Re: Linear A tablet Hagia Triada 95

From: o8TY (o8ty_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 07/30/04 

Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 09:40:26 +1000

Franz you may have interesting views to share but your delinquent posting
methods (talking to yourself) hardly makes for good conversation.

"Franz Gnaedinger" <frgn@bluemail.ch> wrote in message
news:2bf25455.0407300501.3e1bb56d@posting.google.com...
> frgn@bluemail.ch (Franz Gnaedinger) wrote in message
news:<2bf25455.0407282302.7e33fc27@posting.google.com>...
>
> o8TY: Anatolia is a blank in sci.archaeology. Close your eyes
> and the world is gone. Ignore Asia Minor and all the glory
> belongs to Greece. Only that the self-appointed philhellenes
> are painting a dull, pale and lifeless picture of their heroes.
> And turn them into zeroes. I remember a specimen of an English
> philhellene who told me many times that Homer was just an
> entertainer who got nothing much to say and had a rather poor
> notion of the past, which he wrapped in a foliage of fancy
> fables in order to make a little something of his mere nothing.
> Needless to say that I take no stock in that view.
>
> I have no time for delving any further into Linear A and its
> hieroglyphic precursor, but I showed you folks how one might
> proceed. If anyone of you wishes to take over, please go ahead.
>
> Just an addendum.
>
> Once established, ideas and "memes" in culture have a long life.
> Much as in biology, where short periods of punctuation (macro-
> evolutionary changes) are followed by aeons of stasis (micro-
> evolutionary changes only). One of those long living ideas was
> the identification of a tribe and its leader with a powerful
> or otherwise gifted animal. The reliefs on pillar 2 of the snake
> pillar building at Goebekli Tepe shows a bull above a fox above
> a stork and may speak for a bull tribe sharing his territory
> with a fox tribe and a stork tribe, perhaps in the Harran plain
> or elsewehere in northern Syria. There is also a lion pillar,
> speaking for a lion tribe. Later on, the bull chieftain would
> have become the Minotaurus of Ebla and Minoan Crete, and he
> would have survived in Crete until around 1450 BC, when the
> lion-eagle kings of Mycenae took over. I was wrong in saying
> that there are no Minoan scenes of a lion attacking a bull in
> my books at home. There is a seal from Knossos showing a lioness
> attacking a bull, however, dating from the Mycenaean period of
> Knossos, that was the end of Minos and of the Minotaurus.
> However, he sprang to life again when Arthur Evans unearthed
> Knossos, in a time when academe considered Minos a mere fable
> king spun of Homer's yarn, and when Picasso adopted him for
> himself, and the bull of Minos for the Republicans in Spain,
> while the enemy was no longer a lion but a wounded horse that
> symbolizes the humiliated masses joining the fascist party,
> as in "Guernica," where you may discern a distorted swastika
> between the hind legs of the horse.
>
> If you wish to go on with Linear A and Hieroglyphic Minoan
> and need my advice, you can always ask me online, or via e-mail
> (but please use an e-mail address on my website www.seshat.ch)
>
> Regards Franz Gnaedinger
>
> (For your convenience I repeat several messages, so you can
> print out all the relevant stuff at once)
>
> > o8TY: can you also locate Prometheus in the Greek area?
> > His whereabouts may hint at the origin of Minos.
> >
> > Agriculture started 9,000 years ago in the Harran plain
> > in northern Syria, not far from Aleppo and Ebla. The stone
> > pillar sanctuary Goebekli Tepe north of the Harran plain
> > in southeast Anatolia was in use for two millennia, from
> > 11,500 till 9,500 BP (no typo here); the T-shaped pillars
> > are up to eight meters tall; the largest but unfinished
> > pillar in a nearby quary would weigh fifty tons if freed
> > from the rock; reliefs on the pillars show various animals;
> > on the phallic pillar 2 in the snake pillar building are
> > seen a stork, above it a fox, above it a bull. Late Neolithic
> > miniature stone horned pieces from Hallan Cemi, Upper Tigris
> > drainage, anticipate the Minoan sacral horns. The sealing
> > of a jug from Ebla shows a bull attacked by a lion but
> > supported by men and demi-gods, while a kneeling Minotaur
> > holds a symbol of two human heads and two lion heads.
> >
> > Odysseus, returning home, is not recognized by his wife
> > Penelope and tells her he is a Cretan, a son of Deucalion,
> > who is a son of Minos, who is a son of Zeus. However,
> > Deucalion was not a son of Minos but of Prometheus.
> >
> > One never knows with Homer, who was no less wily and ruseful
> > than his hero, whose lie might perhaps reveal a connection
> > of some kind between Prometheus and Minos.
> >
> > Prometheus was punished for bringing fire to the humans.
> > That can hardly have been the fire needed for cooking,
> > it must have been the fire for melting metals and casting
> > arms. Anatolia and the Caucasus have been the pioneers in
> > early metallurgy. Maroding nomads equipped with bronze
> > weapons have been a constant tread for settlements and early
> > kingdoms. This may have been the origin of Minos and the
> > Minotaur in Ebla. While the bull on a pillar of Goebekli Tepe
> > symbolizes male potency, the Minos bull protects a settlement,
> > a town, a kingdom, just like a bull protects a herd of
> > peaceful cows against attacking lions.
> >
