Tag: Mycenaean Greek

  • KEY POST! Slated for publication in Archaeology and Science Vol. 12 (2016),“Pylos tablet Py TA 641-1952 (Ventris), the ‘Rosetta Stone’ to Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada) vessels and pottery”

    Slated for publication in Archaeology and Science Vol. 12 (2016),“Pylos tablet Py TA 641-1952 (Ventris), the ‘Rosetta Stone’ to Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada) vessels and pottery”:
    
    archaeology-and-science-vol-12-2016-2018Pylos tablet Py TA 641-1952 (Ventris), the ‘Rosetta Stone’ to Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada) vessels and pottery”, is definitively slated for publication in Vol. 12 (2016) in the prestigious international annual, Archaeology and Science ISSN 1452-7448 (release date spring 2018). To be submitted by Nov. 15, 2016.
    
    This is the ground-breaking article in which I announce to the world my success at a partial decipherment of some of the vocabulary of Minoan Linear A, not of the language itself, which no one is in a position to decipher, given the extreme paucity of extant tablets and fragments (<500), of which the vast majority are fragments.  
    
    In the progressive layout of the draft of this revolutionary article, I shall be featuring the following Minoan Linear A tablets and commentaries on Minoan Linear A in my article (in this approximate order), as per previous posts on this blog (Click on each link to visit its post):
    
    INTRODUCTION
    
    Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is the Mycenaean Linear B “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada)
    
    a-pylos-ta-641-1952-ventris
    
    5 words of vessel types in Minoan Linear A: Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada)
    
    b-5-words
    
    Linear A tablet tagged “19” & the Minoan word for “tripod” = puko (confirmation)
    
    c-ht-19
    
    FAILED DECIPHERMENTS
    
    d-failed-decipherments
    
    Proto-Slavic interpretation of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada) — another decipherment gone awry
    
    d-proto-slavic
    
    2 vastly different decipherments of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada). Does either measure up?
    
    d-proto-slavic
    
    PROSPECTS FOR DECIPHERMENT
    
    How far can we go deciphering Minoan Linear A? And now for the bad news
    
    e-how-far
    
    What are the current prospects for deciphering Minoan Linear A? Dismal but…
    
    f-prospects
    
    PRINCIPLES & CROSS-CORRELATION
    
    g-5-principles
    
    The 5 principles applicable to the rational partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A
    
    The principle of cross-correlative cohesion between Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B & logical fallacies
    
    h-cross-correlative
    
    ACTUAL MINOAN LINEAR A TABLETS SUSCEPTIBLE TO AT LEAST PARTIAL DECIPHERMENT
    
    Minoan Linear A tablet HT 132 qareto = lease field (post lost, to be reposted)
    
    i-qareto
    
    Mycenaean Linear B tablets on terms and activities related to olive oil as templates for cross-correlation to Minoan Linear A tablets
    
    j-olive-oil
    
    Minoan Linear A tablet HT 12 & qatidate = Mycenaean Linear B erawa = olive tree(s)
    
    j-olive-oil
    
    UPDATE on the military Minoan Linear A tablet HT 94 (Haghia Triada) = attendants to the king/foot soldiers
    
    k-kapa
    Minoan Linear A kirita2 (kiritai) = delivery & kiretana = delivered (nos. 67 & 68 deciphered)
    
    l-delivery
    
    Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada) & wine
    
    m-ht-13
    
    Minoan Linear whorls unearthed by Heinrich Schliemann at Troy in 1875 & their striking similarity to the Linear A whorls (recto/verso) illustrated here
    
    n-troy
    
    Minoan Linear A words: 7 types of cloth on tablet HT 117 (Haghia Triada) compared with 7 types of cloth in Mycenaean Linear B
    
    o-cloth
    
    GLOSSARY OF MINOAN LINEAR A TERMS & CONCLUSIONS
    
    Glossary of 134 words & Partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A : a rational approach from Mycenaean Linear B (final version)
    
    p-glossary
    
  • UPDATE on the military Minoan Linear A tablet HT 94 (Haghia Triada) = attendants to the king/foot soldiers

    UPDATE on the military Minoan Linear A tablet HT 94 (Haghia Triada) = attendants to the king/foot soldiers: 
    
    ideogram-eqeta-linear-b-kapa-linear-a
    
    This tablet, HT 94 (Haghia Triada) contains the key military Minoan Linear A term, kapa, which is almost certainly the approximate equivalent to Mycenaean Linear B eqeta = “follower”.
    
    mycenaean-eqeta-or-follower-of-the-king
    
    The term eqeta in Mycenaean Greek has a special connotation. It denotes an attendant to the king, wanaka, who is usually also the rawaketa = “leader of the hosts” i.e.  “Commander-in-Chief”, which in the case of the Mycenaean expedition against Troy (ca. 1300-1250 BCE) would have been Agamemnon.
    
    so-called-mask-of-agamemnon-mycenae
    
    It is notable that the ideogram, apparently for “man”, on the medallion is so large that it practically fills the entire surface. Note also the supersyllabogram KA which is surcharged top right. This medallion is not the Linear A tablet HT 94 (Haghia Triada), but its resemblance to the text of the latter is so striking it simply cannot be ignored. In addition, this ideogram is more elaborate than the standard one for “man” in Minoan Linear A, and bears an amazing resemblance to the fresco image of the eqeta above. For these two reasons alone, I have come to the firm conclusion that indeed kapa in Minoan Linear A is the close equivalent to eqeta in Mycenaean Linear B, with a scalar precision of 75 % or >.      
    
    According to the renowned twentieth century Linear B expert and researcher, L.R. Palmer, the eqeta also appears to have had a religious function.
    
    It is highly unlikely there was such a person as a “follower” in pre-Mycenaean, Minoan society at Knossos. So we must take a stab at an approximation to the term eqeta in Minoan Linear A, i.e. kapa, which would probably have referred to attendants to the King, much in the same way as the Praetorian Guards who protected the sacrosanct person of the Emperor in post AD ancient Rome. 
    
    praetorian-guard
    
    
    
    
  • Symbaloo/Google search reveals that almost all references to Pylos tablet Py TA 641-1952 (Ventris) are attributed to Richard Vallance Janke

    Symbaloo/Google search reveals that almost all references to Pylos tablet Py TA 641-1952 (Ventris) are attributed to Richard Vallance Janke:
    
    pylos-linear-b-tablet-ta-641-1952-symbaloo-google-search
    
    Since Richard is now in the process of deciphering at least some of the vocabulary of Minoan Linear A in his Glossary of 134 terms in Linear A, it is quite possible that someday he may be ranked alongside Michael Ventris. 
    
    photos-of-michael-ventris-and-richard-vallance-janke
    
    especially in light of the fact that his article, Linear B tablet Pylos Py TA 641-1952 is the “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada) Pottery and Vessels, is to be published in the prestigious international annual Archaeology and Science, Vol. 12 (2016) Belgrade ISSN 1452-7448, 
    
    as per this recent post: CLICK to visit
    
    rosetta-stone-link
    
    It is critical to note that Richard does not claim to have deciphered Minoan Linear A. Such a claim would be preposterous. What he does rejoin is that he has been able to successfully decipher around 130 Minoan Linear A terms more or less accurately.
    
