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Cretan Axe-Heads with Linear A Inscriptions

Maurice Pope

The Annual of the British School at Athens / Volume 51 / November 1956, pp 132 - 135
DOI: 10.1017/S0068245400018840, Published online: 04 October 2013

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0068245400018840

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Maurice Pope (1956). Cretan Axe-Heads with Linear A Inscriptions. The Annual of the British School at Athens, 51,
pp 132-135 doi:10.1017/S0068245400018840

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CRETAN AXE-HEADS WITH LINEAR A INSCRIPTIONS
(PLATES 36-37)
I DISCUSS four Linear A axe-head inscriptions. Two of them have not previously been published,
one is discussed (though without a photograph) in AE 1953-4 (ii), 64 by N. K. Boufides, and one,
though published by Evans in his first article on Cretan script before his excavations at Knossos
(JHS xiv (1894), 280), is referred to neither in S.M. i nor by Carratelli.1 Its attribution to
Linear A is probable but not certain.

c d
FIG. 1. (a) 1, c. 1:1. (A) a, c. 1:1. (c) 3, SCALE UNKNOWN, (d) 4, c. 2 : 1 .

1
G. Pugliese Carratelli, 'Le Iscrizioni preelleniche di his L series. Linear B signs are referred to by Bennet's
Haghia Triada etc' {MA xl). The Linear A inscriptions numeration. Scripta Minoa i is abbreviated S.M. i.
are referred to by his classification, and Linear A signs by
 CRETAN AXE-HEADS WITH LINEAR A INSCRIPTIONS 133
1. The first inscription (FIG \a, PLATE 36a) is on a bronze axe-head from Crete (site
unknown) on display in the British Museum (1954 10-20 1), hitherto unpublished. The signs
are 1-5 cm. in height, clearly and boldly incised, one on each side of the haft. Surprisingly they
are followed by what seems to be a word-divider.
The first sign is L6. There can be no doubt about the identification, though the particular
form is of interest. The triangle and base-line belong to the convention of the H T tablets, the
curl of the upright to the equivalent sign (69) in Linear B. It is welcome to find the relationship
between the two signs so neatly confirmed, and some hitherto dubious shapes can now with
greater confidence be classified as L6. The following table gives the variants:

0
(a) Pictographic 87 (Evans, S.M. i. 213). This, rather than the 'leaf' or 'crocus' sign (88),
appears to be the common ancestor. It occurs only once, on a clay label from Knossos (S.M. i.
P8ib), and perhaps means the same as its descendant on a clay sealing from Hagia Triada
(see (j) below).
(b) The universal form on the HT tablets. Also on a M.M. I l l libation vessel from Palaio-
kastro (Pc. 8a).
(c) HT 49the only irregular form on the HT tablets. It is presumably the result of haste
on the part of the scribe.
(d) The standard Linear B form (69).
(e) M.M. I l l vase from Knossos (Kn. 5).
(/) L.M. I tablet from Palaiokastro (Pc. 1).
(g) L.M. tablet from Tylissos (Ty. 3b).
(A) Tablet from Phaistos (Ph. 2).
(i) Steatite vessel from Apodoulou (Ap. 2).
(j) Cr. 3, 16b (Levi, Ann. viii-ix (1925-6) 76) from Hagia Triada. The similarity to the
Linear B form is very curious since the cretulae are of the same date and probably from the
same room (Halbherr, MA xiii (1903) 21) as a large number of the HT tablets whose calli-
graphy for the sign is so standardized. Perhaps the writer of the label was not a scribe but an
official accustomed to a more cursive script suitable for material other than clay. Or perhaps
a traditional use of the sign on labels preserved a traditional shape. If so, the inference would be
'34 MAURICE POPE
that the Linear B syllabary was created comparatively soon after Pictographic had fallen into
disuse, when the form preserved in Cr. 3, 16b was still current.
The second sign, L25, is standard throughout Linear A. There is no clear case of an overlap
in shape with its evident Linear B correspondent (55).
Transliterated mechanically on the sign-values given by Ventris and Chadwick for the
Linear B correspondents, the inscription reads tu-nu. I have no suggestion for the meaning of
such a word. The only other syllabic groups in our Linear A material where these two signs
occur together are:
6-25-95 (tu-nu-ma) HT 116a, 117a
6-91-25 (tu-qe-nu) H T 25a
2. On one side of the haft of a bronze axe-head bought by Evans at Kritsa near Lato but
reported to be from Selakonos (JHSxiv (1894) 280) there is an inscription (FIG. ib, PLATE 36c)
which he took as a single sign but which could well be intended as two. If so, the inscription
must be Linear A and read L30-L31 (corresponding to Linear B 1-31 da-sa). The sign-forms
are standard enough but I cannot claim certainty without inspection of the original axe.1 The
signs are not found together in any other Linear A syllabic group.
3. For the photograph of the inscription (FIG. IC, PLATE 37a) on a gold votive double-axe from
the Arkalokhori cave I am indebted to Frau Annelise Sittig, who tells me that in July 1956 it
was on the New York market. The axe was originally bought from a peasant soon after the
discovery of the similar Arkalokhori double-axes now in the Iraklion Museum, and was until
recently in the possession of Herr Bruns. I regret that I do not have its measurements.
4. The fourth inscription (FIG. id, PLATE 37^) is on a fragment of a silver votive double-axe
also from Arkalokhori discovered by Marinatos and published by Boufides (AE 1953-4, 64).
It carries what is clearly an identical inscription on the same part of the axe. The two dots after
the second sign reproduced in Boufides's drawing seem to me after inspection of the original
in Iraklion Museum (626) to be pittings.
The first sign on both axes is Lioo. For backward-sloping prongs cf. Ap. 1 sgn. 3 (confirmed
as Li00 by the recurrence of a certain form of the sign in a similar context on Pc. 8a); for the
slight fork of the legs cf. 158a, Pc. 12; for the protrusion below the cross-line (certain on the
silver axe, doubtful on the gold one) cf. inter alia Ap. 2, Kn. 10, Pc. 2, HT 28a, 35a, 131. For
the Linear B sign which corresponds to Lioo there are three possibilities, 28 (-i), 43 (-ai),
52 (-no). Palaeographically the first is the least and the last the most likely. But for other
reasons the probabilities are reversed, and I would prefer to leave the question open.
The last three signs on both axes are clearly L30-L95-L92. Transliterated into their
Linear B correspondents (1-80-4) t n e Y would read da-ma-te. It is tempting to understand
this as Damate(r) = Demeter. She is plausibly of Cretan origin, and it is generally agreed
that the double-axe was employed in the cult of a female goddess.2 This interpretation
1
It is now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (AE. 85). axe in the background. Since she is holding poppies and
Mr. Boardman, who has kindly provided me with the being offered what looks like barley, she could well be
photographs PLATE 36, tells me that two signs are clearly Demeter (cf. Nilsson, op. cit. 347 n. 22). Whether her name
intended. Measurements of axe-head: L. 19-5 cm., H. can be Minoan is dubious. Even if one accepts the sugges-
5-7 cm., Th. 2'5 cm. tion in Et. Mag. 265 s.v. Atici that her name is derived from
2
Margaret Whaites ('The Deities of the Sacred Axe', Cretan SticcI = Kpt9al, it is difficult to explain how its last
AJA xxvii. 28) finds no instance where the double-axe 'is half can be Minoanunless Greek popular etymology
obviously the attribute of a male divinity only'. So Evans, read (Kiriip into a Minoan word of similar sound. In h.Cer.
P. of M. ii. 277, Nilsson, Minoan and Mycenaean Religion* 122 f. she tells Celeus' daughters that she came from Crete.
(1950) 226. The well-known ring from the Acropolis But this again may not be significant. She is in disguise,
treasure at Mycenae (Schliemann, Mycenae 354 ff. and and in the Odyssey Crete is a normal exporter of disguised
numerous later discussions) shows a goddess with a double- personages. Cf. also Hes. Theog. 971.
 CRETAN AXE-HEADS WITH LINEAR A INSCRIPTIONS 135

could be seriously considered only if Lioo were used as a prefix. The supports one can
quote are:
(a) 100-62-85 (100-/0-85) HT44D
62-85-53-54 ( pa-85-ra-re) HT96D
(b) 100-103-53 (100-ki-ra) H T 25a
1 ki Ta H T I0
03-53 ( - ) 3
but I am afraid that these are waxen wings.
For the sake of completeness I add a list of the other Aegean inscribed axes known to me:
(a) Evans JHS xiv (1894) 280. Apparently two hieroglyphic signs. From Delphi. Bronze.
(b) Marinates AA 1935, 248, 254. From Arkalokhori. Fifteen hieroglyphic signs. Bronze
votive.
(c) M. Platon informs me that there is said to be an inscribed axe from Arkalokhori now in
a private collection in Alexandria.1 MAURICE POPE
1
For help in the publication of these axes I should like permission to photograph the silver axe 4, and to Mr. N. K.
to thank in particular the Director of the British School Bouf ides for some interesting discussions. My thanks are
at Athens, Mr. M. S. F. Hood, and Mr. John Boardman due also to the Trustees of the British Museum for the
(note 1, p. 134). Dr. N. Platon gave me every facility at Ira- photographs of 1, and to the Ashmolean Museum for those
klion Museum. I am grateful also to Prof. S. Marinatos for of 2.
B.S.A. 51 PLATE 36

(a)

(*)

(0

CRETAN AXE-HEADS W I T H LINEAR A INSCRIPTIONS

BRONZE AXE-HEADS: (a-b) FROM CRETE, C. 1:2. (c-d) FROM SELAKONOS, CRETE
(c. c . i:i,d.c. 1:2).
 Cd

Ui

&ffl#

(a)
CRETAN AXE-HEADS WITH LINEAR A INSCRIPTIONS
M I N I A T U R E D O U B L E - A X E S FROM A R K A L O K I I O R I : (a) GOLD. (A) S I L V E R , C. 3:1.

CO