Hellenic Origin of Europe

ἙΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ HELLENIC
ΓΕΝΕΣΙΣ ORIGIN
ΤΗΣ ΕΥΡΩΠΗΣ OF EUROPE
Formation of the Greeks 4600–2600 BC

and the first Greek states 2600–1450 BC
in Cretan Hieroglyphs and Linear A Script
1
Mosenkis, Iurii L.
HELLENIC ORIGIN OF EUROPE:
Formation of the Greeks 4600–2600 BC
and the first Greek states 2600–1450 BC
in Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A Scripts
PP Zhovtyi O. O. Edition
Kyiv; Uman, 2016
Sourse of the image on the front cover:

J. C. Andrä, Griechische Heldensagen für die Jugend bearbeitet,
Berlin: Verlag von Neufeld & Henius, 1902,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europa_auf_dem_Stier.jpg
Design of the front cover by N. A. N.
Foreword
The author, Iurii Leonidovych Mosenkis, is PhD in general linguistics, DrSc in the Ukrainian language and
general linguistics, Professor of the Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University (Ukraine), member of the
Presidium of the Ukraine Higher Education Academy of Sciences, member of the European Academy of
Sciences, Arts, and Literary (France), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and PEN club (Belgian
francophone section).
The author proposes reconstruction of three unknown Greek-like ancient dialects and decipherment of Cretan
Hieroglyphic and Linear A in Greek. Greek mythical events are interpreted historically and archaeologically.
D. I. Pereverzev, PhD, corresponding member of the Higher Education Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
and the European Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Literature (France)
ΓΙΟΥΡΙ ΛΕΟΝΙΝΤΟΒΙΤΣ ΜΟΣΕΓΚΗΣ Ουκρανία

Απόφοιτος του Τάρας Σεβσιένκο Εθνικού Πανεπιστημίου του Κιέβου, εξειδικευμένος στις
«Προσωπικές αντωνυμίες ευρύτερων οικογενειών ποικίλων γλωσσών» και μεταπτυχιακό στην
«Θεωρητική της Μονογετικής Γλωσσολογίας στην Ιστορία των Γλωσσών». Διδακτορικό στον
τομέα «Το πρόβλημα της αποκατάστασης της γλώσσας του κουκουτέν-τρυπίλιαν πολιτισμού».
Καθηγητής από το 1995 στην έδρα του Γλωσσολογικού Ινστιτούτου του Εθνικού πανεπιστημίου
του Κιέβου. Επίτιμος Διδάκτωρ του Ινστιτούτου Θεώρησης και Ιστορίας, και του Διεθνούς
Σοσιόνικ Ινστιτιουτ. Μέλος της Ουκρανικής Ακαδημίας Επιστημών, της Ακαδημίας Επιστημών
ανωτέρας Εκπαίδευσης και της Ακαδημίας Αρχιεκτονικής της Ουκρανίας καθώς και της
Ευρωπαϊκής Ακαδημίας Επιστημών, Τέχνης και Γραμμάτων, της Βουλγαρικής αλλά και
Βραζιλιανής Ακαδημίας Γραμμάτων.
Έχει τιμηθεί με το Μετάλλιο Τελεσφορίας στις Επιστήμες και Παιδαγωγικές Επιτεύξεις.
Συνεργάζεται με πολλά επιστημονικά περιοδικά και έχει συγγράψει περισσότερα από 200
επιστημονικά άρθρα και ισάριθμα βιβλία, τα οποία έχουν εκδοθεί σε Ουκρανία, Ρωσία, Γερμανία,
Γαλλία, Πορτογαλία, Βουλγαρία, Τσεχία, Πολωνία, Κορέα, Ινδία, Ρουμανία, Αρμενία, Μολδαβία
και Ολλανδία.
Ανάμεσα στις επιστημονικές μελέτες του, εμείς θα αναφερθούμε σε ορισμένες, οι οποίες
αφορούν στην Ελλάδα και είναι: «Η Ελληνική μυθολογία», «Ουκρανία, Ελλάδα, Κόσμος:
Διεπιστημονικές σπουδές», «Ο συμβολισμός στην Ελληνική μυθολογία και την επική ποίηση»,
«Η γραπτή ελληνική γλώσσα από την Τρίτη χιλιετία προ Χριστού», «Ο δίσκος της Φαιστού και η
πυξίδα του Μίνωα», «Η ελληνική γλώσσα στις μινωϊκές επιγραφές», «Ο δίσκος της Φαιστού ως
αστρική πυξίδα», «Ο δίσκος της Φαιστού ως ηλιακό ημερολόγιο».
2
CONTENTS
Chapter One
FORMATION OF THE GREEKS, THEIR LANGUAGE AND WRITING, 4600–2200
BCE p. 8
From Proto-Indo-European to Common Paleo-Balkan p. 8

Archaeology, archaeogenetics, physical anthropology p. 8
Origin of Paleo-Balkan peoples and the Sea Peoples: ethnonymic evidence p. 10
Palaeoethnology of Crete p. 17
Pre-Romanian: substrates and loans p. 21
Several unknown Paleo-Balkan languages and substrates, adstrates, loans in Greek

p. 25
Pelasgians and their language p. 25
‘Dithyrambic’ p. 26
Gutian p. 27
Paleo-Balkan elements in Burushaski p. 28
Phrygian-related Eteocretan p. 30
Phrygian-like elements in Linear A? p. 33
Eteo-Cypriot: Paleo-Balkan, Tyrsenian, or Hurrian? p. 34
Cretan royal dialect? p. 34
Pre-Greek substrates vs irregular Greek/Paleo-Balkan forms and loans p. 34
Cucuteni-Trypillia – Troy – Mainland Greece p. 42

Proto-Greeks/Paleo-Balkanians and their writing in the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture
3400–3100 BCE p. 42
Earliest Aegean states: Pelasgian Early Helladic II, Greek(-Macedonian) Troy II, and
Georgian-Armenian Trialeti, about 2600–2200 BCE p. 47
The first Greek state in Mainland Greece: Early Helladic III, from 2200 BCE p. 57
Pre-Greek Aegean: Tyrsenian p. 61

Lemnian language of Aegean Tyrrenians p. 61
Etymological dictionary of the Etruscan language p. 64
Chapter Two
DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINOAN GREEK STATE IN THE HIEROGLYPHIC
SCRIPTS, 2200–1700 BCE p. 75
Greek language in arts, myths, and rites from Minoan to classical time p. 75
Greek-spoken Minoan painters: the ‘language interpretation of art’ method p. 75
3
Language-addicted myths and rites: the ‘language interpretation of myth and rite’
method p. 77
Cretan Hieroglyphics: the script for kings and goddesses p. 80

State and writing: a timeline p. 80
Satem-influenced Greek language of Cretan Hieroglyphs p. 81
Ariadne the Mistress p. 85
Wine and meat vs king titles p. 85
Γυγᾶ, Minoan/Ancient Macedonian Athena p. 86
King vs goddess on the three-sided ‘royal’ seal p. 89
King, queen, and the goddess on the eight-sided seal p. 89
Hieroglyphs beside hieroglyphics p. 92

Mother of Health in the Arkalokhori Script p. 92
Greek hieroglyphic/acrophonic roots of Minoan syllabary p. 92
Chapter Three
FLOURISHING OF THE MINOAN GREEK STATE IN THE LINEAR A SCRIPT,
1700–1450 BCE p. 98
Language p. 98
Minoan Greek: a history of the hypothesis p. 98
Linear A word groups: a key to deciphering? p. 105
Phonetics and orthography p. 109
Greek morphology of Indo-European origin in Linear A p. 114
Syntax p. 117
Farming p. 118
Land, plants, wine, beer p. 118
Animals, fish, wool, clothes p. 122
Vessels p. 124
Yoke, wheek and vehicle p. 124
Society p. 125
Cities p. 125
Sacral king and city ruler/judge p. 127
Native and foreign slaves p. 127
Healing p. 130
Change p. 130
Instruments and weapons p. 131
Religion p. 133
4
Mountains and caves p. 133
City Goddess p. 134
Mother Goddess(es), Hestia vs Iasios, Demeter, Eileithyia p. 136
A goddess of Libation Formula? p. 138
Double Axe-holding Idaean Mother p. 138
Tutelary god: personal vs of city p. 139
Palace, throne, shrine p. 139
Oral law and magic charm in games p. 141
Rites: burial, purification, bull leaping p. 142
Priests and priestesses p. 143
Gifts for gods: bread, votive sculpture, gold ring p. 144
Chapter Four
CHRONOGOGY, RELATIONS, RECONSTRUCTIONS p. 147
High precision astronomical chronology of Eneolithic-Bronze Greece p. 147

Multi-disciplinary periodization of Balkan prehistory p. 147
More precise than calibrated radiocarbon: Ancient chronology of early Greek kingdoms
and the Helladic culture p. 152
Minoan Floods: about 1530 BCE (the Thera eruption?) and others p. 153
The Telchines and Heliadae: astromythical chronology of ancient Rhodes confirmed the
early date of the Thera eruption p. 156
Lunar and solar chronology of Late Mycenaean Crete in the Minos-related myths p.
157
The Sea Peoples during the 1280s BCE in the Argonautica p. 159
Greece and Troy between two Trojan wars p. 161
Precise chronology of the Bronze Age Collapse in the Trojan Epic cycle p. 162
Greek world in the Bronze Age: Long-distance contacts p. 169

Mycenaean oecumene: Greek epic evidence p. 169
Cretan sacral king of the Helios dynasty, Chinese yellow-clothed king, and Tocharian
sun god p. 174
Abkhaz-Adyghe origin of the Greek king title: βασιλεύς p. 175
Minoan-Mycenaean Greeks in Colchis p. 175
Minoan Greeks in Bronze Age Norway and Cypriot Hurrian trade elite of Proto-
Germanic people p. 180
Κουρῆτες and Τάλως: Hurrian sacral warriors and bull cult in Crete? p. 183
Celts in Middle Greece? p. 184
Greece, the Hittites, Mitanni, and Egypt: synchronisms of the Late Bronze Age
p. 186
Hittite and Mitannian kings in the Tantalus-Pelops and Atreus-Thyestes myths p. 186
5
The family of Amenhotep III in the Greek myths p. 187
The Akhenaten and Mursilis eclipses: the cause of reform and the basis of chronology
p. 188
Mycenaean-Hittite war, the fall of Troy VI, and the Sherden invasion in Egypt in the
Heracles myth: astronomical dating p. 190
Ramesses II, Merneptah, and the Sais Battle in the Greek literature p. 193
Cretan theocracy: an interdisciplinary model p. 196

Minoan religion origins p. 196
Sacral royal family: a ‘Lunar Dynasty’? p. 197
Origin and structure of Minoan-Mycenaean power: evidence of titles p. 200
Sacral-military diarchy p. 202
From elected to inherited king p. 203
Royal bull cult p. 204
Golden Fleece: a kingship symbol from the Anatolian Greek homeland? p. 205
Chapter Five
MINOAN EXACT SCIENCE: SACRAL ASTRONOMY p. 206
Astronomy and calendar p. 206

Orientation of buildings p. 206
Eight-year cycle and Venus cult p. 206
Sacral star of Arcturus p. 209
Minotaur-Theseus myth and Hercules-Perseus-based calendar p. 213
Pasiphae, Circea, Aeëtes and seasonal markers p. 215
Calendrical instruments p. 217
In search of Minoan star catalogue p. 220

Double Axe and Ursa Major p. 220
Constellations in Minoan art p. 221
Astronomical provenance of the Linear A iconography p. 223
Aegean-influenced Phoenician alphabet as a star calendar p. 226
‘Non-Ptolemaic’ constellations in the Sphaera Barbarica, Lunar Zodiac, and
Dodekaoros p. 228
Possible Pre-Classical Greek Parallels of Egyptian and Arabic Constellations p. 235
Neolithic roots of Minoan sky map p. 238

Neolithic Zodiac and Mountain Mother p. 238
Tartaria Tablets: a deep precursor p. 239
The Phaistos Disc: an astronomer’s instrument? p. 241
6
Sign-grouping in the Phaistos Disc: An evidence of non-linguistic/astronomical text
p. 241
Sailor’s tool p. 243
Lunisolar calendar p. 244
Lunar phases p. 245
Egyptian method of intercalations p. 245
Venusian period p. 246
Prediction of the eclipses p. 246
7
Chapter One
FORMATION OF THE GREEKS,
THEIR LANGUAGE AND WRITING, 4600–2200 BCE
FROM PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN TO COMMON PALEO-BALKAN
Archaeology, archaeogenetics, physical anthropology
Proto-Indo-European Vinča (or even Pre/Proto-Sesklo which might also be ‘Proto-Indo-Hurro-

Tyrsenian’) and Paleo-Balkan ‘Baden circle’ (or only its cordized part) preceded formation of Greeks
(Early Helladic III) from Paleo-Balkan ‘Pelasgians’ (Early Helladic II) under Anatolian (not Hittite-
Luwian but namely Greek) influence. The initial date of the chapter, 4600 BCE, is related to the start of
Hesiodic ‘Golden Age’ linked with Gumelniţa-Varna first gold as the earliest fact in the Greek
historical memory. It seems naturally that Baden as the most complex social structure in the 4 th
millennium BCE Europe took part in the formation of the first European states
Primary diversification of the Proto-Indo-European language may correspond

with archaeological cultures in this way:
Starčevo
and Vinča
(Proto-IE)
> Boian > Gumelniţa

(Hittite-Tocharian)
> Novodanylivka > pre-Maikop > Maikop > Alaca (Hittite-Luwian with
Hattic superstrate); cf. the Bodrogkeresztúr influence on Kura-
Araxes
> Cernavodă I (and Trypillia?) > Skelya/Dereivka > Repin > Afanasevo >
Okunevo > Tarim Basin (Tocharian)
> Lengyel > (a part of)

Funnel Beaker (rest of IE)
> Corded Ware (rest of IE or only Slavic-Baltic-Germanic-Celtic-Italic-
Venetic)
> Baden (Paleo-Balkan or cordized substrate of Paleo-Balkan)
> Globular Amphora (Indo-Iranian or northen pre-IE priest elite of
Indo-Iranian)
Secondary diversification of non-Hittite-Tocharian Indo-European languages may

correlate with archaeological development in this way:
Corded Ware
> Malopolska Corded Ware / Kraków-Sandomierz Corded Ware > Mierzanowice >
Trzciniec-(Komariv-)Sośnica (Baltic-Slavic) > Lusatian > Pomorska/Pomeranian >
8
(Przeworsk-)Zarubyntsi > the Kyiv culture (Slavic) and Lebedivka > Juchnovo
(Baltic)
> northern groups of Corded Ware (Germanic)
> Protruding Foot Beaker of Single Grave / Corded Ware (Celtic) indoevropeanized
Bell Beaker (Basque initially)
> late Corded Ware of the Alpine pile dwellings in Switzerland and Southwest
Germany and Unetice-related Polada with pile dwellings in North Italy (Italic)
> Middle Dnieper > Fatianovo-Balanovo > Abashevo (Indo-Iranian) > Sintashta-
Petrovka-Arkaim-Andronovo (Indo-Aryan) and Timber Grave (Iranian)
> cordized/indoeuropeanized Baden-Coţofeni-Kostolac-Cernavodă III-Ezero-Early
Helladic II and III-(apparently)Troy II (Paleo-Balkan): Kostolac (Illyrian-Albanian)
and Vučedol-related Remedello (Messapian), Coţofeni > Budzhak (Armenian-
Phrygian) > Novotitorovka > Catacomb or Troy II-related Trialeti (Armenian) and
Multi-Rolled > Sabatynivka (Phrygian), Cernavodă III (Thracian), Ezero, Troy late
I-II and Early Helladic III (Greek), Early Helladic II (Pre-Greek Paleo-Balkan
‘Pelasgian’), Kostolac > Vučedol > Vinkovci-Somogyvár or Ezero-related Sitagroi
IV (Macedonian); Usatove, linked with Cernavodă III, Ezero and Coţofeni and later
adopted by Budzhak, might also be Paleo-Balkan
Main Y haplogroup of Indo-European elite was R1a of northern origin, a close

cognate of Basque-North Caucasian R1b, Burushaski R2, Yenisseian-Amerind Q. The
R1a people was spoken in ‘Dene-Basque’ initially, cf. Pictish which was close to
Yenisseian.
The elite might accept the Indo-European language from haplogroup I carriers.
Similarly, Indo-Aryan elite of Mitanni accepted the Hurrian language, whereas Kyiv
Rus’ Norse dynasty and Turkic chiefs in Bulgaria accepted the language of Slavic
people. The I haplogroup is only European, in contrast to the rest male haplogroups
of Europe. It was found not only in the earliest European Neolithic (Körös, Starčevo
and Lengyel), but also in the post-Baden cultures like Vučedol-related Remedello
and Vatya (‘Paleo-Balkan’?), Unetice and Urnfield (‘Italic-Celtic’ or ‘Celtic’?) etc.
Vinča-Lengyel and Corded Ware male anthropology was similar; male and female
skulls of Corded Ware were close1, thus, the Corded Ware men and their women
migrated together and did not mix with previous people of populated territories or,
1
Рудич Т. О. Антропологічний склад населення культури кулястих амфор території України,
Археологія, 2013, № 1, с. 97-106.
9
more credibly, constituted varna-like social stratification. Polish Funnel Beaker2 might
be an anthropological intermediate between Vinča-Lengyel and Corded Ware.
Origin of Paleo-Balkan peoples and the Sea Peoples:
ethnonymic evidence
Acc. to S. A. Starostin’s ‘re-calibrated glottochronology’, the divergence of

Armenian-Greek-Albanian from other groups started about 3020 BCE (acc. to
A. Bulatović, the hugest impact of corded ware in Balkans continued its previous
influence, which was related to Coţofeni and Coţofeni-Kostolac that used mounds
and migh be common Paleo-Balkan; it might be dated to the Early Helladic II period
– the 1st half of the 3rd millennium BCE – and further).
The divergence of Armenian, Greek, and Albanian languages from each other
started about 2590 BCE (the beginning of Troy II, related to the appearance of Baden
in Anatolia, also the beginning of the Early Helladic II and Trialeti).
Names of Paleo-Balkan peoples point to their origin and the ways of ancient
peopling and migrations.
Paleo-Balkan group of languages may be divided into four sub-groups: Greek-
Macedonian-Phrygian, Armenian, Thracian, and Illyrian-Albanian. The group
possibly correlated with Baden-Kostolac-Coţofeni-Cernavodă III-Ezero level of the
‘Baden cultural circle’ (late 4th – early 3rd m. BCE), perhaps including Usatove.
Among these cultures, Kostolac might be Illyrian-Albanian (Vučedol-related
Remedello – Messapian), Coţofeni > Budzhak (an ancestor of Armenian
Novotitorovka > Catacomb and Phrygian Multi-Rolled > Sabatynivka) – Armenian
(similar to Tocharian in some features) or Armenian-Phrygian, Ezero (related to Troy
I–II) – Greek or Greek-Macedonian. M. Gimbutas identified Sitagroi IV and V, Troy
I–II, Iortan, Alishar as akin to Ezero and variants of the Ezero culture as a part of
Baden-Ezero3. Beycesultan XIX–XVII was also related4. L. S. Klejn suggests the Baden
invasion in Troy II; Troy IIg was destroyed and burnt, possibly by Luwians
(Mellaart)
2
‘Funnel Beaker culture appeared first in the region of central Poland, Kujavia (TRBB). The earliest
stages of its development (Start TRBB in Table 2) can be dated to around 6000–5000 BC. […] As far as
the Corded Ware culture is concerned, two regions stand out in terms of their antiquity: (1) the
southern Baltic shore with central Poland (Start CWCE in Table 4), and (2) the south-eastern Baltic
shore with the inland of Lithuania and Latvia and eastern Poland (Start CWCC in Table 4). Although
the region specified here is rather large, the results agree with the central European model for the
origins of the CWC. Rather than being an intrusion of people travelling from the east, the Corded
Ware and associated cultures should rather be linked with the Kujavian complexes of Funnel Beakers.
Moreover, early dates from the Baltic States and eastern Poland seem to point to the importance of
previously omitted cultural complexes, such as the Pit-Combed Ware. The earliest appearances of the
CWC seem to be largely contemporary with the Globular Amphora culture (around 3500–3400 BC)’,
Wencel, M. M. An absolute chronological framework for the central-eastern European Eneolithic,
Oxford Journal of Archaeology, vol. 34, Issue 1 (2015), pp. 39-41,
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ojoa.12047/pdf
3
Гимбутас М. Цивилизация Великой Богини: мир Древней Европы (М. 2006), с. 417.
4
http://arheologija.ru/drevnie-kulturyi-vostochnogo-sredizemnomorya-i-maloy-azii/
10
Ezero, close to Baden and partially traced to previous Kodjadermen-Gumelniţa-
Karanovo in pottery, preceded related Troy I–II and influenced MMIa Crete during
XI – early XII Dynasties of Egypt and the First Babylonian dynasty5. It might be a
source of Thracian-like satem elements in Crete.
An absolute dating might be taken from linguistic-archeological comparison: s > h
was in Greek, Phrygian, Armenian, Messapian (but not Illyrian), Iranian, and Lycian.
Indo-Iranian Fatyanovo-Balanovo and then Abashevo (of Corded Ware origin),
with a participance of Middle Dnieper with clear Aryan symbolic, gave Indo-Aryan
Sintashta-Petrovka-Arkaim-Andronovo (from XXII c. BCE) and Iranian Timber
Grave (from early 2nd m. BCE). It was corded/warior stratum while Globular
Amphora might represent priest stratum. Timber Grave couldn’t be a source of
Greek-Phrygian-Armenian shift because it is so late, but earlier Poltavka (R1a, from
2700 BCE), an ancestor of Timber Grave, is a good pretendent. Catacomb might be
also the first Iranian (cord ornament, catacombs in Iran contemporaneous with
Ukrainian ones, from early 3rd m. BCE) or Armenian.
Novotitorovka and Multi-Rolled, closely related to Catacomb, might be Armenian
and Phrygian while the Lycian feature might be of Phrygian origin. Greek might also
accept the feature from Phrygian Multi-Rolled in the 17th c. BCE or even from its
ancestor, Budzhak. Perhaps, s / h alternation in Gutian (Sarlagab/Iarlagab, from late
XXIII c. BCE) reflected a time of the shift in Graeco-Phrygian-Armenian while
Sintashta-Petrovka-Arkaim-Andronovo (from XXII c. BCE) are non-shifted Indo-
Aryan.
Phrygian component in Burushaski as well as Aegean-related Trialeti might be
also related to the late 3rd m. BCE Paleo-Balkan wave from Anatolia to Armenia.
Moving of some Paleo-Balkan peoples in Anatolia might begin about 3000 BCE
(Karanovo VII-Ezero-Troy I-II cultures) but main period of moving may be dated to
about 1200 BCE.
The name of Thracians (Θρᾳκός ‘the Thracian’ = Thrai-k < *Thrausi-k-, acc.
V. I. Georgiev, cf. the Thracian tribe of Τράυσοι)6 contains Armenian-like plural
suffix-k, cf. the similar root and suffix in E-trus-c-i. Names of Trausoi, Thracians,
Troy, and Tyrsenoi/Etruscans were compared by V. I. Georgiev.
5
Катинчаров Р. В. Ранний бронзовый век Фракии.., Кавказ в системе палеометаллических культур
Евразии (Тбилиси 1987), с. 168–178, http://annales.info/bronza/small/katin.htm , cf.: Мерперт Н. Я.
Древнейшие каменные крепости Болгарии, Новое в археологии (Москва 1972), с. 46–55,
http://annales.info/blacksea/small/bolgar.htm
6
Cf.: ‘Trauos (Hdt., var. Strauos) – river in the littoral region of the tribe of Bistoni, to the east of the
Mesta’s mouth. The name can be explained from the initial form *Trausos, the intervocal -s- having
disappeared under a Greek influence. Then it is identical to the first component of the Lith. river name
Traũš-upis, meaning ‘a breaking, crushing river’, from the Lith. traũšti ‘to break, to crumble’, traušus
‘brittle’, the Latv. traušs, trausls ‘brittle, fragile’. This interpretation is supported by the fact that the
upper course of that river was inhabited by the tribe of Trausoi, who were probably named after the
river. V. Tomaschek offered an alternative etymology - Strauos from the Latv. strava ‘current’, the
Lith. sravà ‘the same’, the Old-Bulg. strouja ‘a stream’, etc. from the IE *sreu- *sr- ‘to flow’ ’,
http://www.balto-slavica.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t231.html
11
The name of Greeks is morphologically similar to the name of Thracians: Γραικός
‘Greek (man)’ (possibly the root ger-, ‘old’ as in γέρων, ‘old man’ and Armenian-like
plural suffix -k and γραῖα, ‘old woman’ without the suffix, cf. the same meaning of
the name of Pelasgians, see below, in the context of the Herodotus’ mention of early
Greek-Pelasgian ethnic mixture).
The former name of the Strymon River (a border of Ancient Macedonia) was
Palaistinos, ‘the most ancient’, superlat. < palaios, ‘old’. It might be a homeland of
Pelasgians/Pelastians/Philistines; the Bible ascribed to the latter a Cretan origin while
Homer described Cretan Pelasgians. If Linear A was found in Levant and Goliaf had
Mycenaean weapon then Pelasgians might be initially users of Macedonian-like
Linear A language and then they were ‘Mycenaeanized’.
Ossetian Allon ‘Alan (man)’ may be compared with Greek (the most archaic
Aeolian and Dorian form) Ἕλλαν ‘Greek (man)’, cf. the Multi-Rolled Ware migration
in pre-Mycenaean Greece, signs similar to Linear A in the Timber Grave/Zrubna
culture with the Multi-Rolled roots, Linear B Atana potnia ‘Athena the Lady’ as
possible adaptation of Ossetic-like Satana ‘she-leader of the epic heroes of Narts’
(Greek s > h in the pre-Mycenaean time like in Iranian) with a queen-title like West
Caucasian guash ‘prince’, cf. Kabardian Satanei-guasha; Linear B guasi-leus ‘king of
people’ might be of the same origin. Cf. Greek artos, ‘bread’ from Iranian.
Assyrian Muški, Greek Μόσχοι (Colchians after Hecateus), Biblical Meshech
(Assyrian Western Mushki), Meskhi (a southern subgroup of Georgians) might be
Paleo-Balkan people which was incorporated in Armenians (Armenian plural suffix
-k in the name) and Georgians (cf. Georgian-Armenian Trialeti?); according to a
hypothesis, Georgian Somekhi ‘Armenians’ might be related to the name of Meskhi.
Pliny in the 1st century ACE mentioned the Moscheni in southern Armenia (‘Armenia’
at the time stretching south and west to the Mediterranean, bordering on
Cappadocia). According to Strabo (7.3.2), not only Φρύγες descended from Northern
Balkan Βρίγες/Βρύγοι but Μυσοί – from Eastern Balkan Μοισοί (cf. Kuti ‘Gutians’
and Koitoi in Colchis). The main Phrygian-Mysian moving from Balkans to Anatolia
took place in early 12th c. BCE while earlier migrations of the Phrygians (Phrix the
sailor, late 14th BCE) and Armenians were not excluded.
Μυγδονία < *Mus-gdon ‘land of the Mus (people)’ might be belonged to the same
people. Μοσσύνοικοι related to Moschians (Herodotus) might be ‘the Mus people
united’ (cf. Greek συνοικισμóς); traditional etymology of Mossynoikoi is from
Georgian moshena, ‘building’. Alternatively, Mygdonia might be ‘small’ (‘core’) near
Macedonia ‘great = colonized later’7.
Sparta might mean ‘diaspora’, cf. Greek spora, Armenian spur-k, Etruscan spur-,
‘city’. Spartoi in Thebes and Colchis might reflect Greek migrations, cf. Ezero-related
‘Proto-Colchian culture’ and Strabo’s Achai in Northwest Caucasus.
The Balkan name of Armenos/Ormenos may also mean *ar-men- ‘united’. Ἄρμενος
or Ὅρμενος was a founder of the city of Ormenion, the northernmost place in
modern Greece. Homer mentioned two Trojan warriors named Ormenos (Iliad 8.273,
7
N. Mitevski (pers. comm.) attracted my attention to an alternative etymology, -κεδών, ‘earth’
12
2.181) and one Ormenos from Zacynthus; two Ormenos were known in mythical
Rhodes (one of the Telchines and another of the Heliadae) 8. In addition to the Paleo-
Balkan Indo-European component, the Armenian language also included Caucasian
and Hurrian-Urartian components.
Παιονία (‘small’, i.e. ‘core’ land) in the north of Μακεδονία (*Make-gdon ‘great
land’, cf. Μακετία ‘Macedonia’ Hesych.) pointed to latter as a result of colonization
by Paeonians. Paeonians who regarded themselves as Teucrians (Herodot. 5.13)
might be proto-Armenians9 who were allies of Priamus in the Trojan War10. Paeonian
river name Ἐρίγων (modern Serbian Црна река ‘Black River’) is similar to Armenian
erek ‘twilight, evening’11. Χαονία might be a variant of Παιονία (p>h in Armenian, cf.
Etruscan p>f>h, acc. to D. I. Pereverzev, or/and Mongolian p>h, cf. North
Mesopotamian Turukki with Hurrian names and Altaic parallels of Hurrian).
Athenaeus suggests that the Mysian language was akin to the barely attested
Paeonian language of Paeonia, north of Macedon12. So proto-Graeco-Armenians
moved southward from Paeonia to Macedonia, cf. similar phonetic features of
Armenian and Macedonian.
A land of Curetes/Kouretes in Acarnania and Aetolia might be a homeland of the
same Cretan tribe. Titus Livius (31.29) said about Macedonians and two Greek tribes,
Aetolians and Acarnans: they are ‘of the same language’13. Macedonian-like Linear A
might be the language of Curetes.
The name of Phrygians might be from Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘mountain’14 while
the self-name (sic!) of Mushki – from a Mysian name of beech: μυσός, ‘Buche’ (Strab.
12.572), μυσόν· τὴν ὀξύην. Μυσοί (Hesychius; cf. Georgian muxa ‘oak’). Cf. the Greek
tribe of Δρυόπες ‘of oaks’. The name might be alternatively interpreted or
reinterpreted in Greek as ‘mice/mouses’. Mus- ‘mouse’ (see Batrachomyomachia) may
8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormenus
9
Gindin L.A. Keteioi (= Hittites) and Paiones (≈ Proto-Armenians) — allies of Troy, Orpheus 1990, p.
69-71; Гиндин Л. А., Цымбурский В. Л. Троя и «Пра-Аххиява», Вестник древней истории 1995, №
3, http://annales.info/mal_az/small/praahh.htm
10
Iliad 21.124–384.
11
Цымбурский В. Л. Этно- и лингвогенез Трои как преломление индоевропейской проблемы,
Вопросы языкознания, 2003, № 3.
12
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysian_language
13
Blažek, V. Paleo-Balkanian languages I: Hellenic languages, Sbornik praci filozoficke fakulty Brnenske
university / Studia minora facultatis philosophicae Universitatis Brunensis 10 (2005), p. 24,
https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/bitstream/handle/11222.digilib/113980/N_GraecoLatina_10-2005-1_3.pdf?
sequence=1
14
Cf.: ‘Bérgē (Strab.) - village in Bisaltia, today Tahino on the western bank of the lake Prasias
(Tahino). This name contains the Thracian word *berg(s) ‘a high place, bank, mountain’ from the IE
*bhergho- in the Old-Bulg. bregə ‘bank, coast’, Old-Icel. berg, Old-HighGerman berg, German Berg
‘mountain’; Bergépolis (Steph. Byz.) - town in Thracia. The name has two components: the Thracian
Berge- (see the previous entry) + the Greek pólis ‘town’; Bergison (Steph. Byz.) - fortress on the upper
course of Hebros (Marica). It is derived from the Thracian *berga(s) with the suffix -is; Bergúlē (Prok.)
- town in Turkish Thracia, today Ljule-Burgas. It is derived from the Thracian *berga(s) with the suffix
-ula’, http://www.balto-slavica.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t231.html
13
be compared with Thessalian Μυρμῐδόνες ‘of the land of ants’ (μύρμηξ ‘ant’ and
Macedonian *(g)don- = Greek khthon ‘earth’).
Georgian name of Greeks, Berdzeni, might reflect the satem (Thracian or Iranian)
form of *bʰerǵʰ-, cf. Iranian berez-ant-, ‘high’. The name is similar to Brig-/Brug-,
‘Phrygians in Balkans’. Thracian-Phrygian contacts with ancient Georgia were very
possible. If Novotitarovskaya culture/variant of Yamna (influenced by Budzhak
culture/variant of Yamna, suggested component of Paleo-Balkan) was the Phrygian
component of Tocharian-Phrygian symbiosis then Gutians (possibly Tocharian-
Phrygian, cf. their Phrygian-like names and the name of the Tukri king, Kikla-palli, in
comparison with Phrygian kikla, ‘chariot’, and Tocharian wal-, Phrygian-Dacian bal-,
‘king’, and also Mitannian instructor of horse-breeding, Kikkuli) might include
descendants of Novotitorovskaya. Gutian invasion in Mesopotamia coincided with
the fall of Yamna and Catacomb while Novotitorovskaya may be interpreted as
‘Yamna-Catacomb’. Gordius’ vehicle might reflect an old Phrygian tradition traced to
Budzhak-Novotitarovskaya-Catacomb.
Γέται on the Lower Danube (Strabo 7.3.13), near Moesi (‘Moesi and Getae’,
Cassius Dio 51.27), might be named after Armenian get ‘river’ (‘Danubians’, cf.
Achaeans ‘of water/river’ possibly related to Ἀχελῷος)15 while Dacians – after *dag-
‘earth’ (cf. Hittite tekan, gen. tagn ‘earth’) < Indo-European *dheghom. Macedonian old
capital Ἔδεσσα16 and Phrygian βέδυ, ‘water’ may be related.
Bessi (Βησσοί, Βῆσσοι, Βέσσοι, Albanese bjeske ‘mountain’ < *bes-k- ‘mountains’?),
Carpi (Armenian kar ‘stone’, -p plural suffix in Megrel and Elamite, Urartian qarbe
‘rock’), Όδρύσαι (Cretan othrus ‘mountain’), and Albanians (old name of Alps was
Alb-, acc. to Strabo) were ‘mountainous’. Molossians (another name was Orestae
‘montainous’)17 might be ‘of mountain’ (mal), cf. Moldova < *mal-dava ‘the fortress on
he hill/mountain’ (S. Paliga), Malea ‘a cape in South Greece’, ancient Greek tribe of
Malians, Μαλιεῖς; the second component might be compared with the name of the
Thessalian mountain Όσσα18. Θεσπρωτοί might be simply ‘Thessalian men’ (thes-
15
‘Achelōos, Achelōn (Leo Gramm., Georg. Amartol., Georg. Mon.; AD 917) - small river near the
town of Anchialo (Pomorie) on the Black Sea. The name is explained from the IE *əkel- ‘water’,
preserved in the Lith. hydronym Akkẽlė (lake). It is also compared with the Lydian river name of
Achéles, Akéles, the Phrygian akala ‘water’. As identical are given also the name of Achelōos of five
rivers in Greece. The same Thracian name is hidden in the name of the small Black Sea town of
Anchialo, attested by Strabo under the form of Anchiálē and by Apian as Anchíalos, which is in fact a
Grecized form of the Thracian name, linked with the Greek word anchíalos ‘coastal’,
http://www.balto-slavica.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t231.html
16
Kretschmer, P. Einleitung.., S. 286.
17
Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière Hammond, Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History
and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas, Clarendon Press, 1967, p. 703: "The Orestae were
Molossian (as we know from a fourth-century inscription)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orestis_(region) Alternatively, Μολοσσοί were shepherds (cf. Molossian
dogs), and their name might be related to Greek melgo, cf. Homer’s and Herodot’s ῾Ιππημολγοί.
18
Cf.: ‘Ossogovo - a mountain, also known as Ossogov, Ossogova, and Osogovska planina. The
earliest examples are in Slavic sources (XIII-XIV-th c.). The name can be easily interpreted as a
Thracian one from the IE *Ok’o-ghəā (-os) or *Ok’o-ghəom, which led to the Thracian *Asagav- ‘stony
14
and m(b)rotos ‘mortal man’). Thessalian Λαπίθαι means ‘of stone’ (Greek laas, Latin
lapis, lapid- ‘stone’). Urartian qarbe, ‘rock’ and Karpathos Island eastward of Crete
might point to Hurrian influence on Crete from Levantine Khirbet-Kerak culture.
Λέλεγες were prehistoric sailors in mainland Greece, Aegean islands, and western
Anatolia, possibly successors of Cycladic culture and M. Korfmann’s ‘maritime
culture’ of Troy I–III (but the latter may be Tyrsenian because of Lemnian language).
E. g., Leleg was the first king in Sparta (Paus. 3.1.1). V. V. Shevoroshkin links the
name with Hittite-Luwian lulahi ‘foreign men’; cf. Hurr. lula-χ:ǝ ‘foreigner’, Ur. lul-
ue ‘foreigner, enemy’. The word contains Hurrian suffix but it did not mean
‘Hurrian’. It may be related to Lullubi, enemies of Hurrians (Georgian -ebi, Megrel -p,
Elamite -p), and ultimately to Sumerian lu-lu ‘men’. Telchines were another
candidate to link with the Cycladic culture.
Illyrius was the youngest son of Cadmus (possibly related to the Hurrian water-
snake of Hedammu) and Harmonia; Cadmus was the king of the Illyrian tribe of
Ἐγχελεῖς, ‘eel-men’, and then he turned into snake. The name of Ἰλλυριοί ‘*snakes’
possibly related not only to Βελλεροφῶν or Ἐλλεροφόντης (Eustathius of
Thessalonica), ἔλλερος ‘bad’ (Hesych.), Hittite Illuyankas and ellu-essar-, ‘snake pit’19
but also to ἐλύω, ‘roll round’, εἰλύω, ‘enfold, enwrap’, ἐλώρη· πελώρη. The myth of
the combat between thundergod and a snake might reflect a Corded Ware-Baden
conflict. Sardeates or Sardiotai, Siculotae or Sikoulotai were also mentioned among
Pannonian tribes, and their names pointed to Paleo-Balkan peoples in Sardinia and
Sicily. Dardanians in Italy20 might be related to Messapians (Illyrians in Italy) while
Pelasgians in Italy, especially in Crotone,21 might point to the Macedonian-like
language: the name of Crotone reflected the consonant shift similar to that in
Macedonian and Etruscan, cf. Phrygian Gordion; Pelasgians lived in Epirus22 while
the Epirotic language was similar to Macedonian. Strabo cited Euripidus about the
re-naming of Pelasgians by Danaus,23 and the fact pointed to the last Linear A time of
country, stony mountain’: Asa- ‘stony’, also found in the river name Asamus and gav- ‘country,
district’, related to the Goth. gawi ‘country, countryside’, the Old-HighGerman gawi, the German
Gau, the Armen. gavar ‘country, district’, the pre-Greek ‘gaia’. In Slavic the name was adopted
relatively earlier and the Thracian a produced o, as in the earliest borrowings in Slavic. Therefore, the
Thracian *Asagav > the Slavic Ossogovə, resp. Ossogovo. Its interpretation as ‘stony mountain’ fits
well to the geographic features of the mountain, especially of its eastern part. It is known that the
rivers, which have their sources in Ossogovo, and flow through the region of Kamenica (!) (kamen =
‘stone’ in Slavic) carry many large stones’, http://www.balto-
slavica.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t231.html
19
Katz, J. (1998). "How to be a Dragon in Indo-European: Hittite illuyankas and its Linguistic and
Cultural Congeners in Latin, Greek, and Germanic". In Jasanoff; Melchert; Oliver. Mír Curad. Studies in
Honor of Calvert Watkins. Innsbruck. pp. 317–334. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellerophon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel
20
Verg. Aen. vii 205-211.
21
Dion. Halic.
22
Strab. V 2.
23
Strab. V 2.
15
Pelasgians: Danaus’ sailing was dated to the first half of the 16 th c. BCE while Linear
A had Macedonian features.
Shqyptar, ‘Albanian’ may be related to Albanian shqipe, ‘eagle’ from Latin
accipiter;24 cf. Dalmatae (Albanian delmë, ‘sheep’), Χελιδόνες, ‘swallows’ among
Pannonian tribes. According to an old hypothesis, Tosks of southern Albania (a
territory which is located closely to Italy) may be related to Latin Tusci, ‘Etruscans’,
and Toscana. However, Albanian is not close to Etruscan.
Ιάπυγες of Cretan origin (Herodot. 7.170) might be named in relation with
Romanian iapă, ‘mare’ while their closest relatives, Μεσσάπιοι, might be related to
the Mediterranean name of bull, cf. the Illyrian god Medaurus the horseman, or to
μεταπόντιος, ‘in the midst of the sea’ (Hesych.).
So Paleo-Balkan peoples named themselves systematically: ‘of earth’ (Dacians), ‘of
river’ (Gets), ‘of mountains’ (Albanians, Bryges/Phrygians, Bessi, Carpi, Caucones),
‘of beech’ (Moesi/Mysians), ‘of oak’ (Dryopes, cf. the oracle of Dodona), ‘snakes’
(Illyrians); these names migh point to totems. Some names mean ‘old = aboriginal’
(Greeks, Pelasgians) and ‘united’ (Mossynoeci, Armenians).
Sea Peoples were mainly of Paleo-Balkan origin