    
    
  • “The Decipherment of Supersyllabograms in Mycenaean Linear B” to be published in Archaeology and Science (Vol. 11, 2015) ISSN 1452-7448

    The Decipherment of Supersyllabograms in Mycenaean Linear B” to be published in Archaeology and Science (Vol. 11, 2015) ISSN 1452-7448
    
    abstract
    
    archaeology-and-science-cover-vol-10
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is the Mycenaean Linear B “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada)

    Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is the Mycenaean Linear B “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada):
    
    Glen Gordon, in the February 2007 issue of Journey to Ancient Civilizations, poses this truly thought-provoking question:
    
    konososnet-glen-gordon-minoan-linear-a-rosetta-stone
    
    The answer to his question is finally upon us.  In fact, it has been staring us in the face for a very long time. As this post makes clear beyond a shadow of a doubt, Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is the Mycenaean Linear B “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada). Figure 1
    
    rosetta-stone-vessel-types-ta-641-1952-ht-31
    
    demonstrates that this cannot be otherwise, in light of the fact that the ideograms on Minoan Linear HT 31 are almost the exact equivalents of the same or remarkably similar ideograms we find on  Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952, bar none. The parallels between the ideograms on Minoan Linear A HT 31 (Haghia Triada) and those on Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris)
    
    g-fig-7-roberts-pylos-ta-py-641-1952-roberts-burnt-from-legs-up
    
    is so striking as to ensure that we are dealing with practically the same text on both tablets, although in a different order (not that this matters much). The process whereby we have been able to determine the lexographic values of the Minoan Linear A terms parallel with their Mycenaean Linear B counterparts is called cross-correlative retrogressive extrapolation. This methodology allows us to extrapolate the precise semiotic values for each of the Minoan Linear A ideograms in turn, on which their orthographic nomenclatures are superimposed.  Since the name of each and every vessel on HT 31 is spelled out in full,
    
    minoan-linear-a-tablet-ht-31-haghia-triada
    
    we find ourselves face to face with the felicitous co-incidence (or is it far more than mere co-incidence?) that these Minoan A terms are almost perfectly aligned with their Mycenaean Linear B counterparts on the Pylos tablet. All we need do is cross-correlate each Minoan Linear A term for a pottery or vessel type with its counterpart on the Pylos tablet and, voilà, we  have nailed down every single term on HT 31 (Haghia Triada).  From this kick-off point, it becomes a piece of cake to translate practically all of the integral text on HT 13 from Minoan Linear A into English, given the telling parallels with their counterpart terms on Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris). This is the very methodology I have recourse to over and over to decipher at least one word or a few words on numerous Minoan Linear A tablets, and to decipher a few Linear A tablets almost in their entirety.
    
    I shall soon be publishing a feature article on academia.edu on this remarkable discovery I have made. This article shall bear the title, Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris), the Mycenaean Linear B “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada).
    
    It is however vital to understand that Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is not the Mycenaean Linear B “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada) in the same sense that the actual Rosetta Stone is the facilitator for the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which effectively deciphered the ancient Egyptian language. Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is the Mycenaean Linear B “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A tablet HT 31 (Haghia Triada) only in the sense that it enables to decipher the vocabulary alone on the latter. Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris) does not and cannot facilitate the actual decipherment of the Minoan language itself in Linear A. Currently, given the paucity of extant Minoan Linear A tablets and fragments (<500), of which most are mere fragments, that longed-for idealistic objective is simply beyond our reach.
    
    To summarize, Linear B tablet Pylos TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is the Mycenaean Linear B “Rosetta Stone” for Minoan Linear A vocabulary alone, and nothing else. Nevertheless, even this revelation constitutes a major step forward in the partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A vocabulary, allowing us to build a modest lexicon of just over 100 terms in Minoan Linear A, deciphered more or less accurately.
    
    Keep posted for the upcoming publication of this exciting development in the partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A vocabulary on my academia.edu account.
    
    
  • Which of the 2 decipherments of Linear A tablet HT 13, that of Pavel Serafimov and Anton Perdih and my own, do you believe is the more accurate?

    Which of the 2 decipherments of Linear A tablet HT 13, that of Pavel Serafimov and Anton Perdih and my own, do you believe is the more accurate?
    
    
    
  • KEY POST: 2 vastly different decipherments of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada). Does either measure up?

    KEY POST: 2 vastly different decipherments of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada). Does either measure up?
    
    In this post we compare two vastly different decipherments of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada). The key question here can be posed in three different ways:
    
    1. Does one of these two decipherments measure up significantly more than the other?
    2. Does either measure up? 
    3. Does neither measure up?
    
    Here are the two decipherments, first that of Pavel Serafimov and Anton Perdih:
    
    Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 Slavic
    
    and secondly, my own decipherment:
    
    Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 by RIchard Vallance Janke
    
    According to option 3 above, it is of course possible that neither of these translations forms a faithful semantic and semiotic map of the original Linear A text (whatever it actually means). On the other hand, it is much more likely that option 1. above is applicable, namely that only one of the two decipherments at least approaches a faithful semantic and semiotic map of the original Linear A text , although we can never really know how faithfully until such time as Minoan Linear B is properly and fully deciphered. And that will not happen anytime soon, due to the extreme paucity of extant Linear B tablets and fragments (< 500), of which the vast majority are fragments, and thus ineffectual in providing any impetus to even a partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A. However, all is not lost. Far from it. There quite a few (almost) full intact Minoan Linear A tablets, all of which are very much more susceptible to contributing positively to at least a partial decipherment of Linear A. To date, the Linear A tablets which I have been able to decipher, more or less accurately, are HT 13, HT 14, (HT 17), HT 21, HT 31, HT 38, HT 91, HT 92, HT 94 and HT 132 (all from Haghia Triada)
    ZA 1 ZA 8 ZA 10 (Zakros) 
    GO Wc 1 (Gournia) 
    and the Troy spindle whorls
    
    I have also managed to decipher one or two words on several other tablets from Haghia Triada, Zakros and elsewhere, without however being able to decipher the remainder of the integral text, which utterly escapes me, and is therefore still to be considered undecipherable, at least for the time being. There is no telling whether or not either I myself or someone else will be able to decipher more words from the rest of these tablets or even some of the tablets entire in the near future. Only time will tell, but I believe the prospects are much better now than they were even a few months ago, i.e. prior to May 2016, when I embarked on the exciting journey to decipher as much of Minoan Linear A as I could. It is no small achievement, I believe, for me to have been able to decipher at least the 12 Linear A tablets listed above, if indeed my decipherments approach cohesive accuracy, both internally and by means of cross-correlative regressive extrapolation from almost identical to similar Mycenaean Linear B tablets.
    