> > Crete would have been a good choice for emigrees from Ebla:
> > sea-girt, mountains enclosing the fertile plains, no real
> > danger coming from the Late Neolithic dwellers and from the
> > fugitives from Greece and Libya, and so the Young God on
> > a seal from Knidea easily grasps a pair of lions and lifts
> > them up as if they were just a pair of puppies, while the
> > Goddess on a seal impression from Knossos is accompanied
> > by a tame lion.
> >
> > In my books at home I find many Mycenaean lions attacking
> > bulls, but no such a scene in Minoan art. This might be
> > a significant iconographic difference.
> >
> > A Mycenaean king was not a bull but a lion, and the symbol
> > of his kingship was the griffin with the head of an eagle
> > for Zeus, and the body of a lion for himself who is acting
> > in the name of Zeus, along his will and word.
> >
> > Regards Franz Gnaedinger www.seshat.ch
> >
> >
> > > The hieroglyphic medaillon HM 1278 from Knossos forms roughly
> > > an oval topped by a triangle. Left of the perforation is
> > > a cross, below the cross a double axe followed by a bull's
> > > head and an S-rune evoking a bull leaper similar to the ivory
> > > figurine from Knossos, although much simpler. Bull and leaper
> > > yield MI-NU, as in the case of the Linear A tablet Hagia Triada
> > > 95, and may be an abbreviation of mi-nu-te or minuthe or minuth
> > > or Minos. The Linear B version of a double axe is shown on
> > > a pole and has the phonetic value A. If also the hieroglyphic
> > > precursor of the double axe meant A, it could be an abbreviation
> > > of ADU or Haddu or Baal. The blades are down, the handle points
> > > upward, going parallel with the bull's front. A double axe in
> > > such a position (and this combination is frequent on hieroglyphic
> > > tablets and medaillons) evokes a sacrifice and makes me think of
> > > Baal who died every seventh year, and when he was born again
> > > a joyous festival was held. The cross may be a dedication,
> > > meaning: for Baal, ruler of the four heavenly directions;
> > > or, as an oblique cross: for Baal who makes the weather in the
> > > four heavenly quadrants N-E E-S S-W W-N. All four signs may now
> > > be read as follows:
> > >
> > > x (for) A(DU of New) MINU(th in Crete)
> > >
> > > for Addu Haddu Baal of New mu-nu-ti-um mnt Minnith
> > >
> > > mi-nu-te minuthe minuth Minos in Crete
> > >
> > > The small medaillon might have been put on a bag of wheat from
> > > mu-nu-ti-um or Ebla in Syria and been destined for a meal in honor
> > > of reborn Baal.
> > >
> > > The hieroglyphic script, mainly from Knossos and Mallia,
> > > is older than Linear A, mainly from Hagia Triada in southern
> > > Crete and Kato Zakros on eastern Crete, so the first hypothetical
> > > Syrian "colonizers" who might have arrived in around 3000 BC
> > > would have settled on the northern shore, in the region of
> > > Knossos and Mallia.
> > >
> > > Walther Hinz called Linear A "a miserable botched-up script."
> > > I find the first signs in Linear A and its hieroglyphic
> > > precursor that I believe to fully understand elegant, witty
> > > and meaningful, on a par with the Minoan genius in the fine
> > > arts and in palace building.
> >
> >
> > > > > Ladies and Gentlemen, here you are with the name of Minos
> > > > > in Linear A, as appearing on both sides of the tablet Hagia
> > > > > Triada 95, and, with a slight modification of the first sign,
> > > > > on another tablet, and perhaps on several more of the some
> > > > > 300 surviving Linear A tablets:
> > > > >
> > > > > o
> > > > > o o ooooooo
> > > > > o o o o
> > > > > o o o o ooooooo
> > > > > o o o o o o o
> > > > > o o o o o ooooooo
> > > > > o o o o o o o
> > > > > o o o o o
> > > > > o o o o o o
> > > > > o o o
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Cyrus H. Gordon, Jan Best, Richard Stieglitz and Walther Hinz
> > > > > believed in a northwestern Asian Minor origin of Linear A.
> > > > > Walther Hinz read the above signs as mi-nu-te, meaning Ebla
> > > > > in Syria, Tell Mardikh 40 kilometers south of Aleppo or Halab
> > > > > or perhaps Khalab. Ebla was known as mu-nu-ti-um in Eblaite
> > > > > around 2300 BC, as mnt in Ugaritic, and as Minnith in the
> > > > > Bible, Ezekiel 27 17. If minute was pronounced something like
> > > > > minuthe or minuth, it would be close to Minos. The first sign
> > > > > evokes the head of a bull, also in the modified version on
> > > > > the other tablet mentioned above. May there also be a Minoan
> > > > > correspondence for the second sign? Yes, the acrobat jumping
> > > > > over the bull. You see him standing on his feet, rising his
> > > > > arms high above the head, next time you see him standing on
> > > > > his hands, legs and feet raised high, then again on his feet.
> > > > > So this would be a witty sign, making use of the mind's
> > > > > ability of swiftly switching between to interpretations of
> > > > > the same graph. Now for the third sign. It reminds of the
> > > > > Tree of Life, widespread in Asia Minor and in Crete as well,
> > > > > see for example the Middle Minoan seal from the Idean cave,
> > > > > where Cretan Zeus was born.
> > > > >
> > > > > May the Minoans have come from Ebla munutium mnt Minnith
> > > > > minute minuthe minuth and founded a New Minos in the fertile
> > > > > Mesara plain in southern Crete? as the pilgrims from York
> > > > > in England founded a New York in America?

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