If the move of the Sea Peoples was caused by the pressing of post-Únětice cultures
(in the transitional period between the Tumulus culture and the Urnfield culture
coincided with the beginning of the Sea Peoples activity about 1300 BCE) then Celtic
peoples pressed post-Baden Paleo-Balkan peoples of the Adriatic coast who moved
in the East Mediterrannean; cf. the myth of the Hyperborean gifts.25 Many of the Sea
Peoples were belonged to the Paleo-Balkan languages: Jkwš, Jqjwš, Jkws = ἈχαιϜοί,
Dnjn, Tnj, Djn = ΔαναϜοί, Drdny = Δαρδάνιοι, Mšwš as Hittite allies in the Kadesh
battle = Moesians (Μοισοί, Μοισία) / Mysians / Mush-k / Armenians, Plst, Pršt =
Mycenaean-like Philistines / Pelasgians possibly related to former Luwians and
contemporary Lycians (cf. Cretan Philistines and Lycians), Šrdn = Sardinians, cf. the
Paleo-Balkan substrate in Sardinia.26
24
Other hypotheses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shqiptar
25
If Tumuli and Urnfield caused the Sea People migrations then the Hyporborean gifts in Greek
mythology and the cult of Apollo derived from Celtic Belenus might be attributed to the events.
26
‘Первоначальную родину шардана Г. Леман помещает на севере Балкан, приводя в качестве
параллели этноним Sardeates/Σαρδιῶται, зафиксированный на далматинском побережье еще в
римское время (Lehmann, 1985, S. 45). Кроме того, на территории Фракии (верхнее течение р.
Стримон) существовало племя Σαρδοί/Σερδοί и область Σαρδική/Serdica (Lehmann, 1985, S. 45:88;
Detshew, 1957, S. 430–432) <…> найденные на Сардинии бронзовые фигурки по защитному и
наступательному вооружению идентичны изображениям воинов шардана на египетских
рельефах 13–12 вв. до н.э. (Vagnetti, 2000, P. 319)’, Сафронов А. В. с. 265, 266
https://www.academia.edu/7002621/36.%D0%98%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%BE
%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA
%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%B2_
%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5_%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%85_
%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD
%D0%B8%D0%B9._%D0%A1%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA_
16
Palaeoethnology of Crete
Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence give a possibility to reconstruct a

migration from western Anatolia to Crete about mid-4th m. BCE. Newcomers created
more developed material culture and social organization, including fortified
settlements27. They might be Luwians (possibly related to Anatolia-linked Usatove or
Maikop, cf. Cretan Lycians), Paleo-Balkans (related to Ezero), or Tyrsenians (from
Polyochne–Troy I, cf. Cretan Tyl-iss-os < Etruscan tul, ‘stone’, referring namely to
fortified settlement). Tholoi might be of the same origin: they were first used in Crete
in the Early Minoan period28. If the later development was unbroken, then Early-
Middle Bronze ‘Minoans’ might be direct descendants of the migrants. P. Kretschmer
reconstructed ‘pre-Greek’ arna, ‘city’ from many city names, and Παρνασσός, Cretan
Καρνησσόπολις, Carian Ἁλικάρνησσος are included in the group29, so ‘Hittite-
Luwian urbanization’ in Greece, including Crete, may be reconstructed: Hitt. parna-
ss-, ‘house’, Luw. harnas-, ‘fortress’.
Homer mentioned several ethnical groups in Crete: Eteocretans, Cydonians,
Pelasgians, Achaeans, and Dorians. Achaeans and Dorians were Mycenaean and
post-Mycenaean Greeks respectively while others need more attention.
Pelasgians or earlier Pelastians, Biblical Philistines, originated from Palestine on
the Strymon shore (see publications of V. I. Georgiev and recently A. A. Nemirovskii,
A. V. Safronov), and Herodotus mentioned a Pelasgian word, theos ‘god’. If it derived
from Indo-European *deu- then d > th in Pelasgian. The phonetic feature appears in
anthropos, in contrast to regular Greek aner, gen. andros, Macedonian drops ‘man’.
Similarly, t > th in the ‘Dithyrambic Greek’ dialect: thri-ambos, dithur-ambos.
V. Georgiev used ‘Pelasgian’ for satem-component of Greek.
The name of the Cydonians had clear Indo-European root, ‘glory’, in their name.
Perhaps, they took main part in the ‘Minoan urbanization’ if Cretan city-name of
Cydonia might be compared with Knossos, ‘the most known’ (regular Greek gnostos)
and Phaistos, ‘the most light’ (V. Georgiev’s explaining). G. M. Kazakevych
underlines a role of colonization plane in the formation of such names30.
Acc. to K. T. Witczak, ‘the Cydonian language as an independent Indo-European
language was closely related to the Anatolian Indo-European group; however, it had
certain items in common with Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Greek and other Palaeo-
%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD
%D1%84%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D0%BF
%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%B8_%D0%92.%D0%90._
%D0%A1%D0%B0%D1%84%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_1934-1999_
%D0%9C._%D0%98%D0%B7%D0%B4-%D0%B2%D0%BE_%D0%9C%D0%93%D0%9E%D0%A3._2010
27
Nowicki, K. Final Neolithic Crete and the Sutheast Aegean, De Gruyter (Boston/Berlin 2014), p. 269–278.
28
M. S. F. Hood, "Tholos Tombs of the Aegean," Antiquity 34 (1960) 166-176
29
Kretschmer, P. Einleitung.., P. 406.
30
Personal communication.
17
Balkanic languages as well’31. Cf. Cretan Lycians, but the name of Kydonia is clearly
Greek-like Paleo-Balkan; the root of the name means ‘glory as divine power’
(E. Benvenist).
The name of Cydonians might be compared with the names of Koitoi (Colchians in
the Argonautica) and Kuti (Gutians).
Eteocretans might represent the earliest Paleo-Balkan wave in the island which
might be Phrygian. It was not late Phrygians (from Phrix to post-Trojan, 14–12 cc.
BCE) because they moved after Pelasgians and Achaeans. Cretan Greek dialect
shared with Phrygian some phonetic features (e. g., Cretan thios : Phrygian tios ‘god’),
and Eteocretan inscriptions might be read in Phrygian. Strabo linked Praisos (where
the ‘Eteocretan’ inscriptions were found) with Eteocretans (Strab. 10.4.6; cf. Herodot.
7.170). The next Phrygian migration in Crete might coincide with the Phrix sailing in
Colchis (several decades before the trip of Argonauts, i. e. in late 14th BCE), so might
occur in the Sea Peoples time or even earlier. Phonetics of Linear A bears
Macedonian, Phrygian, Thracian, and Armenian features.
Hurrian presence in Crete, of possible Levantine Khirbet-Kerak origin, may be
suggested because of: Kadmos turned into a snake: Hurrian Hedammu ‘water
monster’; Europe: Hurrian euri (‘king’) and hepa ‘girl’, Minos and Minuai: Urartian
Menua (frequent king name); armed Kouretai: Hurrian huradi ‘warior’ (ultimately of
Akkadian origin)32; voiceless stops in Cretan syllabary and more (without d/t
alternation) in Cypriot syllabary (Cypro-Minoan might reflect Hurrian) etc.
So the Bronze Age Crete was peopled by bearers of different Greek dialects and
close cognate Paleo-Balkan languages, but the presence of Hittite-Luwian,
Phoenician, and Hurrian elements couldn’t be excluded. E. g., ‘Eteo-Cretans’ might
be ‘Hittite-Cretans’.
Cretan origin of Lycians was mentioned by ancient Greek writers33 while Cretan
origin of Philistines was mentioned in the Bible. Minos’s grandfather Phoenix was
the king of Tyre, and Homer compared Phaeaceans (who had Minoan features) with
Phoenicians. So, different hypothesis of the Linear A language may be supported by
ancient sources.
Features of CVCV-structure, which is typical to Linear A and B scripts, may be
found in Ancient Macedonian, Hieroglyphic Luwian, Akkadian, pre-Sumerian
‘banana’ substrate, and Dravidian.
Cretan hieroglyphics preceded Luwian hieroglyphics in time, and both were
influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphics. A. Evans shows clear evidence of the Egyptian
origin of several Cretan hieroglyphic signs, and V. I. Georgiev identifies traces of
31
Witczak, K. T. Non-Greek elements in the animal terminology of the ancient Polyrrhenians, Eos
Polonorum, Vol. LXXXIII (1995/1996), p. 24,
https://www.academia.edu/25248134/Polyrrhenian_or_Cydonian_language
32
A. Fournet (pers. comm.) underlines the Akkadian origin of the Hurrian word.
33
See about Lycian or Carian in Linear A: Ševoroškin, V. V., Nestor 1/6/1963, p. 258 s.; Nestor 1/7/1963,
p. 263 s.
18
their translation from Egyptian to Greek. Absence of l/r alternation in Linear A and B
is a feature typical to Egyptian script.
In contrast, the absence of b/p/ph and g/k/kh alternation is typical neither to Indo-
European nor to Semitic but to Hurrian, cf. ‘more Hurrian’ Classical Cypriot
syllabary without d/t alternation which is presented in Linear A and B. Cf. also
Cypriot Greek inis, ‘son’ and Urartian hini, ‘son‘, Eteo-Cypriot ma-to-ri, ‘town’ and
Urartian patara, ‘town’, Hurrian-like suffixes in Eteo-Cypriot and Cypro-Minoan:
Eteocypriot and Cypro-Minoan -na – Hurrian and Etruscan -na, Eteocypriot -o-ko –
Hurrian -ohhe34. The Vinča signs had closest parallels in the Cypriote syllabaries
among other Aegean scripts. Kura-Araxes signs, possibly related to Vinča, might be
another (alongside Egyptian hieroglyphs) source of Anatolian and Cretan
hieroglyphs. Ubaid-Urux influence on Kura-Araxes signs is not also excluded.
The Greek reading of Linear A not excludes possible presence of Hittite-Luvian
elements35 and Semitic elements36 in the language of the script. J. G. P. Best suggests
both Semitic and Luvian languages of Linear A37. K. Aartun reads the Linear A
inscriptions in Semitic not only in Crete but also in Norway (!)38. The main proponent
34
See about Hurrian Cypro-Minoan: Masson, O. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1972, No. 2, pp. 159-
163; Masson, E. Cyprominoica — Repertoires, Documents de Ras Shamra, Essais d’Interpretation,
Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, Bd 31, 2: Studies in the Cypro-Minoan Scripts 2, Åström, Göteborg
1974, pp. 47-53; Faucounau, J. Études Chypro-minoennes, Syria 54 (1977), pp. 209-249; Сергеев В. М.
Структурно-статистический анализ кипро-минойского текста их Энкоми, Античная
балканистика: Карпато-балканский регион в диахронии: Предварительные материалы к
международному симпозиуму, М.: Наука, 1984, с.40-42,
http://www.inslav.ru/images/stories/pdf/1984_Antichnaja_balkanistika_Karpato-
balkanskij_region_v_diaxronii_Materialy_k_simpoziumu.pdf ; Petit, Th. La langue étéochypriote ou
l"amathousien", Archiv für Orientforschung 44/45 (1997/8), pp. 244—271
35
Georgiev, V. Les deux langues des inscriptions Cretoises en linéaire A, Linguistique balkanique VII/1,
1963, pp. 1-104 (Hittite-Luwian interpretations of the author are based on the incorrect reading of the
Linear A signs); Finkelberg, M. Minoan inscriptions on libation vessels, Minos 25/26 (1990/91) 43-85;
cf. ancient idea of Cretan Lycians (Hdt. I 173); Казанский Н. Н. Возможные следы ликийского
языка в линейном письме А, Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология-XIV (чтения
памяти И. М. Тронского): Материалы международной конференции, проходившей 21–23 июня 2010 г.
В двух частях / Отв. редактор Н. Н. Казанский, СПб.: Наука, 2010. Ч. 1. С. 399–415; Kazansky N. N.
The evidence for Lycian in the Linear A syllabary,
http://www.aegeussociety.org/images/uploads/pdf/kazansky-2012.pdf cf.: Duhoux, Y. La langue du
linéaire A est-elle anatolienne ? Antiquus Oriens, L’ Harmattan (Paris; Louvain 2004), Vol. I, pp. 207–
228, https://www.academia.edu/1604135/Y._Duhoux_La_langue_du_lin%C3%A9aire_A_est-
elle_anatolienne_
36
E. g., ku-ni-su = Akkadian kunnisu in the C. H. Gordon’s reading
37
Best, J. G. P. Two traditions in spiral inscriptions with Linear A texts, http://www.talanta.nl/wp-
content/uploads/2014/10/Best-17-26.pdf
38
‘The enigma of the script invented by the Minoan civilization in Crete, hieroglyphic and Linear A,
remained unsolved until the late 1980ies, when Ph.D. Kjell Aartun, by training a semitist, succeeded in
deciphering the Linear A language. In 2001 Dr. Aartun was awarded the King’s Gold Medal of Merit
for his Decipherment of Minoan script and language, recommended by the Norwegian Academy of
Science and Letters. The Minoan language belongs to the Southwest Semitic language group, and the
script, used between approx. 2000 and 1450 BC, is the oldest script in Europe. The decipherment was
published in 1992. (In the Appendix are given some Linear A translations by Dr. Aartun). In 1987 a
19
of the Semitic hypothesis of Linear A was C. H. Gordon39. However, the most
creditable reading of a/ja-sa-sa-ra (which presents in Cretan hieroglyphics too) may be
neither Hittite-Luwian hassusaras ‘queen’ nor Semitic Asherah (as several linguists
suggest)40 but Greek ja/asesaromena, ‘cleaned’.
Several words might be borrowed from Semitic as in Classical Greek. S. Davis
reads the syllabic sign ni (fig) and related nikulea, ‘fig trees’ (Cretan gloss) in
comparison to Egyptian nht, ‘fig’41; cf. also Arabic nakla, ‘palm’.
Semitic interpretation is proposed for ku-ro ‘sum’ but po-to-ku-ro has no Semitic
interpretations42 as well as asasarame is traditionally readed as Hit.-Luw. a/ishassaras
mis ‘my Lady’ while asasaramana, a variant of previous word, had no Hit.-Luw.
interpretations.
Some arguments of the Semitic hypothesis are wrong. E. g., Linear B wa-na-ka is
not derived from Akkadian anaku, ‘to lead’43 because of 1) the absent of initial w in
Akkadian form, 2) possible correspondence of the word with Tocharian nakt- ‘Sun
god’, according to V. V. Ivanov and, mainly, 3) origin of Cretan hieroglyphic, Linear
A and B wa (Greek wanakterion, ‘wanax’s palace’) from very similar Egyptian
hieroglyph aha, ‘palace’, according to A. Evans and V. I. Georgiev.
Ideogram for wine in the Cretan hieroglyphics, Linear A and B is related not to
syllabic sign wa44 but to syllabic sign po as a reflection of the Cretan form (boinos) of
Greek woinos. The Greek and Indo-European name of wine is not of Semitic origin: it
derived from Indo-European *uei-, cf. Slavic věnok, věnik.
Lin. A ku-ni-su may be read as ku-FIC-su or rather su-FIC-ku (double, hieroglyphic
and syllabic, designation of fig) because the syllabic sign ni is very similar to the
ideogram ‘fig’.
The reading of the syllabic sign ku (bird) acrophonically (in comparison with
Greek γύψ, Hebrew ‘ôph45 supporting with Sumero-Akkadian bird-sign hu46) may be
interpreted in comparison with the similar Luwian hieroglyphic sign hu related to
Hittite-Luwian huwa, ‘bird’. Mentioned Sumero-Akkadian sign related to Sumerian
hurin and Akkadian hurinnu, ‘eagle’ might reflect Hittite-Luwian-like Indo-European
name of eagle, cf. G. Whittaker’s ‘Euphratean’ Indo-European stratum in Sumerian.
Minoan inscription was discovered in Norway, engraved on the rock face of a Bronze Age cult site on
the outskirts of the town of Kongsberg’, https://jarnaes.wordpress.com/1-minoan-crete-linear-a/
39
Gordon, C. H. Notes on Linear A, Antiquity 31 (1957), pps. 124-130; Gordon, C. H. Minoan Linear A,
JNES 17 (1958), pps. 245-255; Gordon, C. H. The language of the Hagia Triada Tablets, Klio 38 (1960),
pps. 63-68;
40
Best, J. G. P. The language of Linear A, J. Best, F. Woudhuizen (eds.), Lost languages from the
Mediterranean, E. J. Brill (Leiden 1989), 1-34.
41
Davis, S. New light on Linear A, Greece & Rome, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Mar., 1959), p. 30; Davis, S. Some
ideograms in Linear A and Linear B, Classical Philology, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Apr., 1960), pp. 114-115.
42
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Минойский_язык
43
Davis, S. New light on Linear A, Greece & Rome, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Mar., 1959), p. 29.
44
Davis, S. New light on Linear A, Greece & Rome, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Mar., 1959), p. 28.
45
Davis, S. New light on Linear A, Greece & Rome, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Mar., 1959), p. 28; Davis, S. Some
ideograms in Linear A and Linear B, Classical Philology, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Apr., 1960), pp. 114.
46
Gordon, C. H. Minoan Linear A, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Oct., 1958), p. 255.
20
If Linear A was Semitic then earlier related scripts, Cretan hieroglyphics and
Trojan of late 3rd millennium BCE, were Semitic-related, and ‘Cretan Semites’ had
developed sailing in the Sargon I time. The king reached Cyprus, but he used
cuneiforms!
Indo-Iranian elements of Linear A may be also presented in the light of the
migration of the Multi-Rolled / Mnogovalikovaia people in Greece about 1700 BC
(possibly Phrygian elite with Iranian elements of steppe origin), cf. the name of god
d
as-sa-ra dma-za-áš in the Sargon II inscription47 (in comparison to Linear A a-sa-sa-ra-
ma-na / a-sa-sa-ra-me), signs similar to Linear A in the Timber Grave / Zrubna culture
with the Multi-Rolled roots, Linear B Atana potnia as possible adaptation of Ossetic-
like Satana with a queen-title like West Caucasian guash, cf. Kabardian Satanei-guasha;
Linear B guasi-leus might be of the same origin. G. Owens reads Indian pitar, ‘father’
in Linear A48.
Pre-Romanian: substrates and loans
Loans in Pre-Romanian/Dacian
V. E. Orel’s Albanian Etymological Dictionary mostly not contains words interpreted
as substrate. In contrast, a long-time tradition identified pre-Romanian/Albanian
substrate, partially ascribed to the Dacians/Thracians. The most recent and extensive
pre-Romanian vocabulary was composed by Sorin Paliga.
47
See: ‘в ассирийской надписи времени Саргона II (722–705 гг. до н. э.) рядом с эламскими
богами божество das-sa-ra dma-za-áš < *asura-mazdās – рассматривается как раннее зап.-иран.
отражение имени Ахура Мазды или продолжение праиранского еще имени божества: в данном
случае das-sa-ra dma-za-áš вполне может быть не иранской, а митаннийско-арийской передачей
имени Ахура Мазды, в которой этимологическим соответствием передан только первый
компонент, в силу близости иран. ahurō и индоар. asura-, в отличие от второго компонента
mazdā ~ medha-. Я ни в коем случае не настаиваю на необходимости датировать переход *s > h
праиранским временем, просто считаю необходимым указать на некоторые слабости в
аргументации гипотезы о его позднем характере’, Напольских В. В. Уральско-арийские
взаимоотношения, Индоевропейская история в свете новых исследований, М., 2010, с. 232,
https://www.academia.edu/7002621/36.%D0%98%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%BE
%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA
%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%B2_
%D1%81%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5_%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%85_
%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD
%D0%B8%D0%B9._%D0%A1%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA_
%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD
%D1%84%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D0%BF
%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%8F%D1%82%D0%B8_%D0%92.%D0%90._
%D0%A1%D0%B0%D1%84%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_1934-1999_
%D0%9C._%D0%98%D0%B7%D0%B4-%D0%B2%D0%BE_%D0%9C%D0%93%D0%9E%D0%A3._2010
48
Owens, G. The structure of the Minoan language, p. 5,
http://www.teicrete.gr/daidalika/documents/labyrinth_book/script.pdf
21
Several of these words might be interpreted as Greek or pre-Greek (loans from
Greek or common substrate), Iranian, Caucasian.
E. g., a ‘Carpathian’ name of brynza (Romanian brînză), a traditional Romanian and
Ukrainian cheese from sheep milk, especially among mountain shepherds of the
Carpathians, reflects archaic pre-Indo-European name of sheep and ram, bar/ber/byr
(Rom. bîr ‘a call for the sheep to come’, Alb. berr ‘a sheep’49; Illyrian bre-nth-os ‘deer’
may be a cognate of the name),50 and possibly suffix from Kartvelian r-dze, l-dze, z-dze
(s-dze) ‘milk’. Pre-Rom. potáie ‘cur, tike, vile dog’51 may be compared with Basque
potso ‘large dog’ and Georgian pots-xveri ‘lynx’.
The name of the Carpathian Mountains (and ancient ethnonym: Latin Carpi,
Greek Καρποι, Καρπιανοί) contains Romanian (ş)carpă ‘precipice’ (Romanian
prăpastie), Albanese karpë ‘rock’ which are of pre-Indo-European origin (kar ‘stone’,
such as in Armenian, and plural suffix -p, such as in Megrel and Elamite, as an
evidence of Neolithic Vinča-Ubaid priests in Balkans). Urartian qarb ‘rock’ gives a
possibility to etymologize Kar-p-ath- also in comparison with Georgian -ethi ‘place’.
Pre-Rom. babán ‘very big’52 may be compared with Hurro-Urartian baba, ‘mountain’.
The island of Carpathos eastward from Crete and its autochthonous inhabitants,
Eteocarpathians, points to the Hurrian world.
Romanian boară ‘wind’ of pre-Roman origin (I. Russu) like Albanese borrё
‘snow’ and Greek Boreas, Borras ‘northen wind’ (of unknown etymology) are
comparable with Megrel boria ‘wind’ and Georgian berwa, Megrel barua ‘to blow (of
wind)’.
Pre-Rom. búdur(a) (usual in hunter’s vocabulary) ‘elevated cliffs/rocks, on
which wild goats use to stay’53 may be compared with pre-Greek petra ‘stone, rock’,
Lydian and Urartian patari ‘town’ (placed on the hill and fortified?), Eteo-Cyprian
matori ‘town’ and perhaps Greek ptolis ‘id.’ (if it was a contamination of pre-Greek
word with polis of Indo-European origin).
The name of mythical dragon in Romanian fairy tales, Balaur, reflects not only
Paleo-Balkan and pre-Celtic but also Caucasian relations. Autochthonous Romanian
şopirlă and Albanese shapi ‘lizard’ (and perhaps Greek aspalos ‘fish’ and aspis ‘snake’)
and Romanian-Ukrainian vatră ‘fire of montain shepherds’ may also be belonged to
very ancient cultural exchange, cf. Iranian vishap ‘water dragon’ and Indo-Iranian
athar ‘fire’.
49
Paliga, S. Etymological lexicon of the indigenous (Thracian) elements in Romanian (Bucharest 2006), p. 47,
https://www.academia.edu/6458557/Etymological_Lexicon_of_the_Indigenous_Thracian_Elements_in
_Romanian
50
Messapian bréndon ‘deer’ (Hesych.), Latv. briẽdis ‘deer’, the Lith. bríedis (a loan-word from Latvian),
the Old-Pruss. braydis ‘the same’, http://www.balto-
slavica.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t231.html
51
Paliga, S. Etymological.., p. 160
52
53
Paliga, S. Etymological.., p. 55-56
22
Several other pre-Romanian words may also be of Iranian origin: catún, ‘1. a
very small village, a hamlet; 2. a hut’54 (from Finnish to Ainu, ultimately traced to
Iranian kat- from kan-, ‘to dug out’).
Several others may be from Greek: genúne, obsolete, dial, gerúne ‘an abyss’55
(Greek okeanos, ogenos, ‘ocean’), hau, ‘abyss’ (may be related to Greek khaos, Latin
hiatus), noián, ‘a large surface of water; a large quantity in general’56 (Greek noa
‘stream’ acc. to Hesychius), pitic ‘a dwarf; small’57 (Greek pithekos, ‘ape, monkey’,
‘dwarf’ Suid.). Romanian and Greek have common substrate words: ‘bukur/bucuros
“beautiful / merry” may be related to Gr. μάκαρ “happy”, itself substrate, according
to Beekes’58.
Other pre-Roman words may be related to (Southern) Slavic: brad, ‘a fir-tree’
(Southern Slavic brada, ‘beard’) but D. Ungureanu proposes many Mediterranean
parallels.59 S. Paliga (pers. comm.) interprets the word as akin to English brad. Pre-
Rom. gorun, ‘oak tree, especially quercus petraea’: ‘Must be related with Gr. grynós
‘trunk of an old oak tree’, Basque haritz (k > h), Port. carvalho, Sp. carrasco, carrasca all
having the meaning ‘(little) holm oak’ (ilex, Sp. encina pequeña)’ 60 – Bulg. gorun
‘large oak’ (possible source of the epithet of Dragon in East Slavic fairy tales,
gorynych) < goreti. Alternatively, Slavic parallels might be results of re-interpretation
or a coincindance.
Proto-Sami (I1) and Pre-Romanian/Albanian (I2):

In search of the I haplogroup initial language
Sami include three haplogroups of Y DNA: Uralic N1 of Siberian origin, related to
Sino-Austric O (N1 might be initially a Mongoloid component of Uralic), R1a (Sami
are odontometrically related to Iuzhnyi Olenii Ostrov)61, and I1 (possible source of
Uralic language). Territory of the modern I1 frequency roughly coincided with the
54
55
56
57
58
Ungureanu, D. The four layers of the Romanian substrate vocabulary,
https://www.academia.edu/21048441/The_four_layers_of_the_Romanian_substrate_vocabulary
59
Ungureanu, D. The four layers..,
https://www.academia.edu/21048441/The_four_layers_of_the_Romanian_substrate_vocabulary
However, see Indo-European etymology: Witczak, K. Albanian vocabulary in the Paleo-Balkanic and
Indo-European view, https://www.academia.edu/9580171/Albanian_Vocabulary_in_the_Palaeo-
Balkanic_and_Indo-European_View
60
61
‘Results from odontometric analyses suggested a direct genetic continuity between the Mesolithic
population of Yuzhnyy Oleni Ostrov and present-day Saami’, Der Sarkissian, C. et al. Ancient DNA
reveals prehistoric gene-flow from Siberia in the complex human population history of North East
Europe, http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1003296 ; ref.: Jacobs, K.
(1992) Human population differentiation in the peri-Baltic Mesolithic: the odontometrics of
Oleneostrovskii mogilnik (Karelia). Human Evolution 7: 33–48.
23
Sami area. If the language of N1 is Uralic and of R1a is Indo-European (initially
‘Dene-Basque’?) then the language of I1 might be pre-Uralic ‘proto-Sami’.
Anthropologically Sami are close to Alpines62 whereas names of Lapp, Alps, and
Elves (Proto-Germanic *albiz) are similar. The highest frequency of the haplogroup I
is in the Dinaric Alps. If Y haplogroup I is Alpine-Sami initially then ‘initial Indo-
European’ might be used by these archaic groups.
Among so-called substrate word in Sami63, several groups of loanwords may be
identified: common Indo-European-like (viske, ‘yellow’, ken’te, ‘to kill’), satem-like
(sar’D’, ‘deer’s heart’), Iranian-like (s’avn’e, ‘become dark’), Germanic-like (ur’m,
‘gadfly’), Old Rus’-like (v’arv, ‘loop’), Basque-like (niŋgлes’, ‘female’; nizan, ‘woman’),
Urartian-like (šuεn’n’, ‘swamp’), pre-English-like (odgi, ‘young fox’), Albanian-like
‘Carpathian’ (beaski, ‘pass in mountains’); roahpi, ‘rocky mountain’, possibly Paleo-
Balkan-like, resembles the name of Riphean Mountains; čearr, ‘mountain top’, čerr,
‘ridge’: ‘Mediterranean’ kar, ‘stone’ as in Armenian; abbr’, ‘rain’: Pre-Romanian abur,
Albanian avull, ‘vapour’64; k’ed’d’k, ‘stone’: Pre-Romanian codru, ‘dense forest’,
Albanian kodër, kodrë, ‘a hill’65.
Parallels between Proto-Sami and Pre-Romanian/Albanian reflect connections
between North Europe (I1) and Balkans (I2).
62
Тищенко К. М. Мовні свідчення протофінської присутності у Західній Європі, Етнічна історія
народів Європи, вип. 9 (2001), с. 78–79, ref.
63
Керт Г. М. Саамская топонимная лексика, Петрозаводск, 2009, Приложение 3: Саамская
лексика, не имеющая соответствий в финно-угорских и прибалтийско-финских языках
(Lehtiranta J. Yhteissaamelainen sanasto // MSFO. 1989. 200),
http://window.edu.ru/catalog/pdf2txt/834/67834/41200?p_page=15 ; Aikio, A. An essay on substrate
studies and the origin of Saami,
https://www.academia.edu/4811770/An_Essay_on_Substrate_Studies_and_the_Origin_of_Saami
64
Paliga, S. Etymological lexicon of the indigenous (Thracian) words in Romanian (Bucharest 2006), p. 26,
_Romanian
65
Paliga, S. Etymological lexicon of the indigenous (Thracian) words in Romanian (Bucharest 2006), p. 75,
_Romanian
24
SEVERAL UNKNOWN PALEO-BALKAN LANGUAGES
AND SUBSTRATES, ADSTRATES, LOANS IN GREEK
Pelasgians and their language
Only one preserved Pelasgian words attests the language as similar to Greek
V. I. Georgiev interprets Pelasgian as the satem component of Greek and the

distinct Indo-European language positioned between Albanian and Armenian;
Pelasgian consonant shift resembles Armenian and Germanic ones.66 The scholar
attributes Early Helladic and Early Minoan cultures to the Pelasgians. 67 Indeed, the
Early Bronze archaeological layers might correlate with Paleo-Balkan language layers
(possibly, Pelasgian EH I and Phrygian EM). However, in contrast to the scholar,
initial s- and satem-consonantism could not be ascribed to one language: both
features, s > h and satem, might be results of (Indo-)Iranian influence while s- might
preserve in the non-influenced area. Linear A did not reflect aspirated consonants, so
‘Minoan’ was not ‘Pelasgian’.
Herodotus writes about the Pelasgian origin of the Greeks68 and cites the
Pelasgian word for ‘god’ which shares its phonetic features with the Greek name of
‘man’ of unknown origin.
Greek θεός as a Pelasgian word69 (cf. θοός ‘λαμπρός’ Hesych.) might be a
Pelasgian form of the Indo-European name of god, like Dorian, Boeotian Δεύς =
Ζεύς; cf. Aeol. δ > θ70, Old Phryg. devos, New Phryg. δεωσ, θεωσ ‘celestial’, Phryg. δ :
Gr. θ71, Lydian thivs ‘god’, thiva ‘goddess’72 and the Cretan origin of the Termilians-
Lycians73 which were close relatives of the Lydians.
The absence of v (digamma) in theos (Myc. te-o-) is not a cause to deny a link with
the IE name of Zeus, cf. the same absence in Phrygian. It might be a loanword from
Phrygian or a trace of Phrygian substrate/adstrate.
Greek ἄνθρωπος (non-Greek ‘Pelasgian’ θ : Gr. δ) : Greek ἀνήρ, Gen. ἀνδρός and
ὤψ, cf. possibly Macedonian δρώψ = ἄνθρωπος (Hesych.).
Greek πλίνθος, ‘brick’ (‘a loan from Pre-Greek’74) is usually compared with
English flint and other Germanic cognates.
66
Георгиев В. И. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию, М., 1958, с. 91-92.
67
Георгиев В. И. Исследования…, с. 92, 101, 110.
68
Herodot. i 56; 58.
69
Herodot. ii 52
70
Franzius, I. Elementa epigraphices Graecae, Berolini, 1840, p. 151
71
Хааз О. Памятники фригийского языка, Древние языки Малой Азии, М., 1980, с. 394. Cf. also:
Dorian δεά = θεά, Maced. δ : Gr. θ.
72
Георгиев В. И. Исследования…, с. 162
73
Георгиев В. И. Исследования…, с. 159-160.
74
Beekes, p. 1211
25
In addition, d > th was attested in ‘shifted’ Etruscan consonantism. Herodotus
(1.57) places Tyrrhenians in Crestonia, Thrace, as neighbours of the Pelasgians.
Similarly, Thucydides (4.106) mentions Tyrrhenians together with the Pelasgians and
associates them with Lemnian pirates and with the pre-Greek population of Attica.
In W. Merlingen’s ‘Psi-Greek’, not only θεός and ἄνθρωπος have aforementioned
Indo-European interpretation but also ξανθός ‘yellow, golden’ is compared with
Latin candidus ‘white’75; cf. σάνδυξ ‘a bright red colour’. If ξανθός (d > th) and σάνδυξ
coexisted in Ancient Greek then they might be the dialectal forms in the same
language.
So ‘Pelasgian’ (correlating with Merlingen’s ‘Psi-Greek’) is a Greek dialect or
Greek-like Paleo-Balkan language with δ > θ like in Aeolian Greek, New Phrygian,
Lydian, and Etruscan. Early Helladic I or/and II might be Pelasgians while
newcomers of (late) Early Helladic II or III might be their close relatives, namely
Greeks. If Greeks recognized Pelasgians as ‘barbarians’ (Herodotus), then the
Pelasgian language was not close familiar for them. According to an old hypothesis,
Pelasgian might be similar to Thracian.
‘Dithyrambic’
Unknown ‘Dithyrambic’ Greek dialect may be reconstructed: the Greek names of

dances and then verses of unknown origin may be interpreted as the evidence of an
unknown Greek dialect or lesser distinct Paleo-Balkan language closely related to
Greek.
Greek ἴαμβος ‘two-step’ < *wi-amb-os < *dwi-amb-os ‘*two-step (dance and then
verse)’, θρίαμβος ‘*three-step’, διθύραμβος ‘*four-step’ might reflect dialectal Greek
names for ‘two’, ‘three’, and ‘four’76, see a short history of the problem. 77 Cf. also
ἴθυμβος, ‘Bacchic dance and song’ < *ithu-iambos, ‘*straight step’.
The ‘Dithyrambic Greek’ dialect or distinct Paleo-Balkan language reflects:
dv > v (only in Greek and Tocharian),
t > th (‘consonant shift’, regularly in θρί- and διθύρ-, like in Thracian and
Armenian),78
qu > d (possibly in two steps: qu > t only in Greek, and then t > d).
75
See comments and bibliography: Hester, D. A. Recent developments in Mediterranean ‘substrate’
studies, Minos 9 (1968), 219-235; Katicic, R. Ancient languages of the Balkans, 1976, pp. 81-82.
76
Similar but independent interpretation: Kaczyńska, E. Kallimachejski mit o Britomartis-Diktynnie,
Classica wratislaviensia XXIV (Wrocław 2004), s. 72,
https://www.academia.edu/9565556/The_Callimachean_Myth_on_Britomartis-Dictynna
77
Versnel, H. S. Triumphus: An inquiry into the origin, development and meaning of the Roman triumph, Brill
Publishers (Leiden 1970), pp. 16–38.
78
I. Duridanov compared reconstructed Thracian tithe ‘light, radiance’ with Greek titō' ‘morning glow;
morning, day’, Alb. ditë ‘day’ http://groznijat.tripod.com/thrac/thrac_5.html Greek τιτώ ‘day’ (only
one meaning in LSJ) might be compared with Τιθωνός, ‘a lower of Eos’.
26
Vocalism of διθύρ- is Greek, cf. Dorian τέτορες, Epic, probably Aeolian, πίσυρες,
Aeolian also πέσυρες ‘four’.
However, t > th and t > d are attested in Iranian (Avestan θri- ‘three’): it might be
an Iranized Greek dialect.
According to an old hypothesis, common element of *-amba, ‘*foot’ is related to
Old Ind. anga ‘foot’, cf. Old Ind. pāda ‘metric foot’. If iambus was mainly satirical
poetry in ancient Greece while thriambus and dithyramb were hymns (and the latter
– also a dance) to Dionysus then the metric foots might be related to the myth of
Dionysus in India. If the term is not descended from common ‘Graeco-Aryan’ poetry
(cf. Greek πούς ‘foot, metric foot’ and aforementioned Old Ind. pāda) then it migh be
accepted before about 1000 BCE when gu > b in Greek (g in anga might be interpreted
similarly to gu).
According to another hypothesis, the hypothetical foot-name might be related to
ἀμβαίνω, an Epic, Ionian, and Poetic (including Pindar who’s poetry was descended
from Mycenaean tradition) form of ἀναβαίνω ‘go up’, cf. especially ἄμβων (the Attic
variant to Ionian ἄμβη) which in Cos had a meaning ‘steps of ladder’.
So ‘Dithyambic’ might be distinct (northern?) Greek dialect which was possibly
Thracianized or Iranized.
Gutian
Gutian language of the late 3rd millennium BCE invaders in Mesopotamia might
also be Paleo-Balkan.
The Gutians, Mesopotamian rulers during XXII c. BCE, were pale skinned and
blonde haired79 or fair-skinned.80 They were described as the people of northern
origin81. The Sumerians brutally called Gutian as a language of dogs. Perhaps, this
opinion might be based on the frequent usage of initial eu- and final -eus in Greek.
The ethnical name Guti or Kuti may reflect Greek κυδίων, ‘nobler’, cf. the Cretan
tribe of Cydonians from kudos, ‘glory’; cf. also the names of main ancient Cretan
towns: Knossos, ‘famous’ as a variant of Greek gnostos, Phaistos, ‘most light(ed)’ from
phavos, ‘light’, Kudonia, ‘glorious’ etc.
The Gutian king’s name Ingešuš or Ingešauš may be possibly interpreted as
*ἐγγυησεύς, ‘one who gives security’ from ἐγγυάω, ‘give security’. The name of
Anchisos and its Philistine cognate may also be taken into consideration.
79
The Early History of Babylonia, Henry H. Howorth, The English Historical Review, Vol. 16, No. 61
(Jan. 1901), p. 32; The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and
Babylonia, Theophilus Goldridge Pinches, Kessinger Publishing, 2005 (reprint), p. 158; The Sumerians,
Leonard Woolley, Clarendon Press, 1929, p. 5; Hurrians and Subarians, Studies in Ancient Oriental
Civilization, I. J. Gelb, 1944, p. 88.
80
Gelb, Hurrians and Subarians, p. 43, note 138.
81
According to a hypothesis, the Gutian language is Tocharian: Гамкрелидзе Т. В., Иванов Вяч. Вс.
Первые индоевропейцы на арене истории: прототохары в Передней Азии, Вестник древней
истории, 1989, № 1.
27
Two variants of another Gutian king’s name, Sarlagab and Iarlagab, may be
interpreted in comparison to the reconstructed Greek word *ἱερολογεύς, ‘one who
speaks sacral words’ from ἱερολογέω, ‘recount a ἱερὸς λόγος’. These variants reflect
the possible s / h alternation in pre-written Greek (later only h from s). Another pair
of the kings’ names, Silulumeš and Elulumeš, may also contain the same alternation.
The name Ibate may be compared with Greek αἰϜετός, Cretan and Pamphylian
αἰβετός ‘eagle’, cf. the name of Colchian king Aeates.
The name Iarlagan or Iarlaganda may be regarded as Greek *ἱερολαγενής, ‘who
was born of priest’, cf. ἱερόλας = ἱερεύς and -γενής, -γενέτης, ‘who was born’.
The name of Tirigan is similar to Greek τριγενής, ‘thrice-born’; cf. τριγέννητος,
‘thriceborn’ as an epithet of Athena.
Gudea, the famous ruler of Southern Mesopotamia ca. 2144–2124 BC, might be
also the Gutian.
The Koitaioi as a name of the Colchians in Argonautica (cf. Kutai- in Crete and Kuta-
isi in Georgia) might be related with the name of the Gutians, Kuti; cf. the Caucasian
Achaeans and Phrix (< *Phryx?) the Phrygian who migrated to Colchis in the
beginning of the XIII c. BCE or or even in the end of the XIV c. BCE; cf. also Greek
teikhos, ‘wall’ and Georgian cixe, ‘fortress’. Language contact between ‘pre-Greek’ and
Kartvelian were detaily investigated by R. V. Gordeziani.
Paleo-Balkan elements in Burushaski
Possible Paleo-Balkan elements in Burushaski might be traced not only to the Phrygian and
Mushki migrations in the 12th century BCE but also to possible Paleo-Balkan migrations in late 3 rd
millennium BCE when Phrygians possibly appeared in Crete. E. g., the Burushaski name of pear
(pheso) reflects a period before the s > h shift in Greek; s / i alternation in the Greek-like Gutian names
(Sarlagab/Iarlagab) reflects the time when the process was active (22nd – 21st centuries BCE)
Indo-European-like elements in Burushaski may be interpreted in several vays:

Burushaski is an archaic Indo-European82 or there were influences on Burushaski
from Tocharian83, Indo-Iranian84, or Paleo-Balkan85. Previously I regarded Burushaski
as very archaic Indo-European (possibly like Hurro-Urartian which might separate
long before Hittite-Luwian) and proposed several ‘common Indo-European’
elements in the Burushaski basic lexicon86. However, the Burushaski grammar and
82
Many works of I. Čašule.
83
Чеснов Я. В. Земледельческие культуры как этногенетический источник,
http://yanchesnov.awardspace.com/Articles/Agricultural_Societies_As_Ethnogentic_Source.htm
84
Bengtson, J. D., Blažek, V. On the Burushaski–Indo-European hypothesis by I. Čašule, Journal of
Language Relationship / Вопросы языкового родства, 6 (2011), pp. 25–63,
http://www.jolr.ru/files/(66)jlr2011-6(25-64).pdf
85
Berger, H. Mittelmeerische Kulturpflanzennamen aus dem Burušaski, Münchener Studien zur
Sprachwissenschaft 9 (1956): 4-33
86
Mosenkis, Yu. L. Ancient Oriental and Occidental inscriptions and languages with special reference to
Greek and Armenian (Kyiv 2001).
28
(more important because of typological changes) basic lexicon is clearly ‘Dene-
Basque’/’Sino-Caucasian’ but not Indo-European. Possible Indo-European elements
in Burushaski might be results of 1) macro-family affinity (‘We agree with Čašule
that there may be some kind of very deep-level relationship between Burushaski and
IE’87) and 2) Indo-European influence on Burushaski.
Now the Indo-European Burushaski hypothesis88 is strongly criticized89. So lexical
and ethnographic90 parallels between Burushaski and the Balkan-Aegean area need
another interpretation, i. e. might be loans which time might be disputable (from
early 3rd millennium BCE to Alexander the Great).
Ilija Casule initiates/revives a discussion about these element (which I interpret as
loans) and focuses his attention on the Phrygian parallels of Burushaski91. The most
important among them are:
Bur. girmín- ‘to write’: Phryg. gegrimenos, gegrimena ‘written, insccribed’;
Bur. dúuman ‘pile, heap’, d.om ‘pile of earth’: Phryg. dumas ‘(funerary) mound’ or
‘village’;
Bur. gíiri ‘gift’: Phr. gera- ‘gift’;
Bur. tháark 'walled enclosure (constructed round shrine, or saint's grave): Phr.
terkos ‘burial plot’;
Bur. bérkat ‘summit, peak, crest; height’: Berekuntai, ‘Phrygians’;
Bruzha, ‘Tibetan name for Hunza’: Bryges, ‘an old name of Phrygians when they
lived in Balkans’;
Bur. dirám, ‘a kind of flour’: Maced. drámis, ‘a kind of bread’;
In addition, pheso, ‘pear’ and tukóro, ‘section of dry pumpkin’ may be mentioned
among Paleo-Balkan-like plant names in Burushaski92.
The most important proper name is Khajón, ‘Burushaski speaker’93, which may be
compared with Χαονία, possibly a variant of Παιονία (p>h in Armenian).
Athenaeus suggests that the Mysian language was akin to the barely attested
87
Bengtson, J. D., Blažek, V. On the Burushaski–Indo-European hypothesis.., p. 58.
88
Čašule, I Basic Burushaski Etymologies. The Indo-European and Paleo-Balkanic Affinities of Burushaski
(= Lincom Etymological Studies 1). 1. Aufl. 1998, 2.unver. Aufl. 2005. Lincom: München 1998/2005. 90
S.
89
Bengtson, J. D., Blažek, V. On the Burushaski–Indo-European hypothesis… Leschber, C. Rez.:
Čašule, I Basic Burushaski Etymologies. The Indo-European and Paleo-Balkanic Affinities of Burushaski (=
Lincom Etymological Studies 1). 1. Aufl. 1998, 2.unver. Aufl. 2005. Lincom: München 1998/2005. 90 S.
https://www.academia.edu/1862014/Review_Ilija_%C4%8Ca
%C5%A1ule_Basic_Burushaski_Etymologies._The_Indo-European_and_Paleo-
Balkanic_Affinities_of_Burushaski
90
Чеснов Я. В. Земледельческие культуры как этногенетический источник,
http://yanchesnov.awardspace.com/Articles/Agricultural_Societies_As_Ethnogentic_Source.htm
91
Source: Čašule, I. Burushaski-Phrygian lexical correspondences in ritual, myth, burial and
onomastics, Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 48, No. 1 (2004), pp. 50-103
92
Čašule, I. Names of plants of Mediterranean and Balkan origin in Burushaski, Himalayan Linguistics,
Vol. 13/1 (2014), 1–8, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8kx5w9qw#page-1
93
Čašule, I. Burushaski-Phrygian lexical.., p. 94.
29
Paeonian language of Paeonia, north of Macedon94. Khajón and Χαονία are very
similar to Hay, ‘Armenian’ and Hay-k’, ‘Armenians’.
N. Mitevski (pers. comm.) compares Brugaski and Miśa:ski (variants of the
Burushaski names) with Βρύγοι and Muški respectively. Mush- might be changed
into Mish- according to the Phrygian phonetic law: Phrygian kikla = Greek kukla,
‘vehicle’. Phrygian Βερεκύνται/Βερεκύνδαι tribe name has Macedonian-like ‘full-
vowel’ form, cf. the hypothesis of the founding of Troy before the split between
Greek and Macedonian. Burusho ‘one Burushaski person’ might be related not to
aforementioned forms but to Old Indian puruṣa, ‘man’.
‘Non-Indo-European’ Burushaski *-uy ‘father’ and *hút.- ‘foot’ are comparable
with Armenian hayr ‘father’ and otk’ ‘foot’, but the nature of these similarities needs
further investigations. Another coincindance is Burushaski ha ‘house’: Sumerian *hai
> e ‘house’.
Phrygian elements in Burushaski correspond with Armenian elements in the
language, Phrygian-Armenian relations and Phrygian as Eteocretan (pre-Achaean
and even pre-Pelasgian).
Phrygian-related Eteocretan
Homer (Od. 19.172–177) mentioned Eteocretans, alongside Cydonians, Pelasgians,

Achaeans and Dorians, as inhabitants of Crete. A scholiast (Od. 19.176) and Diodorus
of Sicily (5.64.1) regarded them autochthones. Strabo (10.4.6, 12) described Cretan
ethnolinguistic map: Dorians – in the east, Cydonians – in the west, Eteocretans – in
the south were Praesos and the Zeus Dictaean temple were located.
Y. Duhoux summarizes evidence of Eteocretan and concludes that it was an Indo-
European language95
Several features of ancient Cretan dialect of Greek resemble Phrygian, e. g. Cret.
θιός ‘god’, θιήια ‘divine (fem.)’ : Phryg. tios ‘god’, tiveya ‘goddess’. The closest
parallel of Cretan Gortuna is Phrygian Gordion. In archaic Cretan inscriptions, k and p
were used instead of kh and ph, but th was used, while Phrygian not used aspirated
stops.
The ‘construction of artificial bilingual’ method gives us a possibility to compare
word groups in the Eteocretan and Phrygian inscriptions.
Eteocretan inscriptions (Crete, VI–IV centuries BCE) are alphabetical ones which
can’t be readed in Greek. Images and drawings of the inscriptions see.96 Some of the
inscriptions might reflect the Phrygian language.
The Eteocretan inscription [2–4 letters] αρμαϜετ ισαλ αβρετ κομν / [2–4 letters]
δμεν ιναι ισαλυρια (Dreros, lines 1–2)97 may be read in Phrygian:
94
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysian_language
95
Duhoux, Y. L’Étéocrétois: Les textes, la langue (Amsterdam 1982), p. 262.
96
http://www.carolandray.plus.com/Eteocretan/Eteocretan.html ; http://phaistos.narod.ru/pres.htm
30
αρμαϜετ : Phryg. gloss ἅρμαν ‘battle’ : Old Ind. árm-ā-h ‘destruction, ruins’98. It
might be an accusative form, arma[n], and conjunction, et, cf. Phrygian and Greek eti,
‘and’;
ισαλ : gloss of Hesychius σάλα ‘βλάβη = harm’, Hittite idalu- ‘bad’, and the
Hesychius’ glosses δαλῇ = κακουργῇ, δάλλει = κακουργεῖ; lesser, cf. Maced. ἰζέλα
‘wish, good luck’, Cretan δέλτος ‘ἀγαθός’;
αβρετ : New Phryg. αββερετ ‘he will bring’;
κομν : New Phryg. κ[ν]ουμινοσ, κ[νου]μανι от κνουμαν ‘tomb’99; alternatively, it
might be κώμη, ‘unwalled village’, acc. κώμην.
The line 1st of the inscription may be translated in this way: ‘(Who)’ will destruct
and will bring an evil to the tomb…’ Eteocret. ισαλ αβρετ κομν = Phryg. κακον
αββερετορ κνουμανει.100 Initial 2-4 letters in the line101 might be Phryg. ios, so [ios]
arma[n] et’ isal ab[be]ret may be reconstructed as an example of ‘corrupt’ Phrygian.
Eteocr. δμεν ιναι: Phryg. tetikm[e]noi innou
Eteocr. ισαλυρια (a separate word) might mean κακουργία, ‘wickedness’, cf.
εἰς ἄλληλα μεγίστη τε βλάβη τῇ πόλει καὶ ὀρθότατ᾽ ἂν προσαγορεύοιτο μάλιστα
κακουργία (Plat. Rep. 434c). In Phrygian, g might be omitted between a vowel and r:
τιδρε<γ>ρουν102
Eteocr. βαρζε (a separate word)103: Phryg. ene-park-es ‘to inscribe’
Eteocr. agset (a separate word)104: Old Phryg. -egeseti, New Phryg. egesit
Eteocr. σιαμυν105: Phryg. semoun, simoun
Eteocr. -δαν (word ending): Phryg. -dan ‘from’
Eteocr. κε (perhaps a separate word)106: Phryg. ke ‘and’
The Psychro inscription