    With respect to my own decipherment of HT 13 (Haghia Triada) above, I wish to make the following highly pertinent observations. I leave it up to you to decide for yourself (yourselves) whether or not the assumptions I have meticulously made with specific reference to what appear to be derivational standard units of measurement in Minoan Linear A are in fact that. Immediately pursuant to my highly accurate decipherment of HT 31 (Haghia Triada) on vessels and pottery, for which Mycenaean Linear B tablet Pylos Py TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is the quasi Rosetta Stone (as I have re-iterated many times since that decipherment), I turned my attention to three words which appeared over and over on several Minoan Linear A tablets, these being reza, adureza & tereza. Philologists such as Andras Zeke of the Minoan Language Blog had previously and consistently “deciphered” these three terms as being toponyms or place names, but I was immediately suspicious of such an interpretation, given that both adureza and tereza have the prefixes adu and te prepended to what strikingly appears to be their own root, reza. Subsequent research revealed two more terms most likely derived from the root, reza = the standard unit of linear measurement in Minoan Linear A (as far as I can tell... more on this to come). These are dureza and kireza. So the total number of terms relative to measurement of large, not minute, quantities in Minoan Linear A appear to be 5. That is quite a tally.
    
    + units of measurement in Minoan Linear A: exact values unknown
    
    reza = standard unit of measurement (linear)
    adureza = dry unit of measurement (something like a “bushel”)
    dureza = unit of measurement (unknown) [1]
    kireza = dry measurement for figs (a basket) [2]
    tereza = liquid unit of measurement (something like “a gallon” or at the bare minimum “a litre” [3]  
    
    NOTES:
    [1] While I have been utterly unable to surmise what standard unit of measurement dureza is supposed to represent, even the standard units for reza, adureza & tereza are mere approximations. For more on this see the concluding paragraph of this post.  
    [2] While I am virtually certain that kireza is the standard unit for the measurement of a basket of figs, this still begs the question, what size is the basket? At any rate, it is pretty obvious that the basket size cannot be larger than can reasonably be carried on one shoulder, since that is the way baskets are carried in practically every culture, ancient or modern. So in this case, the approximation for the standard unit of measurement figs, kireza, is considerably more accurate than all of the others.      
    [3] Obviously, in light of [1] above, my guesstimates for the standard units of dry and wet measurement (adureza and tereza respectively) are just that, and nothing more.   
    
    rawa tiri wanaka
    
    Now if we compare the variables in the prefixes to the root, reza (adu, du, ki & te) with the similar practice of suffixes appended to word roots in Mycenaean Linear B, which is the direct opposite practice we have just propounded for Minoan Linear A, we nevertheless discover that the same level of consistency and coherence applies equally to both languages, as clearly illustrated by the following table, in which the prefixes listed above for Minoan Linear A appear at the end, preceded by no fewer than three roots (which are invariable) and appear in front of highly variable suffixes in Mycenaean Linear B. The roots are, respectively, raw, which references anything to do with people, tri, which references anything related to the number 3 and wana, which references any connotation of kingship or royalty in Mycenaean Greek.
    
    While the practices for affixing are appositive in Minoan Linear A (which prepends affixes to the root) and in Mycenaean Linear B (which appends suffixes to the root or stem), the procedure the two languages follows is one and the same, flipped on its head either way you view it, i.e. from the perspective of Mycenaean Linear B or vice versa, from that of Minoan Linear A. The underlying principle which defines this procedure is the cognitive frame, as propounded by my colleague and friend, Eugenio R. Luján. So let us simply call the procedure (whether from the perspective of Minoan Linear or its opposite in Mycenaean Linear B) just that, the cognitive frame, which is also the template for the procedure, actually proceeding forward in both languages, each in its own way. Either way, the procedure works like a charm. As Eugenio R. Luján so succinctly summarizes it in his article, Semantic Maps and Word Formation: Agents, Instruments, and Related Semantic Roles, in Linguistic Discovery (Dartmouth College), Vol 8, Issue 1, 2010. pp. 162-175, and I quote:
    
    ... The methodology of semantic maps has been applied mainly to the analysis of grammatical morphemes (affixes and adpositions) pg. 162
    
    and again,
    
    Previous work on semantic maps has shown how the polysemy of grammatical morphemes is not random, but structured according to underlying principles....
    
    Although the semantic map methodology has not been applied to the analysis of word formation patterns, there is no reason to suppose that derivational morphemes behave differently from grammatical morphemes. In fact, taking into account the findings of the intensive work done in the field of grammaticalization in the last thirty years or so, we know now that lexical and grammatical morphemes constitute a continuum, and their meanings are organized in the same way—inside a cognitive frame,... pg. 163 
    
    and most significantly,
    
    In contrast to the lexicon, the number of derivational morphemes and word
    formation patterns in any given language is limited. pg. 163.
    
    I wish to lay particular stress on this last observation by Eugenio R. Luján, because he is right on the money. In terms of the way I have expounded my own explanation of how the procedure of the cognitive frame works, as I see it, what he is actually saying here is this: the derivational morphemes (i.e. the prefixes in Minoan Linear A and the suffixes in Mycenaean Linear B) is limited, and in fact very limited in comparison with the orthographic and grammatical lexicon in either language, or for that matter, in any language, ancient or modern.
    
    All of this brings us full circle back to my own original assumption, namely, that adureza, dureza, kireza and tereza are all derivational morphemes of reza in Minoan Linear A and that the suffixes appended to the roots raw, tri and wana in Mycenaean Linear B are also derivational morphemes. The gravest problem with the decipherment of HT 13 (Haghia Triada) advanced by Pavel Serafimov and Anton Perdih is that it does not take the cognitive frame or map of derivational morphemes into account at all. So instead, the authors advance entirely different meanings for each of these terms (reza, adureza, dureza, kireza & tereza), entirely oblivious to the the fact that they all share the same root, reza. This factor alone throws profound doubt on their decipherment.
    
    On the other hand, my own decipherment of HT 13 (Haghia Triada) takes the procedure of the cognitive frame or map of derivational morphemes fully into account, with the very same procedure applied to derivational morphemes in Mycenaean Linear B, though in the opposite direction). For the sake of consistency, let us refer to the the cognitive frame or map of derivational morphemes in Minoan Linear A as regressive, given that the variables (the prefixes, adureza, dureza, kireza & tereza) precede the root, reza, and the same frame as progressive in Mycenaean Linear B, in light of the fact that the root or stem is followed by the variable suffixes (derivational morphemes). Be it as it may, prefixes and suffixes are both classed under the umbrella term, affixes, and again, I repeat, the procedure is the same either way. An affix is an affix is an affix, whether or not it comes first (prefix) or last (suffix).
    
