Category: Poetry
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Experimental Archaeology ( Minoan Domestic Life )
SPLENDID! I HAVE to reblog this. Richard. You have to see my latest post on ZERO-TOLERANCE accounting procedures, also a magnificent post! Richard
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Thank you so much, Adonis Koryvantes, for not only inviting me to join your blog, but for allowing me to be an author
Fantastic new Blog on the Internet all about #ancient #Greek #warriors & #weapons including #Mycenaean. You simply HAVE to check it out! Richard
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10 of the Loveliest Frescoes from Knossos (Composite): Choose your Favourite(s)
10 of the Loveliest Frescoes from Knossos (Composite): Choose your Favourite(s)! Click to ENLARGE:
These frescoes are as follows:
[1] The Fresco of the Dolphins in the Queen’s Megaron
[2] The Spectators Fresco (most likely of the bull leaping contest)
[3] The Octopus Fresco
[4] The Griffin Fresco in the Throne Room of the Queen’s Megaron
[5] The Cup bearers Fresco at the Ceremonial Entrance to the Palace of Knossos
[6] The “Prince of Lilies Fresco”
[7] The “Bluebird Fresco” from the “House of Frescoes” at Knossos
[8] The Bull Fresco on the outer wall of the Bull Portico
[9] The Fresco often called “Les Parisiennes”
[10] The Spectators Fresco (probably at a dance performance at the theatre of Knossos)
Please note that the originals of all the frescoes at Knossos are now housed in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Those found onsite at Knossos are copies, though splendid ones at that.
Simply choose your favourite fresco(es), just one (1) if you like, or as many as three (3) and either post your choice(s) in Comments for this post, or if you like, you can send you answer(s) to me at either of my e-mail addresses: vallance22@gmail.com OR vallance22@gmx.com
The addresses are not hot linked here. You will have to copy them into your address book, and then send me your answer(s). The more folks who answer, the merrier. So let’s all have a bit of fun! Once I have all the results in, I shall list your own favourite(s), and mine too, of course! This should be plenty of fun for everyone, and besides, I do wonder how much overlap there is in people’s tastes.
Please do participate! We do not usually get much participation from our followers, so now is your chance to rectify the situation. Once we have all the results in, I shall repost all 10 frescoes in a slide show.
Best,
Richard
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CONTEST QUIZ & LOVELY BOOK PRIZES! Are these statuettes of the Mistress of the Hunt, Zeus & the Priestess of the Winds?
CONTEST QUIZ & LOVELY BOOK PRIZES! Are these statuettes of the Mistress of the Hunt, Zeus & the Priestess of the Winds? Click to ENLARGE:
NOTE that this POST is classified under the heading MEDIA at the top of this blog. If you click on MEDIA, you will find it much faster than if you simply try scrolling through the hundreds of posts on our blog.
It is quite possible that these 3 statuettes are, from left to right, (a) Potnia Theron (Mistress of the Hunt), (b) DIWO (in Mycenaean Greek) or ZEUS & (c) ANEMOIYEREA (The Minoan Mycenaean Priestess of the Winds). For more on the Priestess of the Winds, click on this BANNER:
But they may not be. Who is to say, if not you yourself? So why not tell us, and we will let you know if you are right. Moreover, if you get the answer EXACTLY right, you will win FIRST PRIZE of a fine edition of W. Ceram’s Gods, Graves and Scholars, and if you get the closest answer to the FIRST PRIZE winning answer, your SECOND PRIZE is another fine book on The Minoans. See below for details.
HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST: It is simple. Answer any of questions (a) to (d) below as you see fit.
To reply with your answer, you may either:
(a) leave your reply in the Comments section for this post; or
(b) send me your answer to either of my e-mail accounts:
vallance22@gmail.com
OR
vallance22@gmx.com
(Since I must protect myself from spammers, these e-mail links are not live in this post.
You must add my e-mail address to your address book.)
THIS CONTEST QUIZ IS OPEN UNTIL JULY 1 2015.
Good luck!
HOW I FOUND THESE AMAZING STATUETTES!
While watching a truly fascinating TV program this morning, I happened to see these three statuettes, which I instantly recognized as quite possibly being dated anywhere from the late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age (ca. 1300-800 BCE). Just one look at them, and you can see for yourselves that they could easily date from within these five centuries. But the question is, do they, and if they do not, what are they? Do not kid yourself, this is an extremely tricky quiz question, because, unless you have actually seen the program yourself and you recognized them flash across the screen, then you cannot possibly know the answer. However, to be fair, I shall give everyone out there, whether or not you are an expert in ancient Greek archaeology, an historian of ancient Greece, or an aficionado of all things ancient, more than an even break to guess the right answer... and there is only one.
THIS QUIZ IS SO DIFFICULT IT IS OPEN TO EVERYONE, EVEN MY CO-RESIDENT BLOGGER, RITA ROBERTS.