Another Eteocretan inscriptions epiti zetanta eneta parsiphai might include Phryg.
zetna ‘gate’
Three ways to interprete the inscription may be proposed.
97
The division into separate words is mine. The word ισαλ presents repeatedly in the line 2 nd of the
same inscription, the word κομν presents in two inscriptions from Praisos.
98
ἁρμάν: πόλεμος (Phryg.), EM 145.42; the interpretation of the Phrygian word: Нерознак В.П.
Палеобалканские языки, М., 1978, с. 136.
99
The Phrygian forms are cited after: Нерознак В.П. Палеобалканские..., с. 120.
100
See the New Phrygian inscription among other typical ones: Сравнительно-историческое изучение
языков разных семей, М., 1991, с. 61.
101
Duhoux 39
102
Лигорио О., Лубоцкий А. Фригийский язык, Языки мира: Реликтовые индоевропейские языки
Передней и Центральной Азии, М.: Academia, 2013, с. 193,
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/23084/Ligorio-Lubotsky_Jazyki%20mira.pdf?
sequence=1
103
Duhoux, Y. L’Étéocrétois, p. 63
104
105
106
31
Firstly, one may attempt to interprete the inscription in Greek.107 E. g., Eteocretan
επιθι very resembles imperative of ἔπειμι, ‘come upon’108. Recent reading επιοι
might be compared with ἐπίοι, 3rd sg pres opt act of the same verb. Eteocretan ενετη
resembles ἐνετή (fem.), ‘inserted’109 (of a door? See below).
Secondly, the inscription may be read in Phrygian-like language, cf. ζηθανθη in
the inscription, Phrygian ζετνα, ‘gate’, and Paphian θόρανδε, Arcadian θύρδα =
θύραζε, ‘ἔξω, outside’. If the fragment was found near the sacred cave110, the
inscription might be related to ritual call of a goddess, cf. the myths of Demeter and
Persephone. Initial επιοι ζηθανθη or επιθι ζηθανθη might have a meaning similar to
‘come out (from the cave, sanctuary, Underworld)’. Syllabic i-pi-ti might be a repeat
of magic call. About τ : θ in Phrygian ζετνα : Eteocretan ζηθανθη, cf. Eteocretan
Φραισοι ‘inhabitants of Praisos’.
Thirdly, Hurrian-like elements might be found in the inscription. Alphabetical
epiti, confirmed by syllabic i-pi-ti, resembles the name of Hurrian Hebat, reflected in
the Hittite masculine name Hepa-ziti and Thracian name Ετα-ζητα, reconstructed as
Η[π]τα-ζητα in comparison with Επτα-κενθος, Επτα-πορις etc.111 Parsiphai
(Persephone and Pasiphae combined) might be a Greek interpretation of Hurrian-
Hittite goddess.
The bilingual (Eteocretan-Linear A) inscription from Psychro is now interpreted as
a modern forgery,112 but contrarguments were also proposed.113 Some scholars based
on logic error: firstly, they ascribed the Greek language to the inscription and,
107
Georgiev, V. Etat actuel des recherché et coordination du travail dans le domaine des langues
anciennes Balkano-asianiques, Archiv orientalni XVII/I (1949), pp. 276–278; Georgiev, V. Une
inscription prétendue éteocrétoise, Revue de philologie XXI (1947), pp. 132–140; Воскресенский, М. Л.,
Назаров, В. П. Опыт интерпретации этеокритских надписей, Вестник древней истории, 1968, No
2, с. 89-94.
108
Воскресенский, М. Л., Назаров, В. П. Опыт…
109
http://www.carolandray.plus.com/Eteocretan/Epioi.html
110
‘The brick fragment with the inscription, now known to be a modern fake, was part of the private
collection of Dr Stylianos Giamalakis. The date of its purchase and of its discovery are unknown.
According to Spyridon Marinatos ("Γραμμάτων διδασκάλια", Minoica: Festschrift zum 80. Geburstag
von Johannes Sundwall, Berlin, 1958, p. 227), he was told by Dr Giamalakis that it had been found in the
vicinity of the village Psykhro on the Lasithi Plateau near to the once sacred cave, identified by
excavators and several scholars with the Diktaian Cave of the ancient Greeks and, indeed, used as a
place of cult since Neolithic times’, Brown, R. A. The “Epioi” fake (a. k. a. the Psychro inscription),
111
Georgiev, V. I. Prinzipien der Deutung der thrakishen zweistämmigen Personennamen, Балканско
езикознание / Linguistique balkanique XVII/3 (София 1974), p. 9. The second component of Η[π]τα-ζητα
is known with other god names: Βενδι-ζητα, Δινι-ζητης, Ibid., p. 7. See also:
http://www.russ.ru/var/russ/storage/original/application/9beaa190a8152d7383b3861fd46b1fbe.pdf
112
Ch. B. Kritzas, The "Bilingual" inscription from Psychro (Crete). A coup de grâce, in Gigli, R. (ed.),
Μεγάλαι Νῆσοι. Studi dedicati a Giovanni Rizza per il suo ottantesimo compleanno, Catania 2004 [in fact,
published in May 2006], I, 255-261; Brown, R. A. The “Epioi” fake (a. k. a. the Psychro inscription),
113
Kenanidis, I. K., Papakitsos, E. C. The Eteocretan inscription from Psychro (Crete) is genuine,
Anistoriton 14 (2014-2015), ViewPoints http://www.anistor.gr/english/enback/index.htm
32
secondly, they have difficulties with the Greek interpretation of the text114. However,
Greek interpretation and difficulties in this interpretation may be explained in the
light of the hypothesis of the Greek-like but not namely Greek language such as
Phrygian.
R. Brown concludes that the Psychro inscription ‘bears no obvious resemblance to
the Dreros and Praisos inscriptions’115. As for me, the inscription reflects Greek-
influenced Phrygian while other Eteocretan inscriptions may reflect more pure
Phrygian.
So the Psychro inscription may include Greek and Phrygian elements, and the
Hurrian-Hittite name of Hebat might be also used.
Phrygian-like elements in Linear A?
Phrygian-like elements in Linear A might reflect archaic Greek-Macedonian-Phrygian dialectal

continuum of early 2nd millennium BCE
In addition to Phrygian interpretation of Eteocretan inscriptions, several phonetic

and lexical parallels between Linear A and Phrygian may be proposed. The z-series
of syllabograms reflect Phrygian g > z (Linear A ze ‘jaw’, Indo-European *gen-, Greek
gen-, Phrygian zen- ‘jaw’) and qu > z (Linear A zo ‘spear’ and zu ‘eye’) similar to
Phrygian qu > k (que > ke, Mycenaean que, Greek te).
Phrygian title proitavos resembles the name of Προῖτος, the king of Argos (about
th
14 century BCE), so Phrygian-like elements were presented in Mycenaean Greece.
Phrygian kanutieivais, kanutievan- resemble Linear A ka-nu-ti, the first element in
the list of Cretan cities, i. e. the name of Knossos, the Linear A form of Greek gnostos
‘well-known, glorified’, as Phaistos, Kudonia, G/Kaudos, cf. Armenian canōt’, ‘known’.
Phonetically cf. Phrygian knouman: Greek gnoma, Phrygian onoman: Greek onoma.
Linear A a-ta-no-, an initial word in the Libation Formula, cf. Phrygian (W-01c)
ataniyen : kuryaneyon : tan Іegertoy; ‘The dedicational character of the inscription
makes it probable that ataniyen is a personal name in the nominative. […] Orel 1997:
40 compares Hitt. Attaniya’116.
The word-ending of the initial word in the Linear A Libation Formula, -wa-ja, may
be compared with Phrygian -evais. Alternatively, *301-wa-ja may be Phryg. tiveya,
‘goddess’.
Linear A a/ja-sa-sa-ra-me, very hypothetically, may be compared with Phrygian ios
sa sorou kake / adaket me zemelwj tit tetikmenos eitou.
Phrygian-like elements in Linear A might reflect archaic Greek-Macedonian-
Phrygian dialectal continuum of early 2nd millennium BCE.
114
J. Chadwick, R. A. Brown, http://www.carolandray.plus.com/Eteocretan/Epioi.html
115
Brown, R. A. The “Epioi” fake (a. k. a. the Psychro inscription),
116
Lubotsky, A. Phrygian etymological database (e-version)
33
Eteo-Cypriot: Paleo-Balkan, Tyrsenian, or Hurrian
In addition to well-known interpretations of Cypro-Minoan as Hurrian

(E. Masson; different languages acc. to Y. Duhoux) and Eteocypriot as Etruscan-like
(A. I. Kharsekin), several Paleo-Balkan interpretations may be proposed:
ma-to-ri: Messapian mature, ‘mother’, Greek μήτηρ = μητρόπολις
(Λοκρῶν ἐπαείροντι ματέρ᾽ ἀγλαόδενδρον, Pind. Olymp. 9.20);
a-na ma-to-ri (the beginning of inscription): Messapian ana aprodita (the beginning
of an inscription, Dat. Sg.)117.
Cretan royal dialect?
The ‘Lunar dynasty’ of Minos (Pasi-phae, ‘lighting for all’ < ‘full-lighting = full
moon’, Phaidra ‘moon’, Glaukos in the lunar myth etc.) might be Phrygian. 1) If Minos
< *Men-ops, ‘moon/eyed/faced’ then e > i may be attested, cf. Phryg. dios, tios ‘god’ :
Greek theos, Cretan thios; Phryg. Midas might be compared with Greek μέδων, ‘ruler’.
2) If the name of Katreus might mean ‘(lunar) quarter’ then ku > k may be attested, cf.
Phryg. ke < kue, Greek te ‘and’. Phrygian lunar god Men might be the closest cognate
of Minos. Thracian κετρεζερ[ις] = Greek τετρά-χειρ118, so the feature is Thracian-
Phrygian.
Pre-Greek substrates
vs irregular Greek/Paleo-Balkan forms and loans
Many ‘pre-Greek’ words might be 1) irregular Greek/Paleo-Balkan and 2) loans of

adstrate/neighbour origin. Sources of -nth- and -ss-/-tt- suffixes might be searched in not only Hittite-
Luwian languages, Etruscan gen. -asia- (IE -osio-), Kartvelian -isi (Hur.-Ur. ‘place, land’) and -ethi, but
also in Greek -n-de ‘to’, -thi ‘in’
Two types of ‘pre-Greek’ words: ‘non-regular’ Greek/Paleo-Balkan elements and loans

ἀκακία, ‘shittah tree’ < ak-ak-, ‘very sharp’, reduplicated Indo-European root, cf.
ἀκά· τὸ ὀξύ and ἀκή· αἰχμὴ σιδήρου (Hesych.);
ἄκανθα, ‘thorn’ < ak-anth- ‘sharp flower’, cf. χρυσ-ανθής, ‘with flower of gold’; I
don’t understand why it ‘is a type of etymology of the past’119;
117
https://www.academia.edu/8686856/Einf%C3%BChrung_ins_Messapische
118
езикознание / Linguistique balkanique XVIII/3, p. 10.
119
Beekes, p. 49
34
ἅμαξα, ‘wagon’: the author underlines that it is ‘two-axler’120 but the name might
initially mean ‘one-axler’;
βαλήν, βαλλήν, ‘king’: ‘unexplained’, ‘Anatolian loan’, and ‘Pre-Greek’121, but
Dece-bal, ‘Dacian king’, Tocharian wal-, ‘king’ may be related, etc.
‘Pre-Greek’ words may be divided into two groups.
1) Indo-European, but with unusual phonetic forms. V. I. Georgiev interpreted
many of them as ‘Pelasgian’122, Yu. V. Otkupshchikov – as Paleo-Balkan123, i. e.
Macedonian, Phrygian, and Thracian. Examples:
σαφής, ‘clear’, σοφός, ‘clever’, σέσυφος: πανοῦργος (Hesych.), Σίσυφος, Hittite
suppi-, ‘consecrated, pure, tabo’ (in the formula, about meats), Umbrian supa, sopa,
‘consecrated meats’124, Latin sapiō, ‘discern, be capable of discerning’, Proto-Germanic
*sebō, ‘mind, sense’;
σέλας, ‘light’ and σελήνη, σελάνα, ‘the moon’ which resemble ἥλιος, ‘the sun’ and
ἑλένη, ἑλάνη, ‘torch’;
πλίνθος, ‘brick’ regarded as ‘a loan from Pre-Greek’125 but cf. flint and other
Germanic cognates.
2) Loans from different languages:
ἀσκός, ‘skin’: Hurrian ašxe, ‘skin’;
μαλλός, ‘flock of wool’: Hittite maluli-, ‘skin’;
μίτος, ‘thread’: Hittite mitta-, ‘red wool’;
κῶας < *κῶϜας, Myc. ko-wo, ‘fleece’: Georgian t’q’av-, ‘fleece’, etc.
Ancient Greek theonyms: substrates vs loans

Ἀθήνη was a moon-goddess, and Odysseus, leaded by Athena, named himself
Αἴθων; so Όρος Άθως ‘Mount Athos’, αἰθος ‘burning heat, fire’, αἴθω ‘light up,
kindle’ might be related, morphologically cf. τίταξ ‘king’: τιτήνη ‘queen’, Σείριος
‘Sirius’: Σειρήν ‘Siren’ (initially – a false orienting point for sailors).
Ἀπέλλων (Doric form) might be a loan from Gallic Apollo, Belenos/Bellenus;
Apollo’s feast (Thargelia) in early May resembles Beltain, the day of Belenos in the 1st
of May.
Ἄρης, Myc. a-re, might be Akkadian war god Erra.
Ἄρτεμις as the bear goddess might be related to Celtic art-, ‘bear’ as a loan from
Celtic. Artemis and her brother Apollo might be adopted from the Celts (cf.
Hyperborean gifts in the Delian temple of Apollo and Artemis) whereas their mother
Λατώ (whose cult was strongest in Lycia) and Λήδα are Lycian lada, ‘wife’; Aphrodite
is Astarte.
120
Beekes, p. 81–82
121
Beekes, p. 197
122
Георгиев В. И. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию (Москва 1958).
123
Откупщиков Ю. В. Догреческий субстрат (Ленинград 1988).
124
Watkins, C. Etymologies, equaqtions, and comparanda, Linguistic change and reconstruction
methodology, Baldi, Ph. (ed.), Mouton de Gruyter (Berlin; New York 1990), p. 299.
125
Beekes, p. 1211
35
Διόνυσος, the son of Zeus, was usually regarded as late Thracian god – until he
was found in Mycenaean. The name bears Arcado-Cypriot genitive -ν in Διόν and ὕς,
ὑύς, ‘son’, cf. long υ in Διόνυσος; the form διον(ν)ύς (Hesych., Etym. Magn.) confirms
the etymology. The image of Dionysus as a bull might be related to Palaic-Hittite
tiuna/i- ‘bull’, mixed with the Greek name.
Ἑρμῆς as the god of the dead resembles Egyptian Four sons of Horus, the deities of
the parts of the dead’s body, and Horus, the god of new (= resurrected in the
Egyptian religion) pharaoh. The Greek name might be of Egyptian origin: Egyptian
hr ms wsr [her mes user], ‘Horus, the son of Osiris’.
Ἑκάτη, the goddess of necromancy, is Egyptian Heqet, the goddess of resurrection.
Ἥφαιστος, Ἄφ- Ἅφ-, may be related to ἅπτω, ‘kindle, set on fire’ > ἁφή, ‘lighting,
kindling’126 whereas his more archaic variant (father of fire-bringer Prometheus),
Ἰάπετος, may be related to ἰάπτω, ‘hurt, spoil’ (> ἰάφθη, 3rd sg aor ind pass).
However, ἰάπτω is of unknown origin and might re traced to Kartvelian bd- ‘to strike
fire’, abd- ‘flint stone’. Κηδαλίων, an asistant or a tutor of Hephestus, might be
derived from Georgian m-čed-el-i, ‘smith’. Chechen Pkharmat, ‘smith god’ < pkh’ar,
‘smith’ might be a prototype of the Greek Titan reinterpreted as Prometheus,
‘forethinker’.
Ὀρφεύς [-p-h-] the Thracian, a worshipper of rising Sun, resembles Egyptian Har-
pa-khered, ‘Horus the child’, a god of rising Sun.
Τιτᾶνες, sing. Τιτάν, may be related to 1) Egyptian Ta-tenen, ‘risen land, exalting
earth’ or 2) Hattic titah, ‘great’127.
So ‘pre-Greek’ ‘substrate’ god names might be of native (Athena, Dionysus) or
neigbour (Celtic, Kartvelian, Egyptian, Hattic, Akkadian etc.) origin.
Native Greek terms of viniculture

Terms of viniculture, usually regarded as ‘pre-Greek’, represent good examples.
Indo-European names of wine (Fοῖνος etc.) are of Proto-Indo-European (not
substratal) origin: PIE *uei- ‘twist, curl, plait’ (> Russian вѣн-икъ, ‘broom’, вѣн-окъ,
dialectal вѣнъ, ‘wrath’, all < voin-, Old Indian veni, ‘plaited hair’, venikah, ‘woven
tape’); phonetical correspondence between Greek and Latin names is regular 128.
Similar Georgian and West Semitic names of wine are of IE origin129.
126
Alternatively, Ἅφαιστος might be superl. (-ιστος) from ἅφα- = hapha- < *sapha- = σαφής ‘clear’, Latin
sapiens. Ugaritic Kotaru-wa-Hasisu, Phoenician Kusar-i-Husas ‘nice and clever’ lived in Crete.
127
Independently: Tardivo, G. Pre-Greek studies, https://www.academia.edu/20298569/PRE-
GREEK_STUDIES
128
Откупщиков Ю. В. Об индоевропейском происхождении лат. vīnum, др.-греч. (Ϝ)οἶνος «вино»,
Вопросы языкознания, 1985, № 4, с. 95–103,
ftp://istorichka.ru/Periodika/Voprosy_Jazykoznanija/1985/1985_4.pdf
129
Климов Г. А. Этимологический словарь картвельских языков (Москва 1964), с. 203–204; ‘*wain- is
only Western Semitic, not Common Semitic or Common Afrasian, and hence may have been
borrowed from Mycen[a]ean Greek’, Diakonoff, I. M. Language contacts in the Caucasus and the Near
East, When worlds collide (Ann Arbor 1990), p. 59.
36
Greek ἄμπελος, ‘grape-vine’, traditionally regarded as ‘pre-Greek substratal’, was
acceptably explained by V. I. Georgiev as a simplification (haplology) of
ἀμφιπέλομαι, ‘hover around’, cf. ἀμφιφορεύς > ἀμφορεύς, Myc. a-pi-po-re-we and a-
po-re-we, ‘jar’.
Greek σταφυλή, ‘bunch of grapes’ (also regarded as ‘pre-Greek’) is similar not
only to Georgian-Zan *stwal-, ‘grape-harvest’130 but also to στέμφυλα (n. pl.),
‘squeezed olives or grapes, mass of olives or grapes’ < στέμβω, ’shake’ < Indo-
European131.
Caucasian adstrate
Possible Kartvelian elements in Ancient Greek were investigated by N. Ya. Marr,
E. Furnee132, R. V. Gordeziani133. Several other words might be added:
Greek δίνη, ‘whirlpool, eddy’: Georgian m-din-are ‘river’134;
Greek θέα, ‘seeing, looking up’ < *thawa, ‘No IE cognates’135 (> Etr. thva): Proto-
Kartvelian thva-l-i ‘eye’;
Greek κυπάρισσος and Hebrew gofer ‘cypress’ of unknown origin : Georgian
c’ipela, Megrel c’ipuri, Laz c’ip(u)ri, Swan c’ipra;
Greek στάχυς, ‘ear of corn’ : Swan shdik, ‘ear of corn’.
Round houses of the earliest Greek Neolithic, Mesopotamian Halaf, Caucasian
Shulaveri-Shomu and Kura-Araxes, and Levantine Beer-Sheba might be related to
Kartvelian *bud-, ‘nest’ in contrast to Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Afro-Asiatic
*bud-/t-, ‘house.’ The first European Neolithic appeared in Thessaly; Greek Thessalia
was compared with Georgian thesli, ‘seed’ (N. Ya. Marr), i. e. diaspora (Georgian-Zan
*thes-, ‘to sew’); legends about the sewing of humans were known in Sparta and
Colchis, cf. Lake-daimon and Caucasian Laks.
S. L. Nikolaev proposes North Caucasian etymologies for unetymologized Greek
words, including καλιά, ‘wooden dwelling, hut’ and κυπάρισσος136, but space and
time of contacts are unexplained. If it was North Caucasian Neolithic in Europe
(suggested by some scholars) then these words would be in many Indo-European
languages. If several probable Caucasian words are presented in Greek and Hittite
then Asia Minor might be a place of contacts.
Semitic adstrate
130
Gordeziani, R. Mediterranea-Kartvelica, Vol. IV (Tbilisi 2008), p. 58.
131
Beekes, pp. 1392, 1398.
132
Furnee, E. Vorgriechisch-Kartvelisches. Studiem zum ostmediterranen Substrat nebst einem Versuch zu
einer neuen pelasgischen Theorie (1979),
https://www.yumpu.com/de/document/view/7706656/vorgriechisch-kartvelisches
133
Gordeziani, R. Mediterranea-Kartvelica, Vol. I–IV (Tbilisi 2008)
134
Maiandros River is not related to that because of better explanation: Maian-dros, ‘Maeonian water’
135
Beekes, p. 536.
136
Николаев С. Л. Северокавказские заимствования в хеттском и древнегреческом, Древняя
Анатолия (Москва 1985), с. 66–73
37
‘Masson, Beekes and Rosół agree, although in some cases with hesitation, that c.
twenty-five words have been adopted by the Greeks from or via a Semitic language;
these are βύσσος, δέλτος, ἴασπις, κάδος, κάμηλος, κασᾶς, κασία, κιν(ν)άμωμον,
κρόκος, κύμινον, κύπρος, λίβανος/λιβανωτός, λῖς, μνᾶ, μύρρα, νάβλας, νάρδος, ὀ
θόνη, σάκκος, σαμβύκη,σήσαμον, σίγλος, σοῦσον, τύμπανον, χαλβάνη, χρυσός’137
Semitic elements in Greek must be regarded as loanwords from neighbor
languages, not a substrate. The borrowings may be mainly results of 1) Minoan-
Mycenaean presence in Levant, cf. Philistines, Kerethim and Pelethim, Ionians in
Tyre acc. to the Tel-Amarna tablet, and 2) Phoenician presence in Cyprus (many
Semitic words in Greek were identified by Hesychius as Cypriot ones) and contacts
between Minoan-Mycenaean and Phoenician mariners (cf. Homer’s Minoan-like
Phaeacians as ‘Phoenicians’).
There were Kabeiroi (‘great gods’, Arab. kabir, ‘great’), skene (Syr. mushkan, ‘skinia’,
but IE etymology is also proposed), Europe and erebos (Sem. ereb, ‘set, evening,
darkness’, but IE. etymology < *eregu- is also proposed), Kadmos (Sem. qdm, ‘east’ but
also Greek kekadmenos and Hurrian Hedammu), Kerberos and grups, ‘griffin’ (Sem.
kerub), Arakhne (Sem. arag, ‘spin, weave’), Kubele (Phrygian mountain by Hesychius:
Sem. gebal, ‘mountain’), konkhe (kinahhu), megara, ‘underground caves’ (Sem. me’arah,
‘cave’), thunnos (Arab. tinnin, ‘to stretch, to be extended’, Hebr. Tannin, a water
monster), karabos (Sem. aqrab, ‘scorpion’), etc. Several toponyms: Salamis (slm,
‘peace’), Samos (shm, ‘sky’ > ‘heigth’), initial s- points to non-Greek origin138.
Semitic loans are present in Mycenaean Greek 139. Babylonian cylinder-seals were
found in Cyprus, Crete, and mainland Greece.
Egyptian loans
Egyptian elements in Ancient Greek were summarized by P. V. Ernstedt140. Cf.
also Phoiniks: Eg. fnh.w etc.
Egyptian source of the Greek paradise name may be hypothetised: concepts and names
of paradise in Ancient Greek and Old Rus’ might be of Egyptian origin.
137
Blomqvist, J. Rev.: Rafał Rosół, Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen. Frankfurt am Main:
Peter Lang, 2013. Pp. 310, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.11.54,
http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2013/2013-11-54.html
138
A part of words are from: Muss-Arnolt, W. On Semitic words in Greek and Latin, Transactions of the
American Philological Association, Vol. 23, 1892, Vol. 28, pp. 35–156, https://archive.org/stream/jstor-
2935792/2935792#page/n1/mode/2up
139
Cebrian, R. B. Loan-words in Mycenean Greek, Sbornik praci filozoficke fakulty Brnenske university /
Studia minora facultatis filosophicae universitatis brunensis, 1996, No. 1, pp. 13–20,
sequence=1 ;
https://www.academia.edu/5030445/Semitic_Loanwords_in_Mycenaean_Greek_Multiple_Roads_Mult
iple_Ways
140
Ернштедт П. В. Египетские заимствования в греческом языке (Москва; Ленинград 1953)
38
Old Rus’ irii ‘paradise’ (12th century) of unknown origin141 and Ancient Greek
Elusios leimon / pedon may be compared with Egyptian Iaru / Ialu fields (ì;rw), literally
‘fields of reed’. The Egyptian name, in contrast to Slavic and Greek ones, has an
etymological interpretation142.
According to Diodorus of Sicily, the myth of the Orpheus’ visit in the Underworld
includes the description of the fields, and the Orphic idea of the Underworld was of
Egyptian origin143.
Perhaps, Ethiopian astronomical term in Ancient Greek may be found: the Greek
name of the Cepheus constellation might be of African origin.
Greek Κηφεύς, ‘Ethiopian king and the house-shaped constellation which was
named after him’ may be compared with Old Egyptian k;p ‘house (of king’s family)’
[Erman, Grapow V 105], Hausa kàfē ‘hut’; cf. the shape of the Phoenician letter of beth,
‘house’.
Lucianus in Astrologia 3-5 wrote about the Ethiopian origin of Egyptian
astronomy. The observations in Nabta Playa preceded the appearance of the
Egyptian state. The Ancient Greeks described the Egyptians as brilliant astronomers
and teachers in the science.
Proto-Slavic loans
If early name of Lesbos, Issa, might mean ‘woody’144 then its later name, Λέσβος,
might have the same meaning and be related with Proto-Slavic *lěsovŭ, ‘woody, of
forest’145. Proto-Slavic *lěsŭ, ‘forest’ of unknoun origin has only Greek closest parallel
of ἄλσος, ‘sacred grove’. The name of Lesbos may be interpreted in the context of
other parallels between Pelasgian satem component of the Ancient Greek language
and the Slavic languages, e. g.:
‘Pelasgian’ μίνθα ‘mint’ : Common Slavic *menti ‘knead’;
Kamikos ‘Mycenaean Greek fortified city in Sicily in the Minos myth’ : Bulgarian
kamŭkŭ ‘stone’; possibly akin with κάμινος, ‘oven, furnace, kiln’: ‘The comparison
with καμάρα has little value; that with OCS kamy ‘stone’ is possible’ (Beekes p. 631),
the closest parallel is Slavonic kamĭnĭ, ‘stone’;
Pelasgian sitos, ‘bread’ : Common Slavic *žito;
the widespreaded European (including Byzantine Greek) name of aurochs might
be interpreted only in Slavic: *zomb-rŭ < *zombŭ ‘tooth’.
141
Етимологічний словник української мови, т. 1, с. 380; Фасмер М. Этимологический словарь
русского языка, т. 2, с. 137; Булаховський Л. А. Питання походження української мови, К., 1956, с. 84;
Этымалагічны слоўнік беларускай мовы, Мінск, 1978, Т. 2, с. 278
142
See about the Elysian Fields and Ialu Fields: Морэ А. Цари и боги Египта, М., 1998, с. 174–175
143
Diod. Sic. і 93, 2; 96, 4
144
Яйленко В. П. Ἴσσα – «лесистый» остров: к этимологии названия, Славянское и балканское
языкознание: Проблемы языковых контактов, М., 1983.
145
Трубачев О. Н. Этногенез и культура древнейших славян: Лингвистические исследования, М.:
Наука, 1991.
39
These parallels may be interpreted as results of the contacts between Balto-Slavic
Trzciniec culture and Phrygian Multi-Cordoned Ware / Babyne culture which bearers
migrated in Greece about 1700 BCE.
Polynesians in pre-historical Greece or enigmatic coincindance

Several names of Ancient Greek gods and heroes are similar to Polynesian ones.
Greek Πέλοψ is an owner of the chariot which can sail over the sea 146. Polynesian
Pelulop is a patron of navigation and a captain of the quickest boat 147. Pelulop is
related to the Pulap Island like Pelops is related to the ‘island’ of Peloponnesus (the
peninsula which was regarded as an island).
Greek Οὐρανός was born by Ether148. Uranus is a husband of Gea (Earth)149. He
was castrated by Cronus. Polynesian (Maori, New Zeland) Rangi (Heaven) and his
wife Earth were born from the primordial chaos. Their childrens divided their
parents (cut their sinew).
One of their children, Tāwhiri or Tafiri150, uprises against other children. Greek
Τυφών, Τυφῶν, Τυφώς, a son of Earth and Tartarus, uprises against Zeus151. One of
four children of Tauhiri is Hauāuru who was sent to the west from his father 152. Greek
Εύρος is a god of east wind, i. e. the wind who blows from the east to the west.
Greek Τάρταρος (< *kwarkwar-? the word of unknown origin) resembles Maori
(New Zeland) primordial chaos Kerekere (‘black darkness’) which gave birth to the
other deities.
Greek Πλούτων (god of the Other World) and Πλοῦτος (god of wealth who was
born in Crete) resemble the Polynesian Other World (invisible world of the ghosts)
Pulotu which was placed under the water or earth on the west. The world was
regarded as the homeland of cultural plants and domesticated animals153.
It is very important that Graeco-Polynesian parallels reflected the navigation
(including the god of sea storms Typhon).
Odysseus was killed by the spear with the tip of sea ray; the same tips are used by
the Polynesians154
Greek κέραμος, ‘potter’s earth, potter’s clay’ : Polynesian kere, ‘clay, earth’;
O. V. Malovichko links the Greek word with Ingush (East Caucasian) khera, ‘earth’;
146
Apollod. Ep. II 3, cf. Palaephatus, 29.
147
Мифы народов мира. See about Pälülop related to the island of Pulap: Lessa, W.A. More tales from
Ulithi Atoll (Folklore and Mythology Studies 32), Berkeley etc., University of California Press, 1980,
pp. 39–41.
148
Titanomachia, fr.2 Ивлин-Уайт.
149
Hes. Theog.
150
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tāwhirimātea
151
Diod. Sic. v 71.2. The Greeks knew the Egyptian constellation of Typhon as the Bear (Plut. Isis 21): it
was the Egyptian constellation of Crocodile, ‘Draco’ on the back of She-Hippopotamus, ‘Ursa Minor’.
See the sources about Typhon: http://www.theoi.com/Gigante/Typhoeus.html
152
See: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/tawhirimatea-the-weather/1
153
Мифы народов мира.
154
Грейвс Р. Мифы древней Греции: Возвращение Одиссея.
40
Greek δάφνη, δαύχνα, λάφνη ‘Laurus’ : Proto-Austronesian *dahun > dahon, daun,
lau ‘leaf’.
Greek πόλεμος ‘war’, πελεμίζω ‘to struggle’ : West Indonesian *pə(ļ)an ‘war’.
Perhaps, Polynesians visited Mesopotamia on the way to Madagaskar.
41
CUCUTENI-TRYPILLIA – TROY – MAINLAND GREECE
‘Proto-Linear A’ of Troy II–V (2600–1900 BCE) is preceded by ‘pre-Linear A’ of Cucuteni A-B

(4100–3800 BCE) and late Trypillia (Troianiv and Gorods’k, late 4th – early 3rd m. BCE) which may be
read in Greek or Greek-Armenian.
A ruler of Early Helladic IIB Lerna, contemporaneous with Akkadian Sagron the Great (who was
well-known in the Aegean world as a capturer of Cyprus), accepted his king title and depicted it in the
seal which was found in the House of the Tiles at Lerna III C–D.
Inscriptions from Troy II–V are very similar to Linear A and might represent pre-Cretan phase of
the Linear A development.
Legendary dates of the beginning of Armenian history (late 3rd millennium BCE) correspond with
the glottochronological evidence of the Armenian language separation and with some archeological
models
Proto-Greeks/Paleo-Balkanians and their writing

in the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture 3400–3100 BCE
Cucuteni-Trypillia source of Minoan culture is a very old idea which traced to

early XX c. Old comparison of Butmir (a branch of Impresso) and Minoan art
(without clear link), Impresso and Cycladic figurines (with a link in Cycladic
Neolithic art) may be also mentioned.
As E. R. von Stern in early XX c. regarded Trypillia as ‘pre-Mycenaean culture’
and V. V. Struwe in mid-XX c. compared Crete with Usatove155, Yu. V. Andreev in
late XX c. underlined that Minoan ornamental motifs have ‘especially close analogies’
in Cucuteni-Trypillia and Gumelnita ones156.
‘During this period [4000–3300 BCE], Southern Europe as a whole experimented
the collapse of the script. However, the sign production in Ukraine was four times
than throughout the previous stage. More than 1/3 of the Ukrainian signs belong to
the final period of the script’157
Spindle-whorls were typical object of Trojan inscriptions similar to Linear A
(below). Trypillian spindle-whorls of Baden-related Gorodsk and Troianiv groups158
(late 4th – early 3rd m. BCE, contemporaneous with Troy I) might be also read in
comparison with Linear A.
155
Струве В. В. Предисловие, in: Пендлбери Дж. Археология Крита (Москва 1950), Russ. transl. of:
Pendlebury J. D. S. The archaeology of Crete (London 1940), http://annales.info/greece/crete/00a.htm
156
Андреев Ю. В. От Евразии к Европе, с. 109.
157
https://www.academia.edu/12889001/Chapter_9.F_The_Eclipse_stage_Contribution_from_the_Late_C
opper_Age_cultures_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
158
Відейко М. Ю. Городськ, Енциклопедія трипільської цивілізації (Київ 2004), с. 128; Відейко М. Ю.
Троянівський тип, Енциклопедія.., с. 555.
42
Presented Trypillian spindle-whorl159 might bear an inscription:
pa-we-a = Lin. B pa-we-a = Greek φάρεα, pl. of φᾶρος, ‘a large piece of cloth’ (‘An
isolated word, which could well be Pre-Greek’160).
The sign te, frequent on Trypillian spindle-whorls161, might be compared with Lin.
A, B te, shortened designation of material possibly related to Lin. A ta-pa, Lin. B te-pa,
τάπης, ‘carpet’.
‘Ornamented pottery whorls’ from Alishar III162 are also similar.
Not only ‘linear’ but also ‘hieroglyphic’ Minoan signs have Trypillian parallels.
Seven Ж-symbols on the vessel which was found at the place of grain cult (dated
to Trypillia BI)163 resemble Cretan Linear A, B syllabic sign si; Anatolian syllabic sign
ha is also similar, in comparison to Hittite halki, ‘grain’. Σιτώ, ‘she of the Grain’, was
cult title of Demeter. Si-to-po-ti-ni-ja, ‘Lady of the Grain’ is mentioned in the Linear B
inscription from Mycenae. Ж-symbol is also depicted on the Late Trypillia vessel164.
D. I. Pereverzev (pers. comm.) suggests the same origin of Slavonic Ж letter while
Slavic name of rue might be an adaptation of Greek sitos or even Sumerian zid, ‘flour’
(Sumerian Uruk influence on Trypillia?).
The similar signs are known in Zorlenţ and Balta Sărată165.
Rhombuses on Trypillian goddess figurines are similar with rhombus on
Eleusinian Demeter figurine166. Similar rhombuses are known in Vinča, Neolithic
159
Энеолит СССР (Москва 1982), с. 301.
160
Beekes, p. 1555.
161
Энеолит СССР (Москва 1982), с. 304; Археология Украинской ССР (Киев 1985), с. 236.
162
The Alishar Huyuk: Seasons of 1928 and 1929, p. 204,
http://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/oip19.pdf
163
Цибесков В.П. Обряд акротиния в культуре трипольских племен // МАСП. – 1976. – В. 8. –
С.170–176, cf. Энеолит СССР (Москва 1982), с. 304.
164
Энеолит СССР (Москва 1982), с. 304
165
Sîrbu, V., Pandrea, S. Neolithic objects bearing incised signs on the bottom found in the carpatho-
balkan area – analysis and possible significance, Studii de Preistorie 2, 2005, p. 113,
http://arheologie.ro/doc/sp2/5_Sirbu_Pandrea.pdf
166
Амброз А. К. Раннеземледельческий культовый символ («ромб с крючками»); Thomson, G.
Studies in ancient Greek society: The prehistoric Aegean. 2nd ed. (1954) / Томсон Дж. Исследования по
43
Greece (Tsani-Magoula), and Usatove167. A rhombus which very resembles the
Eleusinian one was found in Early Bronze Alishar168. ‘Membrum virile’ was among
other meanings of Ancient Greek ῥόμβος. Double rhombus (one inside another) is a
Sumerian pictogram of token origin which means ‘heart, womb’169. If tokens were a
source of Sumerian pictography and then cuneiforms, then the same tokens might be
a source of European Neolithic script(s) several millennia earlier before cuneiforms.
Lunar cult was central in Trypillian and Minoan religions.
Lunar Dog, typical to Trypillian religious art, might be also reconstructed from
Greek mythology. The word ἀργός means ‘shining’ and ‘swift’, and both meanings
also are in Sanskrit (Skt. ṛjrá, ‘shining, swift’), Vedic proper name Rji-śvan-, =
‘possessing κύνες ἀργοί’ (Homeric). Ἄργος was Odysseus’ dog while Ἄργος
Πανόπτης, a many-eyed guardian of Io, was killed by Hermes: the Moon (star-eyed
Argos) disappears when morning Mercury (Hermes) appears. The same root is
presented in the Greek name of silver, a ‘lunar’ metal.
Snake cult (esp. Trypillian cult of the snake skeleton) is related to previous:
number of snake ribs is equated to number of days in month170.
W. Burkert (following N. Platon) described Minoan ‘fire feast’ on a mountain in
the night (lamps were used, clay figurines and animals were sacrificed) 171 and
compared it with similar festivals in classical Greece. Cucuteni-Trypillian rite of
village-burning (ultimately related to proto-Halaf via Vinča) is well-known.
‘An amazingly and controversial inscribed Cucuteni A-B fragment from Lozna
(Romania)’172 contains two signs (the first word under the picture of killed bird)
which, in comparison with Linear AB, may be read ra-ro, cf. Ancient Greek λάρος,
‘sea-mew, gull’, Pamphylian σισίλαρος: πέρδιξ, Περγαῖοι (Hesych.), Armenian lor,
‘quail’173. The next word is ro-tu-ke : ὄρτυξ < Fόρτυξ, ‘quail’, Vedic vártikā, ‘quail’.
Greek ὀρταλίς, ‘fowl’, also of unknown origin174, is a cognate. It might be written
‘hunting-report’.
истории древнегреческого общества: Доисторический эгейский мир (Москва 1958), с. 252

167
Збенович В. Г. Позднетрипольские племена Северного Причерноморья (Киев 1974), с. 126.
168
The Alishar Huyuk: Seasons of 1930–32, Pt. 1, Fig. 255,
http://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/oip28.pdf
169
http://en.finaly.org/index.php/The_earliest_precursor_of_writing
170
Aristot. HA 2.17.23; Plin. NH 11.82.
171
Platon, N. То hieron Mazâ kaî tà minoikà hierà koryphês, Cretica Chronica 5 (1951), pp. 96–160;
Буркерт В. Греческая религия: архаика и классика, Алетейя (СПб. 2004),
http://www.sno.pro1.ru/lib/burkert_grecheskaya_religiya/index.htm Cf: Nilsson, M. P. "Fire-Festivals
in Ancient Greece" The Journal of Hellenic Studies 43.2 (1923), pp. 144–14;] Cosmopoulos, M. B.,
Ruscillo, D. Mycenaean burnt animal sacrifice at Eleusis, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 33(3) 257–273
2014 https://www.academia.edu/7605836/2014_Mycenaean_Burnt_Animal_Sacrifice_at_Eleusis
172
Merlini, M., p. 668,
https://www.academia.edu/12889001/Chapter_9.F_The_Eclipse_stage_Contribution_from_the_Late_C
opper_Age_cultures_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
173
Beekes, p. 835
174
Beekes, p. 835
44
Cucuteni A-B is dated to 4100–3800 calBC175. M. Yu. Videiko (pers. comm.)
underlines another dating of Cucuteni A–B (4300–4100 BCE) which preceded
Trypillia BII and allows later origin of the inscription, contemporaneous with Baden-
related Gorodsk and Troianiv.
Late Trypillia (where inscribed spindle-whorls are known) chronologically
preceded Troy II (where spindle-whorls and, particularly, inscribed spindle-whorls
were increased). Some parts of Baden cultural circle, especially Ezero, might be a link
between Trypilla and Troy. It was possible part of the transmission of linear script.
Aegean-related Trialeti culture might also include Greek element; some scholars
linked names of Trialeti and Troy (Etruscan truj-al ‘Trojan’ and Tri-al-eti ‘Trojan
place’?). There were similarities between Mycenaean and Trialeti elites176, between
Troy II, Alaca royal tombs, and Trialeti177. Multi-Rolled > Abashevo > Timber Grave
signs178 are also comparable with Minoan signs, acc. to V. V. Otroshchenko.
Kura-Araxes culture influenced Alaca Hoyuk elite (Hattians? early Hittites?)
whereas Kura-Araxes signs (including ‘great king’!) influenced Anatolian
hieroglyphs. Cretan hieroglyphs preceded Anatolian ones, and the latter couldn’t be
a source. Instead, Khirbet-Kerak filiation of Kura-Araxes culture (existed until about
the 2200 BCE chaos) and Trialeti as the Aegean-related descendant of Kura-Araxes
might be links between Caucasus and Crete. Trypillia might contact with Kura-
Araxes via Maikop (Maikop signs are similar to Anatolian hieroglyphs) while pre-
Maikop was influenced by Trypillia. Cucuteni-Trypillia signs might be ultimately of
Danube Vinča origin, but immediate source must be found.
M. Yu. Videiko (pers. comm.) suggests two possible sources of the Cucuteni-
Trypillia signs: Vinča (until 4300 BCE) and Kodjadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI
(until 4200 BCE). The latter is closer chronologically and culturally.
The inscribed objects which might be compared with Linear A are: Vinča A/B
bifaced spindle whorl179, Karanovo round seal180, Gradešnica plaque181, black
175
Lazarovici, C. M. New data regarding the chronology of the Precucuteni, Cucuteni and Horodiştea-
Erbiceni cultures, p. 74,
https://www.academia.edu/1440486/New_data_regarding_the_chronology_of_the_Precucuteni_Cucut
eni_and_Horodi%C5%9Ftea-Erbiceni_cultures
176
http://annales.info/other/small/muller.htm
177
Кавтарадзе Г. К хронологии эпохи энеолита и бронзы Грузии, Мецниереба (Тбилиси 1983), с.
121-124
178
http://cheloveknauka.com/sosudy-so-znakami-srubnoy-kulturno-istoricheskoy-obschnosti
179
Flavin, Richard D. 1998. “The Karanovo Zodiac and Old European Linear,” in the Epigraphic
Society Occasional Papers, Vol. 23; p. 86, http://www.flavinscorner.com/kz2.htm ;
https://www.academia.edu/10508661/Chapter_9.B_The_Accumulative_stage_Contribution_from_the_
Developed_Middle_Neolithic_cultures_from_the_book_Neo-
Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
180
http://www.prehistory.it/fase2/karonovo.htm ; http://www.ccsp.it/web/INFOCCSP/VCS
%20storico/vcs2011pdf/Tsonev.pdf ;
https://www.academia.edu/11050203/Chapter_9.C_a_The_Blooming_stage_Contribution_from_the_L
ate_Neolithic_cultures_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
181
http://www.prehistory.it/fase2/gradesnica.htm
45
cultic disc from Turdaş182, Tizsa signs183, Sesklo tablet (the first half of the 6th m.
BCE)184 (ro and ti signs as well as word-dividers similar to Linear A)185, concave seal
from Yannitsa (northern Greece) made of black stone (c. 5250-5000 BCE)186, Paradimi
III signs (Greece, early 5th m. BCE)187, Dikili Tash spindle whorl (northeastern
Greece/Greek Thrace near Philipi, early 5th m. BCE), etc.
‘The Danube script originally appeared in the central Balkan-Danube area and had
an indigenous origin. The oldest inscribed pieces come from the almost
contemporaneous horizons Starčevo-Criş (Körös) IB/IC (DCP 1 = 6100-6000 CAL.
BCE) in Romania and Karanovo I (DCP 2-4 = 6000-5600 CAL. BCE) in Bulgaria’188.
Several steps to the Greek art of writing may be proposed: Near Eastern tokens >
Sesklo and early Karanovo > Vinča > Kodjadermen-Gumelniţa-Karanovo VI and
Cucuteni-Trypillia > Ezero > Troy and Greece.
Kura-Araxes signs might be influenced by Trypillia ones via steppe or Anatolia.
When the Kura-Araxes culture appeared, these signs were used only in Trypillia.
Earliest Aegean states: Pelasgian Early Helladic II,