    For this reason alone I am convinced that my decipherment of HT 13 is on the right track, even if it is not totally accurate... which it cannot be anyway, in light of the fact that the standard units of measurement for large quantities in Minoan Linear A (reza, adureza, dureza, kireza and tereza) will never be known with any measure of accuracy, given that we can have no idea whatsoever that the “standard” units for anything in either Minoan Linear A or Mycenaean Linear B can ever be really determined. The farther we as philologists or historical linguists go back diachronistically in the historical timeline, the less determinable are units of measurement or, for that matter, different kinds of textiles or pottery, few of which we can know with any measure of certainty either in Minoan Linear A or Mycenaean Linear B.
    
         
    
  • Some of our best friends’ names in Mycenaean Linear B & Minoan Linear A

    Some of our best friends’  names in Mycenaean Linear B & Minoan Linear A:
    
    Some of our friends' names in Mycenaean Linear B and Minoan Linear A
    
    Except for my name, which comes first since after all I am my own best friend, entries are arranged in alphabetical order by your names in English, with your names in Latinized Linear B/A underneath your names in English, followed by your names in the Mycenaean Linear B & Minoan Linear A syllabaries. For many of your names, the Mycenaean Linear B & Minoan Linear A entries will be identical, since the syllabograms are identical in both syllabaries, while for some names there will be occasional differences between some of the Linear B and Linear A syllabograms in your names. Vive la différence !
    
    
  • Proto-Slavic interpretation of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada) — another decipherment gone awry

    Proto-Slavic interpretation of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada) — another decipherment gone awry (Click on Tablet below to READ the original):
    
    HT 13 our interpretation
    
    Pavel Serafimov, Anton Perdih, in their Translation of the Linear A Tablet HT 13 from Crete (above) have made a valiant attempt to cross-correlate their contextual reading of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada) with Proto-Slavic. At first glance, at least some points of their decipherment seem more or less “accurate”. But the global decipherment swiftly crumbles into a morass of self-contradictions, severe ambiguities and mismatched cross-purposes. Like so many other philologists struggling to decipher Minoan Linear A, Serafimov and Perdih make the practically universal assumption, which I for one categorically reject as superfluous and spurious (at least for the time being), that if we are to succeed in deciphering Minoan Linear A at all, we must be in contact with an actual “known” proto-language upon which, as so many philologists insist, Linear A must be based, believing as they do that there is simply no way to escape this paradoxical box of it-must-be-this-proto-language-or-nothing-at-all approach. The fundamental universal problem inherent to this approach is that each and every one of these would-be decipherers has boxed himself into a proto-language which he assumes, in utter faith and sometimes rash confidence, must be the proto-language upon Minoan Linear A must be based, come hell or high water. Yet it is obvious to any truly professional historical linguist or philologist that it is impossible for all of the so-called proto-languages touted as the base of Minoan Linear A to be the right base for it, given that no two of these so-called proto-languages are alike, even if they are in the same class of ancient languages, for instance, Proto-European.
    
    Minoan Slavic Glossary
    
    
    
    A
    
    B
    
    It just does not wash. Either only one of these philologists has got it right or none of them have it at all. I am of the firm conviction that none of them have it. Let us take a closer look at just a few of these unavailing attempts at deciphering Minoan Linear A:
       
    First, we have J. MacGillivary’s review of various attempts to decipher Minoan Linear A, a very worthwhile read:
    
    J MacGillivray
    
    Then, on Jan Best’s “Decipherment” of Minoan Linear A, by Gary A. Rendsburg
    
    
    Jan Best
    
    Next, Breaking the Code: a first translation of the lost language of Linear A, by Sam Connolly
    
    Sam Connolly Beaking the Code Linear A
    
    Linear A Decipherment: Translation of Minoan Inscriptions in Linear A, by Stuart L. Harris  
    
    Sam Harris Linear A decipherment
    
    Finally, there is the truly bizarre cross-correlation of Minoan Linear A with an ancient Niger-Congo dialect, by C.J.K. Campbell-Dunn
    
    
    Minoan-signs-an-african-decipherment
    
    What is worse is that all of the aforementioned books make the preposterous claim that they have in fact deciphered Minoan Linear A, a claim which no professional philologist or historical linguistic, including myself, would ever dare make. The only case I can rationally make is for a partial decipherment at best of Minoan Linear A, a venture which I have myself undertaken, with mixed results. While some of the 134 terms in my Minoan Linear A Glossary are more than likely to be correct, others may be (though with a lesser degree of accuracy), while yet others are open to serious doubt.   
      
    EXCEPTION!
    
    which leaves me with the sole exception of David W. Packard’s Minoan Linear A, which relies solely on computational linguistics to analyze Minoan Linear A, and which is a study I for one shall order personally online (if at all possible, since it was published way back in 1974) and which I shall be keeping a very close eye on with reference to my own cross-correlative retrogressive extrapolations of Minoan Linear A tablets from their latter-day Mycenaean Linear B counterparts, where these exist:
    
    David Packard Minoan Signs
    
    computational
    
    And I quote:
    
    The very first work done on this was done by David W. Packard, the son of Hewlett-Packard (company) co-founder David Packard. He published a book on his work back in 1974 called Minoan Linear A and I highly recommend it. I tried reading it when I first got interested in Linear A and it was way over my head, so I took a few years to familiarize myself with the inscriptions, symbols and patterns and then went back to it. Much better! Ilse Schoep also relied heavily on his data in her dissertation on the Haghia Triada tablets and was able to provide some updates to the data which had occurred since Packard's time, though her dissertation was an overview of the Haghia Triada administration rather than a computational approach.
    
    by Kim Raymoure
     
    I have cited just a few of the many fruitless attempts at deciphering Minoan Linear A, but at least this cross-section gives us all a clear overview of this highly specialized field of research.
    
    
  • Minoan Linear A, Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae now ranked on first page of Google search on “minoan linear a mycenaean linear b”

    Minoan Linear A, Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae now ranked on first page of Google search on “minoan linear a mycenaean linear b”
    
    google search  minoan linear a mycenaean linear b 01092016
    
    Even though the official name of our research site was not even changed from  Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae to Minoan Linear A, Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae until June 2016, and in spite of the fact that we had never conducted any really serious research into Minoan Linear A and any potential for its partial decipherment prior to May 2106, our premier research site into the three major ancient Linear scripts, Minoan Linear A, Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot Linear, all of which I am on deeply familiar terms with, has risen from virtually no presence in cross-disciplinary studies of Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B in tandem prior to May 2016, to the eighth position the first page of this Google search on Sept. 1 2016. But if you eliminate the hits which deal with either Linear A or Linear B exclusively (i.e. alone) = Boolean or exclusive, our rank jumps from 8 to 3.
    
