sign, is there wanting. In its place is a
handle (inset a) which
later becomes a mere
protuberance (b), and, in
the original votive ob-
ject, two holes for the
suspension of a clapper a
(in the secondary type b placed
on the side). A section showing
a fitted with a clapper is here given
(c). The chronological discre-
pancy may, indeed, itself be re-
garded as decisive. The votive .
objects in question are peculiar c
to M. M. I a deposits. So far as is known, the
earliest appearance of the sign dates from the
beginning of M. M. Ill a—some three cen-
turies later.
689
The form of this document, a clay
bar, is interesting since it represents a
survival of the hieroglyphic tradition.
Its initial X is also taken over from
the same system, as well as a decad-
ent variety of an animal's head, though
the O crossed by an X is a unique
feature. Otherwise, the script must
be attributed to a primitive phase of
the Linear Class A,1 and the inscrip-
tion has a special importance from the
early examples that it presents of the
LINEAR CLASS A (|It)
LINEAR CLASS B
Fig. 672. 'Horned Helmet' Sign and
its Derivatives, j, k represent a variant
FORM OCCURRING IN THE SAME SlGN-GROUPS
WITH i.
Fio\ 672 a, b, c). It twice follows the
'fodder'sign, (f?), and at the begin-
ning of line b it is grouped with a form
of the Double Axe, ty, and appears
under a variant aspect. That we have here some kind of peaked head-
piece can hardly remain in doubt.2
These examples, which stand at the head of the comparative series Hittite
belono-ino- to the Linear Classes A and B, grouped in Fig. 673. brine us ,Vd
e> s > t> 1 a 1 & Minoari
within sight of the pictographic origins of the type. Of the wide diffusion parallels,
of forms of more or less conical horned helmets on the Anatolian side
more nearly to the H, which it clearly repre-
sents, as does the terminal of line 2. The
penultimate character seems to be identical with
an 'animal's head' sign that recurs on the Mallia
Tablets (see op. tit, p. 3$, Fig. 14). The
little group of clay 'bars' to which this be-
longs is rightly attributed to the linear Class A
ofM.M. Ill, op, tit, pp. 57, 58.
Part of a clay bar from Palaikastro also
presents script of this class.
It is impossible to accept Chapouthier's in-
genious suggestion {op. at, pp. 59, 60) that this
sign is copied from a class of objects variously
regarded as 'idols' or 'votive robes' or—as
maintained in P. of M., i, p. 175—'votive
sheep bells'. The apex, visible in all phases
of the sign, is there wanting. In its place is a
handle (inset a) which
later becomes a mere
protuberance (b), and, in
the original votive ob-
ject, two holes for the
suspension of a clapper a
(in the secondary type b placed
on the side). A section showing
a fitted with a clapper is here given
(c). The chronological discre-
pancy may, indeed, itself be re-
garded as decisive. The votive .
objects in question are peculiar c
to M. M. I a deposits. So far as is known, the
earliest appearance of the sign dates from the
beginning of M. M. Ill a—some three cen-
turies later.