Greek(-Macedonian) Troy II, and Georgian-Armenian Trialeti,
about 2600–2200 BCE
182
https://www.academia.edu/10002149/Chapter_6_DatDas_The_databank_of_Danube_signs_inscription
s_and_inscribed_artifacts_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
183
Гимбутас 2006, с. 341.
184
https://www.academia.edu/10156526/Chapter_7_The_inventory_of_Danube_script_signs_from_the_b
ook_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe ;
https://www.academia.edu/10259447/Chapter_8_Historical_geographical_and_typological_framewor
k_of_the_Danube_Script_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
185
The similar word-divider was used in the Coşeşti inscription,
https://www.academia.edu/10002149/Chapter_6_DatDas_The_databank_of_Danube_signs_inscription
s_and_inscribed_artifacts_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
186
https://www.academia.edu/10508661/Chapter_9.B_The_Accumulative_stage_Contribution_from_the_
Developed_Middle_Neolithic_cultures_from_the_book_Neo-
Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
187
https://www.academia.edu/11050385/Chapter_9.C_b_The_Blooming_stage_Contribution_from_the_L
ate_Neolithic_cultures_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe ;
https://www.academia.edu/10259447/Chapter_8_Historical_geographical_and_typological_framewor
k_of_the_Danube_Script_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
188
https://www.academia.edu/13950895/Conclusions._Four_challenges_surrounding_the_Danube_script
_from_the_book_Neo-Eneolithic_Literacy_in_Southeastern_Europe
46
The Early Helladic II king of Lerna in the Proto-Minoan script of Mainland Greece
Lerna was the capital of the Peloponnesian proto-state in Early Bronze Age II
Greece. It might be not a coincindance that Heracles, Mycenaean lawagetas, linked his
second labour with Lerna (as an old sacral centre?) after his first labour linked with
Mycenae as the capital of then empire.
In terms of chronological development, indications of a more complex social and political

organization are apparent in EH 2b. Such phenomena as individual wealth ("rich" graves), craft
specialization (workshops), formalized political organization (Corridor Houses), and urbanization
(changes in settlement pattern) are clearly noticeable in the advanced phase of EH 2. These
developments fit well with the general expansion and growth that has been noticed in artifact
production, exchange networks, and iconography189
The Early Helladic IIB period was under the Anatolian influence (including proto-
Linear Trojan script) on Greece. Fortifications, sealings etc. may be linked with the
appearance of Lefkandi I elements at many sites – it might be ‘a new people with
Anatolian connections’190.
Social organization of Early Helladic II is interpreted as ‘incipient chiefdoms’191 or
‘chiefdoms’192 A single ruler of Lerna is suggested193. ‘The House of Tiles has been
variously interpreted as a regional administrative center and/or palace’ 194. Early
Helladic II chiefdoms ‘were presumably governed by the ruler whose residence was
in the Corridor Houses of the larger settlements’195.
189
Cosmopoulos, M. B. Social and political organization in the Early Bronze 2 Aegean, Aegeum 12,
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum12(pdf)/Cosmopoulos.pdf , p. 31.
190
Wiencke, M. H. Change in Early Helladic II, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 93, No. 4 (Oct.,
1989), p. 495, 509.
191
Parkinson, W. A., Galaty, M. L. Secondary states in perspective, American Anthropologist, Vol. 109,
No. 1, p. 120, http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/1248318/Parkgalat2007.pdf?
AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1474100532&Signature=XsXSpS7Sd6C8dgC
Nb7bKgAYl7do%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename
%3DSecondary_States_In_Perspective_An_Integ.pdf
192
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum12(pdf)/Cosmopoulos.pdf , p. 29, refs.
193
Views: Overbeck, J. C. Greek towns of the Early Bronze Age, The Classical Journal, Vol. 65, No. 1
(Oct., 1969), pp. 1–7; Shaw, The Early Helladic II corridor house, AJA 91(1), 1987; Wiencke, M. Change
in Early Helladic II, AJA 93, 1989, 495–509; Pullen, D. J. A lead seal from Tsoungiza, ancient Nemea,
and Early Bronze Age sealing systems, AJA 98, 35–52; Weingarten, J. 1997. “Another Look at Lerna:
An EH IIB Trading Post?” Oxford Journal of Archaeology 16: 147-166; Peperaki, O. 2004. “The House of
the Tiles at Lerna: Dimensions of ‘Social Complexity’,” in Barrett, John C., and Paul Halstead, eds., The
Emergence of Civilisation Revisited. Oxford: Oxbow Books. 214-231,
https://www.academia.edu/423038/Peperaki_O_2004_The_House_of_Tiles_at_Lerna_Dimensions_of_
Social_Complexity_in_J.C._Barrett_and_P._Halstead_eds._The_Emergence_of_Civilisation_Revisited_
Sheffield_Studies_in_Aegean_Archaeology_6_Oxbow_Books_214-31
194
Fillios, M. A. Measuring complexity in Early Bronze Age Greece: A dissertation (2006), p. 18–24., also
about Anatolian and Levantine influence on the Early Helladic II seals.
195
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum12(pdf)/Cosmopoulos.pdf , p. 29–30.
47
‘The ownership of a seal probably implied some prestige or social standing […]’196.
An Early Helladic II seal from the House of the Tiles at Lerna (Lerna III without
continuity with previous layer)197 with clear Linear signs, sa-ro (lesser da-ro) is
found198. It might mean 1) sa-ro = Cret. Hier. sa-ru, possibly = Akkadian šarru, ‘king’
or 2) da-ro = Lin. A da-re, possibly = δῶρον ‘gift, present’, ‘votive gift’ or ‘offering’ to a
god.
The ‘Lefkandi I’ Culture of the EH IIB Period (ca. 2450/2400-2200/2150 B.C.) as the
most credible candidate for the ‘Coming of the Greeks’ (or, more correctly, the
formation of the Greeks from the Early Helladic I ‘Pelasgians’ under the Anatolian
Greek influence) was contemporary with Akkadian Sargon the Great (late 24th – early
23rd century BCE).
The style of signs resembles syllabic signs of ‘Cretan Hieroglyphics’ rather than
Linear A. Anatolian origin of the Lefkandi I influence points not only to Cretan and
Anatolian hieroglyphs (unknown in the time) but also to Kura-Araxes signs. The
Kura-Araxes culture, possibly partially belonged to the Hittites (cf. Hittite and
Luwian words as prototypes of the Anatolian hieroglyphic signs), influenced Alaca
(possibly the first Hittite state in Anatolia) while the Kura-Araxes signs influenced
Anatolian hieroglyphs199.
So the ruler of Lerna associated himself with the great Akkadian king (who even
captured Cyprus!) and entitled himself with the Akkadian king title. Anatolian origin
of the title of wanakt-, ‘king (*-kt-, Hattic katte and Carian kdous, ‘king’) of land
(*wana-, Hitt.-Luw. wana, ‘country’) as possible semi-translation of Hattic wuru-n
katte, ‘king of the land/earth (name of a god)’, of the king title τίταξ: ἔντιμος, ἢ
δυνάστης, οἱ δὲ βασιλεύς, Hesych. (Hattic titah, ‘great’), and possible Hattic
provenance of the Lerna name (Hattic plural prefix le- plus arinna, arna ‘spring’,
‘pool’, ‘well’, ‘source’)200 formed the context of the proposed hypothesis of reading.
Cf. Beycesultan-Knossos similarities.
Alternatifely, the name of Lerna, where fortified House of the Tiles was built,
might be related to Λάρισα, ‘citadel’ (‘Pelasgian’), Thracian rera ‘stones, stony
ground’ (from an earlier *lera), Alb. lerë, -a ‘stones, fallen stones’201, possibly λάρναξ,
‘box’. ‘Nehring Glotta 14 (1925): 185 points to Λάρνασσος, which is an old name of
the Πάρνασσος acc. to EM 655, 5 et al.’202
196
Wiencke, M. H. Change in Early Helladic II, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 93, No. 4 (Oct.,
1989), p. 505.
197
Caskey, J. L. «The Early Helladic Period in the Argolid» Hesperia' 29.3 (July 1960:285-303)
198
Heath, M. C. Early Helladic clay sealing from the House of the Tiles at Lerna, Hesperia: The Journal
of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1958), Plate 22, No. S62,
http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/hesperia/147054.pdf ; Μακρυγιάννης Δ. Ἠλ. Η ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗ
ΓΡΑΦΗ Β, ΕΛΛΗΝΟΕΚΔΟΤΙΚΗ (Αθήνα 2009), σ. 15.
199
Шаншашвили, Н. Знаки и символы на керамике куро-араксской культуры (Тбилиси 1999),
https://georgiannationalmuseum.academia.edu/NinoShanshashvili
200
Forrer, E. Glotta Vol. 26, 1938; Strabo (8.6.8) described Lernean springs.
201
http://groznijat.tripod.com/thrac/thrac_5.html
202
Beekes, p. 835.
48
Proto-Linear A Troy II–V script of the first Greek state in Anatolia (Aea/Troy)
The language of Troy might be Greek203, Thracian204, Luwian, Lydian or Lemnian-
Etruscan205, but it is still unknown206.
If the names of Teucer and Teucri may be interpreted as Hurro-Urartian *te-ukr-,
‘long-legged’207 (in comparison with the initial name of Priamus, Pod-arg-, ‘with quick
foots’ and Hector running around Troy as possible heb-sed-like rite) then Trojans
might be related to Hurro-Urartians (cf. the similarity between Etruscan and Urartian
art, Hurro-Urartian tarsuana-, ‘man’, Tursenos, and Lemnian Tawars-).
People and place names of Homeric Troy are Thracian (dominantly) and
Macedonian, and archaeologically Troy II-V was related to Thracia while Troy VI – to
Thessalia and Macedonia208. Trojan ‘proto-Greeks’ might be Graeco-Macedonians
(Trojan names had Macedonian relations) who appeared in later 3 rd millennium BCE
(middle Bronze period), and ‘proto-Ahhiyawa’ as a pre-Balkan homeland of the
Greeks was located in northwest Anatolia. Not only Greek Akhaivoi ‘Achaeans’ but
also Aivoleoi ‘Aeolians’ (LUGAL aiawalaas was the brother of the Akhiyawa king; Aia
was an old name of Thessalia) were derived from Hittite Ahhiyawa209. Graeco-
Macedonian Linear A might be also of Anatolian origin. The etymology contrasts
with Akheloos (a river), Phrygian akala, ‘water’. Post-Hittite state of Quwe/Hiyawa
(IX–VII cc. BCE) might be a rest of Achaeans in Anatolia.
Danavoi, if they were related to Danuvius (Julius Caesar’s form), were named by
Indo-Iranians in which language danu- is ‘water, river’ (late Trypillian groups
contacted with the Middle Dnieper culture of the earliest Indo-Iranians).
203
See about Greek Troy VI: Blegen C.W. Troy and the Trojans, N.-Y., 1963, pp. 145-146; Goetze A.
Kleinasien, Muenchen, 1957, S. 182; Mellaart J. The end of the Early Bronze Age in the Anatolia and the
Aegean, American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 62, 1958; Page D.L. History and the Homeric Iliad, Berkeley-
Los Angeles, 1959, pp. 56, 70.
204
See about Early Bronze Thracian-Troy relations: Гиндин Л. А. Древнейшая ономастика Восточных
Балкан, София 1981; Гиндин Л. А., Цымбурский В. Л. Гомер и история Восточного
Средиземноморья, М. 1996, с. 214.
205
Георгиев, В. И. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию, М., 1958; Watkins, K.
The language of the Trojans, Troy and the Trojan War: a symposium held at Bryn Mawr College, October
1984 ed. M. J. Mellink. Bryn Mawr, 1986; Starke, F. Troia im Kontext des historisch-politischen und
sprachlichen Umfeldes Kleinasiens im 2. Jahrtausend, Studia Troica 7 (1997); Kloekhorst, A. The
language of Troy, Troy: city, Homer, and Turkey,
https://www.academia.edu/2250637/The_Language_of_Troy
206
Yakubovich, I. Sociolinguistics of the Luvian Language, Leiden, 2010, pp. 117—129.
207
A. Fournet informed me in pers. comm. that the interpretation contrasts with Hurrian word
building. I agree; the structure is familiar to Hattic.
208
Гиндин Л. А., Цымбурский В. Л. Прагреки в Трое, Вестник древней истории, 1994, № 4,
http://annales.info/mal_az/troy/pragreki.htm
209
Цымбурский В. Л. Этно- и лингвогенез Трои как преломление индоевропейской проблемы,
Вопросы языкознания, 2003, № 3; Цымбурский В. Л. Эя и Троя (Прагреки в Северо-Западной
Анатолии и происхождение топонимии Αἶα), Hrdā manasā: Сборник статей к 70-летию проф.
Л.Г.Герцeнберга, СПб, 2005
49
H. Schliemann not only published Trojan signs on whorls and vessels but also
informed about the first attempt to read them basing on Cyprian syllabic script210.
E. g., he published a whorl with repeated sign resembling Linear A ma from Troy III
while H. Haarmann dated the appearance of Linear A to about 2500 BCE211, so the
beginning of the script coincided with Troy II. S. H. Gordon ‘accepts the view of
Harold Haarmann (1990) and Marija Gimbutas (1991:308-21) that the Minoan Linear
A script derives from the Old European script of the Danube valley of the Neolithic
and Chalcolithic ages’212. As for L. Godart, the Trojan linear signs are belonging to
Linear A and dated to the Linear A time213. Some scholars suggest the existence of
‘the Linear A script from Troy IV ca. 2200-2050’214. N. N. Kazansky interprets Trojan
signs which are 1) not symmetrical and 2) separate from each other as a Trojan II–V
script which is an intermediate link between the Danube/Vinča script and Linear A215.
Troy II ‘signs resembling letters’ (from Schliemann’s Ilion I):
The picture No. 52 from Troy II which was published in Troy may also reflect
Linear A.
Troy III inscription on the terracote vase from ‘king’s house’ Linear A signs (ja-mi-
ni-zo) are clear in the H. Schliemann’s picture of the vessel No. 305 from Troy III (the
first one in the A. G. Sayce’s drawing):
210
See ‘The Trojan inscriptions’ in: Schliemann, H. Troy and its remains.
211
Haarmann, H. The Danube script, The Journal of Archaeomythology, vol. 4, No 1 (2008),
http://ru.scribd.com/doc/138393335/The-Danube-Script-and-Other-Ancient-Writing-Systems-A-
Typology-of-Distinctive-Features
212
Rendsburg, G. A. ‘Someone will succeed in deciphering Minoan’, Biblical Archaeologist 59:1 (1996), p.
42, http://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/90-someone-will-succeed-in-deciphering-
minoan-cyrus-h-gordon-and-minoan-linear-a/file
213
‘In 1994, Louis Godart drew scholarly attention to the fact that among the objects discovered by
Schliemann at the excavations of Troy there were two spindle-whorls incised with signs which Godart
identified as belonging to Linear A; in his opinion, the objects should be regarded as locally made and
as contemporary with Troy IV (2050-1900 BC)’, Finkelberg, M. Bronze Age writing, Aegeum 18 (1998),
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum18(pdf)/31%20Finkelberg.pdf See: L. Godart,
La scrittura di Troia, Rendiconti dell’Accademia Nazionale del Lincei. Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e
filologiche s. 9, v. 5 (1994) 457-60; Idem, Les écritures crétoises et le bassin méditerranéen, CRAI (1994)
707-731.
214
La Marle, H. An answer to John G. Younger’s remarks about Linear A,
https://independent.academia.edu/HubertLaMarle
215
Казанский Н.Н. Троянское письмо: к постановке вопроса, Античная балканистика: Карпато-
Балканский регион в диахронии, М., 1984, http://www.kladina.narod.ru/kazanskiy/kazanskiy.htm
50
Troy III signs (including repeated Linear A signs ma and we):
Troy IV signs from Ilion 2:
N.N. Kazanskii’s drawning216:
Perhaps, the same combination of two words repeats in the inscription twice: ku-
pa a-ro-ma ku-pa a-ro-ma. The first word may be compared with Linear A ku-pa,
216
Казанский Н.Н. Троянское письмо: к постановке вопроса, Античная балканистика: Карпато-
Балканский регион в диахронии, М., 1984, http://www.kladina.narod.ru/kazanskiy/kazanskiy.htm Cf.
differently: Schliemann, H. Ilios, Leipzig, 1881 and the similar image in Zurbach, J. Schriftähnliche
Zeichen und Töpferzeichen in Troia, Studia Troica 13, 2003, https://ens.academia.edu/JulienZURBACH
51
‘Cyperus’217 while the second word may be well known Greek aroma. A. Zeke reads
the inscription as ku ? a ro ka ru ? ku ro tu 218. In another work the inscription is dated
to Troy V219
Two possible Linear A inscriptions (including aforementioned one) were

interpreted by A. G. Sayce as ornaments:
Schliemann, Ilion, Bd. 2220
However, only two Trojan inscriptions were included in the Linear A corpus of
texts221.
217
E. Peruzzi identifies Linear A ku-pa (following the ideogram of Cyperus rotundus) as a name of the
plant (Linear B ku-pa-ro = kupairos) while Linear A su-ku (HT 32) as a name of fig, Перуцци Э.
Структура и язык минойских надписей, Вопросы языкознания, 1960, № 3, с. 24,
http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1960-3.pdf An alternative and more weak reading, if to
was written instead of pa: Linear B (KN Fp 13) *47-ku-to-de OLE V 1, ‘in *47-ku-to – oil’ or Linear B ku-
to (KN, hapax)
218
Zeke, A. The great city of Troy, http://minoablog.blogspot.com/
219
Предметно-понятийный словар греческого языка: Крито-микенский период / В. П. Казанскене,
Н. Н. Казанский (Ленинград 1986), с. 48
220
http://historylib.org/historybooks/Ilion--Gorod-i-strana-troyantsev--Tom-2/11
221
http://www.people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/misctexts.html
52
TRO Zg 1, spindle whorl (Berlin Museum; Godart 1994, 714-17, fig. 5 on p. 722)
PI-MI-TA-TI-RA2
TRO Zg 2, spindle whorl (Berlin Museum; Godart 1994, 714-17, fig. 5 on p. 722)
DU-MI-TA-TI-RA2
The first inscription is also published in A. G. Sayce’s supplement to Ilion 2, and

the sign ‘ra2’ has two dots in the centre, so it may be ma; two inscriptions may be
compared with *do-me-ti-te-ma, *δωματίτημα, ‘of house’, cf. Greek δωματίτης, ‘of,
belonging to the house’, δώμημα, ‘chamber’.
A. G. Sayce rightly interpreted a Trojan seal (Troy III in Ilion 2, figs. 499, 1519) as
closely related to Cypriot syllabary222:
So the Trojan script similar to Linear A is traced to Troy II (mid-2 nd m. BCE), and
the fact correlates with the hypothesis about appearance of Greeks in Anatolia
several centuries before their appearance in mainland Greece about 2200 BCE.
Minoan Greeks might migrate in Crete from Anatolia. ‘There is no cultural break
between Troy I and II nor any within Troy II’223 whereas Troy I began at 3000/2900
222
http://historylib.org/historybooks/Ilion--Gorod-i-strana-troyantsev--Tom-2/11
223
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~prehistory/aegean/?page_id=624
53
BCE224. ‘As a result of his first six seasons of excavation at Troy, Korfmann has
concluded that the culture of Blegen's first three "cities" exhibits so many continuities
in fortification and domestic architecture, pottery, figurines, spindle whorls, etc. that
it should be viewed as a unity. Because of its extremely close links with the material
culture of a substantial number of other fortified, coastal sites on both the western
Anatolian mainland and several of the large islands in the eastern Aegean (Chios,
Lemnos, Lesbos), Korfmann proposes that this culture be named the "Maritime Troia
culture"’225.
Troy II (2600/2550–2250 BCE) might be an intermediate link between Cucuteni-
Trypillia, in its late forms related to Baden, Usatove, Ezero, and Middle Bronze
Aegean. Then Troy III (2250–2100/2050 BCE), Troy IV (2100/2050–2000/1950 BCE)
preceded Linear A whereas Troy V (2000/1950–1900/1850 BCE) is contemporaneous with
Linear A. ‘There appears to be a significant shift in material culture between Troy III
and Troy IV, a change that Korfmann would like to recognize by calling the culture
of Troy IV-V the "Anatolian Troia culture" so as to stress its greater connections with
the interior of Anatolia in comparison to its more Aegean-oriented predecessor, the
"Maritime Troia culture"’226.
J. Haarmann’s hypothesis of the ‘Danube Script’ origin of Linear A contradicted
with Sir A. Evans’ idea of the hieroglyphic origin of Linear A. Any way, Cypriot-like
Trojan signs preceded Cypro-Minoan syllabary. If Cypro-Minoan, among other
Aegean scripts, is closest to the ‘Danube Script’ then ‘script-bearers’ might move
from the East (Eastern Anatolia or Syria) via Cyprus to Crete. They might be
Hurrians: Cypro-Minoan language was Hurrian whereas Linear A was Hurrianized.
In addition, several ‘Canaanite’ inscriptions from Lachish227 are Linear A
Aegean-related Trialeti, Gutians, and the first Armenian dynasty

Hayk was the legendary founder of Armenian nation (History of Armenia by Moses
of Chorene). He was the son of Torgom (Biblical Togarmah = Tocharians) and emigrated
from Mesopotamia during the reign of Bel in Babylon. Hayk slew Bel on August 11,
2492 BCE (according to the Armenian traditional chronology of Navasard) or 2107
BCE (according to ‘The Chronological table’ of Mikael Chamchian). Then he was the
founder of the Haykazuni Dynasty and the first king of the dynasty during 2107–
2027 BCE. According to Juansher (The Georgian chronicle) Hayk ‘was prince of the
seven brothers and stood in service to the giant Nimrod (Nebrovt’) who first ruled
the entire world as king’.
Who might be Bel? According to the Sumerian King List, Balulu was the final king
of Ur, ruling for 36 years before Ur was defeated and the kingship moved to Awan
224
Chronology after: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~prehistory/aegean/?page_id=624
225
226
227
Diringer, D. The Alphabet / Дирингер Д. Алфавит, 1963, с. 248
54
(i. e. Elamite Dynasty) about 26 century BCE. It is very early as the date but it might
be a source of the name.
Biblical Flood is comparable with the Earle Bronze Age collapse about 2200 BCE
and the Gutian invasion in Mesopotamia (wich is compared with a flood in Sumerian
literature). Babylonian Tower is the Great Ziqqurat of Ur which was built by Ur-
Nammu (which might be compared with Nimrod) in the 21st century BCE (short
chronology). Ur-Nammu was killed by the Gutians on the battle-field about 2030
BCE (short chronology).
Hurrians firstly attested during the reign of Naram-Sin of Akkad (c. 2254–2218
BCE).
Tocharians are hypothetically found among Gutians who ruled in Mesopotamia
from mid-22nd to mid-21st century BCE. Several Gutian names might be interpreted as
Greek. Phrygian elements in Burushaski (I. Čašule) and isoglosses between
Tocharian and Paleo-Balkan languages must be also taken into consideration.
Gutians micht include Tocharian and Paleo-Balkan components.
Deeds of Hayk might be linked to the period of mass migration after 2200 BCE
rather than before the date. Armenians might be related to the Gutian invasion and
Paleo-Balkan elements in Burushaski. Haia-sa was known in Armenia from the
Suppiluliumas I time228.
The first archaeological attestation of the Paleo-Balkan component of the
Armenians might be linked to Novotitorovskaya culture (3300–2700 BCE) which was
formed under the Budzhak culture influence. The Budzhak was also the ancestor of
the Multi-Rolled/Mnogovalikovaya culture which was a source of the
Sabatinovskaya culture, traditionally interpreted as Phrygian. The split between the
Phrygian (Budzhak) and the Paleo-Balkan component of Armenian
(Novotitorovskaya) might be dated to late 4th millennium BCE. The Catacomb culture
as the descendant of the Novotitorovskaya might include Armenian component.
Catacombs were spread in Ukraine and even Iran from early 3rd millennium BCE to
about 2200 BCE. Budzhak, Novotitorovskaya (an alternative name is ‘the culture of
vehicles’), and Catacomb were vehicle-rich cultures.
The next and better candidate for Proto-Armenian archaeological culture is Troy
II-related Trialeti with tumuli and vehicles.
Luwian shared with Armenian p>h shift (Hittite parna ‘house’: Luwian harna-ssa
‘fortress’), with Indo-Iranian – satem features. If Maikop was Luwian then
Novotitorovka (influenced by Novosvobodnaya) might be Armenian, Fatyanovo
(neighbor of the Maikop area) – Indo-Iranian. Kura-Araxes (possibly related to
Bodrogkeresztúr and influenced Alaca) might be Hittite-related.
The divergence of Armenian, Greek, and Albanian languages from each other
started about 2590 BCE (the beginning of Troy II, related to the appearance of Baden
in Anatolia, or / and the beginning of the Early Helladic II) in the S. A. Starostin ‘re-
calibrated glottochronology’. The date roughly corresponds with the first date of
228
Comments: Гиндин Л. А. Население гомеровской Трои (Москва 1993), с. 85.
55
legendary Armenian history, 2492 BCE, with the spread of the Catacomb culture, and
with the beginning of Trialeti.
Kikla-palli (the king of Tukri related to Guti), ‘the king (Tocharian wal, Phrygian-
Dacian bal) of vehicle (Phrygian kikla)’ and Kikkuli (Hurrian author of the Hittite
tractat about horse-breeding), and Phrygian Gordius with his knot on a vehicle might
represent the same vehicle-used tradition.
So the Paleo-Balkan component of Armenian (Novotitorovskaya) might
diversificate from Phrygian (Budzhak) in late 4th millennium BCE, and then might
appear from Daghestan to Iran as Catacomb in early 3rd millennium BCE. The end of
the Catacomb culture coincided with the Early Bronze Age collapse, and the
migrations during the 22nd – 21st centuries BCE might include Paleo-Balkan
component of Armenian. Gutian invasion in Mesopotamia, Phrygian elements in
Burushaski, and traditional dated of the Hayk deeds might be related.
The name of Ἀρμενία might be related to Greek ἄρμα, ‘union’, ἁρμή, ‘junction’,
ἅρμα, ‘chariot’ and Phrygian ἁρμάν: πόλεμος (EM 145.42). Old Phryg. kavar, ‘sacred
place’229 and Armenian gavar, ‘earth’ (akin to Greek Gaia, ‘earth-goddess’) may point
to common earth cult.
Armenian-like elements in Etruscan can’t be explained by the Mushk migration in
the 1160s BCE because the ancestors of the Etruscans migrated from the Asia Minor
before the date, during the Sea Peoples activity.
Similar consonant shift in Armenian and Germanic might be interpreted as Hurro-
Urartian influence on Armenian and Nordic Bronze.
229
Čašule, I. Burushaski-Phrygian Lexical Correspondences in Ritual, Myth, Burial and Onomastics,
Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 48, No. 1 (2004), p. 78
56
The first Greek state in Mainland Greece:
Early Helladic III, from 2200 BCE
Traditional idea of ‘Coming of the Greeks’ contradicts with, firstly, Herodotus’

mention (1.58) of gradual Pelasgian-Greek merger, in modern linguistic terms –
Pelasgian substrate in Greek or (if two languages were close) Pelasgian-Greek koine.
Hesiod described ‘gold generation’ (gold-rich Balkan Eneolithic, about 4600–3600
BCE) and ‘silver generation’ (silver-rich then Usatove and Budzhak cultures in
southwest Ukraine, about 3600–3000 BCE), wich preceded ‘bronze generation’, from
about 3000 BCE) and indicated that the Balkan Eneolithic remained in historical
memory of the Greeks.
The first Greek state in Sicyon (XXII c. BCE, acc. to Eusebius) pointed to Early
Helladic III period when a tumulus replaced the ‘House of Tiles’ in Lerna.
Greek tradition ascribed dialectal diversification of Greeks to Deucalion’s grandsons
Aeolus and Dorus while the third grandson, Xuthus (‘yellow’, i. e. yellow-haired, so
of northern origin), was the father of Achaeus and Ion. The diversification might be
dated to mid-XV c. BCE because Deucalion’s reign is dated to the second half of the
XVI c. BCE (Parian marble, Eusebius). If Mycenaean Greek of Linear B is only a
dialect then Common Greek language may be dated to early 2nd or even late 3rd m.
BCE.
So formation (not ‘coming’) of Greeks began during the Balkan Eneolithic period
th
(5 m. BCE) and ended when Early Helladic III period started. The period is reflected
in the Greek historical memory, from Hesiodic ‘golden generation’ to the first
kingdom in Sicyon.
R. Drews investigated several dates of so-called ‘coming of the Greek’, proposed
by different scholars:
Ca. 2100 BCE, between Early Helladic II and III;
Ca. 1900 BCE, between Early and Middle Helladic;
Ca. 1600 BCE, between Middle and Late Helladic;
Ca. 1200 BCE, between Late Helladic IIIB and IIIC230.
The author criticizes the 2100 BCE date and underlines indigenous origin of Late
Helladic III231. However, a earlier date must be taken into consideration. The
transition from Early Helladic I to the Early Helladic II period occurred rapidly and
without disruption where multiple socio-cultural innovations were developed such
as metallurgy (i.e. bronze-working), a hierarchical social organization, and
monumental architecture and fortifications. Changes in settlement during the EHII
period were accompanied with alterations in agricultural practices (i.e. oxen-driven
plow)232. R. Drews cites J. B. Rutter: ‘the EH III Gray Ware originated as “a formal
230
Drews, R. The coming of the Greeks, Princeton University Press (Princeton; New Jersey 1986), p. 16–
231
Drews, R. The coming.., p. 43–44.
232
Pullen, Daniel (2008). "The Early Bronze Age in Greece". In Shelmerdine, Cynthia W. The Cambridge
Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 24–
28; Whittaker, Helène (2014). Religion and Society in Middle Bronze Age Greece. New York, NY:
57
and technological synthesis of Anatolianizing and central Greek elements which
occurred in central Greece” during the EH II period’233. R. Drews not excludes the
possibility of the ‘coming’ much earlier than 2100 BCE and cites M. Gimbutas’
position: ‘The very latest arrival for Indo-Europeans in Greece can be sewt in Early
Helladic II times, sometime between 2900 and 2600 B. C.’234
‘The Early Helladic I (EH I) (3200-3100-2650 BC) succeeds the Final Neolithic (4500-3200 BC)
and presents a close cultural relation with it’235. ‘The EH II period (2650-2200/2150 BC) […] is the
first phase of cultural flourishing of south Greece before the glorious Mycenaean period (1550-
1050 BC). […] The overall consideration of the evidence renders clear that at the end of the EH II
and the beginning of the EH III the south Helladic region is influenced by two different cultural
regions: western Asia Minor and the islands of the northeastern Aegean, and the south Balkans
(Adriatic coast). These influences are indicated on the eastern coast of Central and south Greece
(Lefkandi I-Kastri phase), and on the Ionian islands and the northwestern Peloponnese
respectively’236. ‘Toward the end of the EH II (2450/2350-2200/2150 BC) certain elements in the
architecture, pottery and metalworking of the central and southern mainland appear for the
first time and present similarities with settlements of the north and eastern Aegean (late phase
of Troy II, Red-Yellow Poliochni) and the Cyclades (Kastri on Syros, Skarkos on Ios). A group of
researchers associate these similarities with population movement from the north Aegean and
western Asia Minor toward the Cyclades and the coastal mainland’ 237. ‘The cemetery of the
tumuli R of Lefkas was organized already from the end of the EH II period and included grave
types which occurred on the rest Greek mainland as well. The form of the tumulus is a result of
trade contacts or even of population penetrations that took place at the end of the EH II
period’238.
The EH II activity in building (including fortified settlements such as Manika)

might be compared with Herodotus’ evidence of the similar Pelasgian activity.
‘Taken together, the Mainland Early Helladic Corridor Houses, Anatolian Troy, the
Northeast Aegean fortified villages, and perhaps also Manika, may well evidence complex
societies, either organized by an elite, or at least achieving corporate, proto-city state form’239
The end of the period correlated with the appearance of the first Greek state in
Sicyon (2120 BCE Eusebius). Trojan parallels of Linear A (Troy II–V) confirmed
archaeological evidence of the influence.
The divergence between southern Greece and Macedonia accelerated during the time of
Sitagroi Va (EB II), when specific trans-Aegean trading links between the Argolid, the Cyclades,
Cambridge University Press, p. 49; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helladic_period

233
Rutter, J. B. Fine Gray-Burnished Pottery of the Early Helladic III Period: The ancestry of Gray
Minyan, Hesperia 52 (1983), p. 349; Drews, R. The coming.., p. 43.
234
Gimbutas, M. Primary and secondary homeland of the Indo-Europeans: Comments on the
Gamkrelidze-Ivanov articles, JIES 13 (1985), p. 200; Drews, R. The coming.., p. 45.
235
http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/eh/intro/eb1/index.html
236
237
http://www.fhw.gr/chronos/02/mainland/en/eh/intro/lefkandi/index.html
238
239
Bintliff, John (2012). The Complete Archaeology of Greece: From Hunter-Gatherers to the 20th Century
A.D. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, p. 107
58
and western Anatolia were reflected in the appearance of gold and silver plate and jewelry and
an increased scale of copper metallurgy in these areas. The appearance of these new features in
EB II times can be related to the westward extension of trade routes across Anatolia, bringin
new conditions of production for metalwork (specialist craft workshops) and pottery (bulk
production on the wheel).Anatolian features in the southern Aegean became even more
prominent in EB III, perhaps because of more direct intervention, while at the same time in the
northern Balkans, connections with the steppe area were increasingly evident in the typology of
bronzework240
A. Bulatović investigated three layers of corded ware in Central and Southern

Balkans: the three layers were related to: 1) Bubanj-Sălcuţa-Krivodol; 2) Coţofeni or
Coţofeni-Kostolac; 3) Early Helladic II and III and Middle Helladic I respectively.
‘Unlike the first horizon, where corded ware was present only sporadically in cultural
complexes in the eastern Balkans and eastern parts of the central and southern Balkans (BSK
complex), and the second horizon where corded ornament was more usual, but exclusively
limited within one cultural group, during the third horizon this ornament was employed by a
greater number of groups, on almost the whole territory of the Balkan peninsula, except for the
central Balkans […] The distribution of corded ware in the third horizon is directly associated
with its origins. We have seen that the Coţofeni group from Oltenia and Transylvania was a
mediator of this pottery in the previous horizon, as well as that later communities of the
Coţofeni-Kostolac culture from Timočka Krajina gradually moved towards the south, and
thereby spread corded ware further to southern parts of the Balkans. […] During the first half of
the 3rd millennium BC corded ware extended extensively in two main directions – from Thrace
towards the west and east, and from Oltenia and Timočka Krajina, through Južna Morava and
the Vardar river basins towards northern Greece, while the greatest expansion of corded ware
in the Balkan peninsula happened in the 3rd horizon, during the second half of 3rd millennium
BC when this kind of pottery spread also from the territory of the Ljubljana culture, through the
mountainous hinterlands of the Adriatic coast towards Greece’241.
L. S. Klejn suggests the Central European Corded Ware or Budžak origin of cord
ornament in Early Helladic III242. The author underlines appearance of Baden in
Anatolia about 2600 BCE and in mainland Greece about 2200 BCE, not from
Anatolia243 In a special article, the author links Middle Minoan III / Neopalatial Crete
of the Linear A period with the Vinkovci-Somogyvár culture 244. It might be a source
of Macedonian features in Linear A. Corded decoration appeared at Sitagroi Va245
The ‘Lefkandi I’ Culture of the EH IIB Period (ca. 2450/2400-2200/2150 B.C.) might
be a key to identify the ‘Coming of the Greeks’.
240
Sherratt, A. The pottery of phases IV and V: The Early Bronze Age, Excavations at Sitagroi,
C. Renfrew, M. Gimbutas, E. S. Elster (eds.), Los Angeles 1986, pp. 448–449.
241
Bulatović, A. Corded Ware in the Central and Southern Balkans, The Journal of Indo-European Studies,
2014, Vol. 42, No. ½, p. 122, 131-132.
242
Клейн Л. С. Древние миграции (preliminary e-version, 2007)
243
Клейн Л. С. Древние миграции…
244
Клейн Л. С. Феномен СМ III и вопрос о языке линейногописьма А, Вестник Ленинградского
университета, 1971, № 8, с. 110 – 113.
245
Renfrew, C. Sitagroi in European prehistory, Excavations at Sitagroi, C. Renfrew, M. Gimbutas,
E. S. Elster (eds.), Los Angeles 1986, p. 484
59
‘This culture of the late EH II central Greek Mainland is perhaps best viewed as the result of
a trans-Aegean population movement from Western Anatolia through the northern Cyclades
(attested there by the EC IIB or EC IIIA “Kastri Group” of Naxos, Delos, Syros, and Keos) and
Sporades (at the site of Palamari on Skyros) to the eastern seaboard of central Greece (Euboea,
Raphina, Pefkakia). Although the “Lefkandi I” culture penetrates westward into the interior of
Boeotia (Thebes, Eutresis, Orchomenos), it does not appear to have extended southwards into
the Peloponnese, although traces of its influence are found as far south as Aegina in the middle
of the Saronic Gulf and at Phylakopi on Melos. This westward movement across the Aegean
is not marked by violence at any known site <…> As it is presently understood, the Tiryns
culture of the EH III period appears to be the result of a process of “cultural fusion” between the
Korakou and “Lefkandi I” cultures, one which sometimes appears to have been achieved
through violence (e.g. at sites in the Argolid) but which elsewhere took place peacefully (e.g. in
central Greece, where the “fusion process” may be said to have been initiated a good deal
earlier, well before the end of the EH II period)’246
EH III appeared as a synthesis (later described by Herodotus) of EH II Pelasgian

builders and Anatolian (including Trojan) users of proto-Linear A script. Parallels
between Beycesultan and Knossos, Anatolian and Cretan Hieroglyphs are also
important.
‘[…] the preservation in Lerna IV ruins of the administrative centre, the "House of
the Tiles" and its forming into a tumulus of a symbolic-ritual character indicates the
continuous use of the area from the same population’247. Lerna, ‘the most important
and the wealthiest of all Early Helladic II sites’248, remained a sacral centre in the
Greek memory until the end of the Bronze Age: the second labour of Heracles, ‘the
Mycenaean ‘Generalissimo’ (lawagetas), was linked to Lerna. Another Pelasgian
sacral centre was Dodona.
The beginning of the EHIII period is also interpreted as the ‘Coming of the
Greeks’249.
PRE-GREEK AEGEAN: TYRSENIAN
246
Aegean Prehistoric Archaeology, Lesson 8, http://www.dartmouth.edu/~prehistory/aegean/?
page_id=652 Site and content developed by: Jeremy B. Rutter, Professor of Classics, Dartmouth
College; JoAnn Gonzalez-Major, Instructional Designer.
247
248
Bryce, Trevor (2006). The Trojans and their Neighbours. New York, NY: Routledge, p. 47
249
Greenhouse, M. The “arrival” of the Greeks in Greece ca. 2200 B.C.E: a review of archaeological
evidence,
https://www.academia.edu/5230149/The_Arrival_of_the_Greeks_in_Greece_ca._2200_B.C.E_A_Revie
w_of_Archaeological_Evidence
60
Etymological method gives us a key to investigate the origin of the Tyrrenian branch of the Sea
Peoples. Etruscan was not an Indo-European language but a distant cognate of IE languages; it also
included many IE words of contact origin. Tyrsenian branch (Etruscan, Lemnian, Raetian), as well as
Hurro-Urartian one, might separate from other Indo-European several millennia before Hittite-
Luwian branch, when IE grammar features were not formed yet and were ‘more ergative’/’more
Caucasian’. According to a hypothesis of N. S. Trubetskoy etc., Indo-European grammar shifts from
‘East Caucasian type’ to ‘Uralic-Altaic type’. E. g., Lithuanian is more archaic than Slavic and akin to
them but not a member of the Slavic group. Hurro-Urartian (like Hittite-Luwian) had IE-like, East
Caucasian-like and Altaic-like lexical and grammar elements and might be an intermediate link
between East Caucasian, Uralic-Altaic, and Indo-European. A border between Indo-European and
non-Indo-European languages is not exist. Perhaps, Halaf might be Hurro-Urartian whereas Impresso
– Tyrsenian. Later, Troy-related maritime culture of the Early Bronze Lemnos (Poliochne) might be
Tyrsenian
Tyrsenian or Tyrrenian language family includes Etruscan, Lemnian, and Raetian

languages. In late 1930s M. Ventris (consulted by A. Evans) investigated Etruscan-
Linear B relations, and now J. M. Facchetti attempt to read Linear A in Etruscan.
Lemnian language of Aegean Tyrrenians
Lemnian was an archaic cognate of Etruscan. Lemnian inscriptions have a good

reading using Etruscan and then Indo-European lexical parallels.
According to the ancient view, the Tyrsenians were the Pelasgians which
inhabited Lemnos and Athens250, cf. the Etruscan inscription in Athens.
The Lemnian Σίντιες251 were the Tyrsenians252; their name was similar to Hatt.
šiniti ‘copper’ or ‘lead’ and Slav. *svinĭcĭ ‘lead’; Lemnos was an island of Hephaestus.
Holaies inscription is the longest Lemnian text.
250
Thuc. iv 109.4
251
Hom. Il. i 519
252
Sch. Ap. Rhod. i 608
61
ακερ ταFαρζιο ‘field of the Tyrsenian’: Lat. ager Tuscus253
Fαναλασιαλ ζεροναι μοριναιλ ‘the Myrinaean is depicted on the stele’; Lemn.
Fανα-λ-ασι-αλ254: Lyd. vana-ś ‘tomb’, Luw. Hier. wanai-, Luw. wan(n)i- ‘stele’; Lyc. B
-asi- suffix gen. adj., Luw. -assi-255, Old Ind. -asya, Arm. -oy, Greek -oio < PIE *-osio;256
Lemn. ζεροναι : Etr. sren ‘picture’, śren- ‘to depict’257; Lemn. μοριναιλ: ‘Myrinaean,
from (the Lemnian town of) Μύρινα’258
εFισθο ζεροναιθ ‘the spear is depicted too’, Lemn. εFισθο : Gr. ὀϊστός ‘spear’
253
B. Hrozny: ‘Tavarsios’ field’, Харсекин А. И. Комментарий, Тайны древних письмен: Проблемы
дешифровки, М., 1976, с. 338 ; an alterrnative: aker ‘the dead’, perhaps in plural : Etr. acazr ‘objects in
the tomb’, Hitt. ak- ‘to die’, cf. Georgiev V. La lingua e l’origine degli etruschi, Roma, 1979, p. 110; tavar-
śio ‘in the tomb’ : Etr. thaura ‘tomb’ : Gr. soros
254
Cf. Etr. mecl-asi-al TLE 180 W. Brandenstein Немировский с. 40
255
See about these suffixes Нойман Г. Ликийский язык, Древние языки Малой Азии, М., 1980, с. 339;
the morphological model cf. Etr. larth-al-iś-la Тайны с. 366.
256
Г 1958, с. 280
257
An alternative ‘is buried’: Etr. ser : Gr. soros (Харсекин А. И. Вопросы интерпретации памятников
этрусской письменности, Ставрополь, 1963, с. 44) : Lusit. saronah Шультен А. ВДИ 1941 № 1
258
Cf. Μύρινα in Asia Minor Гиндин Л. А. Гом. KHTEOIO в конкретно-исторической
интерпретации, Славянское и балканское языкознание: Проблемы языковых контактов, М.: Наука,
1983, с. 34; An alternative: IE *mer- ‘the dead’, Etr. murs, murś : Gr. moros (Харсекин А. И. Вопросы.., с.
29), Lemn. Fαναλασιαλ ζεροναι μοριναιλ ‘the dead is buried in the tomb’ : Etr. nesl man murinaśie TLE
359 ‘the soul of the dead is in the tomb’; Etr. sval-ce avil CVI mur-ce capue (Цымб. Этр. яз.) 'lived 106
years, died in Capua’
62
ζιFαι σιαλχFειζ αFιζ ‘(he) lived sixty years’, Lemn. ζιFαι : Etr. zivas, zivaś ‘to
live’259, Lemn. σι-αλ-χFειζ, σι-αλ-χFιζ literally ‘of sixty years’: Etr. śe-al-khls ‘60’,
suffix in Lemn. σι-αλ- : Etr. z-al ‘2’: Lat. du-al-is, Lemn. -χFειζ, -χFιζ : Etr. -χus, -χls :
Gr. -kosi ‘10’
μαραζμ αF ‘(he was) a maron one year’, Lemn. μαραζ : Etr. maru, marun-, Lyc.
marazi ‘judge’260, Gr. Μάρων, a priest at Ismarus261, Lemn. -μ : Etr. -(u)m ‘and’, Lyd. -
(u)m262, Lyc. -me263, Hitt. ma264, Hurr. -m, -ma ‘and’265
hολαιεζ ναφοθ ζιαζι ‘Holaies’ nephew (or grandson) here’, Lemn. ναφοθ : Lat.
nepos ‘nephew, grandson’ or lesser ναφοθ ‘sailor’ : Gr. ναύτης ‘sailor’ (Cretan,
Pamphilian v > b, Lemn. o = [o], [u]), Egypt. Hlw nbwt266; Lat. Neptunus; Lemn. ζιαζι :
Lemn. Fανα-λ-ασι-αλ
hολαιεζι φοκιασιαλε ζεροναιθ εFισθο τοFερονα ‘Holaies the Phocaean is
depicted, (and his) spear is depicted too’, Lemn. φοκι-ασι-αλε : Lemn. Fανα-λ-ασι-
αλ, Lat. ped-ale, sec-ale; Lemn. τοFερονα < *to[z]erona[i] ‘is depicted too’267. According
to Herodotus268, Colaeus (Κωλαῖος) of Samos (around 640–630 BC) was the first
Greek in Iberia before the Phocaean colonisation of the peninsula. Cf. also
Mycenaean (Linear B, Knossos) u-ra-jo = Hulaios269. The Lemnian stele is dated to the
6th century BCE.
[…]ρομ hαραλιο ζιFαι επτεζιο αραι τιζ φοκε ‘this Phocaean lived on the sacral
land and made …’
ζιFαι αFιζ σιαλχFιζ μαραζμ αFιζ αομαι ‘(he) lived sixty years, one year was
maron’
Lemn. morin-ail ‘from Myrina’ : Hitt. -ail ‘from’270
Hephaistia inscription contains additional information.
Lemn. hktaonosi heloke soromś aslaś271 ‘two urns are offered to earth’
Lemn. hktaonosi < *khtono-si : Gr. khton ‘earth’, Lemn. -śi, Etr. -si dative morphem
Lemn. heloce (= heluke) : Etr. elu-ce ‘to offer’
259
Etr. ziv- might mean ‘divine’ : Lat. di manes in Etr. zivaś fler Цымбурский В.Л. Лемносский язык (e-
version): IE. div-
260
Braun, s. 15
261
Hom. Od. ix 200
262
Хойбек А. Лидийский язык, Древние языки Малой Азии, М., 1980, с. 310
263
Нойман Г. Ликийский язык, с. 348
264
Георгиев 1958, с. 191; Georgiev 1981, p. 252
265
Хачикян М. Л. Из старохурритских заклинаний, Древний Восток, Ереван, 1976, Вып. 2, с. 259
266
Ельницкий Л. А. Библиографические заметки, Вестник древней истории, 1958, № 3, с. 199 after
P. Montet
267
Cf. Etr. tu-śurthi- = Latin consors, Gen. consortis (Георгиев В.И., Исследования по сравнительно-
историческому языкознанию, М., 1958, с. 188), Umbrian tu-plak = Latin du-plex.
268
Herodot. iv 152
269
The name after: Предметно-понятийный словарь греческого языка / Сост. В. П. Казанскене,
Н. Н. Казанский, Л., 1986, с. 198.
270
Цымбурский В.Л. Лемносский язык (e-version).
271
http://blogs.umass.edu/rwallace/2010/12/01/new-lemnian-inscription/
63
Lemn. soro-m-ś : Gr. soros, Lemn.-Etr. -m ‘and’ (: Hitt.-Luw.), Hurr. -ma ‘and’272
Lemn. aslaś : Etr. esals, eslz ‘two’
Etymological dictionary of the Etruscan language
Etruscan and ‘Peri-Indo-European’: Hurro-Urartian parallels

In addition to the similarities in grammar structure, underlined by I. M. Diakonoff
and S. A. Starostin, Etruscan and Hurro-Urartian shared several important names of
gods and heroes.
Hurr. taršuwa-nni = Urart. taršua-ni ‘person’273 might be an ideal prototype of the
name of the Aegean Tyrsens. Troy was regarded as a land of the Teucrians274 while
Trojan Teucer : Hurr.-Urart. te- ‘big’, Hurr. ukri, Urart. kuri ‘foot’. This model is not
Hurro-Urartian, acc. to A. Fournet (pers. comm.); it is rather Hattic.
Etr. Tarkhn- > Lat. Tarquin-275, Tarkhna-l-thi ‘in Tarquinia’ in the inscription from
Tarquinia276, Tarkhunies ‘Tarquinius’ in cneve tarkhunies rumakh ‘Gnaeus Tarquinius,
the Roman’277: Hitt.-Luw. Tarkhunt-, Hurr. tur-oχχǝ ‘male’,278 Urart. taragi ‘power-
ful’279. According to the Etruscan version of the legend of Rome’s founding, Romulus
and Remus were the grandsons of Etruscan Tarchetius.280
Etr. > Lat. Tages ‘unearthed divine boy’, the son of Genius281 < Greek ge ‘earth’ in
ancient thought282, cf. Etr. tecvm283: Hitt. tekan-, gen. tagn- ‘earth’, Hurr. taγe ‘man’ <
*dheghom ‘earth, man’. A. Areddu (pers. comm.) proposes Greek δαγύς, ‘wax doll,
used in magic rites, puppet’.
272
http://diachronica.pagesperso-orange.fr/TMCJ_vol_3.2_Fournet_Etruscan.pdf
273
http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?
root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\hur\hur&limit=-1 ;
http://annales.info/urartu/ukn/intro.htm
274
Aesch. Agam. 112; Herodot ii 118. The Tjkr (Teucri, possible Hurro-Urarians) and the twrws’
(Tyrsenians) are mentioned together in the Ramesses III 5th regnal year inscription.
275
Tarchon, the son of Tyrsenus, was a founder of the Tarquinii city and the federation of twelwe
Etruscan cities: Strabo v 2.2; Мифологический словарь, М., 1991, с. 532. Tarquinius Priscus and
Tarquinius Superbus were from Tarquinii city. See about the name: Гиндин Л. А. Язык древнейшего
населения юга Балканского полуострова, М.: Наука, 1967, с. 126–128; Шеворошкин В. В.
Малоазийские языковые параллели, Этимология 1964, М.: Наука, 1965, С. 143; Шеворошкин В. В.
Рец. на кн.: G. Huxley. Crete and the Luwians, Этимология 1964, М., 1965, с. 383; cf. also the king
Tarchetius of Alba Longa and the Armenian god Tarku: Мифологический словарь, М., 1991, с. 469, 547.
276
TLE 174 / CIEW 7174
277
CIE / CIEW 5275
278
root=config&morpho=0&basename=\data\cauc\caucet&first=1081
279
Urart. after Джаукян 1963, с. 106
280
Plut. Rom. ii 4.
281
Cic. De divin. ii 23, 50; Fest s. v. Genius; Мифологический словарь, М., 1991, с. 524; Немировский
А. И. 1983 с. 216
282
Sch. Luc. i 636
283
TLE 719a
64
Etr. tiu-r, tiv-r ‘Moon, month’ : Hitt.-Luw. Tiu- > Šiu- ‘sun god’, Lyd. tiuvali ‘god’ of
IE origin. Cf. Hurr. Šimigi (possibly m<w, cf. Hurrian umini ‘country’: Urartian ebani
‘place’, or alternative Semitic etymology, Šmš, ‘Sun’), Urart. Šiwini ‘sun, sun god’ <
PIE *deiu-.
Etr. Usil, Uslanes ‘Sun’, Tyrren. αὐκήλως ‘dawn’ (Hesych.) : Sabine *ausel- in
Auselii = Aurelii, Italic *aus-el- ‘Sun’ < PIE *aus-el- ‘dawn’ / *sau-el- ‘Sun’, cf. Urartian
siw- ‘sun’, Hurrian šau- ‘dawn’.
Etruscan ergativity has Urartian parallels.284
Etruscan art285 and weapons286 were similar to Urartian.
Common Indo-European vocabulary in Etruscan

Etruscan had words with Indo-European etymology such as the names of wind,
year, son etc., i. e. elements of basic lexicon.
Etr. andas ‘northern wind’, ‘eagle’: Gr. ἄνται: ἄνεμοι (Hesych.), ἀντάς: πνοάς
(Hesych.), Albanian ёndё / andё ‘appetite, desire, wish’287; Phoenician ‘and ‘wind;’
Sumerian anzud ‘eagle’. If the eagle and the north wind were identified then the place
of Tinia in the Piacenca liver model was located at north288 and the Aquila
constellation might be a marker of the winter solstice.
Etr. av-il ‘year’, probably adjective-like form (cf. Etr. z-al ‘two’, literally ‘the second’
= Lat. du-al-is), Lemn. aviś, av ‘year’: Gr. aiv-on, Lat. aev-um ‘lifetime’ < IE.
Etr. cilth ‘genus’: Lithuanian kiltis, Latv. kilts id.289
Etr. clan ‘son’: Gr. κλών ‘twig’, κλάδος ‘branch’290, Irish clan.
Etr. lautun-, lautn- ‘family’, ‘client, freedman’ = Lat. libertinus, libertus in the
bilinguas291: Gr. eleutheros, Lat. liber < *liduer, Lydioi ‘the Lydians’ (traditional
etymology: Lyd- < Luwi-d- ‘Luwian’), literally ‘people’ (the Lydians were immediate
ancestors of the Etruscans according to Herodotus and V. I. Georgiev), Lyc. lada
‘woman’, Urart. lutu ‘women’ < PIE *leudh- / *teut- ‘people’.
Etr. lein ‘to die’ : Alb. fle < *awa-leja ‘to sleep’, Slav. *liejon, *liejati ‘to doze, to
slumber’292, cf. Etr. hupnin- ‘tomb’ : Gr. hupnos ‘sleep’ or Lycian χupa ‘tomb;’ 293 Carian
upa, upe ‘stela;’294 Old Ind. láya ‘death, rest’, layana ‘rest, rest place’. Lat. lenis ‘laziness’
284
Olzscha, K. Schrift und Sprache der Etrusker, Historia, 1957, Bd. 6, S. 135 ff. Cf. Дьяконов, И. М.
Хурритский язык и другие субстратные языки Малой Азии, Древние языки Малой Азии, М., 1980,
с. 105.
285
Немировский 1983
286
Videiko, M. Yu., pers. comm.
287
Orel p. 91
288
Немировский А. И. Загадки этрусских надписей, Вопросы эпиграфики, М., 2008, вып. ІІ, с. 256
289
Г 1958, с. 190
290
Харсекин А. И. Вопросы интерпретации памятников этрусской письменности, Ставрополь:
Ставропольское книжн. изд-во, 1963, с. 28
291
Немировский А.И. Этруски, с. 127
292
Orel p. 99
293
Георгиев В. И. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию, М., 1958, с. 155
294
http://www.palaeolexicon.com/
65
Etr. mi ‘I’, mini ‘me’ acc.,295 Etr. mene, mine : Lydian menne ‘to me, me’296
Etr. netśvis : Greek νηδύς ‘any of the cavities in the body’ < IE297
Etr. > Lat. autumnus ‘autumn’ < *aut-umn- : Etr. av-il ‘year’, Gr. vetos ‘year’, eni-
autos ‘year’ < *heni-autos ‘old year’, Lat. vetus ‘old’ < IE.
Etr. sanxuneta ‘heavenly’, epithet of the god Selva298 : Umbr.299, Volsc.300 and Lat.301
Sancus = sangos ‘heaven’ (a gloss)302 : Lit. dangùs, Old Pruss. dangus ‘sky’, and
Etruscan -(e)t(h)i, Greek -thi ‘locative suffix’, cf. also Georgian -ethi id.
Etr. tul- ‘border stone’ : Gr. stulos ‘pillar, column’ in Tulisos ‘Cretan town’303
Etr. zivas, zivaś, Lemn. śiaśi, śivai ‘lived’ or ‘died’ : IE *gui- or Osc. sivom (acc. sg.) =
Lat. totum ‘all’
Etr. snenath ‘maid’304 < IE sn-
Etr. Tin- ‘day, god’s name’ : Gr. Dan, Tan, Zan ‘Cretan Zeus’, Lat. Janus < *Dianus,
Thrac. Din-, Zin-, Lat. -din- ‘day’ in the Etruscan-like form nūn-dinae, Old Ind. dína
‘day’ < IE. The name Tana-cvil (Tarquinius Priscus’ mother related to the symbol of
eagle) = Etr. Thanakhvil; Etr. tin-s-cvil ‘offering’305 might contain the same Tan.
Etruscan and Hittite-Luwian: affinity or affiliation?