Answer these questions as you see fit:
(a) Are these statuettes genuine ancient Greek artifacts, Minoan, Mycenaean or early Iron Age? OR
(b) If not, are statuettes from another ancient civilization, and if, so, which one? OR
(c) Are these statuettes fake? AND
(d) If they are fake, precisely what are they? If you believe (c) to be true, then you must answer (d) precisely, i.e. you must identify exactly what these statuettes are and the actual name of the program from which they are derived. The only way anyone can get this last option (d) correct is if you have actually seen the program in question, and even then, I my be leading you astray. In other words, either (a) or (b) may be the right answer, or on the other hand (c) and (d). YOU DECIDE.
There are two beautiful prizes to be won:
FIRST PRIZE: for the person who tells me precisely what they are, down to the very last detail, providing the actual names of each statute in turn, AND the name of the TV program where I found them, this magnificent volume:
Ceram, C.W. Gods, Graves, and Scholars: the Story of Archaeology. London: the Folio Society, © 1999. xxx, 528 pp. Illustrated with full colour and black & white plates. Bound in full buckram, printed on Inveresk Wove paper by the Bath Press.
Approximate Value: $80
SECOND PRIZE: for the person who tells me gets the closest to the answer for the first PRIZE, down to the very last detail, providing the actual names of each statute in turn, but missing out on only one or two details, this splendid book:
Fitton, J. Lesley. The Minoans. London: the Folio Society, © 2004. xix, 392 pp. Illustrated with full colour and black & white plates. Bound in full cloth, printed on Abbey Wove paper by Cambridge University Press. Approximate Value: $65
NOTE: IF YOU STILL HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR ARE IN ANY WAY UNSURE HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME IN COMMENTS HERE ON THE BLOG OR BY E-MAIL.
Richard
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TA PERI TEES TOON MYSTOON ELEUSEOOS (IV)
Fascinating post on Eleuseus. Richard
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Greek Antiquities in the British Museum, London
Of course, this would cause outrage. The British Museum has NO RIGHT to lend any of the so-called Elgin Marbles to anyone, because they are not theirs to loan! In spite of the righteous howls of so many Brits who claim to have preserved the Parthenon marble statues from its frieze, the marbles belong to the PARTHENON, period, and the BM knows this. Shame on them! It is high time this goes to the International Court at the Hague, and that the BM be charged with vandalism and grand larceny, and fined at least 100 billion dollars for this atrocious crime of theft of the Parthenon frieze statues.
Richard Vallance Janke,
Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaShare this:
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Positive Review of Gretchen E. Leonhardt’s “The Phonetic Method in Linear A Decipherment”
Positive Review of Gretchen E. Leonhardt’s “The Phonetic Method in Linear A Decipherment” My fellow researcher in Linear A, Linear B & Linear C, Gretchen E. Leonhardt, has just posted a truly fascinating approach to possibilities for the eventual decipherment on her blog, here: Click to READ
If you are at all familiar with the problems surrounding the possibilities for the eventual decipherment of Minoan Linear A, which are legion, I urge you to studiously read this post in its entirety. Before I get to my review, allow me to give you a bit of background on the extensive skills and achievements Ms. Leonhardt has brought to the field of decipherment and translation of Minoan Linear A, Mycenaean Linear B, and most recently, to Arcado-Cypriot Linear C, interests which she and I share on so many levels. Ms. Leonhardt takes a novel approach to research into these all-important syllabaries. Her methodology is quite unlike anything I have ever encountered from any other decipherer or translator, past or present, of Mycenaean Linear B. I have to say that she is a refreshing breeze in the field of ancient linguistics, precisely because of her daring, yet utterly consistent, methodology, even if it flies in the face of convention.
While she and I do not entertain even remotely close hypotheses on the theoretical underpinnings for the decipherment of any of these syllabaries, and are often very much at odds with one another in our approaches to the innumerable problems besetting research in this field, we do agree to disagree, if only for this reason, that we are both well aware that each of us is taking a unique approach to the problems we encounter. Gretchen’s methodology, just as my own, flies in the face of convention, but for reasons almost diametrically opposed. But this precisely why she fascinates me so much. I am little concerned what anyone else thinks of my own approach to the decipherment of these syllabaries, just as I believe Gretchen is. The only thing that really matters is that we, she and I, and for that matter, any researcher in this recondite field, must perforce follow the dictates or his or her conscience and intuitive hunches, and the rational constructs underpinning the methodology pursued. All else is of little or no consequence. After all, Michael Ventris followed his intuition and his rational procedures, which inexorably led him to the discovery he was bound to make, that the Linear B syllabary was the first ever script used to write a Greek dialect, notably Mycenaean Greek. I say, the first script, because there were in fact three of them, Linear B for Mycenaean Greek, Linear C for Arcado-Cypriot, and the ancient Greek alphabet in its various avatars. Gretchen Leonhardt and I share a profound dedication to research into all three of these ancient Greek scripts.