    Enough said.
    
    
  • PINTEREST boards of interest related to Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B (NEWEST Boards):

    PINTEREST boards of interest related to Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B (NEWEST Boards):
    
    This is a reasonably comprehensive directory of PINTEREST boards of interest related to Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. To visit each board, simply CLICK on its banner, and sign up, if you like: 
    
    NEWEST BOARDS:
    
    1900 – 1600 BC Ancient Greek/Minoan Pottery (Click BANNER to visit):
    
    1900-1600 BC
    Ancient Mycenaean Culture
    
    ancient mycenaean culture
    
    Bronze Age
    
    Bronze Age
    Civiltà egea
     
    civilita egea
    Homer’s Bronze Age
     
    Homer's Bronze Aage
    Mediterraneo
    
    Mediterraneo
    Minoan Fashion
    
    Minoan fashion
    
    Minoans
    
    Minoans
    Mycenae
    
    Mycenae
    Micenic_bronze age
    
    Micenic bronze age
    
    Richard Vallance — Linear Scripts, Superhero
    
    PINTEREST superhero
    
    
    
  • PINTEREST boards of interest related to Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B

    PINTEREST boards of interest related to Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B:
    
    This is a reasonably comprehensive directory of PINTEREST boards of interest related to Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. To visit each board, simply CLICK on its banner, and sign up, if you like:  
    
    MAJOR BOARDS
    
    Minoan Linear A, Mycenaean Linear B: Progressive Grammar & Vocabulary (Click BANNER to visit): 
    
    Minoan Linear A Linear B
    
    
    Knossos & Mycenae, Sister Civilizations
    
    Knossos &amp; Mycenae sister
    
    Cultura Minoica
    
    Cultura minoica
    
    Antiche scritture
    
    Antiche scritture
    
    
    Minoan
    
    Minoan
    
    Minoan | Mycenaean
    
    Minoan Mycenaean
    
    SCR Lineare prealfabetica
    
    SCR Lineare
    
    Minoan: the Art and Culture of Knossos, Crete
    
    
    Minoan Art and Culture
    
    Archaeology  – Minoan
    
    Archaeology Minoan
    
    Minoan Civilization
    
    Minoan Civilization
    
    Minoan & Mycenaean Arts & Architecture
    
    Minoan &amp; Mycenaean Arts &amp; Architecture
    
    Mycenaean, Minoan, Hittite
    
    Mycenaean Minoan Hittite
    
    
    
  • Rita Roberts’ first two translations of Linear B tablets for her second year of university, rams and ewes on a lease field

    Rita Roberts’ first two translations of Linear B tablets for her second year of university, rams and ewes on a lease field:
    
    Here we see Rita Roberts’ first two translations of Linear B tablets for her second year of university, both of them concerning rams and ewes on a lease field:
    
    KN 1069 F b 09
    
    KN 1084 E e 321
    
    Rita made a couple of small errors in her translations, which I have corrected on the tablets as illustrated above. Her first error was to have omitted the ideogram for “rams” on the first line of Linear B tablet KN 1069 F b09. Although the ideogram is partially effaced, it is clearly that for “rams”, because we can still see the two parallel bars. In addition, the number of rams given in the effaced part of the tablet is lost. Since we shall never know what their number was, I have replaced it by a question mark (?) on the tablet above. On the same tablet, she refers to “units” of wool, which are generally referred to as “bales”.
    
    On Linear B tablet KN 1084 E e 321, for some strange reason, she omitted “at Phaistos” on the second line.
    
    Nevertheless, her initiation into Linear B tablets in the agricultural sector of the Minoan/Mycenaean may be considered a success. We look forward with anticipation to her future translations.  Although I cannot possibly post all of them, as they run into the hundreds, I shall be posting some of the most intriguing in the near future and beyond.
    
    
  • Examples of the preliminary steps by our second full-time student, Thalassa Farkas (Canada) to set out on the exciting journey of learning Mycenaean Linear B

    Examples of the preliminary steps by our second full-time student, Thalassa Farkas (Canada) to set out on the exciting journey of learning Mycenaean Linear B:
    
    Here we see the first truly remarkable steps Thalassa Farkas of Canada has taken in just the first few days of her apprenticeship in learning Mycenaean Linear B:
    
    Linear B korete governor
    
    basic Mycenaean Linear B syllabograms &amp; vocabulary
    
    I am particularly impressed by her keyboard template of the Mycenaean Linear B keyboard layout, which she has designed to fit right on top of the standard keyboard:
    
    Thalassa Farkas Linear B keyboard overlay
    
    Thalassa Farkas workstation and Linear B keyboard overlay
    
    While I designed the Mycenaean Linear B keyboard layout back in 2013, it never dawned on me to cut a Linear B keyboard template to fit my own keyboard. What a clever little elf Thalassa is!
    
    She is off to a great start. Let us all wish her the best in her exciting quest to master Linear B.  Although she doesnt yet realized it, she will have to decipher hundreds of Linear B tablets to meet her eventual goal. And that will take at least two years. But we all know she will attain it.
    
    PS to all our visitors, what does Thalassa, which is written as tarasa in Mycenaean Linear B, mean? Easy, if you know any Greek at all. 
    
    
  • The proportion of eponyms & toponyms in percentage to all terms in Minoan Linear A and in Mycenaean Linear B. Does it all add up?

    The proportion of eponyms & toponyms in percentage to all terms in Minoan Linear A and in Mycenaean Linear B. Does it all add up? 
    
    There are 45 eponyms and toponyms in our Glossary of 134 words in Minoan Linear A, comprising 33 % of the total.
    
    excerpt eponyms and toponyms in Minoan Linear A
    
    Calculating the total number of terms in Chris Tselentis’ Linear B Lexicon as 1,500 give or take, and the number of eponyms and toponyms as 380 give or take, the percentage of the latter is 25 % of the total.
    
    excerpt eponyms and toponyms in Mycenean Linear B
    
    It should come as no surprise at all anyone at all familiar with Mycenaean Linear B that there are so many eponyms and toponyms (e&ts) in the Lexicon. This being the case, it is reasonable to expect that the same phenomenon should repeat itself in Minoan Linear A. And so it does. Yet, while it is clear that eponyms and toponyms account for a significant percentage of the total number of terms in each syllabary, why the 8 % discrepancy between the percentage of eponyms and toponyms (e&t) in Minoan Linear A = 33 % and in Mycenaean Linear B = 25 %? 
    