Many parallels between Etruscan and Hittite-Luwian may be interpreted as an
evidence of Etruscan as a 1) cognate of Hittite-Luwian or lesser 2) member of Hittite-
Luwian.
The ancestors of the Etruscans, Tarchon and Tyrsen, are described as wolves and
the sons of Telephus306: Hitt. Telepinus. The Tarchuntassa state which was mentioned
in the document of the Hittite king Tudhaliyas IV (cf. the Tarchuntassa king of
Kurunta) might be a homeland of the Etruscans; this state was located where the
towns of Perge and Attalea = Antalia and the Kaistros river were known.307 The
Hittite-Luwian origin of the Etruscan language was suggested by B. Hrozný308,
B. Nogara309 and V. I. Georgiev310.
295
Цымб. Этр. яз.
296
Георгиев В. И. Исследования 1958, с. 233.
297
Георгиев В. И. Исследования 1958, с. 190
298
TLE 900
299
Tabl. Ig. viib
300
Liv. xxvii 10
301
Dion. Hal. ix 60.8
302
Lyd. Mens. iv 90; Немировский 1983, с. 201
303
Георгиев В. И. Исследования, с. 95
304
http://web.archive.org/web/20070927045655/http://www.iolairweb.co.uk/etrusdict.htm
305
Цымб. Этр. яз.
306
Lycophr. 1249; Немировский 1983, с.23–24
307
Немировский А. И. Загадки этрусских надписей, Вопросы эпиграфики, М., 2008, вып. ІІ, с. 275–
277.
308
Hrozny B. Etruskische und die hetiticshe Sprachen, in: Zeitschrift für Assiriologie, Berlin, 1929, Bd. 38
309
Nogara, B. Etruschi e la lora civiltà, Milano, 1933
310
Georgiev, V. Etruskische Sprachvissenschaft, Sofia, 1971; Georgiev, V. La lingua e l’origine degli etruschi,
Roma, 1979.
66
Etr. araś peraś311 ‘yard and house’: Lyd. aaraλ biraλ ‘yard and house’312
Etr. an, in ‘that’: Hitt. anni-, eni, ini id.313
Etr. ak- ‘to die’, acasri314, acas-ce315: Hitt. ak- ‘to die’
Etr. -akh in Rum-akh ‘the Roman’316: Lyd. Sfard-ak ‘the Sardian’: Thrac. -akin Spart-
ak-
Etr. e-ca, i-ca, ca ‘this’: Hitt. ka-, Luw. za- id.317
Etr. camth- ‘leader’, canth-ce ‘he has ruled’: Hitt.-Luw. hant- ‘further’318
Etr. Cel ‘earth goddess’: Lyd. qela ‘estate’, qelad ‘field’ or: Gr. ge ‘earth’; Etr. Celi
‘September’ = the month of Gaia = Da-mater
Etr. cep-en ‘priest’319 (*kav-): Lyd. kavs ‘priest’ < IE, cf. Lyc. w>b, Etr. a>e, b>p
Etr. -c ‘and’: Lyd. -k, Lyc. -ke, Luw. -ha, Lat- -que < IE < Nostratic.
Etr. Culsu ‘dea Tusca’: Luwian DGulzas ‘Fate-goddess’320
Etr. thes-ine, tez ‘to offer’: Lyc. B tas-, tesêni ‘a priest’
Etr. haru ‘to destroy’: Lyc. qretu ‘let him destroy’, Hitt. harra‘i- ‘to destroy’, Urart.
harhar- ‘to destroy’321
Etr. leine ‘to die’: Lycian la ‘to die’322
Etr. Maris, Lat. Mars < Ma-vors ‘who turns the earth’: Lyd. mavs ‘earth’, Lyd. μωυς
‘earth’323, Gr. Da-mater < *Khthan-ma, Maced. Gdan-ma. Cf. half-horse Marus who had
three 123-year lives324 and Μαρσύας the satyrus / silenus as a cognate of Celto-Germ.
*mark- ‘horse’ and Lat. merx. Etr. maris husir nana325 mean ‘Maris the son, a dwarf’.
Marsius might be a name of the Perseus constellation (the horseman) as a marker of
vernal equinox; cf. cosmological information which was told by a silenus.
Etr. mlak, mlakh ‘to offer’: Luwian malhassa- ‘offering’
Etr. mlath-ce : Hitt.-Luw. mald-326
Etr. suthi ‘tomb’ : Carian sδi/siδi327, Carian gloss σουαν ‘tomb’328
311
TLE 570
312
Lyd. see: Айхенвальд А.Ю., Баюн Л.С., Иванов Вяч. Вс. Материалы к реконструкции
культурно-исторического процесса в древней Малой Азии, Эпиграфические памятники древней
Малой Азии и античного Северного и Западного Причерноморья как исторический и лингвистический
источник, М., 1985, с. 112
313
Braun, s. 17
314
TLE 2.19 / CIEW 7002.20
315
CIE / CIEW 5430.3
316
The names of Romulus and Remus might be of Etruscan origin: Абаев В. И. Избранные труды:
Религия. Фольклор. Литература, Владикавказ: Ир, 1990, с. 311.
317
Braun, s. 16
318
Braun, s. 17
319
The word is compared with cupencus ‘priest’, according to Servius: Немировский А. И. 1983, с. 226
320
Braun, s. 15
321
322
Braun, s. 18
323
Hesych.
324
Ael. V. h. ix 16
325
Немировский с. 202
326
Braun, s. 17
67
Etr. tamu-ce, tham-ce, tham-cie ‘he has built’ : Hitt.-Luw. tami-ha ‘I have built,’329
Lydian tamv ‘I built’330 Etr. tm- ‘building’: Luw. Hier. tam- ‘to built’331 < PIE. *dem-
‘building’
Etr. tiu-r, tiv-r ‘Moon, month’: Hitt.-Luw. Tiu- > Šiu- ‘sun god’, Lyd. tiuvali ‘god’ of
IE origin. Hurr. šimigi, Urart. šiwini ‘sun, sun god’ < PIE *deiu-. Cf. the Thracian
names Diur-danus, Diur-paneus332. Tiber river (Tuscus amnis ‘Etruscan river’; old name
Albula ‘white’) : Etr. tivr ‘the Moon’ : Middle Irish tipra ‘stream’
Etr. tuthi, tuti- ‘people’: Lyc. B tuta, Hitt. tuzzi- ‘an army’, Osc. toutíks = Lat.
publicus ‘public’, Osc. touto = Lat. civitas, populus ‘people, a country’, Umbr. tota ‘a
country’ < PIE *teut- ‘people’. Not only Lyc. but also Osc. might be the closest to Etr.
Etr. > Lat. Tages ‘unearthed divine boy’, the son of Genius333 < Gr. ge ‘earth’ in
ancient thought334, cf. Etr. tecvm335: Hitt. tekan-, gen. tagn- ‘earth’, Hurr. taγe ‘man’ <
*dheghom ‘earth, man’
Etr. Tarkhn- > Lat. Tarquin-336, Tarkhna-l-thi ‘in Tarquinia’ in the inscription from
Tarquinia337, Tarkhunies ‘Tarquinius’ in cneve tarkhunies rumakh ‘Gnaeus Tarquinius,
the Roman’338: Hitt.-Luw. Tarkhunt-, Urart. taragi ‘powerful’339. According to the
Etruscan version of the legend of Rome’s founding, Romulus and Remus were the
grandsons of Etruscan Tarchetius340
Etr. Śeθilanś, Seθlans, ‘Smith god’, Θetlvmθ341: Hitt. tethai ‘to thunder’, tethima
‘thunder’; cf. also Σεθῶν ‘priest of Egyptian Hephaestus’342 (in the light of Hitt.-
Egypt. common words and the Egypt. influence on Luw. hieroglyphics) and
327
Duhoux, Y. Le Vocabulaire carien de la “tombe”. À propos d'une possible isoglosse étrusco-
carienne (suθi/śuθi, “tombeau” ~ carien sδi/siδi, “tombe”), Kadmos, Volume 46, Issue 1-2 (Mar 2008)
328
329
Braun, s. 17
330
http://www.palaeolexicon.com/
331
332
Kretschmer, P. Einleitung in die Geschichte der Griechischen Sprache. 2, unveränderte Auflage, Göttingen;
Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1970, S. 228.
333
Cic. De divin. ii 23, 50; Fest s. v. Genius; Мифологический словарь, М., 1991, с. 524; Немировский
А. И. 1983 с. 216
334
Sch. Luc. i 636
335
TLE 719a
336
Tarchon, the son of Tyrsenus, was a founder of arquinii city and the federation of twelwe Etruscan
cities: Strabo v 2.2; Мифологический словарь, М., 1991, с. 532. Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius
Superbus are from Tarquinii city. See about the name: Гиндин Л. А. Язык древнейшего населения юга
Балканского полуострова, М.: Наука, 1967, с. 126–128; Шеворошкин В. В. Малоазийские языковые
параллели, Этимология 1964, М.: Наука, 1965, С. 143; Шеворошкин В. В. Рец. на кн.: G. Huxley.
Crete and the Luwians, Этимология 1964, М., 1965, с. 383; cf. also the king Tarchetius of Alba Longa
and the Armenian god Tarku: Мифологический словарь, М., 1991, с. 469, 547.
337
TLE 174 / CIEW 7174
338
CIE / CIEW 5275
339
340
Plut. Rom. ii 4.
341
The Piacienza Liver inscription, Testimonia lingua Etrusca 719
342
Herodot. II 141
68
Egyptian Seth ‘thunder god’343, cf. the Etruscan and Roman rite of regifugii ‘running of
king’ on February 24 (the first day of the last five days of year) and Egyptian heb-sed
feast; the Etruscan king, lucumo, communicated with people every nine days like
Minos communicated with Zeus every eight or nine years344
Etr. Van-th ‘demon of the Underworld’345: Lyd. wana- ‘a tomb’ like Lein-th id. < lein
‘to die’346
Etr. verse ‘fire’: Hitt. uar- ‘to burn’347
Etr. tupi ‘punishment’ in tupi Sispes348: Hatt. tupi ‘fear’349
Hurro-Urartian and Hattic components of Etruscan are disputable. Etr. > Lat. hare-
na : Hitt. haruwa-, Luw. harwa- ‘road’, Hurr. hari ‘road’, Urart. hari ‘road, military
campaign’350; however, arēna ‘arena’ < harēna, ‘arena, sand’ < archaic hasēna < Sabine
fasēna, unknown Etruscan word as the basis for fas- with Etruscan ending -ēna351. Etr.
zil- ‘title’ : Hatt. zilat ‘throne’ but Etr. means ‘an official’, not a king, and : Lat. aedilis.
Etr. hupnina ‘tomb’ : Lycian χupa ‘tomb’352 or : Greek hupnos ‘the sleep’
Etr. mutilius n. g. : Hitt.-Luw. muwatalli- ‘overpowering, mighty’353
Etruscan and pre-Greek Indo-European ‘Pelasgian’

Ancient authors underlined close relations between the Etruscans and Pelasgians,
and the thesis has an etymological support in the parallels of Etruscan words in the
satem substrate in Greek named Pelasgian.
Etr. thesan ‘dawn, dawn goddess’: Gr. θοόν = λαμπρόν of possible “Pelasgian”, i. e.
pre-Greek IE origin; Τιθωνός ‘husband of Eos’
Etr. puia ‘wife’: Gr. ὀπυίω ‘to mariage’; Latin puella354
Lat. Silvanus < Etr. Selva355; Etr. Selvansls356, Selvansl357 < Gr. silenos, silanos ‘silenus’
while Lat. silva < Etr. < Gr. *sule > hule / xule < *skule ‘wood’
Etr. tev-, tv-, tva ‘to show, to see’: Gr. thev- ‘to show, to see’ < pre-Greek (Georgian
tv-al-i ‘eye’) or : Luw. dawi- ‘eye’358
343
Коростовцев М.А. Религия древнего Египта, СПб., 2000, с. 160, 166
344
Наговицын Этруски
345
Немировский А. И. 1983 с. 210
346
347
Hitt. after Джаукян 1963, с. 73
348
TLE 89
349
Немировский с. 86–87
350
root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\hur\hur&limit=-1
351
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Etruscan_origin
352
Braun, s. 16
353
Braun, s. 16
354
Г 1958, с. 188
355
TLE 719b
356
TLE2 696 = CIEW 7696
357
CIE / CIEW 2403
358
СИИЯРС 1982 с. 35
69
Cret. Ϝελχανός > Etr. Velkhans ‘spring god’ and velci ‘March’ > Latin Volcanus /
Vulcanus : Old Ind. ulkā’ ‘torche’359. If Etr. Aita < Gr. Aides is depicted in the wolf-
headed hat360 then the Etruscans associated volk- ‘wolf’ and volk-an- ‘Vulcanus’, i. e.
the Etruscan name of a wolf was similar to the name of Volcanus. The name of
Vulcanus was related to PIE *ulk- ‘wolf’, according to V. I. Abaev. The names of the
Etruscan sculptor Vulca361 and the Etruscan haruspex Volcatius362 may be also
compared. The names of Luwija and Lukia might be also hypothetically related to
the root363.
Etr. Uni : Gr. Ἰνώ, Latin Iuno364; Iu-no : Iu-piter = Indra : Indrān.ī, Old Ind. rā’j- ‘king’ :
rā’j-ñī ‘queen’, Old Irish rí, gen. ríg ‘king’ : rígain ‘queen’ < IE suffix fem.
The name of Cortona / Croton town is derived from the name of the Cretan town
Gortuna365. Croton was founded by the Pelasgians = the Tyrrenians 366. The founder of
Cortona was Etruscan Tarchon367. Cf. Phrygian Gordion.
These words might be accepted during Minoan-Mycenaean colonization of Italy,
including Sicily and Sardinia. However, IE, especially Greek similarities of the
Etruscan verb structure (A. I. Kharsekin) can’t be explained as loans.
Etruscan and Armenian

Etruscan and Armenian share important lexical, phonetic, and morphological
parallels.
The idea of the relations between Etruscan and Armenian was proposed firstly by
S. Bugge and R. Ellis. The non-Caucasian component of the proto-Armenians spoken
in Paleo-Balkan language and migrated from the Balkan Peninsula via Anatolia
(Phrygian) to Armenia; cf. Armenian-like component in Crete (Armenian phonetic
features in the Cretan Linear A script). The consonant shift in Etruscan, Armenian,
and Pelasgian is similar.368
Several Etruscan words have Armenian parallels.
Etr. mac, makh ‘1’ : Arm. mek ‘1’
Etr. pulum- ‘star’ : Arm. p’ołp’ołim ‘to glare’, cf. Gr. Πολυδεύκης ‘the star in the
constellation of Gemini’ and Κάστωρ ‘another star in the same constellation’ : Hitt.
hašter ‘star’
359
Kretschmer, P. Einleitung in die Geschichte der Griechischen Sprache. 2, unveränderte Auflage,
Göttingen; Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1970, S. 133.
360
Немировский А. И. Этруски: От мифа к истории, М.: Наука, 1983, с. 4, 205.
361
Plin. Nat. hist.; Немировский А. И. 1983, с. 230.
362
Немировский А. И. с. 190
363
364
Polišenský, M. B. The language and origin of the Etruscans, Transal Book, Prague, 1991, p. 42.
However, Ino might be < Babylonian Sin.
365
Cf. Гиндин 1967, с. 157.
366
FHG I Hell Lesb. frg. 1; Немировский 1983, с. 22.
367
Gn. Gell. frg. 7 P; Немировский А. И. 1983 с. 214
368
Г 1958, с. 187
70
Etr. sval-, svalthas369 ‘lived’ or ‘died’ : Arm. suałim ‘to die’370, Old Engl. sweltan ‘to
die,’ Tocharian B śwāl ‘corpse’371 or : Lat. salvus in me salvo or lesser : Arab. zval ‘to
die’372
Etr. tur ‘to give, to dedicate’ : Arm. tur < IE
Etr. -r ‘plural suffix’ : Hitt., Germanic, Arm. -ear ‘id.’
If Arm. luc : Lat. iugum then Etr. lacth373 : Lat. iacet. Falisc. lecet = Latin iacet374
Etruscan, Umbrian, and other Italic

The Etruscans inhabited the lands of the Umbrians, and an Italic component may
be identified in the Etruscan language.
Etr. Aminth ‘love, Amor (god of love)’375 – Lat. am-, ‘to love’ and ‘Aegean’ suffix -i-
nth-.
Etr. cluv- ‘nail’ : Lat. clavus ‘nail’376, cf. the Etruscan New Year rite of hammering of
a nail in the temple of Volsiniae377. The nails were associated with the stars378 like in
the Greek parapegms. However, if Etr. cluv- : Etr. clev- ‘gift’ so Etr. sal cluvenias turu-
ce ‘two gifts gave’, and after that ci avil ‘this year’ or ‘third year’
Etr. Fufluns ‘Bachus’ was a god of Populonia, Etr. Pupluna, Fufluna.
Etr. pava ‘small’ in Tarchunas, pava Tarchies under the man and the boy379 : Lat.
pavus ‘small’.
Etr. ril ‘age’ : Lat. Erilis ‘three-life Feronia’s son’ : Greek Erulos
Etr. sec, śec, sekh, śekh ‘daughter’ : Lat. sexus ‘gender’, sexualis ‘feminine’; lesser
Hurr. šala, Urart. sila ‘daughter’380. Etr. śekh farthana381 / harthna : Gr. parthenos ‘girl’ (of
‘Pelasgian’ = pre-Greek IE origin), p > f > h as in Armenian; f > h in Faliscan. Cf. also
Faliscan social, ‘bride’382, Thracian -ς’Epta’s child’, -ς ‘Epta’s
daughter’383
369
CIEW 5423
370
Alternative etymologies: Etr. sval- : Hurr. šawali, Urart. šali ‘year’ or Toch. wäl ‘to die’ < IE uel-
371
http://ieed.ullet.net/tochB.html
372
Polišenský, M. B. The language and origin of the Etruscans, Transal Book, Prague, 1991, p. 44.
373
TLE 359
374
Urbanová, D., Blažek, V. Národy starověké Itálie… (Brno 2008), s. 115.
375
Forni, J. Etruscan basic lexicon (with references),
https://www.academia.edu/21955230/Etruscan_Basic_Lexicon_A_Synopsis_-_February_2016_update
376
377
Liv. ii 3.7
378
379
380
Urart. after Джаукян 1963, с. 95, 126
381
CIE / CIEW 3910
382
Urbanová, D., Blažek, V. Národy starověké Itálie… (Brno 2008), s. 110–111, 115.
383
Цымбурский В. Л. Фрако-хетто-лувийские формульные соответствия,
http://www.russ.ru/var/russ/storage/original/application/9beaa190a8152d7383b3861fd46b1fbe.pdf
71
Etr. tular, tuler- ‘border’ : Umbr. tuder ‘border’384, cf. d / l in Lat. and Lyc.;385 Cretan
‘pre-Greek’ city-name Tulisos.
Etr. Usil, Uslanes ‘Sun’, αὐκήλως ‘dawn’ Tyrren. Hesych. : Sabine *ausel- in Auselii
= Aurelii , Italic *aus-el- ‘Sun’ < PIE *aus-el- ‘dawn’ / *sau-el- ‘Sun’, cf. Urartian siw-
‘sun’, Hurrian šau- ‘dawn’.
Etr. tu-surth-ir ‘married couple’ : Lat. con-sort- (V. I. Georgiev), tu- ‘two’ of IE
origin, -ir is plural suffix in Etr. (and in Umbr.). The same tu- is in Lemn. tuveruna <
*tu-serunai, in: hulaieši: φukiasiale: šerunaiθ: evisθu: tuveruna ‘Holaies the Phocaean is
buried, (his) spear is buried too’. Umbr tu-plak ‘double’, Latin du-plex
Etr. zil ‘title’: Lat. aedilis, Osc. aídil. Etr. z < d : Osc. z < d, Hurr., Urart. z < d386, Hatt. z
< d387
Lat. elementum < Etr. *elp-meta < Gr. alpha beta388
Lat. littera < Etr. < Gr. diphtera ‘skin’, Etr. l < Gr. d389
Three names of the first Roman tribes, Tities, Ramnes, and Luceres, were of Etruscan
origin390. Perhaps, Tities : Titius Tacius (Romulus’ co-ruler) : Gr. titax ‘king’, Ram-n- :
Rom-ul-us, Rem-us with Etr. suff. -n-, Luc-er- : Etr. luc-air- ‘to rule’, Lat. luc-umo
‘Etruscan sacral king’.
Etr. Porse-nna ‘king’s name’ : *pors- ‘swine’ in the satem-form. cf. the swine symbol
in the Aeneus myth391
Lat. tri-umph-us < Etr. triumpe392 < Gr. tri-amb-os ‘three-step’, cf. iambos ‘one-step’ or
rather < *wi-amb-os < *dwi-iamb-os ‘two-step (dance and then verse)’, dithur-amb-os
‘four-step’
Etr. santi-c vinum / husi-na vinum : Lat. sanc- ‘sacral’ or Gr. xant- ‘yellow’, Gr. hos-
‘sacral’; Lat. sang-vin- ‘blood’ might be literally ‘sacral wine’
Etr. Ani ‘Ianus’ is incorrect reding while Ianus < PIE *ia-n- ‘way’393 because the
door-shaped Cepheus constellaition as a symbol of Ianus is the first in the solar year
and is located near the Milky Way.
Indo-Iranian influence on Etruscan: an evidence of Anatolian origin?

Indo-Iranian words in Etruscan might be compared with Indo-Iranian elements
and features in Luwian and Lycian, and Indo-Aryan ones in Hurrian and Kassite.
384
Etr.-Umbr. after: Devoto G. Scritti minori, Firenze, 1967, vol. 2, p. 224, cf. Lat. bella, Ital. bella, Sicil.
bedda
385
Lyc. Dapara : Gr. Λαπαρας
386
Джаукян 1963, с. 96, 105, 132
387
Hatt. zil ‘earth’, Zawa-lli ‘god’ : Lat. tellus ‘earth’ < *d-, Dia-lis
388
389
390
Varr. L. l. v 55
391
Verg. Aen. viii 44 ff, 81–83. The Hittite parallel of the symbol: Немировский с. 107–108.
392
Немировский с. 115–116
393
Kretschmer, P. Einleitung in die Geschichte der Griechischen Sprache. 2, unveränderte Auflage, Göttingen;
Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1970, S. 161.
72
The Indo-Iranian component of Hurrian might be compared with the same
component of Hittite-Luwian and Etruscan, cf. Luwian asuwa- ‘horse’ similar to Old
Indian, Lydian esbe ‘horse’ (w>b as in Cretan and Pamphylian Greek) similar to
Iranian etc. The Romulus myth is similar to the Cyrus myth while Quirinus ‘Romulus
divine name’: Kuruš ‘Cyrus’. The biography of Romulus might be a Graeco-Iranian
construction. The names of the Indus River and the Sinda town on the river in Lycia
and Caria were related to Old Indian sindhuh ‘stream, river’394.
The Etruscan cosmogony in Suda395 (twelve houses correspond with six millennia
of the creation and then six millennia of the existence of mankind) is similar to the
Pehlevi cosmogony of the Sasanid period396, to the Biblical cosmogony (under the
Iranian influence?) and the idea of the 12 centuries of the Rome existing (of Etr.
origin?). The Moon locates in one mansion during one millennium years. The
Etruscans knew that the Earth is a globe397, and their 12 towns might be an equivalent
of zodiac, cf. Etr. laukh-umne-ti ‘on the sacral place’ > Lat. lucumo ‘king’ : IE *leuk-
‘light’ (king as a Sun, cf. the same Hittite idea; Common Anatolian *luk- > Hitt.
lalukkima- ‘lighting’ < lukk-398, Luw. luha-, Lyc. B = Milyan luga ‘to burn down;’
Tocharian B lyukemo (adj.) ‘shining, brilliant’399), Hurrian umini ‘country’. The king
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus had the Etruscan name Lucumo400, i. e. luc-umo > Luc-ius
while the Tarquinius myth is very similar with Phrygian Gordius one.401
Etr. > Lat. atrium, Lat. āter ‘black’, Umbr. atru, adro (pl. neut.) ‘black’ : Alban. votre
‘hearth, house’402 : Indo-Iranian ātar ‘fire’ : Hurr. tari- ‘fire’403
Etr. atran ‘priest’ : Indo-Iranian athravan ‘priest of fire’
Etr. maθ ‘honey’ : Old Ind. madhu ‘honey’
Etr. sa, śa, saś, śas ‘6’ : Old Ind. şaş ‘6’
Etr. spur- ‘town’, zpur-an-a404 : Old Ind. pur ‘town’ (Etr. s- : IE s-mobile : Georgian
pilo > s-pilo ‘elefant’ : Gr. nape / si-nape, pharos / si-pharos, sophos / Si-suphos). Gr. si-/ti-
as in sa-turos / ti-turos : Paleo-Sardinian ti-. If spur- means ‘people’, not ‘town’405, cf.
Greek σπορά, σπόρος, ‘offspring’, Arm. spur-k ‘diaspora’. Cf. also βύρ- ‘house’406.
394
Георгиев В. И. Исследования 1958, с. 171-172
395
Suda, s. v. Tyrrenia; Немировский А. И. Этруски, с. 169–170
396
Pigagnol, A. Oriental characteristics of the Etruscan origins, L., 1959, p. 68
397
Cic. Sci
398
СИИЯРС 1982, с. 38
399
http://ieed.ullet.net/tochB.html
400
Liv. iv 1.1
401
402
Петрович Д. О карпатологическом аспекте сербохорватско-албанских лексических
отношений, Славянское и балканское языкознание: Проблемы языковых контактов, М.: Наука, 1983,
с. 209
403
Hurr.-Iran. comparison in: Ivanov V. V. Comparative notes on Hurro-Urartian, Northern Caucasian and
Indo-European (e-version)
404
TLE 241
405
Liv. ii 44.8
406
Hesych.
73
Thracian para, phara ‘settlement, village’ < IE *(s)porā as ‘village’407, Thracian Deo-spor
(Tomaschek) or Deos-por (P. Kretschmer)408.
Etr. śar, -zar- < *das- ‘10’ – Old Ind. daça ‘10’
Etr. ruva ‘brother’ : Ossetic rvad ‘brother’ < IE; Lat. Minerva, Etr. Men-rva ‘Moon-
brother/sister (of the Sun)’? Athene is the Moon in astronomical interpretation of
mythology.
Etr. Catha, Cauthas ‘the sun’ : Mithraic Cautes ‘god of the vernal equinox’, Gr.
kautos? Tocharian kaum- ‘the Sun’
Etr. Satres, Satre- ‘Saturnus’ (Etr. > Lat.?) : Avest. xšatra- ‘power’ (not : Old Ind.
kşathra- ‘id.’ which is more different phonetically from the Etruscan name than the
Iranian word). Phonetic change Iranian > Etruscan like in Gr. σατράπης, cf. Thrac.
σατρα- ‘rule’409 : Avest. sātr- ‘ruler’410. Etr. sard ‘king’411 might be < *satr-
Etr. god Śuri = Aplu ‘Apollo’ (related to the Etr. solar god Cath, Cauth)412 : Old Ind.
Suryah
Etr. Volt-umn-a in Volsiniae413, ‘deus princeps Etruriae’,414 may be an Iranian form
(Osset. r > l) of Lat. Vertumn-us, Old Ind. vartman, Proto-Slavic *vertmen ‘time’,
literally ‘a turn’, cf. the vernal feast near the Voltumna temple415 and Ma-vors.
Vertumnus/Vortumnus was a main Etruscan god and the god of time turn416. The
statue of Vertumnus was worshipped in Volsiniae on 13th of August417. Vertumnus as
a young man in the red toga418 migth be an epithet of Tin in Volsiniae, Etr. Velzn-al.419
Etr. Tretu, the assistant of Sethlans420 : Old Ind. Trita = Indra = Hercules
constellation while Sethlans = Hephestus = the same constellations.
Etr. nes, neś ‘the dead’ : Avest. nasu ‘the dead’, Gr. nekus ‘the dead’ < IE. The Etr.
satem-form is like in Luwian, under the Indo-Iranian influence on Anatolia.
Indo-Iranian elements in Etruscan confirmed the ancient idea of the Etruscan
migration from the Asia Minor.
407
408
409
Георгиев В.И. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию, М., 1958, с. 122
410
The word after: Соколов С. И. Язык Авесты, Л., 1964, с. 314
411
Fest; Немировский с. 55
412
Simon, E. Gods in harmony: the Etruscan pantheon, in: The religion of the Etruscans, N. Thomson de
Grummond and E. Simon (eds.), University of Texas Press (Austin 2006), pp. 57, 59
413
Liv.
414
Varro De l. l. v 46
415
Liv. iv 25.7; v 1.5; vi 2.2; x 16
416
Varro L. l. v 46; Prop. iv 2.11
417
Prop. iv 2.3; Fest; Немировский с. 199
418
Prop.
419
Немировский 1983, с. 200.
420
Немировский А. И. 1983, с. 203
74
Chapter Two
DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINOAN GREEK STATE
IN THE HIEROGLYPHIC SCRIPTS 2200–1700 BCE
GREEK LANGUAGE IN ARTS, MYTHS, AND RITES

FROM MINOAN TO CLASSICAL TIME
Greek-spoken Minoan painters:

the ‘language interpretation of art’ method
The ‘language identification of art’ method gives us an evidence of the Greek language used
by Minoan painters. As it will be demonstrated below, Minoan painters had Greek way of
thinking and knew not only the Greek but also the Egyptian language
The Minoan picture of dog-headed Scylla (a clay seal-impression of the MMIII

period from Knossos)421 reflected the similarity of the words Σκύλλη and σκύλαξ,
‘young dog, puppy’ in Greek (Fig. 1). Homeric Scylla (Σκύλλη) whimpers like a
young dog, puppy (σκύλαξ),422 cf. Russian skulit’, skolit’ ‘to whimper’ (Slavic-Baltic-
Germanic word, cf. Old Norse skoll, ‘barking’ etc.) as cognates of mentioned Greek
words. Greek σκύλιον, ‘dog-fish’ (Aristot.) is a natural explanation of the image of
Scylla. Later the name might be associated with the name of Sicily.
The Minoan images of knot looked like the Egyptian symbol of life, ankh,423
reflected the similarity of the name of the Egyptian symbol and Greek ἄγχω,
‘squeeze’ (Fig. 2).
The Minoan image of calendar424 included the signs for solstices and equinoxes
(Greek τροπή, ‘the turn’) depicted as ships (Greek τρόπις, ‘keel’ and ‘ship’) and
reflected Greek homonymy (Fig. 3); both words < τρέπω, ‘turn’ < PIE *trep-425.
Perhaps, the Minoan lunisolar calendar including 13 lunar months (13 external
spirals) and 4 main solar points (depicted as a crosses and ships near them) with 3
months between each two cross-ship pairs.
421
PM I, p. 698. See also: Cook, A. B. Zeus, University Press (Cambridge 1940), vol. III, pt. 1, p. 414;
Hanfmann, G. M. A. The Scylla of Corvey and Her Ancestors, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 41, Studies on
Art and Archeology in Honor of Ernst Kitzinger on His Seventy-Fifth Birthday (1987), pp. 249-260;
Papadopoulos, J. K. and Ruscillo, D. A Ketos in Early Athens: An Archaeology of Whales and Sea
Monsters in the Greek World, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 106, No. 2 (Apr., 2002), p. 221.
422
Od. 12.85-86: ἔνθα δ᾽ ἐνὶ Σκύλλη ναίει δεινὸν λελακυῖα. // τῆς ἦ τοι φωνὴ μὲν ὅση σκύλακος
νεογιλῆς.
423
SM I, p. 136; PM I, pp. 430–432; PM II 1, p. 200 (XII–XIII Dyn. of Egypt).
424
PM II, pt. 1, p. 202, fig. 111 (MMIa). See also: Ridderstad, M. Evidence of Minoan astronomy and
calendrical practices, http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0910/0910.4801.pdf
425
Beekes, pp. 1503–1504.
75
Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3
So Minoan painters had Greek way of thinking and knew not only the Greek but
also the Egyptian language.
Several other examples may be proposed.

Cycladic ‘frying pan’ with lunar symbols might relect the similarity of Ἀθάνα and
ἄττανα: τήγανα ‘frying-pan’ (Hesych.).
Cretan ‘horns of consecration’ cult (traditionally compared with Egyptian dw,
‘mountain’) might be related to the similarity of Κρήτη and κέρας, ‘horn’ dual.
κέρατε.426 Cretan New Palaces (from about 1700 BCE) were oriented to double-
peaked mountains, possible natural prototypes of cult horns (cf. Egyptian depiction
of horizon as double mountain). Cretan bull cult might be influenced by the
homonymy of the name of Crete and the Cretan name of a bull, κάρτη· τὴν βοῦν.
Κρῆτες (Hesych.). Καίρατος, a name of river near Knossos and another name of
Knossos, and Keratas Mountain near Viannos (a place of the cult of Zeus in classical
Crete)427 may also be taken into consideration. Eleusinian barley-drink (κυκεών), in
the light of the Cretan origin of the musteries, might point to the similarity between
κριθή, ‘barley’ and the name of the island. The name of the island might be related to
κράτος, Ep., Ion. κάρτος, Aeol. κρέτος, ‘strength, might, power’.
‘Poppy Goddess’ of the Mycenaean period428 might reflect the homonymy of
Μυκῆναι, Μυκήνη and μήκων, Dor., Arc. μάκων, ‘poppy’.
‘Griffins guarded the gypsum throne’ in the palace of Knossos429 because of the
homonymy of γρύψ ‘griffin’ and ‘a bird of prey’/γύψ ‘vulture’ and γύψος ‘gypsum’.
Both words, γύψ and γύψος, might point to ὕψος ‘height, crown’.
Fore-part of the goddess’ boat takes a form of hippocampus’ head on the ‘ring of
Minos’ and gold signet-ring from Mochlos430 might be based on the similarity of
Κόμβη, ‘mother of Couretes’431, and κάμπη ‘caterpillar’, κάμπος ‘a sea-monster’,
426
Semitic karn might be derived from Indo-European ker-n-, ‘horn’.
427
Watrous, L. V. Some observations on Minoan peak sanctuaries, Aegeum 12, p. 400,
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum12(pdf)/Watrous.pdf
428
PM II 1, p. 341.
429
PM IV 2, p. 915
430
PM IV 2, pp. 951–952.
431
Cf. κόμβα: κορώνη (Cretan Polyrrhenian), Hesych.
76
ἱππόκαμπος ‘monster with horse’s body and fish’s tail, on which the sea-gods rode’,
‘a small fish, the sea-horse’.
A girl with a spiral shell from the Idaean Cave432 might point to the Minos’
daughter Akakallis by the homonymy with κόχλος ‘shell-fish with a spiral shell’, cf.
the name of Sicilian king Κώκαλος and his spiral shell as the riddle for Minos.
‘Lion’s head facing, surmounted by the sacred fleur-de-lis’433 reflects the similarity
of λίς, λέων, ‘lion’ and λείριον, ‘lily’.
Cretan name of mountain ὄθρυν: Κρῆτες τὸ ὄρος (Hesych.) is similar to thronos.
Throne in Knossian palace resembles peak434.
Newborn Zeus was nurtured by bees in a Cretan cave435 possibly because of
similarity between μέλιττα, ‘bee’ and ἀμαλθεύω, ‘thicken’, cf. Ἀμάλθεια.
Inhabitants of Elusion hunt deers436, cf. ellos, ‘deer’, elloi, ‘deers’.
Language-addicted myths and rites:

the ‘language interpretation of myth and rite’ method
The best material explaining the method may be Korean one: in the first full moon
of a year Koreans visited bridges because the words for the moon, bridge, and foot
are homonyms (tari) in Korean. Japan symbol of the Emperor’s Chrysanthemum
Throne is based on the homonymy of koku ‘chrysanthemum’ and ‘state’.
Why Greeks sacrificed pigs to Persephone?