A Review of Gretchen E. Leonhardt’s “The Phonetic Method in Linear A Decipherment”
Having a cursory acquaintance with the Japanese Kanji system of ideograms, I have enough of a background in this regard to at least appreciate what implications Gretchen Leonhardt’s novel approach might potentially have on the eventual decipherment of Minoan Linear A. While it was manifestly difficult for me to follow Ms. Leonhardt’s analytical breakdown of Japanese Kanji for personal names personal names (anthroponyms), surnames, and place names (toponyms), I did manage to struggle through it. The moment she mentioned the Kanji KA, which as she points out, can yield up to 25 definitions and 52 names, as per above, I knew what she was up to. KA is a very common syllabogram in each of the syllabaries, Minoan Linear A, Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot Linear C.
Characteristically, Ms. Leonhardt notes that “I also pay attention to rare kanji as well as to words with archaic and obscure definitions.” If there is one thing Ms. Leonhardt and I have in common, it is this: a strict attention to details, however esoteric. That is the first thing about her phonetic method for the decipherment Linear A which seized my attention... though certainly not the last. She goes on to consider the ramifications of other kanji, RI, RU & MA, which once again parallel other very common syllabograms in all three of the Centum syllabaries mentioned above.
Then came the second lightning bolt. Again, with an eye for the minutest detail for even the rarest and most obsolete kanji, what would she happen upon but the definition of “gem, precious stone; lapis lazuli”. Lapis lazuli. Now that caught my attention! The Minoans were among the very finest crafts workers of lapis lazuli in the entire ancient world, whether in their own time or later. We note also that Ms. Leonhardt cross-correlates the nominal Kanji forms lapis lazuli with its verbal counterparts, “chafe, grind, rub, polish, scrape”, finally taking the last step to the logical combination of the nominal and verbal forms into the sense of “polished lapis lazuli gem”. It is precisely this sort of cross-correlative reasoning which impresses me most with Ms. Leonhardt.
Having drawn the conclusions she did from her Kanji sources, she moves onto the Linear A tablet from Haghia Triada, HT 118, which she believes to be a ship manifest. Given that the import and export of lapis lazuli as a major precious commodity was so important to practically all ancient economies, this comes as no surprise to me. We know for instance that the Minoans exported their fine lapis lazuli jewelry and products to their major contemporary trade partners such as Egypt, where Minoan crafts and ware of all kinds were in great demand for their superior quality. To underscore my point, we need only view a few samples of their magnificent work as we do in this composite of Minoan lapis lazuli products: click to ENLARGE:
You may also click here to visit Prof. John G. Younger’s site, Linear A Texts in phonetic transcription,
where you fill find the transcription into Latin characters of the Linear A text of HT 118, just as it appears here: Click to ENLARGE
It is Ms. Leonhardt’s intuitive grasp of the extreme importance of lapis lazuli to the pre-Mycenaean Minoan economy which most impresses me, all the more so in light of the fact that the export of their superior lapis lazuli products continued on unabated right through the early Mycenaean Era, when Knossos was at its acme (ca. 1450-1400 BCE). That this is the case is clearly attested in specific references to lapis lazuli on Linear B tablets. If it figured largely enough to warrant a place of merit on Liner B tablets, then surely, we might well conjecture, it should, strictly speaking, have also held place on honour on Minoan Linear A tablets.
So in summary, Ms. Leonhardt’s approach to a potentially sound decipherment of at least part of HT 118 holds up on several counts: given that its contents probably refer to lapis lazuli in some manner, it makes sense that the tablet is in fact a ship manifest, for reasons of trade as cited above. Secondly, the happy co-incidence with the interpretations which she was able to coax from the Kanji characters she has researched in this context with the possibility that HT 118 might in fact deal with this very gemstone may not be fortuitous at all, but actually (indirectly) linguistically related.
Ms. Leonhardt is not the first linguistic researcher to correlate Japanese Kanji with Minoan Linear A, but she has taken the potential parallelisms further than anyone else before her. I will never be the one to decipher Minoan Linear A, but I certainly hope Ms. Leonhardt will be.
NOTE: For just one example of other research into the possible connection of Minoan Linear A with Japanese Kanji,please visit:
Richard Vallance Janke
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2014 in review
Absolutely fantastic results, mon ami, Roque. I am so delighted you reblog us as often as you do. I am reblogging your annual stats for 2014 on https://linearbknossosmycenae.wordpress.com Richard
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Alcaeus, fragment 34.5-8: Fragments of a Hymn to the Dioscuri
Ah, yes! I recall this! Lovely! Something I should try to translate into Mycenaean Linear B or Arcado-Cypriot Linear C. Thanks, mon ami! Reblogging. Richard
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Best Soliloquy Delivered By A Deity In Recent Memory
WONDERFUL! I am going to translate this into ancient Mycenaean Linear B, Arcado-Cypriot Linear C & Ancient & Modern Greek for you. Richard. Should appear soon on my blog, https://linearbknossosmycenae.wordpress.com 2nd. largest of its kind on the entire Internet. Will follow you now. Richard
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