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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0334
282 THE MYCENAEAN AGE
seen that they are as old as the Twelfth Dynasty, which
conservative Egyptologists now carry hack as far at least
as the year 2000 B. c.1
But, on the other hand, Mycenaean culture in Greece
belongs to the Greeks: this view is daily gaining
invention ground.2 TVue, peoples of other stock were drawn
nor devised . . . .
for Greek withni the sphere 01 its influence; but m Pelo-
speech -... . ,
ponnesus and on the adjoining- Mainland, and
for the most part in the Islands too, this civilization was
Greek, and cultivated by Greeks. For all that, the system
of writing to which the " Mycenaean" symbols belong
seems not to have been a Greek invention, nor primarily
intended for the Greek language. Mr. Evans attempted
to read with the aid of the Cypriote syllabary some of the
inscriptions written in " Mycenaean " characters; and the
experiment led him to the conclusion that their language
was not Greek. It is of course now well known that the
Cypriote alphabet as well was devised by a non-Hellenic
stock, and subsequently adapted to the Greek language,
whose sounds it could but imperfectly represent. As Mr.
Evans says (page 354), " The Greek of the Cypriote in-
scriptions always seems to be clothed in a foreign dress,
ill-fitting at the best."
We have now to inquire whether the Greeks, who in the
Mycenaean age occupied Peloponnesus and Attica, ever un-
dertook to write their language in these " Myce-
No proof of ...
Mycenaean naean symbols, J. his question is suggested by
the example of the Greeks of Cyprus, who at a
later time wrote their language in non-Hellenic characters.
1 Petrie dates it 2778-2565 b. c. ; Bpngsch, 2466 ; Lepsius, 2380; Erm&D,
2130 ; but Cecil Ton- brings it down to " 1500 b. c. at latest."
- Cf. Eiwin Eohde, Rkeinisches Museum, 1895, p. 24, n. 2 : " Die Meinuiig
class die Mykeniscbe Kultur einem ungrieehisehen Stamme angehijre, bat
gegenwartig wobl kaum noch Vertreter."
seen that they are as old as the Twelfth Dynasty, which
conservative Egyptologists now carry hack as far at least
as the year 2000 B. c.1
But, on the other hand, Mycenaean culture in Greece
belongs to the Greeks: this view is daily gaining
invention ground.2 TVue, peoples of other stock were drawn
nor devised . . . .
for Greek withni the sphere 01 its influence; but m Pelo-
speech -... . ,
ponnesus and on the adjoining- Mainland, and
for the most part in the Islands too, this civilization was
Greek, and cultivated by Greeks. For all that, the system
of writing to which the " Mycenaean" symbols belong
seems not to have been a Greek invention, nor primarily
intended for the Greek language. Mr. Evans attempted
to read with the aid of the Cypriote syllabary some of the
inscriptions written in " Mycenaean " characters; and the
experiment led him to the conclusion that their language
was not Greek. It is of course now well known that the
Cypriote alphabet as well was devised by a non-Hellenic
stock, and subsequently adapted to the Greek language,
whose sounds it could but imperfectly represent. As Mr.
Evans says (page 354), " The Greek of the Cypriote in-
scriptions always seems to be clothed in a foreign dress,
ill-fitting at the best."
We have now to inquire whether the Greeks, who in the
Mycenaean age occupied Peloponnesus and Attica, ever un-
dertook to write their language in these " Myce-
No proof of ...
Mycenaean naean symbols, J. his question is suggested by
the example of the Greeks of Cyprus, who at a
later time wrote their language in non-Hellenic characters.
1 Petrie dates it 2778-2565 b. c. ; Bpngsch, 2466 ; Lepsius, 2380; Erm&D,
2130 ; but Cecil Ton- brings it down to " 1500 b. c. at latest."
- Cf. Eiwin Eohde, Rkeinisches Museum, 1895, p. 24, n. 2 : " Die Meinuiig
class die Mykeniscbe Kultur einem ungrieehisehen Stamme angehijre, bat
gegenwartig wobl kaum noch Vertreter."