Ancient Greeks sacrificed piglets to Demeter and Persephone during two feasts,
Thesmophoria and Eleusinia.
The Attic Thesmophoria was an autumn festival, celebrated by women alone in October, and
appears to have represented with mourning rites the descent of Persephone (or Demeter) into
the lower world, and with joy her return from the dead. <…> Now it was customary at the
Thesmophoria to throw pigs, cakes of dough, and branches of pine-trees into “the chasms of
Demeter and Persephone,” which appear to have been sacred caverns or vaults.437
The rite is one of the links between the Thesmophoria and the Eleusinian Mysteries, proving
that both were agrarian rites whose purpose was to promote the fertility of the corn which was
laid down in the earth.438
432
PM I, p. 222; PM IV 1, p. 210.
433
SM I, p. 209, cf. p. 214.
434
435
Ant. Lib. 19
436
437
Frazer, J. G. The Golden Bough (1922), 49.2. Aristophane mentioned the offering of pigs in Frogs 337,
http://www.bartleby.com/196/116.html
438
Greek Popular Religion, by Martin P. Nilsson, [1940], p. 49, http://www.sacred-
texts.com/cla/gpr/gpr07.htm
77
At the evening of the third day of the Eleusinian mysteries dedicated to Demeter
and Persephone, every initiate made sacrifice of a suckling pig.439 Numerous
figurines with initiates carrying piglets were found in the sanctuaries of Demeter and
Persephone.440
Note:
candidates would throw piglets into a trench (Kevin Clinton, “The Sacturary of Demeter and
Kore at Eleusis,” in Greek Sanctuaries: New Perspectives, ed. N. Marinatos and R. Hagg,
Routledge, New York, 1993, p. 118), and then imitate Demeter by searching the grounds for
Persephone (Plutarch, fragment 178).441
E. g., the piglet in subterranean hollow imitated Persephone in the Underworld!
The piglets were sacrificed in autumn when the Virgo constellation including the
star of Spica, ‘ear of corn’ (Demeter) rise while Hyades (pigs) sets. Katabasis of
Demeter looking for Persephone resembles the same action of Sumero-Babylonian
Inanna-Ishtar who symbolized the planet of Venus. Hypothetically, the Demeter and
Persephone festival might reflect a close position of Virgo and Venus. One-third year
in the Underworld is the period when Venus is invisible.
The role of torch in Eleusis resembled the same symbol in Mithraic cult where
Cautas (’the Sun’) carries torch oriented upward and Cauto-pates (‘falling Sun’) carries
torch oriented downward. Perseus (‘*fire’, cf. Perse the wife of Helios) and Perse-phone
(‘*killer of fire’) might include the similar symbolic while the Perseus and Virgo
constellations are in opposition. Minoan-Mycenaean roots of Demeter related to
Virgo and Iacchus related to Boötes were investigated by M. Ridderstad.
The role of pigs in Thesmophoria and Eleusinia was related not only to astronomy
(Hyades, ‘pigs’ sets in autumn) and association of the animal and plant fertility (cf.
Indo-European *su- ‘swine’ and ‘to give birth’) but also to the homonymy of the
name of Persephone (Parsiphae in an Eteocretan inscription) and the name of pig and
piglet (pars-/pors- in ‘satem’ Indo-European languages such as ‘Pelasgian’).
So the pig-sacrifice might be the Pelasgian rite.
Meat of pig was prohibited in Cretan Praisos442 which name is very similar to
aforementioned name of piglet.
Why Aegeus and horses were sacrificed to the sea?
439
Lysias VI, 4; Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum IV, 2, no. 385d; Sylloge4 vol. II, no. 540; Jane Ellen
Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (London: Merlin Press, [1903, 1907 2nd ed.,
1962] 1980.), 152-153; George Mylonas, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1961), 250 note 127. See also: Evans, Nancy A. “Sanctuaries, Sacrifices, and the
Eleusinian Mysteries.” Numen: Vol. 49, no. 3; pgs. 227-254: 2002. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3270542 ;
Keller, Mara Lynn. “The Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone: Fertility, Sexuality, and
Rebirth.”Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion: Vol. 4, no. 1; pgs. 27-54: Spring, 1988.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25002068
440
Bobou, O. Children in the Hellenistic world, Oxford University Press (Oxford 2015), p. 72, bib.
441
Gitana edited by Melissa Gold, Eleusinia ta megala,
https://sites.google.com/site/hellenionstemenos/Home/festivals/eleusinian-mysteries
442
Athen. F 376a
78
Αἰγαί was a town in Achaea, seat of worship of Poseidon (Iliad 8.203); αἰγίς means
‘rushing storm, hurricane’ while αἰγιαλός – ‘sea-shore’, possibly contains previous
word and ἅλς, gen. ἁλός ‘sea (generally of shallow water near shore)’.
Theseus’ father Αἰγεύς was ‘goat-man’ (cf. he-goat as a symbol of Greece in the
Bible), possibly related to (reconstructed) *Minotragos, the archaic form of Minotaur
depicted in Crete as semi-goat.
Theseus had two fathers: Poseidon as celestial one which town was Αἰγαί ‘of
waves’ and Aegeus as terrestrial one who was the ‘goat-man’. When Theseus was
initiated in the Cretan labyrinth, Aegeus as ‘old king’ must be sacrificed, according to
the J. G. Frazer formula. A form of sacrifice was determined by homonymy of aig-
‘waves’ and aig- ‘goat’.
It is well known that Ancient Greeks also sacrificed horses to Poseidon the sea-god
and to the river-gods. The rite may be based on Indo-European homonymy of *ekuos,
‘horse’ and *akua, ‘water’. Cf. common Indo-European mythical image and poetic
formula of *okos *ekuos, ‘quick horse’, based on the figura etymologica.
79
CRETAN HIEROGLYPHICS:
THE SCRIPT FOR KINGS AND GODDESSES
The Cretan Hieroglyphics reflect the Greek language similar to Phrygian. It may be influenced by a
satem ‘Pelasgian’/Thracian-like component of the Greek language which V. I. Georgiev attempted to
reconstruct. So it was the oldest Indo-European written language
State and writing: a timeline
Basing on many archaeological arguments, K. Branigan states Early Minoan II-III

as a time of the state formation443. W.-D. Niemeier postulates ‘social transformations
in Crete during the developed early Bronze Age lead to the formation of palatial and
urban centres from EM III-MM I (ca. 2100 B.C.)’444
‘The story of Minoan glyptic begins in EM II’445. ‘The abundant seal evidence from
Arkhanes supports the idea of an elite who were busy acquiring power—and the
symbols of power—in the MM IA–IB periods. Hierarchy and emblematic power
come together with the appearance here of the first inscribed seals, often
elaborately carved bone seals engraved with simple Hieroglyphic signs’446. The First
Palaces were founded in the same MM IB period447.
The earliest signs from Archanes are dated to MMI (2050/2000-1900/1875 BCE high
chronology, 2160/1979-1800 BCE low chronology);
hieroglyphics were used to MMIII (1750-1675 BCE high, 1700/1650-1600 BCE low);
Linear A – from the end of MMI (1875 BCE high, 1800 BCE low) to LMIIIa
(1440/1425-1320/1300 BCE high, 1390--1340/1330 BCE low);
Linear B – from the end of LMII (1440/1425 BCE high, 1390 BCE low) to
LHIIIb/LHIIIc (1190/1180 BCE high, 1190 BCE low)448.
443
Branigan, K. Social transformations and the rise of state in Crete, Aegaeum 12, Vol. I, pp. 33-39,
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum12(pdf)/Branigan.pdf See about the next period
of the state formation and a role of Linear A: Dabney, M. K. The later stages of state formation in
Palatial Crete, Aegeum 12, Vol. I, pp. 43-47,
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum12(pdf)/Dabney.pdf
444
Niemeier, W.-D. Aegina – first Aegean ‘state’ outside of Crete?, Aegeum 12, Vol. I, p. 73,
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum12(pdf)/Niemeier.pdf
445
Weingarten, J. Minoan seals and sealings, p. 318,
https://www.academia.edu/238434/Minoan_Seals_and_Sealings_Ch._24_OHBAA_2010
446
447
448
Hajnal, Ivo. Die mykenische Schrift – Die voralphabetischen Schriften in Kreta und Zypern, Die minoischen
Schriften Kretas (und des griechischen Festlands): Typologie und Chronologie,
https://web.archive.org/web/20120710070853/http://www.uibk.ac.at/sprachen-
literaturen/sprawi/pdf/Hajnal/mykgr1.pdf#4
80
However, hieroglyphic seals were used even in the LM IB period449.
The date of about 1700 BCE marked a border between Old and New Palaces, when
more centralized state with one capital appeared.
Despite Cretan hieroglyphs were used after the date and the Phaistos Disc is dated
to about 1600 BCE, on the one hand, and Linear A was used before the date, on the
other hand, hieroglyphs were main script of the Protopalatial period (until 1700
BCE); Linear A became main script in the Neopalatial period.
So the timeline of Minoan state and writing might be reconstructed as follows:
EM II–III and MM IA: Prepalatial period, Hypogeum at Knossos, the first proto-
state and the earliest seals;
MM IB – MM II: Protopalatial period (Old Palaces), flourishing of hieroglyphic
scripts;
MM III – LM I: Neopalatial period (New Palaces), flourishing of Linear A.
Satem-influenced Greek language of Cretan Hieroglyphs
Cretan hieroglyphs were known from 1860s450. This system of writing might
include not only logograms (‘hieroglyphs’) but also phonetic (syllabic) signs451.
Cretan Hieroglyphic, Linear A and Linear B are elements of the same line of the
development of writing system452, and some Cretan hieroglyphic signs may be read
basing on the similarities with Linear A and B453.
449
Weingarten, J. Hieroglyphic seals and sealings in LM I (or later) context,
https://www.academia.edu/25931356/Hieroglyphic_Seals_and_Sealings_in_LM_I_or_later_contexts
450
Dumont, A. Sur deux tessères grecques inédites, in: Revue archéologique, Paris, 1870; Dumont, A.
Inscriptions céramiques de Grèce, Paris, 1872, p. 413–416.
451
Кондратов А. М. Книга о букве, М., 1975, с. 138; Нойман Г. К современному состоянию
исследования Фестского диска, Тайны древних письмен: Проблемы дешифровки, М., 1976, с. 71;
Поуп М. Линейное письмо А и проблема эгейской письменности, Тайны древних письмен:
Проблемы дешифровки, М., 1976, с. 85, 94; Молчанов А. А. Критская иероглифическая надпись на
восьмисторонней печати из собрания Эшмолеанского музея, Вестник древней истории, 1981, №
3, с. 133; Молчанов А. А. Методика работы с минойскими текстами (дешифровка и
интерпретация), Этногенез народов Балкан и Северного Причерноморья. Лингвистика, история,
археология / Отв. ред. Л. А. Гиндин, М., 1984, с. 104; Молчанов А.А. Типология минойских
сфрагистических формул, Вестник древней истории, 1989, № 3, с. 119; Молчанов А. А., Нерознак
В. П., Шарыпкин С. Я. Памятники древнейшей греческой письменности: Введение в микенологию, М.:
Наука, 1988, с. 12, 172
452
Молчанов А. А., Нерознак В. П., Шарыпкин С. Я. Памятники древнейшей греческой
письменности: Введение в микенологию, М.: Наука, 1988, с. 15
453
Молчанов А. А. Посланцы погибших цивилизаций: Письмена древней Эгеиды, М.: Наука, 1992, с.
31.
81
Cretan hieroglyphs after A. A. Molchanov, numeration by A. Evans
In the discussion about his article ‘Did the Mesara plain have its own pictographic
script during MMII/III?’ on Academia.edu, S. P. B. Durnford wrote: ‘The
undeciphered scripts of Bronze Age Crete are seen by some scholars as a no-go area
with the risk of academic suicide’454.
A. A. Molchanov proposed the reading of the Cretan hieroglyphic signs, in
comparison with Linear AB syllabary:
No 5455 = zu,
454
https://www.academia.edu/s/3ccda15e78/did-the-mesara-plain-have-its-own-pictographic-script-
during-mmiiiii-draft
455
The numeration after Evans, A. SM, p. 181 ff., PM I, p. 282
82
No 13 = ti,
No 23 = ze,
No 30 = ru,
No 74 = ma,
No 97 = te etc.456
The sign No 44 = Lin. A, B ja, not jo457.
The signs No 5 = zu and No 23 = ze may be also read as k’u, k’e458.
The other signs may be read in the same way, basing on the similarities with the
syllabic signs of Linear A, B:
No 8 = no,
No 14 = zo / k’o,
No 18 = za / k’a459,
No 19 = ta.
The sigh No 21 = Lin B jo without clear correspondance in Lin. A.
The sign No 12 = Lin. B sign460 which later was readed as so, cf. Greek σάγαρις,
‘single edged (rarely double edged) axe’, Akkad. šukurru, Hebr. šegor ‘axe’.
The frequent sign No 74 = ma might mean the name of the Cretan Great Mother
Μᾶ. Lin. B ma-qe = Μᾶι τε (or ma-ka ‘Ma Ga’), Lin. B ma-na-sa = Μᾶι ἀνάσσαι461. The
name of Ma was known in Phrygia and Thracia462; perhaps cf. Latin Ma-vors, Egypt.
M3‘t [maat] with -t suffix feminine.
The Cretan writing systems might be created basing on the acrophony or rebus:
Lin. A, B te < τέρχνος (A. Evans),
Lin. A, B ku < γύψ (V. Georgiev) or κύκνος,
Lin. A, B ni < νικύλεα (G. Neumann),
Lin. A, B si < σῖτος (K. Ruigh).
The aforementioned Greek words might be of substrate or rather contact origin.
E. g., ‘Minoan’ νικύλεα (G. Neumann) may be compared with Egypt. nh.t or nkwt
‘sycomore’, Arab. nakhla ‘palm.’
456
46, 51; Молчанов А. А., Нерознак В. П., Шарыпкин С. Я. Памятники древнейшей греческой
письменности: Введение в микенологию, М.: Наука, 1988, с. 175.
457
48.
458
Лурье С. Я., Амусин И. Д. К вопросу о языке линейного А, Вестник древней истории, 1963, № 4,
с. 199; Молчанов А. А., Нерознак В. П., Шарыпкин С. Я. Памятники древнейшей греческой
письменности: Введение в микенологию, М.: Наука, 1988, с. 77
459
See about the similarity between the sign and ankh, PM I, p. 201
460
Evans PM I p. 643
461
Лурье С. Я. Язык и культура микенской Греции, М., 1957, с. 82, 286, 298–299, 302. The initial w- is
absent in ma-na-sa like in Lin. B wa-na-ka-te / a-na-ka-te.
462
Гиндин Л. А. Язык древнейшего населения юга Балканского полуострова, М.: Наука, 1967, с. 117;
Гиндин Л. А. Древнейшая ономастика Восточных Балкан, София: Изд-во БАН, 1981, с. 49;
Георгиев В. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию, М.: Изд-во иностранной
лит., 1958, с. 131, 144.
83
However, the language of creators of the Cretan hieroglyphs may be identified
from other signs.
The hieroglyphic sign No 18 = Egypt. ankh ‘life, to live’ = Lin. A, B za < Greek ζάω
‘to live’ < Indo-European463.
The sign No 21 (lower jaw) = Lin. A, B ze = Greek γένυς ‘animal’s lower jaw’,
Phryg. gloss ἀζήν, acc. ἀζένα ‘beard’ < Indo-European.
If the Cretan hieroglyphs are based on the Greek or Graeco-Phrygian words of Indo-
European origin then the writing system was created for the Greek or very similar Paleo-
Balkan language. The Cretan hieroglyphics were used from the end of the 3rd
millennium BCE (when the Greek language was close to Macedonian, Phrygian, and
Armenian), i. e. the Greek language has the oldest writing among other Indo-European.
Other Cretan hieroglyphs related to the Linear A, B signs may be also read. E. g.,
the Cretan hieroglyph plough464 as a source of the Linear A, B sign u was based on the
Greek word hunnis, ‘plough.’
The Greek dialect of the Cretan Hieroglyphs is satem-influenced, like Phrygian, Georgiev’s
Pelasgian, or Thracian. If Eteocretan is Phrygian then Pelasgian might be also Phrygian or
related to Phrygian.
Greek translations of Egyptian hieroglyphs might be also suggested.
E. g., Egyptian hieroglyph ankh, ‘life,’ ‘to live’ resembles the Cretan hieroglyphic,
Linear A, B sign za < Greek zao ‘to live’ (see above);
Egyptian hieroglyph kebeh, ‘jug’ resembles Cretan hieroglyphic, Linear A,B sign ki
< Greek kissubion;
Egyptian hieroglyph aha, ‘palace’ resembles Cretan hieroglyphic, Linear A, B sign
wa < Greek wanakterion ‘palace’ etc.465
So Cretan hieroglyphic inscriptions might be read in Greek (with additional usage
of lexical and phonetical element from cognate Paleo-Balkan languages, first of all
Macedonian, Phrygian, Thracian, and Armenian).
However, if z might be read as g then the ‘Phrygian feature’ must be rejected.
The Cretan hieroglyphic inscriptions which may be read syllabically as a-sa-sa-
and ja-sa-sa-466 are an evidence of common language with Linear A in which a-sa-sa-ra-
and ja-sa-sa-ra- are very frequent.
‘Archanes Formula’ a-sa-sa-holding hand467: ῥώμη, ‘bodily strength, might’, cf.
τῇ ῥώμῃ τῶν χειρῶν, ‘strength of hands’ (Antiph. 4.3.3)
The Cretan hieroglyphic inscription wa-nwa468 may be compared with Linear B
wa-na-ka, ‘king’ (but not with Linear A u-na-(ru-)ka-) and wanakteron, ‘king’s palace’
as a base of Lin. A, B syllabogram wa and interpreted as the same title in three scripts.
463
Evans; Георгиев В. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию, М.: Изд-во
иностранной лит., 1958, с. 76.
464
SM I, 190–191.
465
See the comparison of signs without Cretan readings, SM I, p. 197, 240.
466
SM I, p. 254
467
https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/6394/Younger_HieroRev.pdf?
sequence=1&isAllowed=y
468
SM I, p. 150.
84
Ariadne the Mistress
POD-ne-ja UAINA ARAKHNE = Potnia(i) wanassa(i) Arihagna(i)
SM I, p. 135
a) LEG-FOOT (pous, gen. podos)-ne (small sign)-ja = pod-ne-ja = Potnia, cf. Lin. B da-
pu2-ri-to-jo-po-ti-ni-ja, ‘Mistress of the Labyrinth’;
b) HYENA (uaina) = wana(ssa)469, cf. Cret. Hier. wa-nwa;
c) SPIDER (ἀράχνη) = Arihagna.
So the inscription might be interpreted: Potnia(i) anassa(i) Ariadna(i), ‘(for) Mistress
Queen Ariadne’.
The goddess was worshipped in Amathus (Cyprus) as Aphrodite Ariadne, i. e.
the Venus goddess. Corona Borealis near Virgo as the Wreath of Ariadne reflects
observations of Venus in Virgo (Demeter).
Wine and meat vs king titles
The 1st seal: pod-ne-ja zu-za woino-za-ti = Potniai Gugai woinoio ka-ti, ‘vessel of wine for Gyga the
Mistress’ or Potniai Gugai, wanakti, ‘for Gyga the Mistress and the king’. The 2 nd seal: zu-za za-ti BULL
sa-ru = Gugai ka-ti BULL sa-ru, ‘vessel of bull’s meat for Gyga’ or Gugai katte ŠARRUMA (Hurrian bull-
god) šarru, ‘for Gyga and the king (with two titles, Hattic katte and Akkadian šarru)’
469
Alternatively, WOLF (Greek Dorian κνακίας) = γυνά, gen. γυναικός, very rare nom. γύναιξ,
‘woman, mistress, lady’, cf. Phrygian knaik- = Greek gunaik- ‘woman, wife’, Cypriot ku-na-i-ki,
Armenian knay-k’ ‘women’. The root means also ‘queen’ in Armenian whereas English queen is of the
same origin.
85
Three-sided seal from R. B. Seager’s collection (high)
and three-sided seal from the Swiss collection (low)470
The seal from the R. B. Seager collection / SM I 49, 159: ne-pod-ja (or pod-ne-ja) zu-
za woino-za-ti. A key question is the reading of woino-za-ti as ‘vessel (ka-ti) for wine’ or
as ‘king’ (wanakti, dat.). Two translations may be proposed: Potniai Gugai woinoio ka-
ti, ‘vessel of wine for Gyga the Mistress’ or Potniai Gugai, wanakti, ‘for Gyga the
Mistress and the king’. Signs za-ta-uaina are depicted on another seal471 and clearly
point to the title wanakt- but may be in the other case, not in dative (if it is not gade,
‘vessel’, see below). So Cretan Hieroglyphs might reflect noun declension.
The seal from the Swiss collection: zu-za za-ti BULL sa-ru. A key question: sa-ru is
‘meat’ (σάρξ < *saruks?)472 or ‘king’ (Akkadian šarru, ‘king’ as in the name of Sargon).
Two translations may be proposed: Gugai ka-ti BULL sa-ru, ‘vessel of bull’s meat for
Gyga’ or Gugai katte ŠARRUMA (Hurrian bull-god) šarru, ‘for Gyga and the king
(with two titles, Hattic katte and Akkadian šarru)’.
Γυγᾶ, Minoan/Ancient Macedonian Athena
Cret. Hier. EYE-ANKH = zu-za = Γυγᾶ: Ἀθηνᾶ ἐγχώριος (Hesych.) or lesser Ζυγίη
The enigmatic goddess Gyga is mentioned by Hesychius as Γυγᾶ: Ἀθηνᾶ

ἐγχώριος (‘of the country’, Hesych.)473, cf. γυγαί: πάπποι (‘grandfathers’, Hesych.),
γυγαίη νύξ: ἡ σκοτεινή (‘darkness’, Hesych.), ὠγύγιος (‘primeval’, Hesych.)474,
470
56.
471
Evans 1894; Pope, M. The story of decipherment, Thames and Hudson (London 1999), p. 149.
472
Meat in vessels as offering for gods is known in Egypt from the Pyramid texts period: Тексты
пирамид / Под общ. ред. А. С. Четверухина, СПб., 2000, с. 135, chapter 192 and comments.
473
Cf. also: Γυγαίη : λίμνη, the Gygaean lake, in Lydia, near Sardis (Iliad 20.391), also the nymph of
this lake (Iliad 2.865); ‘goddess Gygaea Agrisa’ (Lycophron Alexandra 3.1152), ‘Athena Gygaea either,
in spite of the quantity, from Gygaiê limnê in Lydia (Strabo 626) or cf. Gyga Athêna
enchôrios (Boeotian?). Hesych. Agrisca as goddess of agriculture’ (note by A. W. Mair),
http://www.theoi.com/Text/LycophronAlexandra3.html Gyga is regarded as Thracian-Macedonian
goddess, Кацаров Г. Пеония: Принос към старата етнография и история на Македония 1921, с. 8, 35;
Шофман А. С. История античной Македонии, прим. 98,
http://annales.info/greece/makedon/mk1_2.htm , or as Macedonian goddess of Lydian origin, The
Cambridge Ancient History (Macmillan 1928), p. 197–198, https://books.google.com.ua/books?
id=bi8LAQAAMAAJ&q=Gyga&redir_esc=y , information of N. Mitevski
474
Homer’s Ogygia is a home of a goddess.
86
κουκᾶνα: πάππον (‘father’, Hesych.: Hitt. huhhant- ‘grandfather; ancestor’), κοκύαι,
κοκκύαι, ‘ancestors’ (: Hitt.-Luw. huhh-).
The name of the goddess might be related to Hittite-Luwian terms of kinship:
Hittite huhhas, Luwian huhhas, Hieroglyphic Luwian huha-, Lycian χuga-
‘grandfather’.475 Hattic kuka ‘ancestor’476 (< Hittite-Luwian?) might be related to these
words.
The name of grandmother is different in mentioned Hittite-Luwian languages
(Hitt. hannas ‘father’s mother’, Hannahanna- as a goddess). Despite Hittite Tawananna
(queen and then queen-mother, a priestess related to hearth and snakes)477 was a
human in contrast to Minoan goddess, positions of Hittite king and Tawananna
resemble positions of Minoan king and the goddess. Etruscan king was in power if
his qeen was alive.
The goddess of zu-za = k’u-k’a or gu-ga is mentioned in the Cretan Hieroglyphic as
EYE (zu/k’u)-ANKH (za/k’a). In contrast to Hittite, Luwian, Luwian/Anatolian
Hieroglyphic, and Cretan Hieroglyphic, the word has different consonants in Lycian
and Linear A; if k’ = g then Lin. A ku-g- is certain correspondence of Lyc. χuga-
(Lycian name Κουγας, Lydian king Γύγης, Greek Ιδαγυγος)478, cf. Cret. Hier. za-ti/ga-
ti, Lin. A, B ka-ti and Luw. Hier. gati- ‘vessel’479, cf. γητικά ‘cup’, γαδή· κιβωτός
(Hesych.). It might be a trace of ‘Cretan Lycian’. Frequent Linear A ‘si-ka’ alongside
the bird picture might be ku-ka because of similarity between ku and si in Linear A.
N. B. Burdo underlines a role of water-bird related to the Moon in the Trypillian
art, on the one hand, and a similarity between Trypillian and Mycenaean religious
art, on the other hand.480
The names of the Lunar Goddess of Athena (Γυγᾶ) and of the water bird (γύγης)
were very similar in the Old Greek language. The Lunar Goddess might be
mentioned in the Cretan Hieroglyphic seals and in a Linear A inscription.481 Two ‘psi-
shaped’ small birds are depicted on the Cycladic silver diadem from Chalandriani;
these figures resemble well-known Mycenaean adorated bird-goddess figurines.
475
Puhvel, J. Hittite Etymological Dictionary, Mouton de Gruyter (Berlin, New York 1991), vol. 3, pp.
355-358.
476
http://www.palaeolexicon.com/Hattic
477
Blasweiler, J. The snake and the Tawananna in the eary Hittite kingdom,
https://www.academia.edu/2630703/The_snake_and_the_Tawananna_in_the_early_Hittite_Kingdom
478
Adiego I. J. The Carian language, Brill (Leiden, Boston 2007), p. 334,
https://books.google.com.ua/books?
id=fYyvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA334&lpg=PA334&dq=lycian+xuga&source=bl&ots=gXQwFEZ7dM&sig=B
4i6Vls4z2DrbRMUDfAowa9zhvQ&hl=uk&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=lycian%20xuga&f=false
479
See about the Lin. A – Luwian word: Neumann G. Weitere mykenische und minoische Gefassnamen
Glotta. Bd. XXXIX. H. 3/4. 1960/1961. S. 172-178; Шеворошкин В. В. Новые исследования по
хеттологии (Работы Г. Ноймана и А. Хойбека), Вопросы языкознания, 1964, № 3.
480
Бурдо Н. Б. Сакральний світ трипільської цивілізації, К., 2005; Бурдо Н. Б. Антропоморфна
пластика з трипільського поселення Майданецьке, Археологія, 2011, № 2,
http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/bitstream/handle/123456789/67536/01-Burdo.pdf?sequence=1
481
KO (?) Zf 2 (Khania Mus. 1385 [Mitsotakis collection]) (GORILA IV: 158-159), bronze mesomphalos
bowl, http://www.people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/religioustexts.html
87
However, the Trypillian bird-goddess was related to a duck (and traced to
Starčevo-Kriş and Pre-Cucuteni-Trypillia A), according to N. B. Burdo, while ancient
Greek lunar goddess of Athena was related to an owl. The duck is depicted on the
eight-sided seal as possible designation of goddess: ἄνασσα ‘queen, lady (goddess or
human)’ and νᾶσσα ‘duck’. Perhaps, the Greek name of duck lost initial α- (cf.
Latin anas, gen. anat-is, Lithuanian ántis ‘duck’), because of the homonymy with the
title of queen482. Cf. ‘consecrate wheat in honor of the duck’ (Aristoph. Birds 567).
Greek names of queen and duck are Proto-Indo-European; cf. also Proto-Indo-
European names of grandfather (Hier. Luw. huha-, Lat. avus) and bird (Hier. Luw.
huwa-, Lat. avis). Several images of Minoan-Mycenaean bird goddess are preserved483.
Lith. gùžas, ‘stork’ might be connected484.
Alternatively, cf. Ἥρη τε Ζυγίη (Ap. Rhod. 4.96) as patroness of marriage, also
Aphrodite485.
King vs goddess on the three-sided ‘royal’ seal
CAT pod-ne-we-ja ta-ru-ne za-jo KING = katte *ΠοτνιεϜιας δῶρον, γάιος KING or *γαιοάνασσας
482
Cf. Greek rhinos ‘nose’ instead of *nasus > *nahus > *naus because of homonymy with more frequent
(mainly in epic texts and catalogues) naus ‘ship’; ippos ‘horse’ instead of *epos which is preserved in the
name of Epeios, the architect of the Trojan Horse.
483
Marinatos, N. Minoan religion, University of South Carolina Press (Columbia 1993), p. 152–156, 166,
https://www.academia.edu/8382969/Minoan_Religion_1993._Out_of_print_
484
Beekes, p. 290.
485
LSJ, s. v. ζύγιος
88
Three-sided ‘royal’ (A. Evans) seal from Knossos486
a) CAT LEG-FOOT–ne-we-ja = *kat πούς-ne-we-ja = katte *ΠοτνιεϜιας, ‘king, of the

Mistress’, cf. Hattic katte, ‘king’ and Lin. B po-ti-ni-ja-we-ja: *ποτνιεϜια, fem. of
Adj. Ποτνιεύς, ‘Potnian’;
b) ta-ru-ne = δῶρον, ‘gift’;
c) za-jo KING (signs similar to Anatolian hieroglyph ‘great king’ on both sides of
the syllabic word) = γάιος KING, ‘king of the land/earth’, cf. γάιος, ‘of earth’ and
Cypriot ζᾶ = γῆ
So whole inscription may be interpreted: katte *ΠοτνιεϜιας δῶρον, γάιος KING,
‘king, Mistress’ gift, lord of the land’ or ‘gift for the Mistress’
Another reading of CAT/LION, as maia (Egypt. m3j [may] ‘lion’ instead of
Μᾶ/Μαῖα)487, is also possible. The reading corresponds with Lin. A, B sign ma
(cat/lion).
King, queen, and the goddess on the eight-sided seal
The titles are inscribed using logograms and syllabic signs: ὕαινα za–κῆτος–ti = Ϝάνακτι, τιτθαί–ne
= τιτήνηι, za–νᾶσσα–jo = *γαιοάνασσα
486
SM I, p. 23, 153; PM I, p. 277; Молчанов А. А. Посланцы погибших цивилизаций: Письмена древней
Эгеиды, М.: Наука, 1992, с. 31
487
‘Lion’ instead ‘cat’ is confirmed by Minoan picture of the animal (lis, leon) with a lily (leirion) on
the head. Cf. Modern Greek μάτζα ‘cat’ Egypt. mj3 [mia] ‘cat’. Μᾶ is referred to μᾶ γᾶ or Demeter
whereas Μαῖα – to γαῖα μαῖα and mother of Hermes (LSJ).
89
Eight-sided seal488
CAT pod-ne-we-ja ta-ru-ne za-jo KING on the three-sided ‘royal’ (A. Evans) seal from
Knossos489 resembles za-ti uaina-so ta-ru-ne pod-ne-ja (lesser ne-pod-ja) za-BIRD-jo on
the sides e-h of the eight-sided seal.
The sign No. 74 CAT might designate Hattic katte, ‘king’490, and the reading may be
confirmed by 1) za-ti (the most frequent word in the Cretan Hieroglyphics!) in the
similar context and 2) wana-kt- < Hitt.-Luw. wana-, ‘country’ and Hattic katte > Carian
kdous, ‘king’.
If za-ti denotes the second part of wana-kt- then ὕαινα, ‘hyena’ might denote the
first part of the title, wana-. So (eight-sided, sides a–b) uaina-za-(KETOS?)-ti = wanakti
(dat.) whereas (eight-sided, sides d–e, twice) uaina-so = wanassai (dat.).
Luwian great king title on both sides of za-jo on the three-sided seal is similar to a
bird inside ga-jo on the eight-sided seal: the bird might be νᾶσσα, ‘she-duck’ < *anassa
(proto-IE *anət- and IE cognates with a-)491 as a homonym of ἄνασσα < ϝάνασσα
‘queen’.
So the comparison of CAT pod-ne-we-ja ta-ru-ne KINGza-joKING and za-ti uaina-so
ta-ru-ne pod-ne-ja za-(a)nassa-jo points us to conclude about the equation of 1) CAT
488
Молчанов А.А. Посланцы погибших цивилизаций: Письмена древней Эгеиды, М.: Наука, 1992, с. 34.
489
SM I, p. 23, 153; PM I, p. 277; Молчанов А. А. Посланцы погибших цивилизаций: Письмена древней
Эгеиды, М.: Наука, 1992, с. 31
490
Сергеев В.М., Цымбурский В.Л. Памятники критской письменности: структура текста как
ключ к распознанию языка, Лингвистическая реконструкция и древнейшая история Востока
(Москва 1984), ч. 1, с. 91-92. The authors propose Lybian *qatt-, cf. Nubian kadis, Berber kadiska, both
meaning ‘cat’, Arabic qitt ‘tomcat’, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=CAT
491
Greek νᾶσσα ‘she-duck’ instead of *ανασσα migh be a result of dissimilation with ἄνασσα ‘queen’
like ἵππος ‘horse’ with unetymologized i- and ῥίς ‘nose’ might be used instead of *ἔπος ‘horse’ (cf.
Ἐπειός, a creator of the Trojan Horse) and *νασυς > *ναυς ‘nose’ because of a homonymy with more
frequent ἔπος ‘word’ and ναῦς ‘ship’.
90
and za-ti and 2) KING and (a)nassa. Thus Cretan Hieroglyphic king and queen titles are
identified.
As we may see, the queen title is denoted in two ways, uaina-so and (a)nassa.
WOMAN’S BREASTS might be read in relation with τιτθός, τίτθη, ‘a woman’s
breast’ = τίταξ ‘king’492 (Hattic titah, ‘great’) whereas WOMAN’S BREAST-ne – in
relation with τιτήνη, ‘queen’.
SPEAR might be read as δόρυ, ‘spear’ = δῶρον, ‘gift’. It corresponds with the king
title in dative.
GESTURE might be νεῦμα, ‘sign’ = νέον, ‘new (neut.)’.
The reading of ne-pod-ja = νέπους, gen. -ποδος, ‘child’ (eight-sided, side g) is not
confirmed by the reading pod-ne-we-ja (three-sided, side a).
EYE might be read κανθός, ‘eye’ which resembles an element of unique Hittite
title of Hattic origin, MAGNUS.REX.FILIUS = cuneiform title tuh(u)kanti-493, cf. Greek
name Θεό-γνητος494.
The whole inscription might be read:

a – b – c) SPEAR – GESTURE – HYENA za–MONSTER–ti WOMAN’S BREASTS–ne
SPEAR = δόρυ – νεῦμα – ὕαινα za–κῆτος–ti τιτθαί–ne δόρυ = δῶρον νέον ἄνακτι,
τιτήνηι δῶρον, ‘a new gift for the king, the gift for the queen’, cf. ἄγουσι δὲ δῶρα
Ἄνακτι (Iliad 1.390).
d – e – f) HYENA–so EYE za-ti HYENA–so ta-ru-ne = ὕαινα–so κανθός za-ti ὕαινα–so
ta-ru-ne = Ϝάνασσας γενητός (or rather *Ϝάνασσόγνητος, cf. Thracian Επτα-κενθος,
Μα-κέντης495) katte Ϝάνασσας δῶρον (or rather *Ϝάνασσόδωρον), ‘queen-
(goddess-)born king, queen-gifted’, or Ϝάνασσαι δῶρον, ‘gift for the queen’.
g – h) ne–LEG-FOOT–ja (or LEG-FOOT–ne–ja) za–BIRD–jo = ne–πούς–ja za–νᾶσσα–
jo = νέπους (or πότνια) ἄνασσα γάιος (or rather *γαιοάνασσα, cf. μεγιστοάνασσα,
ὑμνοάνασσα), ‘mistress, queen of the land/earth’, or lesser cf. ennosigaios.
Cf.: ‘The Phrygian bird das point to Kubaba, since the Neo-Hittite hieroglyph
“bird” appears between the phonetic syllables “Ku” and “ba-ba”’496, cf. Hitt.-Luw.
huwa-, ‘bird’.
HIEROGLYPHS BESIDE HIEROGLYPHICS

492
See τίταξ: ἔντιμος, ἢ δυνάστης, οἱ δὲ βασιλεύς, Hesych.; τιτήνη, ‘queen’
493
Oreshko, R. Hieroglyphic inscriptions of Western Anatolia, Luwian identities, A. Mouton,
I. Rutherford, I. Yakubovich (eds.), Brill (Leiden; Boston 2013), p. 354.
494
Cf. Иванов В. В. К проблеме соотношения древнегреческой и хаттской
традиций // Иванов В. В. Труды по этимологии индоевропейских и древнепереднеазиатских языков. Т.
2. М.: Языки славянских культур, 2008. С. 653—662.
495
езикознание / Linguistique balkanique XVII/3 (София 1974), p. 7.
496
Roller, L. E. In search of God the Mother: The cult of Anatolian Cybele, University of California Press
(Berkeley etc. 1999), p. 48.
91
Mother of Health in the Arkalokhori Script
The Arkalokhori Axe inscription, similar to the Phaistos Disc script, surprisingly appears as
syllabic, not hieroglyphic or astronomical, and refers to the Health Goddess (Eileithyia) or her
prophetess
A double axe made of bronze has an inscription, so-called ‘Arkalokhori Script’,

which contains Linear A and Phaistos Disc signs. G. Pugliese Carratelli reads the
initial sign-group on the bronze Arkalokhori axe as Ida Ma na-497.
Line 1 i-da-ma-na-ti-da: Ἴδα, Cretan sacral mountain, and μάντις, fem., acc. sg.
μάντιδα δάφνην (App. Anth. 6.122), nom. pl. μάντιδες (Suid. s. v. Σίβυλλα) ‘diviner,
seer, prophet’; -μαντις is frequent in composites like ἀχαιόμαντις, title of diviner in
Cyprus (Hesych.).
Line 2 i-ze-na-i-ma-te: ὑγιεινά, ‘healthy’498, possibly dative, and μάτηρ, 'mother',
epithet of goddesses499.
Line 3 ti-rai-da: ἴθι, ‘come, go’, imperat. of εἶμι, or ἔτι, ‘yet’, and ῥᾴδια, ‘easy’500, cf.
ῥᾶ, ῥέα, ῥεῖα, ‘easily’ in Cretan Ῥέα, Ῥεία and Cretan Ῥαδάμανθυς from δαμαντήρ,
‘tamer’ like ῥα-θυμέω, ῥᾳ-θυμέω ‘to leave off work, take holiday’ from θυμός, ‘soul,
spirit’. She may be Minoan winged goddess.
So whole inscription may be interpreted: Ἰδάμαντιδαι ὑγιεινάι ματέρι, ἴθι, ῥᾴδια
or ἔτι ῥᾴδιαι, ‘to Idaean prophetess, healthy mother, come, easy’ or ‘… and easy’; cf.
Eteocretan ep-ithi.
Minoan images of goddess holding the double axe are well-known. She may be
Rhea who had a dwelling at Knossos (Diod. 5.66.2), Mater Idaea. Like the Idaean
cave501, the Arkalokhori cave may be the site of an oracle.
Greek hieroglyphic/acrophonic roots of Minoan syllabary
The Linear A, B syllabary is based on Greek words of Indo-European origin and includes several
Macedonian and Phrygian phonetic features
The ‘acrophonic interpretation of syllabary’ method is based on the hieroglyphic

origin of Linear A and B syllabic signs. If G. Neumann, C. Ruijgh, A. A. Molchanov
searched substrate words from which syllabic signs were derived then V. Georgiev
497
Pugliese Carratelli, J. Sulle epigrafi in lineare A di carattere sacrale, Minos 5 (1957), No. 2, pp. 170-
172, http://campus.usal.es/~revistas_trabajo/index.php/0544-3733/article/view/2714/2752
498
Lesser ἰκενάς, ‘dancing’ (Hesych.) or ἰχναῖη, ‘she-hunter’, ἴγνητες, ‘native’, αἰγανέη, ‘hunting-
spear’
499
Lesser μαστήρ, ματήρ, ‘seeker, searcher’
500
Lesser ῥητή, ‘famous’
501
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ida_(Crete)
92
proposed the interpretations of Linear A, B syllabic signs from Greek words of Indo-
European origin:
we (worm) < Greek velmis ‘worm,
za (Egyptian symbol of life – ‘ankh’) < Greek zaō ‘I live’,
phu (the plant) < Greek phyton ‘plant’502.
I attempt to extend the list:
Lin. A, B a (double axe, Ursa Major): ἀξίνη ‘δίστομος πέλεκυς, double axe’
(Hesych.), traditionally interpreted as Indo-European, but cf. Sumerian aga, urudha-zi-
in, Akkadian ḫaṣṣ-innu, ‘axe’. Independently from the possible Semitic origin of the
Greek word, the Greek etymology of this sign is acceptable.
Lin. A, B e (building, Cepheus): ἕδος, ἕδρα, ‘temple’; Sumer. e ‘building, temple’,
cf. archaic Mesopotamian reed hut, ‘the house of birth’ of Inanna
Lin. A, B i (arrow or, especially in Lin. A and I the Arkalokhori script, ‘hand’,
Draco’s head; cf. Egypt. ‘reed’ with alphabetic reading i): Old Greek ἰός ‘arrow’ <
Indo-European. Phoen. iodh ‘hand’ (Proto-Semitic *yad- ~ *ʔid- > Akkadian idu,
Ugaritic and Phoenician yd)? If initial meaning was really ‘hand’ then a logographic
reading may be proposed.
Lin. A, B o (shield, Cassiopea as a throne)503: Old Greek ὅπλον ‘the large shield
of ὁπλῖται’504.
Lin. A, B u (plough, Ursa Minor): Old Greek ὕνις, ‘ploughshare’; Proto-Dravidian
*uẓ-, ‘to plough’
Lin. A, B au (pig): ὕαινα, a fem. of ὗς, ‘boar’
Lin. B ha (yoke), probably = Linear A sign A 305505: Greek ἁρμός, ‘joint’, ἅρμα
‘chariot, yoked chariot’, ἁρμή ‘junction, fitting together’ related with Old Slavonic
iarĭmŭ ‘yoke’ < Indo-European.
Lin. A, B da (branch): Old Greek θαλλός, ‘young shoot, young branch’; about Lin.
A d : Classic Greek θ cf. Lin. B o-du-ru-: Cretan ὄθρυν, ‘mountain’ (Hesych.)506, d > t in
ὄθρυν resembles Pelasgian *dewos > theos. Macedonian δ : Greek θ, especially Mac.
ὁμοδάλιον : Old Greek θαλλός. Cypriot ta, Phoen. taw.
Lin. A, B di (plant, similar to the Lin. A, B ideogram of ‘wheat’): Old Greek
θιακχά: ἄνθη (‘full bloom of a flower or plant’) ἐν Σικυῶνι, Hesych.; τίφη, ‘one-
grained wheat, einkorn, Triticum monococcum’; Georgian dika ‘wheat’ and Swan šdik
‘ear of corn’ (cf. Greek στάχυς ‘ear of corn’). A. Evans compared the sign with
Egyptian hieroglyph ‘rain’, so it might be read in relation with διαίνεται· βρέχεται507
502
Георгиев В. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию, М.: Изд-во иностранной
лит., 1958, с. 75–76
503
Cf. an image: PM I, p. 691; PM III, p. 95, 502.
504
Independently: Μακρυγιάννης Δ. Ἠλ. Η ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΦΗ Β, σ. 132.
505
Godart, L., Olivier,J.-P., Recueil des inscriptions en Linéaire A, Paris, 1985, Vol. 5, p. XXII
506
See about the identification of the Linear B word: Казанскене В. П., Казанский Н. Н. Предметно-
понятийный словарь греческого языка: крито-микенский период (Ленинград 1986), с. 64. Cf. δρῦς;
δρίος ὕλης· ὄρος. χόρτος. δρυμός (Hesych.); ὀθρυόεν: τραχύ, ὑλῶδες, δασύ, κρημνῶδες (Hesych.).
507
Μακρυγιάννης Δ. Ἠλ. Η ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΦΗ Β, ΕΛΛΗΝΟΕΚΔΟΤΙΚΗ (Αθήνα 2009), σ. 92–93.
93
Lin. B dwo (double thing) derived from earlier Cretan scripts508: Old Greek δύω,
‘two’ < Indo-European;
Hier., Lin. A, B ja (door): Egypt. ‘3, ‘door’ (sign similar to Cret. Hier.), Old Greek
ἰέναι (pres. inf. act.), ‘to go’ (cf. Latin janua, ‘door’ – A. Evans’ comparison) < Indo-
European. Phoen. heth, ‘fence’509 whereas Greek i > h.
Lin. A, B ju (related to Lin. B logogram FARINA): Old Greek ζῦθος, ζῦτος, ‘beer,
brewed with barley’,
Lin. A, B pa (sword): Old Greek φάσγανον, ‘sword’ (< Akkadian pāsu, Arabic faʔs-,
‘axe’). In this case, Lin. A p : Old Greek ph, cf. pu. The sighn also resembles the form
of the Virgo constellation, Greek Parthenos.
Lin. A, B po (similar to the Lin. A, B ideogram ‘wine’): Old Greek οἶνος < ϝοῖνος,
Cretan βοῖνος < Indo-European *uei-.
Lin. B pte: πτέρυξ, ‘blade of the steering-paddle, rudder’510
Lin. A, B pu (plant): Old Greek φυτόν ‘plant’, cf. Lin. B pu2 = phu. Lin. A p : Old
Greek ph, cf. pa.
Lin. A, B qa (face, bald head; similar to Egypt. hr ‘face’): Old Greek ὄψ, ‘the eye,
face’ < oqus, Lin. B o-qo; Proto-Semitic *ḳ(ʷ)rḥ, ‘to have/make a hairless spot (on
the head), to become/make bald’ > Gurage ḳʷärrärä, ‘to become bald’. Egypt. gjf,
‘vervet monkey’, Sumer. ugubi, Akkad. uqupu, Phoen. qoph, ‘monkey’511
Lin. A, B qe (wheel): Old Greek πέλω < Indo-European *quel-, ‘turn’; Old Greek
κύκλος, ‘wheel’ < Indo-European *kuekulos; also κίκελος: τροχός (Hesych.), possibly
Macedonian.
Lin. A, B qi (sheep): Old Greek *gui-, ‘animal’ (cf. Georgian cxoveri, ‘ship’ < cxovre-
ba, ‘life’), or Old Greek κῶας, ‘fleece’. N. N. Kazansky interprets as a Lycian name of
sheep, cf. Luwian hawi-, Hieroglyphic Luvian hawa/isa-, Lycian χawã (Acc. Sing.),
‘sheep’512; Luwian may also be acceptable, cf. mu (bull) in Linear A, B and Luwian.
Carian gloss κοῖος, ‘sheep’513 may reflect namely kwi-
Hier., Lin. A, B ma (cat or rather lion): μάταν: ἡ λύγξ (Hesych.)514 Modern Greek
matza, ‘cat’, Egyptian m3j, ‘lion’ or lesser mjw, ‘cat’ (in the light of the Egyptian origin
of this domestic animal in Europe). Akkadian mandinu, ‘tiger (?)’, Arabic ʔal-madīn-,
‘lion’ are lesser acceptable.
508
J.-P.Olivier, ‘Kritskie pismennosti II tysiacheletia do n.e.’, in: Vestnik drevnei istorii, 4 (1994), p. 111–
112.
509
These syllabic sign and Phoenician letter were compared by A. Evans, SM I, p. 89.
510
Μακρυγιάννης Δ. Ἠλ. Η ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΦΗ Β, σ. 132–133: the similar word with another
meaning.
511
512
Казанский Н. Н. Возможные следы ликийского языка в линейном письме А, Индоевропейское
языкознание и классическая филология-XIV (чтения памяти И. М. Тронского): Материалы
международной конференции, проходившей 21–23 июня 2010 г. В двух частях / Отв. редактор
Н. Н. Казанский, СПб.: Наука, 2010. Ч. 1. С. 399–415; Kazansky N. N. The evidence for Lycian in the
Linear A syllabary, http://www.aegeussociety.org/images/uploads/pdf/kazansky-2012.pdf
513
Sch. Iliad 14.255, LSJ, s. v.
514
149.
94
Lin. A, B me (goat): μηκάς, ‘bleating goat’; Luw. Hier. ‘ram’s head’ me
Hier., Lin. A, B mi (fish): Old Greek μαίνη, ‘herring-like fish’ (without i in other
Indo-European), Old Indian mīna-, ‘fish’ < Proto-Indo-European; Proto-Dravidian
*mīn-, ‘fish’ (possibly reflected in the Indus script) of common Nostratic origin.
Lin. A, B mu (bull’s head): Old Greek μυκάομαι ‘low, bellow (of oxen)’, μυκητής,
μυκατάς, ‘bellower (of oxen)’, possibly also μόσχος, ‘calf, young bull; heifer, young
cow’, μόναπος, Paeonian name of European bison. Cf. Hier. Luw. mu (bull’s head).
East Chadic *muǯ-, ‘ox’ with Egypt. parallel phonetically different.
Lin. A, B ka (wheel, Corona Borealis or Corona Australis): Old Greek (Thessalian)
καπάνη, ‘chariot’, cf. also ἀπήνη, ‘four-wheeled wagon’, later ‘car’ or ‘chariot’ (of
possible Semitic origin: Hebrew ophan, ‘wheel’ < aphan, ‘to revolve, turn’).
Lin. A, B ke (beetle): κεράμβυξ, ‘longicorn beetle, cerambyx’; lesser Egypt. hpr,
‘dung beetle’. If it is ‘horned head-piece’ (A. Evans), cf. κέρας, ‘horn’515
Hier., Lin. A, B ki (jug): Old Greek κισσύβιον ‘drinking-cup’516 or κιβώριον, ‘vessel,
cup’, possibly also κυρίλλιον, ‘narrow-necked jug’ (i : u in Lin. A and Phrygian);
Proto-Dravidian *ginḍ-i, ‘drinking vessel’. The sign closely resembles Minoan rhyta.
Hier., Lin. A, B ko (nail or rather mace, cf. Egypt. ‘mace’): Old Greek γόμφος, ‘bolt’,
Macedonian κόμβους, ‘tooth’; κορύνη ‘club, mace’517.
Lin. A, B ku (flying bird, Cygnus): γύψ (V. Georgiev) or κύκνος, also κύμινδις518
Hier., Lin. A, B na (plant): Old Greek νάρθηξ, ‘giant fennel, Ferula communis’
Lin. A, B ne (plant); Luw. Hier. ‘fennel-like plant’ nu. If ne is psi-figurine519 then cf.
ἀνήρ, ‘man’.
Lin. A, B ni (fig-tree): *νικύλεα, ‘fig-tree’ < νικύλεον, ‘a fig’ (gloss) 520; Egypt. nh.t, ‘sycamore’,
Arabic nak la, ‘palm-tree’
h
Lin. A, B no (hand), nwa (hands): Old Greek νεύω, ‘beckon (with the hand)’ (Ezek.
Exag. 73), Sanskrit návate ‘turn round’, Latin nuo < Indo-European.
Lin. A, B ra (arm and hand): λαμβάνω, ‘take’. If ‘Hieroglyphic *018 , a dog head,
becomes AB 60 RA’521 then cf. Λαῖλαψ, dog of Minos; Proto-Gondi (Dravidian)
*raci, ‘wild dog’. Phoen. resh, head confirms the second reading.
Lin. A, B ra2 = rja (stream): Old Greek ῥίαινα: πηγή, λιβάς (Hesych.) < Indo-
European522.
Hier., Lin. A, B re (lily): Old Greek λείριον ‘lily’ < Egypt.523
515
Μακρυγιάννης Δ. Ἠλ. Η ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΦΗ Β, σ. 121, pictures.
516
Neumann G. Zur Sprache der kretischen Linearschrift А, Glotta, 1958. Bd 36, S. 158
517
See about the hieroglyphic sign as a mace, SM I, p. 190.
518
Μακρυγιάννης Δ. Ἠλ. Η ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΦΗ Β, ΕΛΛΗΝΟΕΚΔΟΤΙΚΗ (Αθήνα 2009), σ. 163.
519
520
Neumann G. Zur Sprache der kretischen Linearschrift А, Glotta, 1958. Bd 36, S. 156–158;
Neumann, G. νικύλεον, Glotta, 1962. Bd 40
521
http://people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/#8
522
Mosenkis, Yu. L. Ancient Oriental and Occidental inscriptions and languages (Kyiv 2001).
Independently: Μακρυγιάννης Δ. Ἠλ. Η ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΦΗ Β, σ. 146.
523
Perono Cacciafoco, P. Linear A and Minoan,
https://www.academia.edu/8107092/Linear_A_and_Minoan._The_Riddle_of_Unknown_Origins_-
_SLIDES
95
Hier., Lin. A, B ro, Cypriot lo (sun cross): Old Greek/Cretan ἀϝέλιος, ‘Sun’;
σταυρός, ‘upright pale or stake, cross’524
Hier., Lin. A, B ru (lyra): λύρα, ‘lyre’; Luw. Hier. ‘deer’s head’ ru2 (Hittite deer-god
Runta); if it is a yoke, cf. ἐρύω, ‘drag, draw’, ῥυμός, ‘pole of a chariot or car’525.
Hier., Lin. A, B sa (sepia): σηπία, ‘sepia’ with possible cognates: σίφνα: ποιὸς
ἰχθῦς, ‘a kind of fish’ (Hesych.), σίφων, ‘tube, pipe, pump’, σιπυΐς, ‘jar’, σιπύη,
συπύη, ‘meal-tub’ (Lin. A su-pu, ‘vessel’); σάτρα· σηπία (Hesych.).
Lin. A, B se (ear of corn): Sumerian še ‘barley’. Phoen. samekh.
Lin. A, B si (sheaf)526: Old Greek σῖτος ‘grain’; Sumerian zid, ‘flour’527, lesser si-gal,
sig, siki, Akkadian sīku ‘bread’.
Hier., Lin. A, B so (axe): ‘Paphian’/Cypriot σοάνα, ‘axe’; Akkadian šukurru, ‘axe’
Lin. A, B su (from Egyptian hieroglyph ‘reed shelter’ with the same form and
alphabetic reading h): συρίγγιον, ‘little reed’, σῦριγξ, ‘subterranean gallery, burial
vaults, cloister’528 Cf. the identical plane of the ‘house tomb’ from Mochlos529 and Etr.
suthi-na ‘tomb’. Phoen. beth, ‘house’530.
Hier., Lin. A, B ta (scale): τάλαντον, ‘balance’, pl. τάλαντα, ‘pair of scale’ < Indo-
European
Lin. A, B te (branch): Old Greek τέρχνος, ‘twig, young shoot’, Latin termes, ‘twig’ <
Indo-European.
Lin. A, B ti (arrow): Sumerian ti, ‘arrow’. Anatolian zi is similar sign.
Lin. A, B tu (fig, cf. the Lin. A, B ideogram ‘fig’): Greek σῦκον, Boeot. τῦκον (cf.
Lin. A si-ka, ‘fig?’), Armenian tcuz, Latin ficus (Greek-Armenian-Latin parallel
regarded as substrate ‘Mediterranean’), perhaps < Proto-Semitic *tiʔin-, ‘fig-tree’ with
other Afro-Asiatic parallels, but cf. Lin. A FIC(US) (ideogram ‘fig’) ki-ki-na531: parallel
of tuk- / suk- / *kuk- and Armenian tcuz (< *tjukj-?) gives a possibility to reconstruct a
special consonant which not corresponds with Semitic t-. Possible cognates with the
same phonetic alternations are: σικύα, ‘bottle-gourd, Lagenaria vulgaris’, σίκυος,
‘cucumber, Cucumis sativus’, σέκουα·σικύα (Hesych.), κυκύιζα· γλυκεῖα κολόκυντα
(Hesych.), κύκυον· τὸν σικυόν (Hesych.), Latin cucumis, ‘cucumber’, Proto-Slavic
*tyky < *tūkū, ‘Cucurbita’, Langedoc tükо, ‘id.’, Italian zucca, ‘pumpkin’, Catalan tuca,
524
525
Independently: Μακρυγιάννης Δ. Ἠλ. Η ΓΡΑΜΜΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΦΗ Β, σ. 106–107.
526
Ruijgh, C. J. L’origine du signe *41 (si) de l’écriture linéaire B, Kadmos 9 (1970), S. 172-173.
527
Beekes, p. 1337.
528
Lesser: Old Greek σολοειδής = θολοειδής, ‘dome-shaped’, a phonetic variant of θόλος, ‘round
building with conical roof, rotunda’; Sumerian suhuš ‘foundation’, sur ‘canal, ditch; foundation pit of a
building’.
529
PM I, p. 102
530
531
Neumann, G. Minoisch kikina 'Die sykomorenfeige', Glotta, 1960. Bd 38
96
‘pumpkin’, also Armenian t’zēni, ‘fig-tree, mulberry tree’532: Lacon. σεκουάνη, ‘a kind of
olive’ (Hesych.).
Lin. A, B wa (palace, a translation of Egyptian sign): ἀνάκτορον, ‘palace, temple’;
Luw. Hier. ‘dominus’ is similar; Chinese wang ‘king’ with similar hieroglyph
Lin. A, B we (worm): ἕλμινς, ἕλμις, ‘worm’, εὐλή, ‘worm, maggot’
Hier., Lin. A, B za (from Egyptian ankh, ‘live, life’ with the same form, esp. stylized
ankh tjt/tyet, ‘knot of Isis’; the same sign means ‘life’ in Luw. Hier.): Greek ζάω, ‘to
live’, Proto-Tocharian śāw-, Latvian dzîvs, ‘lebendig’ < Proto-Indo-European *guei-, ‘to
live’; cf. the Linear B alternation a-ke-ti-ri-ja / a-ze-ti-ri-ja (Knossos), ke-i-ja-ka-ra-na / ze-
i-ja-ka-ra-na (Pylos), o-ze-to possibly related to gento533, Cypriot za = ga, ‘earth’. It was
Cretan phonetic feature (ζενια, Ϝοιζευς instead of γενια, Ϝοικευς)534 which might
be of Phrygian origin. Phoen. zayin.
Hier., Lin. A, B ze (jaw): Phryg. azen- ‘beard’, Old Greek γένυς ‘jaw’, Proto-Baltic
*ǯan̂-d-, ‘jaw’, ‘cheek’ < Proto-Indo-European *g’en-, ‘jaw’
Lin. A, B zi (goat?): OG αἴξ, gen. αἰγός < Proto-Indo-European *aig’-, ‘goat’, cf.
Lithuanian ōžī̃-s, Latvian âzis < Proto-Indo-European *ag’-, ‘he-goat’.
Hier., Lin. A, B zo (spear): Old Greek *βαρύς, pl. βαρύες· δένδρα Hesych., Gothic
kʷɛru, ‘thorn, spike’, Latvian dzir̨a, dzire, ‘forest’ < Proto-Indo-European *gueru-, ‘tree,
stick, spear’ (> Latin / Sabin cuiris, ‘spear’); cf. Old Greek doru, ‘spear’ < ‘tree’; or
κοντός, ‘pike’; Sumer. šukur, ‘lance, spear’. Anatolian za is similar sign.
Hier., Lin. A, B zu / *kju (?), *k’u (?) (eye or shell): Old Greek θέλγω, ‘be witch’,
Proto-Baltic *ǯwel̃g-, ‘look, shine’ < Proto-Indo-European *g’huelg-, ‘to look’, ‘to
bewitch (with the evil eye)’ or Old Greek κύλα ‘the parts under the eyes; groove
above upper eyelid’
Lin. B twe (bow): Old Greek τόξον, ‘bow’, Proto-Germanic *ɵixsō(n), *ɵixsalō(n),
‘spear, axe’ > Old Engl. ɵeox, ‘spear’, New Persian taxš, ‘bow (weapon)’ < Indo-
European. The best material for bow is taxus535
Chapter Three
FLOURISHING OF THE MINOAN GREEK STATE
IN THE LINEAR A SCRIPT 1700–1450 BCE
LANGUAGE
532
Гиндин Л. А. Этимологии старосл. тыкы, др.-русск. Тыкъвь, тыкъва, Этимологические
исследования по русскому языку ІІ (Москва 1962), с. 82–89; Хубшмид И. Дославянские и
дороманские этимологии, Этимология 1967 (Москва 1969), с. 240.
533
Казанскене В. П., Казанский Н. Н. Предметно-понятийный словарь греческого языка: крито-
микенский период (Ленинград 1986), с. 116.
534
Viredaz, R. Crétois ζενια, Ϝοιζευς, https://www.academia.edu/5196602/2003b_Cr
%C3%A9tois_zenia_woizeus
535
M. Iu. Videiko, pers. comm.
97
Minoan Greek: a history of the hypothesis
H. Schliemann archaeologically extended Greek history from Homer to the Trojan