    There are several cogent reasons for the divergence:
    1. Whereas philologists have squarely deciphered the vast majority of words in Mycenaean Linear B, the same cannot conceivably be said of Minoan Linear A. Hence, the over-weighted preponderance of e&ts in Minoan Linear A. We simply have not been able to decipher enough Minoan Linear A words, however accurately or not, to be able to state with confidence that we have even approached a comprehensive lexicon of Minoan Linear A. This fact alone would account for the relatively higher percentage of e&ts in Minoan Linear A (33 %) than in the wide-ranging Linear B Lexicon by Chris Tselentis (25 %).
    2. However, even Tselentis, in spite of his admirable thoroughness, has not by any means accounted for all of the terms deciphered in Linear B, as these amount to at least 2,500. So unless we count all of the eponyms and toponyms on every last extant Mycenaean Linear B tablet, the percentage of the e&ts cannot be accurately accounted for.    
    3. The same goes for our Minoan Linear A Glossary of 134 terms. Since the number of terms deciphered, exclusive of eponyms and toponyms, amounts to 89, these account for only 17.5 % of all intact words in Prof. John G. Younger’s Linear B Lexicon (ca. 510). So in the case of Minoan Linear A, the total percentage of eponyms and toponyms (33 %) is decidedly lop-sided to the up side. There is no way of telling how positively biased the percentage of e&ts in our Minoan Linear A Glossary of 134 terms is, but it is certain that it is out of whack, just as the percentage of e&ts  in Mycenaean Linear B is (but for entirely different reasons).    
    4. Thus, we cannot definitively conclude that the frequency of e&ts in Minoan Linear A is as closely aligned with the frequency of the same in Mycenaean Linear B as we might imagine or wish it to be.  Such an expectation is entirely misguided. 
    5. On the other hand, it is quite clear the eponyms and toponyms account for a considerable segment of the total vocabulary in both Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B. This set of circumstances must never be overlooked in any sober attempt at the decipherment of Minoan Linear A, however partial.
    
    There still remains one ineluctable sticking point with eponyms and toponyms in Minoan Linear A. Whereas in Mycenaean Linear B, which has been deciphered for the most part with considerable accuracy, we can virtually always distinguish between a word which is an eponym and one which is a toponym (with only a handful of exceptions at best), the same cannot be said of Minoan Linear A. There is just no guarantee that the 27 words I have identified as eponyms in our Glossary of 134 Minoan Linear A words are in fact all eponyms, or vice versa, that the 18 toponyms are indeed all toponyms. The most glaring example of this crossover transposition is the name Kaudeta (?), which may be either an eponym or a toponym (which is why I have listed it in both categories), or which may be neither. That is made clear enough by my marked hesitancy in defining it either way, while at the same time I find myself hedging my bets by including it also in the list of terms I have tentatively deciphered, more or less accurately, where I define it as possibly meaning “ to be distributed (fut. part. pass.) approx. = Linear B, epididato = having been distributed (aorist part. pass.) ”. But you cannot have it three ways. All this goes to show how precarious the partial decipherment of even a relatively small subset of Minoan Linear B (26 %) is bound to be.
    
    
    
  • Glossary of 134 words & Partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A : a rational approach from Mycenaean Linear B (final version)

    Glossary of 134 words & Partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A : a rational approach from Mycenaean Linear B (final version):
    
    First the Glossary, with Minoan Linear A terms extrapolated from the highly professional Mycenaean Linear B Lexicon by Chris Tselentis. A Glossary of 134 Minoan words: a rational approach to a partial decipherment based on principles derived from Mycenaean Greek Linear B:
    
    Introductory Remarks:
    
    This Glossary is soon to be published in a major draft paper, Partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A & Glossary of 134 words : a rational approach from Mycenaean Linear B, on my academia.edu account. But before publishing it here, I shall post it in five (5) instalments here on Minoan Linear A, Linear B, Knossos & Mycenae. This paper will eventually appear in the prominent international annual, Archaeology and Science, Vol. 12 (2016), to be published in the spring of 2018.
    
    This Glossary accounts for 26 % of all intact Minoan Linear A terms (=510) indexed by Prof. John G. Younger in his lexicon, Linear A texts in phonetic transcription. 
    
    The principle of cross-correlative cohesion operates on the assumption that terms in Minoan Linear A vocabulary should reflect as closely and as faithfully as possible parallel terms in Mycenaean Greek vocabulary. In other words, the English translations of Minoan words in a Minoan Linear A Glossary such as this one should look as if they are English translations of Mycenaean Greek terms in a Linear B glossary. I have endeavoured to do my best to achieve this goal, but even the most rational and logical approach, such as I take, does not and cannot guarantee reciprocity between Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B terms. It is precisely for this reason that I have had to devise a scale of relative accuracy for terms in this Linear A Glossary, as outlined in KEY at the top of it.
    
    The best and most reliable Linear B Lexicon is that by Chris Tselentis, Athens, Greece. If you wish to receive a  copy of his Lexicon, please leave a comment in Comments, with some way for me to get in touch with you.
    
    A Glossary of 134 Minoan Linear A words more or less accurately deciphered to date (the largest ever glossary of Linear A) accounting for 26 % of all intact Minoan Linear A terms in Prof. John G. Younger?s Linear A texts in phonetic transcription = 510:
    
     Linear A Glossary partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A a rational approach
    
    KEY:
    
    Minoan Linear A words deciphered with a very high level of certainty (75-100%) are in BOLD.
    Minoan Linear A words deciphered with a moderate degree of certainty (60-75%) are in italics.
    Minoan Linear A words for which the decipherment is uncertain (< 50%) are in plain text.
    
    All terms in Minoan Linear A and in Mycenaean Linear B have been Latinized for ease of access to persons not familiar with these syllabaries. 
    
