Volume 54, Issue 1-2

Au Minoen Récent IIIA-B seulement les structures de stockage du site crétois de Haghia Triada, dans la plaine de la Messara, étaient compatibles avec la quantité GRA 10300[, qui est associée au toponyme linéaire B da-wo dans la tablette de Cnossos KN F(2) 852+. Ce fait soutient l’identification da-wo = Haghia Triada, qui à son tour permet d’établir un terminus post quem pour la rédaction de la tablette en question.

The Myc. PN a-o-ri-me-ne may be interpreted as a possessive compound ʻwho has the μένος of the sword’, or as ʻwho has the μένος in the swordʼ, if the compounding vowel -i- was still functional as a locative marker, as Ruijgh proposed, or simply as the combination of the two elements [rage] and [sword]. The interpretation is supported by collocations of words for ʻspearʼ and ʻrageʼ in the epic language. At least in the Homeric world the μένος that temporarily resides in a weapon is probably due to the divine influence of Ares whose fury may enter both the weapon and its possessor.

The etymology of σμάραγδος is traditionally related to the Semitic root *brq, ʻto shineʼ. However, this article sets out the idea that this etymology comes from a Semitic word related to the root *wrq, ʻto be greenʼ, which is, in turn, related to myc. pa-ra-ku-we and its derivatives. This new etymology is based on the analysis of the syllabogram *56, which may probably have a value as /ba/ or / m ba/ in Linear A as well as in Linear B. The Mycenaean scribes note the syllabogram *56 also with the graphic variants pa and ma. This fluctuation also appears in the alphabetic Greek bases *μαρακ- and *βαρακ- which are related to colour green realities.

Zusammenfassung Gegenstand des Aufsatzes ist eine neue Deutung der qa-sire- we. Dafür werden zunächst einige Grundsätze vorgestellt, die bei der Interpretation mykenischer Rollenbezeichnungen zu beachten sind. Anschließend wird begründet, warum die bei Untersuchungen zu den qa-si-re- we bisher primär herangezogenen Texte der Subserie Jn nur sekundär herangezogen werden dürfen. Vorrangig wichtig sind vielmehr Texte, die qa-si-re-we zum Hauptgegenstand haben. Nach diesen ist eine Beschäftigung mit Rindern charakteristisch für die qa-si-re-we. Die bisher angenommene Verbindung von qa-si-re-we mit Gold besteht dagegen nicht. Insgesamt scheinen die qa-si-re-we keine palastferne Stellung gehabt zu haben und auch keine vorpalatialen Amtsträger gewesen zu sein.

In this article, new readings are proposed for the Old Phrygian inscription G-02, which is famous for having been written next to a depiction of two feet, and for containing the sequence podas, which is commonly interpreted as denoting ‘feet’ and reflecting Proto-Indo-European *pod-/ped-. A careful examination of the damaged part of this inscription reveals the presence of a word petes, however, which is argued to be a better candidate for representing the Old Phrygian word for ‘feet’. Not only does this interpretation yield a better understanding of the composition of the inscription as a whole, it is also in accordance with the so-called Phrygian “Lautverschiebung”, which states that PIE mediae have become voiceless stops in Phrygian.

The Inscribed Pillar had a temenos around it, and this temenos was, for the dynast who erected the pillar, a means to differentiate himself from other dynasts who are buried around the agora. This may be connected with heroising or apotheosising the dynast, or with some comparable non-Greek form of veneration. But because of the lack of evidence we cannot know what the original form of this temenos was. Surviving evidence shows that the temenos wall may have been torn down when the new agora was built, between 60 and 80 AD in the Roman Empire period, in order to make space for the northern stoa.

This paper examines the walwet and kukalim legends appearing on early electrum coinage from Lydia. After a survey of previous interpretations, it is argued that the appurtenance suffix in kukalim functions as a patronymic, ‘I am a son/descendant of Gyges’, referring to Alyattes, whose name is now generally and correctly seen in walwet. Building on this, the chronological implications that this reading poses for the dates of Alyattes are then considered in relation to the revised dating of coins from the Artemisium deposit. It is suggested that Alyattes was already on the Lydian throne by ca. 635 BC, a dating which has further implications for the chronology of other rulers of the Mermnad dynasty.