War and Mycenaean times while A. Evans unearthed Minoan civilization which
began a least in late 4th millennium BCE536.
Before having put a spade in the Cretan soil, Evans had already differentiated two forms of
prehistoric writing used on the Cretan seal stones. Following the ancient Greek authors, he
supposed that the earliest, pictographic form belonged to the indigenous ‘Eteocretes’, one of the
Cretan tribes mentioned by Homer and Herodotus. For the second, linear type of ‘mysterious
characters’ he considered the possibility that they had also been used by ‘men of Greek speech’ and
formed the inspiration of the later, Phoenician script537
Later, A. Evans regarded both Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations as non-Greek

despite his reading of a Greek word in Linear B: using Classic Cypriot syllabary, the
scholar reads po-lo = πῶλος, ‘foal‘, which was written near horse-pictures on a Linear
B tablet538. A. Evans also identified the ‘female suffix’ in Linear B539, later ru-ki-ti-ja.
M. Ventris’ decipherment540 confirmed the hypothesis of P. Kretschmer, S. Luria,
V. Georgiev and several archaeologists (A. Wace, C. Blegen, etc.) about the Greekness
of Linear B (15th-13th centuries BCE) while earlier Cretan hieroglyphic, the Phaistos
Disc, Linear A and latter Eteocretan inscriptions remain regarded as undeciphered.
C. H. Gordon underlines that A. Evans and A. E. Cowley correctly read several
Greek words in Linear B (ko-wo and ko-wa in the second case)541, but they were not
ready to accept Greek as the language of Linear B and to develop their discovery 542.
In other case, not scholars themselves but their colleagues are not ready to accept a
discovery. ‘When A. J. B. Wace, Professor of Archaeology at the University of
Cambridge, spoke in favour of the theory that Linear B represented Greek, Sir Arthur
excluded him from all excavations, and forced him to retire from the British School in
Athens’ (John Chadwick). ‘Evans, however, maintained an irrationally obstinate
Creto-centrism, which led to unfriendly debate between himself and the mainland
archaeologists Carl Blegen and Alan Wace. He disputed Blegen's speculation that his
writings found at Pylos of Linear B (the same script Evans found on Crete) were a
536
Evans, A. The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Vol. I–IV, L. 1921–1935; Evans, A. Scripta Minoa, Vol. I-II.
Oxford 1909-1952
537
Prent, M. Cretan sanctuaries and cults, Brill (Leiden; Boston 2005), p. 48, refs: Evans, A. J. 1894.
Primitive pictographs and a pre-Phoenician script, from Crete and the Peloponnese, JHS 14: 354-59;
Evans, A. J. 1897. Further discoveries of Cretan and Aegean Script: with Libyan and Proto-Egyptian
comparisons, JHS 17: 327-95.
538
PM IV 2, p. 799
539
SM I, p. 35.
540
Ventris, M., Chadwick, J. Documents in Mycenaean Greek, Cambridge 1956
541
Cowley, A. E. A note on Minoan writing, Essaus in Aegean archaeology presented to Sir Arthur Evans
(1927), pp. 5–7.
542
Gordon, C. H. Forgotten scripts, Basic Books (New York 1982).
98
form of archaic Greek’543. Several archaeologists stated the Greekness of Mycenaean
state before the Linear B decipherment544.
Basing on M. Ventris’ decipherment of Linear B, V. Georgiev in late 1950s and
G. Nagy in early 1960s clearly demonstrate the Greekness of Linear A but their
publication were ignored, in contrast to Hittite-Luvian and Semitic interpretations of
the script. Instead of critical reviews and discussions, these revolutionary ideas of
V. Georgiev and G. Nagy met silence. Possibly, some scholars could not reject their
argumentation, on the one hand, but could not accept it, on the other hand.
Following A. Evans, V. Georgiev reads po-lo = πῶλος, ‘foal‘, which was written
near horse-pictures on the Linear B tablet, in late 1940s545. The scholar published his
Greek readings of Linear A in English, France, Italian, Russian etc., but the barer
between him and many other classicists, comparative linguists, and epigraphers was
not linguistic but psychological. In contrast to several previous non-professional
decipherers, he was a professional Hellenist and a discoverer/reconstructor of the
distinct ‘Pelasgian‘ language546. During 1955-1965, from the first Georgiev’s
publication in Linear A to the second Nagy’s publication in the same matter, the
language of Linear A was clearly interpreted as Greek and no other, despite some
other ideas of both authors who searched a compromise with a ‘Luvian hypothesis’.
Suggested Semitic words in Linear A were correctly interpreted by G. Nagy as
possible Semitic loans in Greek.
P. Meriggi identified the Cretan place names Pa-i-to, Ku-do-ni, I-ta-nu, several other
Greek names, and -qe, ‘and’ in ku-mi-na-qe (HT 53)547 in Linear A. He attempts to read
Greek verbs in Linear A548.
E. Peruzzi reads ka-u-de-ta (HT 13) as (ἡ) Καῦδος, ‘il nome dell'isola di Gozzo’, or
(ἡ) Γαῦδος, ‘a 20 miglia dalla costa sfakiota’, i-ja-te549: for E. Peruzzi, it is a Greek
543
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Arthur_Evans
544
Ventris, M., Chadwick, J. Documents in Mycenaean Greek (1973), pp. 13–14.
545
Георгиев В. История эгейского мира во ІІ тысячелетии до н. э. в свете минойских надписей,
Вестник древней истории, 1950, № 4, http://liberea.gerodot.ru/a_hist/georgiev.htm
546
It was a satem component of Greek, possibly related to Phrygian. A. V. Safronov and
A. A. Nemirovskii link Pelasgians / Pelastians / Philistines with Palestine in the Strymon region.
547
Meriggi, P. Primi elementi di minoico A, Minos, 1956, suppl. I; comments: Raison, J. État actuel des
travaux sur le linéaire A, Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé, Année 1959, Vol. 1, No 3, pp. 323-325,
http://www.persee.fr/doc/bude_0004-5527_1959_num_1_3_3865 ; Milani, C. Rev. of: Peruzzi, Le
iscrizioni minoiche, Atti dell'Accademia di Scienze e Lettere ‘La Colombaria’ 24, 1959-60. Ed.
L. S. Olschki, Firenze 1960. Un volume di pp. 31-128, Aevum, Anno 37, Fasc. 3/4 (Maggio-Agosto 1963),
p. 344.
548
Minoica: Sundwall-Festschrift, Berlin 1958.
549
Peruzzi, E. L’iscrizione HT 13, Minos 5 (1957), pp. 35-36, 39,
http://campus.usal.es/~revistas_trabajo/index.php/0544-3733/article/view/2649/2688
99
language. The author reads several suggested plant-names in Linear A in comparison
to Greek550 and very important ka-pa (title of several lists) in relation with καρπός551.
G. Pugliese Carratelli reads a-di-ki-te-te-pi in relation to Δίκτη and cites
Dr. Buphidis who reads Id-a ma-te; the author also reads the initial sign-group on the
Arkalokhori axe as Ida Ma na-552, i. e. in Greek. Later, E. Kaczyńska agrees with
G. A. Owens that -ma-te and pi-te-ri ‘guarantee the Indo-European status of the
Linear A language’553
C. D. Ktistopoulos shows common flexions in Linear A and B554.
M. Pope mentions Lin. A dative -si555.
Several Greek readings of Linear A words was proposed by Celestina Milani556.
In his famous ‘Greek-like elements in Linear A’, G. Nagy identifies the Linear A
words pa-i-to = Lin. B pa-i-to = Φαιστός, Lin. A di-ka-tu[ = Lin. B di-ka-ta-de ‘to Δίκτη’,
Lin. A qe-tu = Lin. B qe-to = πίθοι (‘vessels’), su-pu (over jar-ideogram in HT 31) =
συπύη, ‘meal-tub‘ (Greek borrowing from Semitic), Lin. A i-ta-nu = Lin. B u-ta-no =
Ἴτανος (a Cretan city), i-ja-te = Greek iater, ‘physician’, ki-ro = Greek χρέος, χρή,
‘debt’, ka-pa = Greek karpoi, ‘fruits’, ma-ka-ri-te = Μακαρίτης, ‘the blessed’, -qe = Linear
B -qe = Greek -te, ‘and’, ka = καί, Arcado-Cyprian κάς, ‘and’ etc.557 The author reads
ne-ma i-ja-te (graffito on fragment of a pithos)558 instead of recent (and
uninterpretable) si-ma; if Lin. A ne-mi-ta = νέμεσθαι, ‘to be distributed’559 then ne-ma
may be a form of νέμω, ‘deal out’, aor. Ep. νεῖμα (frequent in Homeric poetry
especially of meat and drink). He also interprets elements of morphology in Linear A
in comparison to one in Linear B: Lin. A su-ki-ri-ta = Lin. B su-ki-ri-ta = Σύβριτα
550
Peruzzi, E. Note minoiche, Minos 6 (1958), http://campus.usal.es/~revistas_trabajo/index.php/0544-
3733/article/view/2741/2777 ; Peruzzi, E. Appunti sull’iscrizione HT 6a, Minos 8 (1963),
551
Peruzzi, E. Appunti sull’iscrizione HT 6a, Minos 8 (1963), p. 13
552
Pugliese Carratelli, J. Sulle epigrafi in lineare A di carattere sacrale, Minos 5 (1957), No. 2, pp. 170-
172, http://campus.usal.es/~revistas_trabajo/index.php/0544-3733/article/view/2714/2752
553
Kaczyńska, E. Greek ΙΔΑ ‘battle, fight, combat’: a term of Minoan origin? Kadmos XLI (2002),
https://www.academia.edu/6872958/GREEK_%CE%99%CE%94%CE
%91_BATTLE_FICHT_COMBAT_A_TERM_OF_MINOAN_ORIGIN
554
Ktistopoulos, C. D. Relations entre linéaire A et linéaire B, Études mycéniennes (Paris 1956), pp. 189-
191.
555
Pope, M. Aegean writing and Linear A (Cape Town, 1964); Поуп М. Линейное письмо А и
проблема эгейской письменности, Тайны древних письмен (Москва, 1976), с. 91.
556
Milani, C. Rev. of: Peruzzi, Le iscrizioni minoiche, Atti dell'Accademia di Scienze e Lettere ‘La
Colombaria’ 24, 1959-60. Ed. L. S. Olschki, Firenze 1960. Un volume di pp. 31-128, Aevum, Anno 37,
Fasc. 3/4 (Maggio-Agosto 1963), p. 344; Milani, C. Contributo all’ interpretazione del lessico minoico,
Kadmos 3 (1964), pp. 8-24; reprint: Milani, C. Varia Mycenaea (Milano 2005), pp. 319-336,
https://books.google.com.ua/books?id=3OeUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA319&lpg=PA319&dq=meriggi+p.
+lineare+a&source=bl&ots=aEKu85PTpE&sig=E4tkIOxokeU4QmWoMmyd4orsdMg&hl=uk&sa=X&re
dir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=meriggi%20p.%20lineare%20a&f=false
557
Nagy, G. Greek-like elements in Linear A, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies (Harvard University
Press) vol. 4 (1963)
558
Nagy, G. Greek-like elements .., p. 186
559
Nagy, G. Observations.., p. 321.
100
(Cretan town) while su-ki-ri-te-i-ja ≈ Lin. B su-ki-ri-ta-jo = Sugritajos (an ethnic
name)560.
In the next important article, ‘Observations on the sign-grouping and vocabulary
of Linear A’, G. Nagy compares contexts of ka-pa in Linear A (HT 102) and Linear B
and takes into consideration, in addition to the Hesychian gloss κάρπη· τὰ
σπέρματα561, the Aristarchean gloss καρπὸν ἔδουσιν· σῖτον ἐστίουσιν562. Lin. A da-ta-
ra in ka-pa da-ta-ra (HT 6a) and da-ta-ro (HT 116a) are interpreted as δαιτρά, ‘portions’
and δαιτρόν, ‘portion’, in comparison to καρποδισται in a legal text from Gortyna563.
Frequent sa-ra2 (ki-ri-ta2 sa-ra2 GRANUM 10 OLEUM 7 FICUS 1 VINUM 1 in HT 114a;
sa-ra2 GRANUM 5 in HT 121) he interprets as σήλια· τὰ μικρὰ πιθάρια while ki-ri-ta2
– as κριτά, ‘choice, selected items’, κριτέα, ‘to be chosen’564. Lin. A ma-za in
GRANUM … ma-za (HT 102.3-4) is μᾶζα, ‘a kneaded, unbaked thing’ or ‘a porridge,
consisting of barley-meal’ or ‘barley-cake’565. Lin. A wo-no (HT 93a.5 and HT 11a.4) is
interpreted as Linear B wo-no = Ϝοῖνος, ‘wine’566.
The form su-FICUS-ka (on the roundels Cr IV 2a and Cr IV 3a) = σῦκα, ‘figs’567 is
very important for reading of Cretan hieroglyphics. Logograms between phonetic
signs were used, but rarely, in Egyptian hieroglyphics.
G. Nagy underlines that he and V. Georgiev ‘independently arrived at identical
suggestions for the following A words: a-tu, da-ta-ra, ka-ku, ku-mi-na, ku-ru-ku, ma-ru,
pa-ra-tu, pi-ta-ka-se (very significant), and -qe’568.
Georgiev-Nagy model was never criticized detaily.
Why the voice of G. Nagy was not heard – it is an enigma for me. In contrast, the
voice of M. Ventris was heard very quickly despite the fact that his Greek reading of
Linear B contrasted with a half-century tradition. What’s happened between
M. Ventris’ decipherment of Linear B (1953) and V. Georgiev’s decipherment of
Linear A (1955)?
In the case of V. Georgiev (1908-1986), some political causes might be taken into
consideration,569 but he was Corresponding Member of the French Academy of
Sciences (1967), the Finnish Academy of Sciences (1966), Saxon Academy of Sciences
in Leipzig (1968), the Belgian Academy of Sciences (1971), Athens Academy of
560
Nagy, G. Greek-like elements.., p. 186; other examples of the flexion see on p. 197.
561
Nagy, G. Greek-like elements.., p. 207.
562
Nagy, G. Observations on the sign-grouping and vocabulary of Linear A, American Journal of
Archaeology 69, No. 4 (October 1965), pp. 297-298. As for me, ka-pa as a title of HT 6, HT 94, HT 102, HT
105 may correspond not simply with Greek καρπός, ‘fruit, corn, seed, wine, oil’ but especially with
Dim. καρπίον, pl. καρπία, ‘small seed’.
563
Nagy, G. Observations.., pp. 300-304.
564
Nagy, G. Observations.., pp. 304-306. Cf. HT 101 … sa-ra2 … ku-pa3[, cf. HT 102, HT 105 sa-ra2 after
the title ka-pa: σάρι, pl. σάρια, ‘an Egyptian water-plant, ‘Cyperus auricomus‘ or a form of σαίρω,
‘clean’; κριθή, ‘barley’ and κριθαία, ‘barley pottage’.
565
566
Nagy, G. Observations.., pp. 310-311. Recent readings of these words are different.
567
Nagy, G. Greek-like elements.., p. 198-199; Nagy, G. Observations.., p. 321.
568
569
Bulgaria was a communist country which had political disagreement with Greece.
101
Sciences (1977). Possibly, pre-Ventris publication of V. Georgiev in Linear A and B570
discredited other his decipherment attempt in linear A. Other participants in the
Greek reading of Linear A had also very strong social positions: Giovanni Pugliese
Carratelli (1911-1910) was a director of the Istituto Italiano per gli studi Storici and a
director of the Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Filosofici di Napoli, a member of the
Accademia dei Lincei. Emilio Peruzzi (1924-2009) lectured as a professor in several
universities of Europe and USA.
Later V. Georgiev read Linear A in two languages, Hittite-Luwian and Greek571
Graeco-Hittite bilingualism of Linear A was proposed by V. Georgiev in the Italian-
language book (1966), but the idea was not accepted: ‘Two components of the
population are taken to be the source of the Linear A texts: the Eteocretans in the
eastern and central parts of the island, with a language of the Hittite-Luwian group,
and the Cydonians at Hagia Triada, with an extremely archaic Greek dialect. <…> his
interpretations of the texts cannot be regarded as sure, since all the texts are fairly
short, the content is made to consist largely of proper names, and there are certain
matters of detail which fail to carry conviction’572.
Paul Faure proposed several important interpretations: a-ta-no- (recently read a-ta-
i-) = ἄττανα (τήγανα, ‘frying-pan’, Hesych.), (y)a-sa-sa-ra-me = ἱεροῦμαι, ἱερούμενον,
ἱέρωμα573 (s > h in Linear A, but it is realy Greek participle, especially a-sa-sa-ra-ma-
na).
M. D. Tsikritsis reads si-tu (HT Wa 1019) as σῖτος, ‘grain, bread’574 (so previous
word in the inscription, pa-ta-ne, might mean πατάνη, ‘flat dish’), da-du-ma-ta (HT 95)
as δᾶ δώματα or διὰ δώματα· διὰ τὰ οἰκήματα (Hesych.)575, i-da-mi (SY Za 1) as
ἐνδαμία, ‘dwelling in’576, frequent si-ka as Lacon. σίκα: ὗς (Hesych.)577
J. Faucounau also proposes several Greek interpretations.578
570
Георгиев В., Дешифровка минойских надписей / Le déchiffrement des inscriptions minoennes, София,
Державно издательство «Наука и изкуство», 1949; Georgiev, V. Inscriptions minoennes quasi-bilingues,
Sofia 1950; Georgiev, V. I. Interpretation de quatre inscriptions minoennes, Minos 1 (1951), 77-83,
http://campus.usal.es/~revistas_trabajo/index.php/0544-3733/article/view/2204/2265 ;
Георгиев В. Проблемы минойского языка, София: Изд-во БАН, 1953.
571
Georgiev, V. Les deux langues des inscriptions Cretoises en linéaire A, Linguistique balkanique 7,
1963, pp. 1-104.
572
Poultney, J. W. Rev. of: Introduzione alla storia delle lingue indeuropee. By V. I. Georgiev. (Incunabula
graeca, 9.) Pp. vi, 477. Rome: Edizioni dell' Ateneo, 1966, Language, Vol. 44, No. 2, Part 1 (Jun., 1968), p.
337.
573
Faure, P. Dédicaces crétoises en linéaire A, Балканско езикознание / Linguistique balqanique XVI/1
(София 1972), p. 12. The author underlined pioneer role of V. Georgiev, despite different views on
several interpretations, Ibid., p. 13.
574
Τσικριτσης Μ. Δ. Γραμμική Α (Ηράκλειο 2001), σ. 116–117, 226.
575
Τσικριτσης Μ. Δ. Γραμμική Α, σ. 186–187.
576
Τσικριτσης Μ. Δ. Γραμμική Α, σ. 244.
577
Τσικριτσης Μ. Δ. Γραμμική Α, σ. 229.
578
Faucounau, J. Do inscriptions in Linear A Script belong to different languages? Anistoriton, vol. 5
(January 2001), V011, http://www.anistor.gr/english/enback/index.htm
102
Virginia Hicks writes about ‘helpful words such as ru-ja (pomegranates - KN W
26), ka-pa (olives - HT 6 etc.) and ma-lu (wool - HT 117) which are shared with
Mycenaean or later Greek’; she also reads to-sa (PK Za 16), te-ke (PR Za 1) and several
other words in Greek.579 E. g., V. Hicks reads:
PK Za16 (the corner of a libation table) to-sa pu2-re-ja as ‘so many (tosa, cf. Greek
tossos) offerings or things brought (pu2reja, from the zero grade of PIE *bher- which
would yield an o in Greek phoros) but I read φυλία;
PR Za1 (on a libation table): ta-na-su te-ke Se-to-i-ja A-sa-sa-ra-me as ‘Tanasu
established (cf. Greek theke) (this table) at Setoia (Sitia), o my Lady’;
PK Za11 (an incomplete inscription) A-ta-no-dju-wa-e a-di-ki-te-te [..] ‘O, Sun
Goddess (in the vocative, cf. Luwian astanus ‘sun’, djuwaja = PIE *deiuih2), you were
wronged (cf. adikeomai, although the ending is more Hittite (-tet))580
Oksana Lewyckyj proposes several Greek readings including si-ma i-ja-te581, ta-na-
te … a-ta-na-te582, ka-na-ni-ti (KH Wc 2005) as Canaanites583
Some results of V. Georgiev were re-discovered by G. A. Owens, e. g.: ‘We also
find PO-TO-KU-RO clearly Grand-Total by context again and it consists of the word
for total KU-RO and PO-TO for all with connections to PANT/PONT in Greek and
Tocharian’584 Owens’ conclusion is: ‘Minoan is a satem language, with lexicographical
characteristics which are closer to Greek and Sanskrit, more than with Hittite, as
shown by MA-TE for Mother and not Anatolian ANNA, in a position similar
perhaps to that of Armenian’585.
F. C. Woudhuizen underlines that ‘even with the recognition of some Luwianisms
in texts basically conducted in the Semitic language we have not yet fully exploited
the language situation in Linear A’ because of da-ma-te (Kythera) and i-da-ma-te586.
Enrica Patria reads mi-nu-te (HT 86, HT 95) as =ίς (but μίνθη, ‘mint’ may be
also proposed because of possible meaning of other words in the list), i-pi-na-ma si-
579
Hicks, V. The language of the Minoans, Anistoriton, vol. 9 (September 2005), Viewpoints, Section
V053, http://www.anistor.gr/english/enback/index.htm ;
https://www.academia.edu/6173899/The_Language_of_the_Minoans See also: Hicks, V. Minoan
origins of Athena, https://www.academia.edu/6173933/Minoan_Origins_of_Athena
580
https://independent.academia.edu/VirginiaHicks
581
https://oksanalewyckyj.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-09-16T13:30:00%2B02:00&max-
results=7&start=70&by-date=false
582
583
584
Owens, G. The structure of the Minoan language,
585
Owens, G. The structure of the Minoan language,
586
Woudhuizen, F. C. The language(s) of Linear A, DO-SO-MO 6, p. 110-111,
https://www.academia.edu/8098692/The_Language_s_of_Linear_A_An_Updated_Review_Article
103
ru-te in so-called ‘Libation Formula’ in relation with ἐί ‘nod’ and συλλύω
etc.587
Despite M. Pope not excludes the Semitic hypothesis, he writes: ‘For Minoan to
contain some Semitic words would not be surprising. Bronze Age Crete belonged to
the same culture as the contemporary Near East. It is natural that technical terms of
accountancy and of articles of commerce such as pots should have been borrowed.
The further conclusion that the language itself is Semitic is however still a long way
from being proved’588. M. Pope also underlines that ‘Linear A is not a ‘prefixing’
language’589 in contrast to Semitic. Absence of aspirated stops in Linear A contrasts
with Semitic phonetics. M. Pope also writes: ‘The only Minoan word whose meaning
is certainly known is kuro or kulo = «total». There is no doubt that this could be
Semitic (Akkadian kalu, kullatu; Hebrew kôl; etc.).’590
Main proponent of the Semitic Linear A hypothesis, C. H. Gordon, wrote that
‘Linear A, like cuneiform Hittite, might be full of Sumerograms and Akkadograms
and yet be in a non-Mesopotamian language. That some elements in Linear A are not
Semitic is a foregone conclusion. Whether or not ka-pa is Akkadian gabba, "all," it is
clear that ka-pa-qe (HT 6:a:4) has the suffix that appears in Latin as -que, Linear B
Greek -qe, "and."’591 In the other words, the copula particle in Linear A is identical to
one in Greek Linear B, and it is noticed by the scholar who created the hypothesis of
Semitic Linear A!
Among many evidence of Greek Linear A (see below), one might be presented
here.
‘Sign *034 has been suggested to represent MNA (or, if a disyllabic value can be
accepted, MINA), based on its resemblance to the crescent moon (Pope and Raison 1978, 28;
Packard 1974, 107; Furumark 1956, 24). And while this idea has not received wide-spread
agreement, it may be correct. Consider the following:
U-*034-SI (HT 15.1, 140.1, 2) =? U-MI-NA-SI (HT 28b.1-2, 117a.1-2)
PI-*34-TE (HT 116a.4) =? ]PI-MI-NA-TE (AP Za 2.2)’592
Egypt. hier. ‘crescent moon’ is very similar.

So the language of Linear A is Indo-European (Proto-Indo-European *mens-,
‘moon’) or even Greek, cf. the name of Minos possibly related to lunar cult: the name
587
Patria, E. The ideophonetic system of Linear A [2011],
http://www.enricapatria.com/file/THEIDEOPHONETICSYSTEMOFLINEARA_eng.pdf
588
Pope, M. On the language of Linear A, Minos 6 (1958), p. 23,
589
Pope, M. On the language of Linear A, Minos 6 (1958),
http://gredos.usal.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10366/73246/On_the_Language_of_Linear_A.pdf?
sequence=1
590
Pope, M. On the language.., p. 21.
591
Gordon, C. H. Minoan Linear A, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Oct., 1958), pp. 253-
254.
592
http://www.people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/#7
104
of her wife, Pasi-phae, means ‘full-lighting (moon)’, the name of their first son,
Katreus, means ‘(lunar) quarter’ etc.
As J. L. Caskey concluded about Linear A, ‘The consensus is that the language is
not Greek, although a few would allow that it may contain Greek elements’593.
P. Faure’s conclusion is: ‘...if not Greek, at least an Indo-European language closely
related to Greek’594.
Like ‘Mycenaean Greek’ of Linear B, we can use ‘Minoan Greek’ to Linear A.
Linear A word groups: a key to deciphering?
Linear A word groups, lists united thematically, combinations of words with ideograms,
additional information from inscribed objects and location give as many keys to deciphering the script
in Greek
pi-ta-ka-se TE GRA (HT 21, with ideogram ‘grain’), lesser HT 87 pi-ta-ke-si: Greek
πιστάκιον, ‘pistachio-nut’595
ka-ti su-pu2[ (HT 63):

ka-ti (cf. the most frequent word in Cretan hieroglyphics). Cypriot ka-to-se ‘cup for
water or wine’, Arcad. κάθιδοι: ὑδρίαι (Hesych.), κηθίς, -ίδος, ‘dice-box’;
su-pu2 cf. συπύη = σιπύη, σιπύα, ἰπύα ‘meal-tub’, cf. HT 8 su-pu2, HT 31 *415VAS
(ideogram for vessel)+su-pu
ka-di VINa (ZA 15, with ideogram ‘wine’) cf. κάδος, ‘jar or vessel for
water or wine’, κάδιν, diminutive of previous
]to-sa pu2-re-ja[ (PK Za 16)

V. Hicks reads the inscription on the corner of a libation table as follows: ‘so many
(tosa, cf. Greek tossos) offerings or things brought (pu2reja, from the zero grade of PIE
*bher- which would yield an o in Greek phoros). If ἡ φυλία ‘wild olive’ might be taken
into consideration then ‘so many olives’ might be proposed as a thanslation of the
word combination, cf. SY Za 2 ja-su-ma-tu OLIV and u-na-ka-na-si OLE.
A variant of pu2-re-ja may be pu-ra2 GRA 40 OLE+DI (HT 116, with ideograms
‘grain’ and ‘olive oil’), cf. ]pu2-ra2 GRA (ZA 6 a6, with ideogram ‘grain’): πυρός,
‘wheat’
si-da-te … a-si-da-to-i (ARKH 2) cf. also σιτ-ευτός ‘fed up, fatted’ – *ἀ-σιτευτός
‘non-fatted’
593
The Cambridge Ancient History II.1, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge 2008), p. 138
594
Fischer, S. R. Glyphbreaker, Springer, 1997, p. 97
595
Firstly as πιστάκη, Peruzzi, E. Appunti sull’iscrizione HT 6a, p. 13
105
ka-pa da-ta-ra pi-ta-ja (HT 6);
cf. pu VINa (ideogram for wine is similar to the syllabic sign po which reflects
Cretan boinos = Greek woinos, ‘wine’) … da-tu (HT 123+124)
δάκτυλος, pl. δάκτυλα, ‘date’, ‘grape’
u-ta2 (HT 103) may be *da-ta2
ka-na … sa-sa-me … ko-ru (HT 23): κάνναβις, ‘hemp’; σησάμη, ‘sesame’; κορίαννον,
κορίανδρον, ‘coriander’; cf. sa-ja-ma (HT 31), Lacon. σάἁμον = σήσαμον, ‘seed or fruit
of the sesame-plant’; ka-na[ … du-ma-i-na (HT 123+124): θυμίαμα ‘incense’
ja-su-ma-tu OLIV (SY Za 2): αἰσυμνήτῃ (Diog. Laert. 1.7), dat. of αἰσυμνήτης, Dor.
αἰσιμνάτας ‘judge’, ‘ruler chosen by the people, elective monarch’ (Arist. Pol.
1285a31, 1295a14)596, compared with the Roman dictator (Dion. Halic. 5.73); title of
magistrates in Greek cities; αἰσυμνητύς ‘office of αἰσυμνήτης’. Proposed meaning: ‘to
ruler’s palace – olives’. ‘Brent Davis points out that *122 OLIV strongly resembles RE
in KO Za 1b’ so ja-su-ma-tu-re may also be readed, cf. αἰσυμνητήρ ‘ruler’597.
u-na-ka-na-si OLE (SY Za 2)

We have parallel constructions ja-su-ma-tu OLIV and u-na-ka-na-si OLE in the same
inscription. Several variants of the word are known: u-na-ru-ka-ja-si (PK Za 12) < u-
na-ru-ka-*na-si (a and na are similar), u-na-ru-ka-na-ti (PK Za 11), u-na-ka-na-si (IO Za
2, TL Za 1, KO Za 1, PK Za 8). The u-na-ka-/u-na-ru-ka- alternation leads us to
reconstruction of arg-, ark- of arkh-. If ja-su-ma-tu in the parallel construction is a
building (an office of city magistrate) then u-na-(ru-)ka-na-si/ti might be a building
too, cf. ἑρκάνη, ὁρκάνη ‘enclosure’. So the translation ἐν ὁρκάνῃσι(ν) ‘in the (sacral)
enclosures – olive oil’ possibly referred to natural temples might be proposed.
However, a name related to ἄρχων ‘ruler, commander, chief, king’ (archon’s office?)
can’t be also excluded.
a-sa-da-ka GRA (MA Wc): ἄσταχυς ‘ear of corn’
du-ra-re a-79-ra (KN Zc 7)

If du-ra-re is Δρῆρος then a-zu-ra or a-kju-ra or a-gu-ra might be compared with
ἀγρός ‘field, country opp. to town’ (Skt. ájras ‘plain’); the word combination closely
596
‘These then are two kinds of monarchy; while another is that which existed among the ancient
Greeks, the type of rulers called aesymnetae. This, to put it simply, is an elective tyranny, and it
differs from the monarchy that exists among barbarians not in governing without the guidance of law
but only in not being hereditary’, Aristotle. Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 21, translated by
H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1944,
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0058:book=3:section=1285a
Etymology: Beekes, p. 44
597
Independently, the reading was proposed by E. Patria, Patria, E. The ideophonetic system of Linear
A [2011], http://www.enricapatria.com/file/THEIDEOPHONETICSYSTEMOFLINEARA_eng.pdf
106
resembles Lin. B combinations with place names ‘ro-u-si-jo a-ko-ro, ‘the ἀγρός
(‘plain’, ‘territory’) of ro-u-so’, and pa-ki-ja-ni-jo a-ko-ro, the ἀγρός of pa-ki-ja-ne’598
a-ka-ra ki-ta-na-si-ja-se (PE Zb 3), cf. ἄκρα, ‘end’ (i. e. border?) and κτοίνα or κτοῖνα,
Rhodian name for ‘a local division’, and κτοινάτης, ‘member of a κτοίνα’; Lin. B ko-
to-na, ko-to-i-na, ‘plot of land’; so the phrase might mean ἄκρα *κτοινάσιjας, ‘border
of a territory’
ja-di-ki-te-te-du-*re-re
The word or word combination occupied the place of place name in the ‘Libation
Formula’.
Εἲς Δίκταν δέ599 Δρῆρον600
The context tu-ru-sa du-pu3-re i-da-a (KO Za 1) might point to three toponyms.
pi-te-ri a-ko-a-ne (PK Za 11)

It is a good example to explain that word combinations may be a key to
decipherment using the ‘artificial bilingual’ method, i. e. searching of words and
word groups in known texts basing on the V. Georgiev-G. Nagy evidence of Greek
words in Linear A. Combinations of phonetic words and ideograms are interpreted
too.
Cf. Homeric πατρὸς ἀκουήν (Od. 2.308), πατρὸς ἀκουὴν (Od. 4.701), ‘hearing of
father’, from ἀκοή, epic ἀκουή, ‘hearing’, cf. πατρὸς (gen.) ἀκούσας (part sg aor act
masc nom attic epic ionic), ‘hear of father’ (Od. 4.114).
Indian-like (not Iranian) form of the word pi-te-ri (Sanskrit pitár-)601 is unclear, cf.
also Latin Juppiter in the light of Indo-Aryan influence on Etruscan. If Cypro-Minoan
reflected Hurrian and Cretan syllabaries were the best for Hurrian phonetically, the
Mitannian Aryan influence was possible: the Mitannian Aryan language was spoken
in the Linear A time. Cf. the Linear A name of mother goddess I-da-ma-te, Da-ma-te,
Cretan Hieroglyphic ma-te-re-si or -i.
The phrase might be related to the cult of ancestors, cf. θάνατος μὲν τάδ᾽ ἀκούειν
(Soph. Oedipus at Colonus 529), cf. ἦ ματρόθεν, ὡς ἀκούω (Ibid. 527), ἄκουε τοῦ
θανόντος (Soph. Electra 792), τεθνηῶτος (sc. πατρός)602 ἀκούσῃς (Od. 1.289).
Perhaps, pi-te-ri is in dative.
An alternative reading of pi-te-ri is πτόλις, ‘city’.
598
Bennet, J. The geography of the Mycenaean kingdoms, A companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek
texts and their world (Duhoux, Y., Morpurgo Davies, A., eds.), Peeters (Louvain-la-Neuve – Walpole,
MA 2011), p. 143, https://www.academia.edu/963845/The_Geography_of_the_Mycenaean_Kingdoms
599
Or Greek ἔτι ‘yet’, Phryg. ετι-, Armen. et’e.
600
Dicte and Dreros are located closely.
601
Owens, G. Transliteration and interpretation of documents in the Minoan language, pp. 223-224,
http://www.teicrete.gr/daidalika/documents/la630byrinth_book/archlang.pdf
602
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry
%3Da)kou%2Fw
107
ka-pa (title of the tablet) sa-ra2 … pa3-ni … di-ri-na … ma-zu … (HT 102), pa3-ni-na
GRA … di-ri-na … (HT 93):
ka-pa: κάρπη· τὰ σπέρματα (Hesych.)603
sa-ra2: may be σέλινον, ‘celery’
di-ri-na: θρινία ‘ἄμπελος ἐν Κρήτῃ’ (Hesych.)
pa3-ni-na: φαινίς = ἀνεμώνη (Laced.)
ma-za: μᾶζα, ‘a kneaded, unbaked thing’ or ‘a porridge, consisting of barley-meal’
or ‘barley-cake’604
ki-re-ta-na GRA (HT 120), ki-re-ta-na VIR 1 GRA (HT 108): κριθανίας ‘like barley’,
ki-re-ta2 GRA (HT 129): κριθή, ‘barley’ and κριθαία, ‘barley pottage’
However, ki-ri-ta2 as a title of the tablet (HT 114 and possibly HT 121) may be
κριτά, ‘choice, selected items’, κριτέα, ‘to be chosen’605
pa-ra tu-ru-nu-se-me GRA … wa-tu-ma-re GRA (HT 128):

σεμνός, ‘holy’, of many goddess: Demeter, Hecate, Thetis, Athena, Σεμναί is
Erinyes;
θρόνος, ‘throne’, incl. Apollo’s throne in the Prytaneum;
ἐν θρόνῳ σεμνῷ (Herodot. 2.173), σεμνοί τε θᾶκοι ‘holy seats’ (Aesch. Agam. 519),
σεμνὰς καθεδοῦνται (Aristoph. Eccles. 618)
The initial pa-ra may be compared with παρά which means ‘to the side of, to’ in
composites or with πρός ‘to’.
pu VINa … a-pu2-na-du (HT 14), pu VINa (HT 123+124): Hier., Lin. A, B ideogram
for wine is similar to the syllabic sign po which reflects Cretan boinos = Greek woinos,
‘wine’
2) VINb+WI 3) wi-na-du (KH 5): *woin-hadus, ‘sweet wine’
du-re-za-se VINb (ZA 10): Lin. B de-re-u-ko, ‘grape must’, γλεῦκος, ‘sweet new
wine’, a cognate of γλυκύς, ‘sweet’ and δλυκύς (LSJ), Lat. dulcis
ki-re-za FIC (ZA 1): κράδη, ‘fig-branch, figtree’
i-pa-sa-ja … a-ki-pi-e-te (KH 10), i-ku-pi[ (KH 18): Ἐφέσια … Αἰγύπτειος
qa-nu-ma FIC (KH 88) cf. γάνυμαι ‘be glad’
603
604
605
108
da-wa du-wa-to (KN Za 10): θεός, dat. θεῷ, Dor. θεύς, ‘god’ and θυητά,
‘fumigations’: ‘fumigations for a god’
a-se-tu-qi … ra-o-di-ki … pi-ru-e-ju … se-sa-pa3 … (PH 2): ἄστυ or Ἀστυόχη,

Λαοδίκη606, Πυρόεις, Σίσυφος and σέσυφος (πανοῦργος, Hsch.; -sa- cf. not only
σοφός, ‘clever’, Hitt. šuppi-, ‘pure’ but also σαφής, ‘clear’, Latin. sapiens). Possibly,
there are names of priests and priestess.
In some cases, inscribed objects might be interpreted as quasi-ideograms:

tu-nu on the bronze axe (KA Zf 1): θύνω ‘rush, dart along’, θύνων (part sg pres act
masc nom);
e-si-ja on the lamp (KE Zb 4): ἑστία ‘hearth of a house’607;
da-ku on the bronze double axe (SE Zf 1): θήγω, Dor. θάγω ‘sharpen, whet’, θηγός,
‘sharp’ (Hesych.);
u-na-a on the pithoid jar (KN Zb 40): *oinaia, ‘wine-vessel’ (cf. Οἰναῖος), οἰνάς, οἴνη,
‘wine’
The location of an inscription might be the other source of information, cf. i-da-pa3-
i-sa-ri from Phaistos (PH 6) which palace is oriented to the Ida Mountain. The city is
located near Γόρτυν, cf. i-zu-ri-ni-ta on the same tablet.
Lin. A … 5 … 5 … 1 … 30 … 5 … 3 … 1 da-i 50, so da-i ‘total’, cf. δαίς ‘food’, a

cognate of δαίω, ‘divide’
Phonetics and orthography
Linear A phonetic features may be identified as Hurrianized Graeco-Macedono-Phrygian
Linear A orthography is distinct from that of Linear B