    adaro = barley = Linear B kirita
    adu = so much, so many, all (persons, things, esp. grain/wheat), referencing all  accounts relevant to them. In the case of grains & wheat, adu would refer to all the “ bushel-like” units of wheat accounted for. In the case of the men measuring the wheat, it would appear that they are surveyors or comptrollers. Cf. Linear B, toso, tosa.
    adureza = unit of dry measurement (grain, wheat, barley, flour)
    aka = wineskin (two syllabograms overlaid)
    akipiete = (in) common, shared, allotted, allotment = Cf. Linear B kekemena ktoina = small plot of land
    akii = garlic
    apu2nadu = grain workers/measurers? Cf. dadumata = Linear B sitokowo
    ase (plural) = bushels? Cf. kunisu
    asasumaise = cattle-driver or shepherd = Linear B qoukoro -or- qorokota 
    atare = grove of fig trees -or- figs overseer -or- fig gatherer (See also, 
    atade = gold? leaves? gold leaf? = Linear B kuruso? (See also, noja)
    awapi -or- tasaza = silver Cf. Linear B akuro
    dadumata = grain/wheat measurer? = Linear B sitokowo
    darida = large vase  
    daropa = stirrup jar = Linear B karawere
    dasi = weight -or- scales
    datara= overseer of olive trees or olive oil -or- harvester of olives from olive trees
    datu = olives See also qatidate = olive trees = Linear B erawa
    daweda = medium size amphora with two handles
    dikise = a type of cloth = Linear B any number of types of cloth
    ditamana = dittany (medicinal herb)
    dumitatira2 (dumitatirai) = right or inner spindle wheel on one side of the distaff
    dureza = unit of measurement (unknown amount)
    jedi = man/men = Linear B atoroqo.
    kadi = next (in a series) (Zakros ZA 15)  
    kana = first (in a series) (Zakros ZA 11)
    kanaka = saffron = Linear B kanako
    kapa = follower or (foot) solder = Linear B eqeta 
    karopa3 (karopai) = kylix (with two handles & smaller than a pithos)
    kaudeta = to be distributed (fut. part. pass.) approx. = Linear B, epididato = having been distributed (aorist part. pass.) 
    keda = cedar
    kidata = to be accepted (for delivery to) = Linear B dekesato
    kidema*323na = type of vessel (truncated on HT 31)
    kireta2 (kiritai) = delivery = Linear B apudosis
    kiretana = (having been) delivered (past participle passive) = Linear B amoiyeto
    kireza = unit of measurement for figs, probably 1 basket
    kiro = owed = Linear B oporo = they owed 
    kukani = (deep) red wine Cf. Linear B wono mitowesa
    kunisu = bushel(s)? (cf. ase) 15
    kupa -or- sa*301ri = planter = Linear B pu2te/pute  
    kura = large amount of wine = Linear B pithos+ wono?
    kuzuni = a type of wine? 
    kuro = total
    kuruku = crocus
    idamate = king or god? Or may be the name of said persona Cf. Linear B wanaka
    maru = wool (syllabograms superimposed) = Linear B mari/mare
    mitu = a type of cloth 
    nasi = a type of cloth
    nere = larger amphora size
    nipa3 (nipai) or nira2 (nirai) = figs = Linear B suza
    noja = gold? leaves? gold leaf? = Linear B kuruso? (See also, atade)
    nudu*331 = flax? = Linear B rino?  
    orada = rose 
    pa3ni (paini) = amphora for storing grain?
    pa3nina = grain or wheat stored in an amphora for grain
    pajare = in pay, hired = Linear B emito
    pazeqe = small handle-less cups = Linear B dipa anowe, dipa anowoto
    pimitatira2 (pimitatirai) = left or outer spindle wheel on one side of the distaff
    pitakase = harvested or field of = Linear B akoro
    puko = tripod = Linear B tiripode
    qajo = double-edged axe or labrys = Linear B dapu
    qapa3 = qapai = large handle-less vase or amphora 
    qatidate = olive trees See also datu = olives = Linear B erawo
    qareto = Linear B onato = “lease field” 
    quqani = medium size or smaller amphora
    ra*164ti = approx. 5 litres (of wine) 
    rairi = lily 
    reza = 1 standard unit of measurement
    sajamana = with handles = Linear B owowe
    samaro = bunch of (figs, grapes etc.)
    sa*301ri -or- kupa = planter = Linear B pu2te/pute  
    sara2 (sarai) = small unit of measurement: dry approx. 1 kg., liquid approx. 1 litre
    sata = a type of cloth
    sedina = celery
    supa3 (supai) = small cup = Linear B dipa mewiyo
    supu = very large amphora
    tarawita = terebinth tree
    tasaza -or- awapi = silver Cf. Linear B akurotejare = a type of cloth
    teki = small unit of measurement for wine @ 27 1/2 per tereza
    tereza = larger unit of liquid measurement (olive oil, wine)
    teri = offering -or- being delivered (to the gods) = Linear B dedomena, dosomo, qetea (due to the gods)
    tesi = small unit of measurement
    85tisa = description of pot or pottery? = Linear B amotewiya/yo?
    ti?redu = spice(s) (coriander)
    udimi = a type of cloth 
    uminase = harbour, port = Linear B Amnisos (Cf. French, le Havre, name of a major maritime French city, which translates as “the Harbour”) 
    usu = a type of cloth
    
    Eponyms:
    
    Adunitana
    Akaru
    Asasumaise = name of cattle-driver or shepherd
    Asiyaka
    Dadumine
    Danekuti
    Daqera
    Idamate = king or god? Or may be the name of said persona (bis)
    Ikurina
    Kaudeta? (See also toponyms)
    Kanajami
    Kosaiti
    Kukudara
    Kuramu
    Kureju
    Makarita
    Mirutarare
    Qami*47nara
    Qetiradu
    Qitune
    Sidate
    Sirumarita2 = Sirumaritai
    Tateikezare
    Tesudesekei
    Tidiate
    Turunuseme
    Watumare
    
    Toponyms:
    
    Almost all the toponyms do not require decipherment as they are either identical or almost identical in Mycenaean Linear B:
    
    Akanu = Archanes (Crete)
    Dame
    Dawa (Haghia Triada)
    Dikate = Mount Dikte
    Idaa = Mount Ida
    Idunesi
    Kato = Zakoro (Linear B)
    Kaudeta? (See also eponyms)
    Kudoni = Kydonia
    Kura
    Meza (= Linear B Masa)
    Paito = Phaistos ( =Linear B)
    Qeka 
    Radu = Lato (= Linear B Rato)
    Setoiya = Seteia (= Linear B) 
    Sukirita/Sukiriteija = Sybrita
    Uminasi (= Linear B Amnisos)
    Winadu = Linear B Inato
    
    COMMENTARY:
    
    It is noteworthy that in Minoan Linear A a significant proportion of the terms we have managed to decipher to date, more or less accurately, begin with the letter K. Referencing our Glossary of 133 Minoan Linear A words, we find that 20/134 or 15 % begin with K. This is rather striking, in light of the fact that a correspondingly large number of words in ancient Greek begin with K, even though the two languages are in no way related. In other words, since the word   kidapa on Linear B tablet KN 894 N v 01 begins with K, that is another reason to conjecture that it might very well be Minoan.
    
    This Glossary accounts for 26 % of all intact Minoan Linear A terms.
    
