DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0348
698
LARGE TABLET OF EXCEPTIONAL CLASS
Conventions common to both Class A and B.
Meticulous bureaucratic methods such as the above reflect a legalized
administration and Treasury devices of a highly modern kind, such as
never before were seen on any fraction of European soil. In the inscriptions
of Class B, and the elaborately artificial system implied by many of the forms
of the signs themselves and by their relations to values and numbers, we
must recognize the work of official grammarians of outstanding ability.
In this connexion we observe common conventions, imposed in this
way, adopted by both Classes A and B. This has been already exem-
plified by the identical system of numeration adopted, different from that
of the Hieroglyphic series; it is well illustrated in detail by the common
use of the 'banner' sign for the insertion within it of characters—in some
cases the same in both Classes—such as the ' flying bird '.
Tablet of Exceptional Class.
The great bulk of the clay documents, as already stated, are of a
business character, such as inventories and lists. But there exists a small
class of exceptionally large tablets, sometimes inscribed on both faces, and
clearly of a different purport. Here the signs, denoting various properties,
and those referring to individual persons, are conspicuous by their absence.
In such cases, as on the large inscription, my copy of which is given in
Fig. 683,1 we may reasonably suppose.that we have to deal with a contract
or an official pronouncement that may well have borrowed its wording from
an actual enactment of the great Law-giver.
This document is written in bold characters, originally about 67 in
number,2 and consists of nineteen or twenty words, composed of 1 to 4,
or 5 signs, with the usual upright strokes between. It is divided into
three paragraphs, the first ending in line 2, the second in line 6, and the
conclusion in the eighth line. Eight or nine characters are lost on the left
margin.
Here there is no quasi-pictorial sign referring to possessions, nor any
indication of numbers. The characters representing persons of the male or
female sex are also wanting. At the same time the recurrence of the ' hand
1 For a photographic facsimile see Scripta - The second sign (here completed) is rainy
Minoa, i, p. 49. The inscription was found with certain. The fragmentary sign at the beginning
the large deposit of tablets in the Northern Qf ,ine g be eilhcr o or rf
Entrance Passage, a fair number of which " r
relate to the Royal Stables and Arsenal.
LARGE TABLET OF EXCEPTIONAL CLASS
Conventions common to both Class A and B.
Meticulous bureaucratic methods such as the above reflect a legalized
administration and Treasury devices of a highly modern kind, such as
never before were seen on any fraction of European soil. In the inscriptions
of Class B, and the elaborately artificial system implied by many of the forms
of the signs themselves and by their relations to values and numbers, we
must recognize the work of official grammarians of outstanding ability.
In this connexion we observe common conventions, imposed in this
way, adopted by both Classes A and B. This has been already exem-
plified by the identical system of numeration adopted, different from that
of the Hieroglyphic series; it is well illustrated in detail by the common
use of the 'banner' sign for the insertion within it of characters—in some
cases the same in both Classes—such as the ' flying bird '.
Tablet of Exceptional Class.
The great bulk of the clay documents, as already stated, are of a
business character, such as inventories and lists. But there exists a small
class of exceptionally large tablets, sometimes inscribed on both faces, and
clearly of a different purport. Here the signs, denoting various properties,
and those referring to individual persons, are conspicuous by their absence.
In such cases, as on the large inscription, my copy of which is given in
Fig. 683,1 we may reasonably suppose.that we have to deal with a contract
or an official pronouncement that may well have borrowed its wording from
an actual enactment of the great Law-giver.
This document is written in bold characters, originally about 67 in
number,2 and consists of nineteen or twenty words, composed of 1 to 4,
or 5 signs, with the usual upright strokes between. It is divided into
three paragraphs, the first ending in line 2, the second in line 6, and the
conclusion in the eighth line. Eight or nine characters are lost on the left
margin.
Here there is no quasi-pictorial sign referring to possessions, nor any
indication of numbers. The characters representing persons of the male or
female sex are also wanting. At the same time the recurrence of the ' hand
1 For a photographic facsimile see Scripta - The second sign (here completed) is rainy
Minoa, i, p. 49. The inscription was found with certain. The fragmentary sign at the beginning
the large deposit of tablets in the Northern Qf ,ine g be eilhcr o or rf
Entrance Passage, a fair number of which " r
relate to the Royal Stables and Arsenal.