Volume 60, Issue 1-2

Ever since the publication of the first and unsurpassed corpus of Cretan Hieroglyphic inscriptions by Louis Godart and Jean-Pierre Olivier, Corpus Hieroglyphicarum Inscriptionum Cretae, known as CHIC, there has been no systematic or comprehensive reassessment of several difficult readings of signs and sign groups geared towards a rationalization of the sign-list. In this article, we discuss several readings in depth, by engaging with issues that relate to script classification, sign frequencies, interpretative uncertainties, and new finds post CHIC. Specifically, we highlight inconsistencies in the graphic behavior of signs, especially those of singular attestations (‘hapax’) or low frequency, and we also reassign uncertain cases that may be more likely read as Linear A rather than Cretan Hieroglyphic. As a steppingstone in rationalizing the sign-list, we apply a systematic approach to the material by means of a thorough sign-by-sign paleographic and structural reassessment, also presenting the resulting inventory.

The Linear B data, combined with archaeological, chronological and geographic facts, help to suggest some new solutions to problems linked with the inventories of Mycenaean chariot’s wheels. For instance, o-da-twe-ta and te-midwe- ta could mean respectively “with studded-tread” or “serrated” tyres and “with (special) tyre”. Etc.

The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the Mycenaean verb form a-pie- ke. This form has so far received three possible interpretations: a third person singular of the present indicative of ἀμφι-έχω; of the kappa aorist of ἀμφι-ίημι; of the kappa aorist of a compound with ἀπό and a verb lost in the first millennium and etymologically related to ἱερός. According to our analysis, the second one is to be preferred both from morphological and semantic reasons. Moreover, this interpretation befits the practices of Mycenaean administration: the tablet is the record of a delivery of goods from the warehouses of the palace to be consumed in a banquet, so an aorist form perfectly describes the act of sending them. Finally, at least one Homeric parallel can be adduced to account for the meaning of ἀμφι- in the Mycenaean compound.

The Mycenaean personal name wa-ra-qi-si-ro has been interpreted as the older variant of wa-ra-pi-si-ro (PY, MY), but this hypothesis comes up against several phonetic problems. This paper proposes two alternative explanations of wa-ra-qi-si-ro: either /Wrakwsilos/, a clipping of *Wrakwsi-lāhos, compound of the root *u̯ergu̯-/*u̯regu̯- “throw” and *lāho- “stone”, or /Wrankwsilos/, a nickname derived from the adjective attested in later Greek ῥαμψός “crooked”.

This article examines and discusses a new Carian inscription found on the left leg of a kouros statue. The statue was found in the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos in the ancient Carian city of Euromos during excavations carried out in 2021. The four-line inscription is very difficult to interpret, but nonetheless constitutes a highly relevant contribution to our knowledge of the evolution of the Carian alphabet.

This paper gathers sixteen unlisted coins from several auction catalogues with identical typology: a helmeted head (identified as Athena) on the obverse and a falcon inside a pelleted square on the reverse. Nine of them show the first coin legend in Phrygian identified so far: iman, a personal name. After the analysis of their iconography and legend, a location of the mint in Phrygia during the 5 th or 4 th century BC is suggested.

This article discusses the origin of the epithet Τιαμου, which modifies the name of the Moon-god in a number of Greek inscriptions from Lydia dated to the 2nd-3rd century AD. All the etymological explanations provided so far will be taken into account, especially the Anatolian one, which, based on the existence of a Moon-god (κατα)χθόνιος, tries to establish a connection between Τιαμου and an Anatolian outcome of the PIE root for ‘earth’ (cf. Hitt. tēkan, Luw. tiyamm(i)-). After having discussed the arguments in favour and against both a Lydian and a Luwian origin, it will be argued that the latter seems to be most likely, although the possibility of a Lydian mediation remains.

Taking as a starting point the discussion of the emendation of xina ‘grandmother’ in Schurr’s latest edition of the Milyan version of the Xanthos Pillar (Schurr 2018), this article deals with two different equations Mil. <i> : Lyc. <a/a͂/n> and Lyc. <a/a͂/n> : Lyc. <u>, argued to share the same phonetic trigger ie. the presence of an alveolar nasal, and explores the phonetic correlation through establishing new cognates between the two languages, or by adding new evidence to old open questions such as the phonetic value of <u> or the likely interchangeability of <a>, <a͂> and <n>. The Greek adaptation of the onomastic material will allow the phonetic nature of the nasal <n> in the cluster /xnt-/ (Lyc. xñtawati- ‘ruler’, cf. Luw. handawat(i)-): Gr. Κενδ-, Κινδ-, Κονδ- to be addressed, and ultimately compare the phonetic developments of Lycian and Milyan with its possible traces in the Greek sources of classical Lycia.

The excavations at the Tepecik settlement, which is situated East of Patara’s city center directly overlooking the ancient harbor, furnishes new and important data regarding the city’s largely unknown and much debated administrative organization in the 6 th century BC. This evidence is based preliminarily on a pithos fragment found in the tower house’s eastern side, dated to ca. 500 BC, and bearing an inscription made ante cocturam in Lycian script. This graffito, which is one of the oldest inscriptions of the Lycian corpus, is incomplete but has eight legible letters that allow its reconstruction: it probably corresponds to the official title [pd]ḍẽnehm̃mi “ruler, commissioner”, attested in two other Lycian inscriptions. The graffito could indicate that the pithos was to be stored in the house of this official.

In the following paper, new meanings for the Lycian B words waxssa, mur(i)- (and murei(je)-) and tubur(i)- are suggested using the combinatorial and etymological methods. Additionally, a new translation of a large part of the mythological poem on the north side of the funerary pillar in Xanthos (TL 44c) is offered, including a grammatical annotation and a linguistic commentary. Subsequently, the repercussions on the military deeds of the Lycian king Gergis as well as on his relationship with the gods are addressed.