    For the past 116 years, ever since Sir Arthur Evans first began excavations at Knossos in the spring of 1900, several people have attempted to decipher Minoan Linear A, but none with any success. Almost all of these philologists have relied on the assumption that, because Minoan Linear A had to belong to some class of languages, whether or not proto-Indo-European, proto-Finnic, Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, proto-Uralic, Sino-Tibetan, Sumerian, any other class of languages not listed here. But this approach has always come up empty-handed, with the possible sole exception of proto-Japanese as a subset of proto-Altaic, as proposed by Gretchen Leonhardt:
    
    Konosos
    
    
    
    
  • Mycenaean palace administrative hierarchy (POST 1,300)

    Mycenaean palace administrative hierarchy (POST 1,300):
    
    Mycenaean citadel
    
    Although we will never know the exact details of the Mycenaean palace administrative hierarchy, the table above gives us a pretty good idea of the power-base hierarchy from the King or wanax on down to the higher administrative officials, the mid-level officers and lower-level administrators, followed by the subaltern freemen, craftsmen and farmers and finally by the slaves. The names of each of the positions top-down follow in Latinized Linear B:
    
    Minoan and Mycenaean political structure diagram, by me
    
    1. wanaka = King. The official residence of the King, or the Palace was called the wanakatero.
    2. rawaketa = Leader of the Host, i.e. Commander-in-Chief. Sometimes, as in the case of Agamemnon, the General who lead the host (i.e. the army) into the Trojan War, the King and Commander-in-Chief are the selfsame person.
    3. qasireu = prince potentate (slightly below the wanax & the rawaketa in the power hierarchy.
    4. eqeta = the followers, professional foot soldiers and the personal guard of the wanax and the rawaketa. Cf. the Praetorian Guards of the Roman emperors.
    5. teretai = aristocrats, called aristoi = the best people in later ancient Greek. These are the wealthy, upper class people protected by the wanax and rawaketa.
    6. konosia rawaketa = (literally) the palace of Knossos for the Commander-in-Chief, i.e. his official residence, but in Knossos only. In Mycenae, his official residence would have been called the rawaketero.
    7. konosia qasireu = (literally) the palace of Knossos for the prince potentate, but in Knossos only. In Mycenae, his official residence would have been called the qasireuo.
    AT THE NEXT LEVEL, we find the mid-level administrators:
    8. porokorete = the district governors, meaning the rulers of the districts in the Mycenaean Empire, such as the district of Mycenae itself, and the districts of Knossos, Phaistos, Pylos and the Hither Provinces (the closer provinces, such as Tiryns, Pylos, Argos, Lerna etc.) and of the Farther Provinces (Thebes, Orochomenos, Eutresis etc.)
    9. korete = so-called mayors or chief administrators of cities or primary settlements, such as Knossos, and the centres of the Hither and Farther Provinces. These officials reported directly to the porokorete.
    AT THE NEXT LEVEL, we find
    10 the freemen or woko of the cities or primary settlements, such as craftsmen, artisans, farmers and tenant farmers, fishermen
    and finally, AT THE LOWEST LEVEL
    11. chattel (privately owned workers) doeroi = slaves, temple slaves = rawaiai or temenoio doeroi and nawoio doeroi = galley slaves.
           
    P.S. This one is specially for you, Rita!
    
    
  • Gretchen Leonhardt’s translation of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 117 (Haghia Triada): a lot to be learned here

    Gretchen Leonhardt’s translation of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 117 (Haghia Triada): a lot to be learned here
    
    HT 117 (a Trade Inventory):
    
    Minoan Linear A tablet HT 117 trade itinerary Leonhardt
    
    
    I dare say I find Gretchen Leonhardt’s correlation of Minoan Linear A with proto-Japanese intriguing. However, I am somewhat mystified over why she has chosen to link Minoan Linear A with Okinawan, which she herself typifies as linguistically different from Yamato Japanese, while at the same time contending that the two, though distinct, share a common proto-language. I look forward to Ms. Leonhardt clarifying these distinctions for us.
    
    I have made several comments on Ms. Leonhardt’s decipherment of Minoan Linear A tablet HT 117 (Haghia Triada) in the illustration above. However, a few clarifications are in order.  
    
    RE NOTE:
    [3] I am astounded that kuro in Minoan Linear A is almost the exact equivalent of its (proto-)Japanese counterpart. This is just one of the amazingly convincing translations which Ms. Leonhardt lights upon in her cross-correlation of Minoan Linear A with (proto-)Japanese, adding substantial weight to her theory.
    [5] & [6] Minoan Linear A makarite can conceivably be the equivalent of (proto-)Japanese makarideru (infinitive) = “to leave” or makara = “serpentine sea creature”, but certainly not both. As far as I am concerned,  the only translation which can make any real sense in Minoan Linear A is the first,  makarideru (infinitive) = “to leave”, at least if we are to believe that there is any substantive cross-correlation between Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B, which as you all know I do believe.
    [7] Certainly her renditions of Linear A kiro and kairo as  either “crossroad” , “sea” or “sea route” both make sense in the context of Minoan Linear A, especially in light of cross-correlation with Mycenaean Linear B tarasa = “sea”: 
    
    Linear B tablet 201 X a 26 tarasa thalassa the sea
    
    [9] I am attracted by her decipherment of uminasi as “harbour” or  “port”, apparently equivalent to the Japanese minato. In addition, she appears to forward the idea that Uminasi may be the Minoan Linear A word for Amnisos, something I have never considered myself.   I knew it was a toponym, but never suspected it could be Amnisos, which is so close to Uminasi that it really makes one think twice.
    
    [11] Likewise, her decipherment of Linear A mitu, equivalent to the Japanese mitsu = “mead” makes eminent sense in the context of HT 117.
    
    [12] On the other hand, her rendition of Linear kuramu, which she correlates with Japanese kuramu = “to become lost”  or “to become dark” makes little or no sense in the context. Moreover, she identifies Kuramu with Kalamos in Greece, while at the same time admitting that “The reason for the destination is unclear”. Indeed. I thought she had previously said, in her introduction to Linear A, that the Minoans had migrated from Crete to Japan, and not the other way around. So the “reason” for the destination appears downright absurd. If the Minoans travelled one way only, i.e. to Japan, why would they turn around and find their way back to Kalamos? Beats me.
    
    However, what with the overlaps between some of Ms. Leonhardt’s decipherments and some of my own, I am of the opinion that she and I may have more than something in common to share. I would even go so far as to propose to her that I add several of her decipherments as alternatives to our Minoan Linear A Glossary, which is soon to be published on may academia.edu account as part of my new paper there, Partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A & Glossary: a rational approach.
    
    One thing is certain. I fully intend to credit Ms. Leonhardt as being the only other researcher into the partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A who appears to be on the “right” track, even though her track is on a different line than my own.   
    
    I congratulate Ms. Leonhardt on her impressive achievements in the partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A.
    
    

Sappho, spelled (in the dialect spoken by the poet) Psappho, (born c. 610, Lesbos, Greece — died c. 570 BCE). A lyric poet greatly admired in all ages for the beauty of her writing style.

Her language contains elements from Aeolic vernacular and poetic tradition, with traces of epic vocabulary familiar to readers of Homer. She has the ability to judge critically her own ecstasies and grief, and her emotions lose nothing of their force by being recollected in tranquillity.

Marble statue of Sappho on side profile.

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