Orthographic principles of Linear A might be very different from Linear B as well
as Linear B orthography is different from Cypriot Syllabic, cf.:
Classic Greek anthropos, basileus, arguros, iereus, khalkourgos,
Cypr. Syll. a-to-ro-po-se, pa-si-le-wo-se, a-ra-ku-ro-se, i-e-re-(wo-)se, ka-la-ko-wo-ro-ko608,
Linear B a-to-ro-qo, qa-si-re-u, a-ku-ro, i-je-re-u, ka-ko-wo-ko609.
Cretan Hieroglyps reflected one more way of orthography.
606
Independently, the same interpretation: Τσικριτσης Μ. Δ. Γραμμική Α (Ηράκλειο 2001), σ. 106;
607
‘Etymological connexion with Vesta is doubtful; the dialects never have ϝ-, exc. in the pr.
n. ϝιστίαυ’, LSJ, s. v.
608
Cf. also nu-mu-pa-i / nupa, nupe
609
Compared principles of Linear B and Cypriot: https://oksanalewyckyj.blogspot.com/search?
updated-max=2010-07-20T18:17:00%2B02:00&max-results=7&start=119&by-date=false
109
Absence of final -o in Linear A (in contrast to final -o in Linear B) as an argument
against the ‘Greekness’ resembles the absence of final -se in Linear B (in contrast to
Cypriot Syllabic final -se) as an argument against the Greek reading of Linear B.
Main orthographic (but perhaps not phonetic) features of Linear A are incomplete
e- and o-series610, including u instead of o and possible of e.
Cretan Hieroglyps, Linear A, Linear B, and Classical Cypriot Syllabary are cognate
but different systems of writing, then ‘abundance of u-stems’ in Linear A (Lin. A ma-
ru / Lin. B ma-ro)611 may reflect only graphical difference because representation of e-
and o-series in Linear A is weak in comparison to Linear B (mainly, e and o were
replaced by u in Linear A).
Flection -os reflects in Classical Cypriot as -o-se, in Linear B as -o and in Linear A as
-u. Opposition between voiced and voiceless stops is absent not only in Linear A but
also in Linear B and Classic Cypriot (more than in Lin. AB: d / t are also not
distincted), then it can’t be argument against the ‘Greekness’ of Linear A612.
If Lin. B omitted the second wovel of dyphthongs, then Lin. B – the first wovel, in
possible correlation with dialectal phonetic feature. It may also be only
orthographical convention.
The most important feature of Cypriot syllabary is z instead of g: Cypriot Syllabic
a-za-la-ma = Classic Greek agalma, ‘statue’, Cypriot Syllabic a-za-ta-i = Classic Greek
agathos, ‘good’; cf. Greek ga, ge: Cypriot za, ‘earth’. The same feature can be found in
Linear B (KN a-ke-ti-ri-ja / a-ze-ti-ri-ja, PY ke-i-ja-ka-ra-na / ze-i-ja-ka-ra-na; o-ze-to
possibly related to gento613), in Cretan Hieroglyphs (za-ti = ka-ti, ‘vessel’ etc.), and in
Phrygian. Hypothetically, it may point to the origin of Cypro-Minoan not from
Linear A but from Cretan Hieroglyphs, and Linear A might be not a ‘parent’ but an
‘elder brother’ of Cypro-Minoan. Alternatively, it may be ga, not za (then Cret. Hier.
za-ti or ga-ti corresponds with Luwian gati-, ‘vessel’).
Phonetics vs conventional orthography

It is very hard to differentiate conventional features of Linear A orthography and
phonetical features of the Linear A dialect. E. g., ka-nu-ti (which occupied the first
position, before pa-i-to, in the list of Cretan towns) means clearly Knossos (possibly in
Dative, as an object of gifts), but why ka-, in contrast to Linear B ko-no-so?
Etymologically the name is γνωστός, ‘known’ (while Φαῖστος is ‘lighted’,
Κῠδωνία ‘glorified’: a result of unified building plane after 1700 BCE) with -στ- > -σσ-
610
‘Linear A had no signs for do, jo, mo, no, qo, so, and wo’, p. 137,
http://sites.utexas.edu/scripts/files/2016/07/palaima_1995a.pdf
611
Finkelberg, M. The language of Linear A: Greek, Semitic, or Anatolian? Greater Anatolia and the Indo-
Hittite language family (R. Drews, ed.) / JIES Monograph Series, No. 38 (Washington 2000), p. 85,
https://www.academia.edu/24273902/The_Language_of_Linear_A_Greek_Semitic_or_Anatolian
612
Cf.: Finkelberg, M. The language of Linear A: Greek, Semitic, or Anatolian? Greater Anatolia and the
Indo-Hittite language family (R. Drews, ed.) / JIES Monograph Series, No. 38 (Washington 2000), p. 85,
613
Казанскене В. П., Казанский Н. Н. Предметно-понятийный словарь греческого языка: крито-
микенский период (Ленинград 1986), с. 116.
110
assimilation. Initial k- instead of g- might be phonetical, cf. Macedonian κάναδοι:
γνάθοι; cf. also Armenian canot’ ‘known’.
The appearance of a may be explained in two ways: 1) it is phonetical too
(aforementioned Macedonian example) or 2) it is only conventional feature, like
Linear B ko-no-so (but cf. alphabetical Konossos614). The form of k3-jn-.jw-š3 ‘Knossos’615
(initial [ka-]!) in the Egyptian source of Mycenaean (14th c. BCE) time reflects
conventional feature rather than pronunciation (w3-jw-r-jj-ї ‘Wilios, Ilion’, rї-k3-tj
‘Lyktos’, without pronunciation of [ka] and [wa]), but dialectal phonetical specifics
can’t be also excluded.
Identification of Linear A sign-groups and Greek words shows several features
which are not reflect in Linear B, cf. names of vessels: Lin. A ka-ro-pa3 = Greek
κάρδοπος616. It may be an evidence of orthographic simplification of written words.
Simplifications of consonant groups might be not only orthographic convention but
also phonetic feature of the Linear A Cretan dialect of the Greek language: ka-ro-pa3 :
κάρδοπος resembles Cret. πήριξ: πέρδιξ (Hesych.).
In addition to the simplification, Linear A like Linear B might contain many
abbreviations.
Perhaps, complete noun declension and verb conjugation paradigms were not
reflected in Linear A. Instead, only short indication might be present, cf. early
Sumerian inscriptions in comparison to latter.
Egyptian influence on Linear A orthography

If Cretan Hieroglyphs were strongly influenced by Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Linear
A might accept several orthographic rules from the Egyptian tradition to denote
foreign words, e. g.:
Only the second vowel of diphthong is designed, as nw-pj-r-jj-ї ‘Nauplion’ (a in au
is not reflected);
Vowelless syllable is denoted as consonant + a (kan- and -kat- instead of kn- and -kt
in the names of Knossos and Lyktos above);
Needless initial j- (j-m-nї-š3 ‘Amnisos’);
Absence of o (replaced by w [u]) while e is conventional insert vowel in the modern
reading of Egyptian words (k3-tw-n3-jj ‘Kudonia’, perhaps Adjective from the name);
The lack of distinction between l and r.
Macedonian, Phrygian, Armenian, and Messapian phonetics

Many examples of b/p, d/t, g/k are in Thracian, Phrygian, and Macedonian words617.
614
Kitchell, K. F. Topographica Cretica: A Dissertation, Chicago 1977,
http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2707&context=luc_diss
615
Cretan names in Egyptian after: Duhoux, Y. Des Minoens en Égypte? (Louvain-la-Neuve 2003), pp.
238–239.
616
Neumann, G. Weitere mykenische und minoische Gefäßnamen, Glotta, XXXIX, ¾, 1960/1961, S. 172-
178; Деянов, А. Ф. Линейное письмо А, Тайны древних письмен (Москва, 1976), с. 84; Деянов А. Ф.
Комментарий, ibid., с. 99-100.
617
Откупщиков Ю. В. Догреческий субстрат, Ленинград 1988, с. 126.
111
Macedonian phonetic features in Lin. A, B syllabary are:
Mac. b: Greek ph (ἀβροῦτες or ἀβροῦϜες : ὀφρύες, βάζω : φάσκω) < IE *bh;
Mac. d: Greek th (ἀδῆ : αἰθήρ) < IE *dh;
Mac. k: Greek g (ἀρκόν : ἀργόν)618, so k instead of g in Κνωσ(σ)ός < γνωστός,
γνωτός ‘known’ is a Macedonian feature (IE *g);
Mac. ū: Greek ō (κάνουν : Attic κανών); cf. ἀπεσουτήρ· ἀπεσώθη. Λάκωνες
(Hesych.);
Mac. CVC (consonant-vocal-consonant): Greek CC (δάρυλλος: δρῦς, ἐσκόροδος:
σκόρθος, Εὐδαλαγῖνες: Εὐθαλγῖνες, κάναδοι: γνάθοι, κάραβος: κάρφος). Lin. A ka-
nu-ti ‘Knossos’ (the first name in the list of Cretan towns), if it was not only
conventional orphografical feature, might be a Macedonian form.
As Macedonian, Phrygian k: Greek g (IE *g) but not regularly, Phyg. t: Greek d,
Phryg. b: Greek ph (IE *bh), Phryg. d: Greek th (IE *dh), Phryg. ū: Greek ō (diounsin:
Dionus-). Phrygian βέδυ ‘water’ (IE *ued-) appeared in Orphic ritual (Clem. Strom.
5.8.46–47): v > b in Phrygian like in Cretan and Pamphylian.
In contrast to O. Haas and V. Blažek, I can’t accept a Phrygian nature of thriambos
and dithyrambos619 because of the absence of aspirates in Phrygian. In addition, d is
present in the Phrygian word for ‘two’, in contrast to iambos < *wi-amb-, ‘two-
stepped’. So ‘Dithyrambic’ was a distinct Paleo-Balkan language.
In Armenian Indo-European bh, dh > b, d; b, d > p, t; g'h > dz; o: > u. Hesychius used
initial g instead of v (digamma) whereas initial v was changed into g in Armenian. Is it
a coincidence?
Messapian must be also investigated because Herodotus (7.170) mentioned
‘Iapygian Messapians’ as re-named Cretans. IE aspirates were desaspirated in the
language, IE *g’, *k’ > z, IE *s-, *-s- > h-, -h-, IE *ō > Messapian ū620.
‘Minoan Greek’ dialectal phonetics

Linear A might reflect another Greek dialect (‘Minoan Greek’), possibly different
from Linear B (‘Mycenaean Greek’ or ‘Achaean’) and more archaic. E. g., Linear A si-
ka (near the ideogram of fig) = Linear B su-za / su-kja621, so u is represented as i in
Linear A like in Phrygian (Phryg. kikla ‘vehicle’, lit. ‘wheels’ : Greek kukla; Φρυγία :
618
Cf. ἄργετος· ἡ ἄρκευθος. Κρῆτες
619
Haas, O. Die Phrygischen Sprachdenkmaler, Balkansko ezikoznanie 10 (Sofia, 1966), S. 158, 164-165;
Blažek, V. Paleo-Balkanian languages I: Hellenic languages, Sbornik praci filozoficke fakulty Brnenske
university / Studia minora facultatis philosophicae Universitatis Brunensis 10 (2005), p. 20,
sequence=1
620
Messapian after: Matzinger, J. Einführung ins Messapische (Wien 2014),
https://www.academia.edu/8686856/Einf%C3%BChrung_ins_Messapische
621
Owens, G. The structure of the Minoan language, The Journal of Indo-European Studies Vol. 27, No. ½
(1999), p. 31
112
Βριγία622, βρῦτος, ‘beer’623 : Cret. βριτύ: γλυκύ, ‘sweet’, Hesych.). Lin. A ki-ki-na
‘fig’624 : κύκυον· τὸν σικυόν (Hesych.).
Digamma may be absent: Lin. A i-na-ta-, Lin. B wi-na-to = Εἴνατος, a Cretan city;
Lin. A i-da, i-da-a: reconstructed *wid-.
Several other features (o : later Greek a; d : later Greek th; z : later Greek g, if ‘z’ is
not only conventional for [g]) look like phonetic rather than orthographic.
The most important phonetic features of the Linear A syllabary are:
Open syllables as in Macedonian;
a/o (pont- : Greek pant-, ‘all’ but dar- : Greek dor-, ‘gift’, Lin. A ka-ra-ru = Greek
καρορύς625) as in Macedonian: Mac. Gorpiaios ‘August’ : Greek karpos ‘fruit’626, Lin. B
a-mo-ta = harmata;
z (: Greek g) as in Phrygian but not in Macedonian (Maced. ἄγημα, ἄργελλα);
The absence of aspirated consonants as in Phrygian but not in Macedonian;
k (: Greek g) as in Macedonian and Phrygian;
However, b and g were presented in Macedonian and Phrygian, in contrast to
Linear A syllabary in which two these consonants were totally absent.
In archaic Cretan alphabetical inscriptions k and p replaced kh and ph while th was
usual627. It is correspond with Linear AB syllabary in which k / kh and p / ph are not
distincted while d-series and th-series are different. However, cf.
τίριος: θέρους, Κρῆτες (Hsch.)
Perhaps, the Linear A syllabary reflects a distinct Paleo-Balkan language or a
dialect which was very similar to Greek, Macedonian, and Phrygian but strongly
Hurrianized (differentiation of voiced/voiceless consonants, e. g. b / p, d / t,g / k, v / f,
ž / š, played no phonological role in Hurrian). Among possible other languages in
ancient Crete, Phrygian (‘Eteocretan’) and Hurrian (‘Kuretan’) languages might be
presented, cf. possible Hurrian interpretation of Cypro-Minoan inscriptions
(E. Masson).
Greek morphology of Indo-European origin in Linear A
Greek morphology of Indo-European origin in Linear A includes noun suffixal and declension
paradigms, adjective prefixes and suffixes, and passive participle form of verb
M. Finkelberg cites Y. Duhoux’s arguments against the ‘Greekness’ of Linear A:
622
Kretschmer, P. Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache, 2., unveränderte Auflage
(Göttingen etc. 1970), S. 187.
623
Interpreted as Thracian: Kretschmer, P. Einleitung.., S. 229.
624
Neumann, G. Minoisch kikina 'Die Sykomorenfeige', Glotta, 1960. Bd 38
625
The latter pair of words after: Neumann, G. Weitere mykenische und minoische Gefäßnamen,
Glotta, XXXIX, ¾, 1960/1961, S. 172-178; Деянов, А. Ф. Линейное письмо А, Тайны древних письмен
(Москва, 1976), с. 84; Деянов А. Ф. Комментарий, ibid., с. 99-100.
626
Mitevski, N. https://www.academia.edu/25139123/Ancient_Macedonian_Language
627
Казанский Н. Н. Диалекты древнегреческого языка (Ленинград 1983), с. 53.
113
‘(1) The word for total is different in Linear A and in Linear B: LB to-so(-de); LA>B
ku-ro. (2) The Linear B language is significantly less prefixing than Linear A. (3)
Votive Linear A texts, where we are pretty sure to have variant forms of the same
word, show morphological (I mean: grammatical) features totally different from
Linear B’628. However, (1) Greek has many synonyms, ku-ro and po-to-ku-ro have
Greek interpretation, (2) Linear A ‘prefixes’ may also be Greek forms of negation,
reduplication in verb perfect, articles (which are write with words in Linear B and
Classical Cypriot) etc., (3) votive Linear A texts might also be interpreted in Greek,
written differently from Linear B.
Noun
1. Noun morphology
The most important example of the Greek noun morphology in Linear A is the
suffixal paradigm -ma / -tēr : Linear A i-ja-ma / i-ja-te and Greek iama / iatēr.
Linear A i-ja-ma ‘medicine’629 and i-ja-te ‘physician’630 is a Greek paradigm with the
suffixes of Indo-European, not from substrate origin.
2. Noun declension
Several examples of the Greek noun declension in Linear A may be proposed.
Gen. Sing.:
(?) pi-te-ri in pi-te-ri a-ko-a-ne (PK Za 11): [κατά] Πατρόιο ἀκοήν, ‘(according to)
Father’s (Cretan Zeus’) hearing (oral law)’;
(?) du-ra-re in du-ra-re a-zu-ra (KN Zc 7): Δρῆροιο ἀγρός ‘field(s) of Dreros’.
Dat.-Instr. Sing.:
pa-ra tu-ru-nu-se-me GRA (HT 128): παρά θρόνῳ σεμνῷ (Dat.) GRA (Acc.);
tu-me-i in tu-me-i ja-sa[-sa-ra (PK Za 8), ]tu-me-i ja-sa-sa[ (PK Za 14) might be a form
of θυμία ‘incense’ – Instr. θυμίαι, so ja-di-ki-te-te-du2-pu-re tu-me-i ja-sa[-sa-ra-me]: ja
dikta-thi laura tumiai ja sesaromena, ‘the cave in Dicte is cleaned by incense’;
Acc. Sing.:
a-ko-a-ne in pi-te-ri a-ko-a-ne (PK Za 11): [κατά] Πατρόιο ἀκοήν, ‘(according to)
Father’s (Cretan Zeus’) hearing (oral law)’
Nom. Plur.:
ka-pa (title of the tablet, HT 102): κάρπη· τὰ σπέρματα (Hesych.)631
Adjective
1. Adjective morphology
Prefix of negation
628
Finkelberg, M. The language of Linear A: Greek, Semitic, or Anatolian? Greater Anatolia and the Indo-
Hittite language family (R. Drews, ed.) / JIES Monograph Series, No. 38 (Washington 2000), p. 83,
629
The reading according to Георгиев 1958, p. 82 instead of the modern reading sa-ja-ma
630
The reading according to Godart, L., Le pouvoir de l’écrit, Paris, 1990, p. 182. Linear A si-ma i-ja-te (PH
Zb 4), cf. -su-ma- (SY Za 2 from Syme), might mean ‘physician from (the Cretan town) of Syme’, cf. i / u
alternation in Linear A. Linear A ja-si-e (KE Zb 4) might have the same root, cf. Iasion.
631
114
Lin. A ki-ro : a-ki-ro (ARKH 4) = ἄχρεος ‘useless’
Lin. A sa-ra2 (HT 18, HT 28, HT 30, HT 32, HT 33, HT 34, HT 90, HT 93, HT 94, HT
99, HT 100, HT 101, HT 102, HT 105, HT 114, HT 121, 130) – a-sa-ra2 (HT 89)
Lin. A si-da-te … a-si-da-to-i (ARKH 2)
Lin. A ta-na-te … a-ta-na-te (ZA 10)
Lin. A su-pu2 (HT 63) – a-su-pu-wa (ARKH 2)
Lin. A da-re (PK 3) – a-da-ro (ARKH 5) cf. δῶρον ‘gift, present’, ‘votive gift’ or
‘offering’ to a god; δῶρα ‘presents’; ἄδωρος ‘receiving no gifts; unpaid; giving no
gifts’, ἄδωρα δῶρα ‘gifts that are no gifts’
Lin. A tu-ru-sa (KO Za 1b) – a-tu-ri-si-ti (KN Zb 5)
Suffix
J. Younger identifies adjectives:
]PU2-RE-JA (PK Za 16) from ]PU2-RA2 (ZA a.6)
KU-PA3-RI-JA (HT 24a.1) from KU-PA-RI (PE 1.1-2)
PA-SA-RI-JA (HT 24a.4) perhaps related to PA-SE-JA (HT 93a.8); compare I-PA-SA-JA (KH 10.3)632
Lin. A sa-ra2 (HT 18, HT 28, HT 30, HT 32, HT 33, HT 34, HT 90, HT 93, HT 94, HT
99, HT 100, HT 101, HT 102, HT 105, HT 114, HT 121, 130) – sa-re-ju (HT 20) – pa-sa-ri-
ja (HT 24)
Lin. A ku-pa (HT 110) – ku-pa-ja (HT 116)
Lin. A se-to-i-ja (PR Za 1)
Lin. A su-ki-ri-ta (PH Wa 32) – su-ki-ri-te-i-ja (HT Zb 158)
2. Adjective declension
Gen. Sing.
ku-ra-tu-jo: κρατύς, gen. κρατέος ‘strong’ (u instead of e is typical to Linear A) or
similar, possibly personal name.
Nom. Plur.
ARKH 2, page tablet (HM 1673) (GORILA III:6-7) (Kapetanaki Street, LM IB context)
Schoep 2002, type IV (people?)
ARKH Scribe 1
side.l num fract

Statement logogram
ine ber ion
.1 SI-DA-TE
.1-2 KU-RA VINb 5
.2-3 A-SI-DA-TO-I 12
.3-4 ZU-*301-SE-DE-QIf-*118 6
.5-6 A-SU-PU-WA 4
.6 RU-MI-[
.6 ]vest.[
632
115
si-da-te cf. σιτέω, aor. ἐσιτήθην IG5(1).51.1 (Laconia), poet. σιτήθην (Theoc.9.26)
‘take food, eat’, or rather σιτευτός ‘fed up, fatted: παῖδες X.An.5.4.32; of beasts,
PCair.Zen.350.4 (iii B.C.), LXX Jd.6.25 (cod. A), Plb.38.8.7, Ev.Luc.15.23, al.; ς. χήν
Epig.2, PGrad.2.9 (iii B.C., pl.), PCair.Zen.26a).4 (iii B.C.);
a-si-da-to-i cf. ἀσιτέω ‘abstain from food, fast’, ἀσιτία ‘abstinence from food’,
ἄσιτος ‘without food, fasting’
si-da-te … a-si-da-to-i (ARKH 2): siteutoi ‘fatted’ / *asiteutoi ‘unfatted’ < σιτευτός ‘fed
up, fatted’ – *ἀ-σιτευτός ‘non-fatted’ or συνδέτης ‘one bound hand and foot, one
who binds together’, σύνδετος ‘bound hand and foot’ : ἀσύνδετος ‘unconnected,
loose, independent’
a-su-pu-wa, ‘(she is) without a meal-jar’, cf. συπύη = σιπύη ‘a meal-tub, meal-jar,
flour bin’, εὐσίπυος ‘with full bread-basket’
ka-nu-ti 25 pa-i-to 6 … na-ti 4 ma-di 4 (HT97a): Gnostioi (Knossioi) 25, Phaistioi 6
(I)natioi 4, Modioi 4
Verb
Greek (and Phrygian) passive participle may be identified:
(j)a-sa-sa-ra-me / (j)a-sa-sa-ra-ma-na: ja sesaromena, ‘she (is) purified’ (of cities which
is fem. in Greek);
i-pi-na-ma / i-pi-na-mi-na: ipneumenoi, ‘baked’ (of bread);
a-sa-su-ma-i-no: ἐσσύμενος, ‘hurrying, eager, impetuous’ (of bull).
Article
a-/ja-, cf. Lin. B jo-a-se-so-si, jo-do-so-si, o-do-ke, o-o-pe-ro-si
Syntax
Noun + adjective
ki-ta-na-si-ja-se (PE Zb 3): κρίταν-Ἀσιάς ‘Asiatic terebinthus’
Adjective + noun
a-du-ku-mi-na (Za 10): ἁδύ, ‘pleasant to the taste’ (neut.) and κύμινον, ‘cummin’
Noun (Gen.) + noun

du-ra-re a-zu-ra: Δρῆροιο ἀγρός ‘field(s) of Dreros’
pi-te-ri a-ko-a-ne (PK Za 11): [κατά] Πατρόιο ἀκοήν, ‘(according to) Father’s (Cretan
Zeus’) hearing (oral law)’
116
Phrases
ja-di-ki-te-te-du2-pu-re tu-me-i ja-sa[-sa-ra-me]: ja dikta-thi laura tumiai ja sesaromena,
‘the cave in Dicte is cleaned by incense’
a-ra-ko-ku-zu-wa-sa-to-ma-ro-au-ta-de-po-ni-za: *ἀρχαγωγεύς *ἀστυμάρ(π)τις
*αὐτοδεσποινική/ία (vessel) ‘leader’s, city-holder’s, absolute ruler’s (vessel)’
pa-ra tu-ru-nu-se-me GRA … wa-tu-ma-re GRA (HT 128): παρά θρόνῳ σεμνῷ GRA
(acc.)…
a-ma-wa-si ka-ni-ja-mi i-ja za-ki-se-nu-ti a-ta-ma: *ἄμευσις γανύμενος ἔῃ ζᾶς
ξενϜισταί ἐντάδε, ‘Let a glad purchase of a land will be for the guest (t)here’
a-ti-ki-ri-pi-ja re-tu-ma ku-ra-tu-jo a-we-ko-ku-ja re-tu-ma: *ἀρτιγλυφία λατόμοιο
Κρατοιο, εἰκονοποιία λατόμοιο, ‘new carving of the stone-cutter Kratys, image-
making of the stone-cutter’
a-re-ki-ne-di-sa(?)-ma si-pa-ja-ta-ri-se-te-ri-ki a-ja-ku: *ἀραχν-ένδεσμα, σπέιατ'
ἀριστερόχειρος εἰκών, ‘spider’s web-like amulet, an image of left-oriented grotto’
117
FARMING
Linear A ideograms and syllabic words reflect developed farming: Greek names of many plants,
wine, animals and fish, many kinds of vessels, yoke, wheel and vehicle
Land, plants, wine, beer
Land
Possible name of the plot of land is identified in Linear A:
a-ka-ra ki-ta-na-si-ja-se (PE Zb 3): ἄκρα, ‘end’ (i. e. border?) and κτοίνα or κτοῖνα,
Rhodian name for ‘a local division’, and κτοινάτης, ‘member of a κτοίνα’; Lin. B ko-
to-na, ko-to-i-na, ‘plot of land’; so the phrase might mean ἄκρα *κτοινάσιjας, ‘border
of a territory’. Alternatively, ki-ta-n-: Lin. B ki-ta-no: κρίτανος: τέρμινθος, ‘Pistacia
Terebinthus’ (Hesych.), -a-si-ja-se: Ἀσιάς fem. adj. ‘Asiatic’;
du-ra-re a-79-ra (KN Zc 7). If du-ra-re is Δρῆρος then a-zu-ra or a-kju-ra or a-gu-ra
might be compared with ἀγρός ‘field, country opp. to town’ (Skt. ájras ‘plain’); the
word combination closely resembles Lin. B combinations with place names ‘ro-u-si-jo
a-ko-ro, ‘the ἀγρός (‘plain’, ‘territory’) of ro-u-so’, and pa-ki-ja-ni-jo a-ko-ro, the ἀγρός
of pa-ki-ja-ne’633. Initial word of the inscription, a-ka-nu-za-ti, may be related to
ἁγνίζω, ‘wash off, cleanse away’, esp. by water (τὸ πῦρ καθαίρει … τὸ ὕδωρ
ἁγνίζει, Plu. 2.263e), τινὰ πηγαῖς (Eur. IT 1039).
Plants: cereals, figs, olives etc.

Many cereals, pistacia, cyperus, fig tree, grape, and olives were known in Crete
from the Neolithic 634. A. Sarpaki comments Linear B condiment names635.
633
Bennet, J. The geography of the Mycenaean kingdoms, A companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek
texts and their world (Duhoux, Y., Morpurgo Davies, A., eds.), Peeters (Louvain-la-Neuve – Walpole,
MA 2011), p. 143, https://www.academia.edu/963845/The_Geography_of_the_Mycenaean_Kingdoms
634
Sarpaki, A. The economy of Neolithic Knossos: the archaeobotanical data, The Neolithic settlement of
Knossos in Crete (N. Efstatiou, A. Karetsou, M. Ntinou, eds.), INSTAP Academic Press (Philadelphia
2013),
https://www.academia.edu/5093974/The_Economy_of_Neolithic_Knossos_The_Archaeobotanical_dat
a_pp._63-
94_in_The_Neolithic_Settlement_of_Knossos_in_Crete_New_Evidence_for_the_Early_Occupation_of_
Crete_and_the_Aegean_Islands ; Sarpaki, A. The taming of an island environment,
https://www.academia.edu/3673360/The_taming_of_an_island_environment_Crete_from_dawn_to_n
oon_Neolithic_to_the_end_of_the_Bronze_Age_ ;
https://www.academia.edu/3711176/Crete_from_the_Early_Bronze_Age_to_Roman_times_archaeobot
anical_data_speak_on_the_environment_and_the_agricultural_economy_Greek_2001 ;
https://www.academia.edu/3711234/Plants_chosen_to_be_depicted_on_Theran_Wall_Paintings_tentat
ive_interpretations._2000 , and many other works of the author:
https://independent.academia.edu/AnayaSarpaki
635
Sarpaki, A. Condiments, perfume and dye plants in Linear B, ΜΕΛΕΤΗΜΑΤΑ 33 (A. Michailidou,
ed.), (Athens 2001),
118
G. Nagy identifies ka-pa (mentioned several times as the head of a list in HT6, HT
102, HT 105): κάρπη· τὰ σπέρματα (Hesych)636; Lin. B ka-po, ka-pa, ‘fruits’
The list of plants ka-pa da-ta-ra … pi-ta-ja … o-ra2-di-ne … ka-pa-qe (HT 6):
da-ta-ra, cf. da-tu (HT 123+124, after the mention of ‘wine’): δάκτυλος, pl. δάκτυλα,
‘date’, ‘grape’; u-ta2 (HT 103) may be a variant of the same word, i. e. *da-ta2. It may be
a loan word from Semitic (Arabic daqal, ‘date palm’), assimilated to the Greek finger
name of Indo-European origin;
pi-ta-ja: φιττάκια, ψιττάκια, πιστάκιον ‘pistachio-nut’, cf. pi-ta-ka-se TE GRA –
with the ideogram ‘grain’ (HT 21), pi-ta-ke-si (HT 87): πιστάκιον, ‘pistachio-nut’637 or
πίτταξις, ‘fruit of the κράνεια (cornelian cherry)’;
o-ra2-di-ne: ὀρέστιον ‘ἑλένιον: calamint, Calamintha incana; elecampane, Inula
Helenium’.
Other lists of plants, ka-pa sa-ra2 … pa3-ni … di-ri-na … ma-zu … (HT 102) and pa3-ni-
na GRA … di-ri-na … (HT 93), may be interpreted: σέλινον, ‘celery’ (Lin. B not only
se-ri-no- but also sa-ri-no-); φαινίς ‘ἀνεμώνη’ (Laced.); θρινία ‘ἄμπελος ἐν
Κρήτῃ’ (Hesych.)638; μᾶζα, ‘a kneaded, unbaked thing’ or ‘a porridge, consisting of
barley-meal’ or ‘barley-cake’639.
One more list may be also translated: ka-na … sa-sa-me … ko-ru (HT 23): κάνναβις,
‘hemp’ (cf. κάννα, ‘reed’)640; σησάμη, ‘sesame’ (Dor. σάσαμον, Lin. B sa-sa-ma)641;
κόριον, ‘coriander’; cf. sa-ja-ma (HT 31): Lacon. σάἁμον = σήσαμον, ‘seed or fruit of
the sesame-plant’, ka-na[ … du-ma-i-na (HT 123+124): θυμίαμα ‘incense’
Several other plants were also used by Minoan Greeks:
a-sa-da-ka GRA – with the ideogram ‘grain’ (MA Wc): ἄσταχυς ‘ear of corn’;
ki-re-ta2 GRA – with the ideogram ‘grain’ (HT 129): κριθή, ‘barley’ and κριθαία,
‘barley pottage’; ki-re-ta-na GRA (HT 120), ki-re-ta-na VIR 1 GRA (HT 108) – with the
ideograms ‘grain’: κριθανίας ‘like barley’. Lin. B ki-ri-ta. The Greek name akin to
Albanian and Armenian, more far forms are found in Latin and Germanic; cf. also
Aramaic sǝʕartā, sǝʕārǝtā, Egyptian šr.t, ‘barley’. However, ki-ri-ta2 as a title of the
tablet (HT 114 and possibly HT 121) may be κριτά, ‘choice, selected items’, κριτέα,
‘to be chosen’642;
https://www.academia.edu/737534/Condiments_perfume_and_dye_plants_in_Linear_B_a_look_at_th
e_textual_and_archaeobotanical_evidence
636
637
Firstly as πιστάκη, Peruzzi, E. Appunti sull’iscrizione HT 6a, p. 13
638
Or θρῖον, ‘fig-leaf’, ‘mixture of eggs, milk, lard, flour, honey, cheese, etc., wrapped in fig-leaves’
639
640
The word is Indo-European (Sanskrit śaṇa- ‘a kind of hemp’ < *kana-) rather then Semitic (q- is
absent in the Lin. A word), details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_cannabis
641
Akkad. šammaššamu ‘sesame’ is closer than Hitt. šam(m)am(m)a-, Frisk, Bd. 3, S. 698; Beekes, p. 1325;
Egypt. sesemt.
642
119
ki-re-za FIC – with the ideogram ‘fig’ (ZA 1): κράδη, ‘fig-branch, fig-tree’, cf. Cret.
κάρα, ‘fig-tree’ (Hesych.).
a-ku-mi-na … a-du-ku-mi-na (Za 10): Lin. B ku-mi-no, κύμινον, ‘cummin’, possibly
‘without cummin’ and ‘sweet cummin’
ma-za 5 ma-ki-de-te 5 (Za 10): μᾶζα, ‘barley-cake’ and μαγίς, -ίδος, ‘any kneaded
mass, cake’, μαγίδες: αἷς ἀπομάττουσι (wipe off or level corn in a measure with a
strickle) καὶ καθαίρουσι (Hesych.).
Plants are also represented in Lin. A, B syllabary:
Lin. A, B se (ear of corn): Sumerian še ‘barley’, Egyptian šʕ.t ‘barley’;
Lin. A, B si (sheaf)643: Old Greek σῖτος ‘grain’; Sumerian zid, ‘flour’644.
]to-sa pu2-re-ja[ (PK Za 16). V. Hicks reads the inscription on the corner of a
libation table as follows: ‘so many (tosa, cf. Greek tossos) offerings or things brought
(pu2reja, from the zero grade of PIE *bher- which would yield an o in Greek phoros). If
ἡ φυλία ‘wild olive’ might be taken into consideration (Lin. B pu2-ra2) then ‘so many
olives’ might be proposed as a thanslation of the word combination, cf. SY Za 2 ja-su-
ma-tu OLIV and u-na-ka-na-si OLE.
A variant of pu2-re-ja may be pu-ra2 GRA 40 OLE+DI (HT 116), cf. ZA 6 a6 ]pu2-ra2
GRA, if it is not puros, ‘wheat’.
pa3-ka-ra-ti (HT 8, in the list of plans, cf. ki-re-ta-na here): παγκράδη: ἀπὸ τῆς
κράδης τῶν σύκων (Hesych.).
ka-na-… (HT 23, cf. sa-sa-me and ko-ru in the same list): Lin. B ka-na-ko ‘saffron’ and
Lin. B ligature ka+na for saffron, κνῆκος, ‘safflower’.
a-ru-da-ra GRA (HT 28): ἄλυτρον, ‘threshing implement’.
ma-si-du … GRA (HT 43): μαγίδιον, ‘small cake’
mi-nu-te (HT 95, a list of plants): Lin. B mi-ta, μίνθα, ‘mint’
ku-pa3- … OLE (HT 101): Lin. B ku-pa-ro-we (PY Fr 1203) ‘(oil) aromatized with ku-
pa-ro’, κύπαιρος, ‘galingale, Cyperus rotundus’
a-si-ki-ra *303 (grain): ἀσκηρά: εἶδός τι τῶν καστανίων, ‘a kind of sweet
chestnuts’ (Hesych.)
a-ta-re FIG (ZA 8): ἁδρός, ‘full-grown’, lesser ἀ- and θρῖον, ‘fig-leaf’
ku-tu- (ZA 8): κοντός, ‘short’
ta-i-nu-ma-pa (ZA 8): τανυμήκης, ‘long-stretched, tall’
ma-ka-i-se (ZA 8): μάκιστος, ‘tallest’
a-ka-ru OLE (HT 2) resembles Lin. B a-ke-re-u = Agreus and a-ki-ri-jo = Agrios in the
toponyms related to olives; a-ka-ru (HT 86, the first word of a list, possibly a title,
before ku-ni-su GRA)
wi-di-na OLE (HT 28), je-di OLE (HT 8, HT 140): φείδων, ‘oil-can with a narrow-
neck’
a-re-pi-re-na (Za Zb 3, pithos): ἀλειπτήριον, ἀλειπήριον, ‘place for anointing in
gymnasia, paint-brush, unguent’
643
Ruijgh, C. J. L’origine du signe *41 (si) de l’écriture linéaire B, Kadmos 9 (1970), S. 172-173.
644
Beekes, p. 1337.
120
OLIV (olives) and OLE (oil) were reflected in ideograms but are not readed among
syllabic words. Greek ἐλαία, Myc. e-ra-wa = elaiwa, ‘olive-tree’ and ἔλαιον, Cypriot
ἔλαιϜον, Myc. e-ra-wo = elaiwon, ‘olive-oil’ might be not ‘pre-Greek’ but related to
ἔλειβε (verb 3rd sg imperf ind act), ἐλείβετο (verb 3rd sg imperf ind mp), ἐλειψάμην
(verb 1st sg aor ind mid) < λείβω, ‘pour’, ἀλίνειν: ἀλείφειν, ‘to anoint the skin with
oil’ (Hesych.) and other IE representations of the root for ‘pour’.
Grape and wine
‘Houses burnt down at the Neolithic site of Dikili Tash in northern Greece preserved the
remains of wild grapes and figs. The charred shapes showed that there was a pile of grape pips
with skins – clear evidence for the extraction of juice. The authors argue that the juice
was probably used to make wine – towards the end of the fifth millennium BC the earliest so
far from the Aegean. […] Both Renfrew (1972) and Gilman (1981) considered viticulture as a
key factor in the emergence of Bronze Age elites. For Renfrew, viticulture (together with
the cultivation of the olive) allowed the cultivation of marginal land, thus generating the need
for a redistributive centre. According to Gilman, the high demands of viticulture tied people to
the land and rendered them more vulnerable to control. […] Residue analysis from the Aegean
has identified ‘wine’ by the end of the third millennium BC (Early Bronze Age) in vessels from
Crete (Tzedakis & Martlew 1999: 145)’645.
pu VINa (HT 123+124 a3-4), ideogram for wine is similar to the syllabic sign po:
Cretan βοῖνος = Greek Fοῖνος, ‘wine’. Cf. HT 14 pu VINa … a-pu2-na-du
u-na-a on the pithoid jar (KN Zb 40)646: οἰνάς, οἴνη, ‘wine’, Οἰνόη, Οἰναῖος, Οἰνοαῖος
VINb+WI wi-na-du (KH 5 2–3): Lin. B wo-na-si (KN) dat.-loc. pl. woinassi < *uoinad-
si, ‘in the vineyards (?)’, οἰνάδες· ἀμπελώδεις τόποι (Hesych.)647; *Fοιν-αδυς ‘sweet
wine’ (Linear A frequently reflects only the second vowel of the diphthong;
‘noun’+’adjective’ in composite see πόδ-αργος, ‘swift-footed’), Homeric οἶνον … ἡδύν
(Od. 2.349–350, 9.204–205), inverse variant ἡδύ-οινος, Dor. ἁδύ-οινος, ‘related to sweet
wine’.
Perhaps, u-na- / wi-na- (above) cf. ὑιήν: τὴν ἄμπελον (Hesych.), ἰβῆνα· τὸν οἶνον
Κρῆτες (Hesych.), traditionally interpreted as iven-.
du-re-za-se VINb (ZA 10) cf. Lin. B de-re-u-ko, ‘grape must’, γλεῦκος, ‘sweet new
wine’, a cognate of γλυκύς, ‘sweet’ and δλυκύς (LSJ), cf. Lat. dulcis.
a-mi-da-u (Za 10): μέθυ, ‘wine’ (cognate of English mead), possibly ‘without wine’
G. Nagy reads Lin. A wo-no (HT 93a.5 and HT 11a.4) = Linear B wo-no = Ϝοῖνος,
‘wine’648 but recent transliteration not confirmed the reading.
645
Valamoti, S. M. et al. Grape-pressings from northern Greece: the earliest wine in the Aegean?
Antiquity, 81 (2007): 54–55, https://www.academia.edu/13954377/Grape-
pressings_from_northern_Greece_the_earliest_wine_in_the_Aegean
646
HM 21391, GORILA IV: 83, LM II, Minoan Unexplored Mansion; Kadmos 15, 1976, 102-107, LM II
destruction, the storage jars were all LM II, with one LM I, the 2nd latest Linear A inscription (the
latest being PO Zc 1)
647
ПП, с. 99
648
121
So ‘Mediterranean triad’ (cereals, vines, olives) or ‘Aegean triad’ (cereals, olives,
figs) might be re-interpreted as ‘Aegean tetrad’ (cereals, olives, vines, figs) which is
widely represented in Linear A.
Lin. A, B ju (related to Lin. B logogram FARINA): Old Greek ζῦθος, ζῦτος, ‘beer,
brewed with barley’. Several Greek authors mentioned Egyptian ‘barley wine’
(Herodot. 2.77; Aesch. Suppl. 953: Dion in Athen. 1.34) whereas ζῦθος clearly named
Egyptian drunk (Theophr. De causis plantarum 6.11.2; Diod. 1.34.10); Plin. NH 22.164;
Colum. 10.116). Egypt. jt, Coptic ju:t, jo:t ‘barley’, i > ζ like in ζυγόν649. Possibly not
related with Proto-Germanic *aluth-, ‘ale, beer’ (: Latin alu-men) > Ossetic æluton,
‘(special) beer (for feast)’ without Iranian cognates but possibly attested in a Scythian
name; Georg. (a)ludi possibly from Ossetic650.
Animals, fish, wool, clothes
The oldest Linear A document contains the bull head and syllabic signs ta-je651 or ta-
ro, i. e. ταῦρος, ‘bull’ or ταλῶς, ‘Cretan solar bull’, Τάλως, ‘Cretan giant’. Temples of
Zeus Ταλλαῖος were known in Cretan Dreros and Olous; Ταλαιός was Zeus in Crete (Hesych.)652.
Cret. Hier. the bull head and sa-ru: σάρξ ‘portion of meat’ and ‘fleshy, pulpy substance
of fruit’ (cf. Akkadian šūru ‘bull’? Alternatively, cf. ašaru/o, ‘barley’ in Cushitic and
Omotoc while barley is the best food for cattle). This name of the Sun has Afro-
Asiatic parallels: Arabic ṭlʕ, ‘rise (of the Sun)’ (only one among Semitic), Proto-
Western Chadic *tal-, ‘Sun’. The bull name resembles Hurrian one: Tilla is a bull-god
in the Hurrian and Hittite pantheons, the attendant and mount of the weather
god Teshub, an equivalent (and possible cognate: Hurr. Te-shub, Urart. Tei-sheba, cf.
θεο-σεβής, ‘religious’) of Zeus. East Hurrian Tilla (a bull) – west Hurrian Sharruma
(‘calf of his father’) – Urartian Tura.
qa-re-to OVISf (HT 132): βαρύς < gu-, ‘heavy in weight’ (sheep).
Lin. A, B qi (sheep): Old Greek *gui-, ‘animal’ (cf. Georgian cxoveri, ‘ship’ < cxovre-
ba, ‘life’), or Old Greek κῶας, ‘fleece’. N. N. Kazansky interprets as a Lycian name of
sheep, cf. Luwian hawi-, Hieroglyphic Luvian hawa/isa-, Lycian χawã (Acc. Sing.),
‘sheep’653; Luwian may also be acceptable, cf. mu (bull) in Linear A, B and Luwian.
Carian gloss κοῖος, ‘sheep’654 may reflect namely kwi-
649
Ернштедт П. В. Египетские заимствования в греческом языке (Москва; Ленинград 1953), с. 27–32.
650
Абаев В. И. Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка (Москва; Ленинград 1958), т. 1,
с. 129–131.
651
652
Cook, A. B. Zeus: a study in ancient religion, Vol. 1: Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914), p. 729.
653
Казанский Н. Н. Возможные следы ликийского языка в линейном письме А, Индоевропейское
языкознание и классическая филология-XIV (чтения памяти И. М. Тронского): Материалы
международной конференции, проходившей 21–23 июня 2010 г. В двух частях / Отв. редактор
Н. Н. Казанский, СПб.: Наука, 2010. Ч. 1. С. 399–415; Kazansky N. N. The evidence for Lycian in the
Linear A syllabary, http://www.aegeussociety.org/images/uploads/pdf/kazansky-2012.pdf
654
Sch. Iliad 14.255, LSJ, s. v.
122
Lin. A, B mu (bull’s head): Old Greek μυκάομαι ‘low, bellow (of oxen)’, μυκητής,
μυκατάς, ‘bellower (of oxen)’, possibly also μόσχος, ‘calf, young bull; heifer, young
cow’, μόναπος, Paeonian name of European bison. Cf. Hier. Luw. mu (bull’s head).
Lin. A, B me (goat): μηκάς, ‘bleating goat’; Luw. Hier. ‘ram’s head’ me. It might be
Ubaid Dravidian heritage in Cretan and Anatolian hieroglyphs.
Lin. A, B ra (arm and hand): λαμβάνω, ‘take’. If ‘Hieroglyphic *018 , a dog head,
becomes AB 60 RA’655 then cf. Λαῖλαψ, dog of Minos; Proto-Gondi (Dravidian)
*raci, ‘wild dog’. Phoen. resh, head, confirms the second reading.
Lin. A si-da-te … a-si-da-to-i (ARKH 2): σιτ-ευτός ‘fed up, fatted’ – *ἀ-σιτευτός
‘non-fatted’ (animals).
Hier., Lin. A, B mi (fish): Old Greek μαίνη, ‘herring-like fish’ (without i in other
Indo-European), Old Indian mīna-, ‘fish’ < Proto-Indo-European; Proto-Dravidian
*mīn-, ‘fish’ (possibly reflected in the Indus script) of common Nostratic origin, i. e.
related to Mesolithic roots of fishing.
Lin. A, B ku: κύκνος, ‘swan’; the similar sign on the Phaistos Disc and Anat. Hier.
huwa-, ‘bird’.
Linear B ideogram ‘wool’ is a ligature of two syllabic signs, ma-ru-, which

interpreted as a ‘Minoan word’ in relation with Greek μαλλός, ‘flock of wool’. The
word is traditionally interpreted as ‘pre-Greek’656 but Hittite maluli-, ‘skin’ might be a
prototype, cf. Hittite sacral kursa- on the eia tree657 > Greek βύρσα, ‘skin’, Hittite eia
tree and a sin on it in comparison with the myth of Argonauts. Possibly, Greeks
brought these terms as well as the ‘Parnassian’ (Hittite-Luwian) substrate from their
Anatolian homeland, so-called ‘proto-Ahhiyawa’.
a-mi-da-o OVISm (PH 31): μίτος, ‘thread’ (‘a ram without wool’?)
ta-pa TE (HT 104): Lin. B te-pa and TE, τάπης, ‘carpet’658
pa-da-su-ti (HT 104): ποδίς, -ίδος, ‘a kind of shoe’, Lin. B pe-di-ra = πέδιλον, pl.
‘sandals, shoes, boots’
Vessels
Names of vessels are also frequent.

V. I. Georgiev underlined a key role of the ‘vessel tablet’ (HT 31 in which possible
names of vessels followed ideograms for vessels) in the decipherment of Linear A.
655
http://people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/#8
656
Beekes, p. 899
657
Blasweiler, J. The cult of the Kursa..,
https://www.academia.edu/6064994/The_cult_of_the_Kursa_in_the_kingdom_of_Hattusa_the_Illuyan
ka_myth_and_the_way_to_Colchis and other author’s articles:
https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/JoostBlasweiler
658
Independently: Τσικριτσης Μ. Δ. Γραμμική Α (Ηράκλειο 2001), σ. 152–153.
123
i-ti-sa pu-ko *410VAS: ἴτυς, ‘round’ and πύξος, ‘box-wood’
*402VAS+QA-PA3659
*415VAS+su-pu, cf. su-pu2 (HT 8), ka-ti su-pu2[ (HT 63): συπύη, σιπύη, σιπύα, ἰπύα
‘meal-tub’
*416VAS+ka-ro-pa3: κάρδοπος, καρδόπη ‘wooden vessel’
*402VAS+su-pa3-ra: σῦφαρ ‘a piece of old or wrinkled skin’
*402VAS+pa-ta-qe, ‘and all’
Other vessel names occur in many texts:
ka-ti in ka-ti su-pu2[ (HT 63): Cret. Hier. za-ti, Lin. B ka-ti;
su-pu2 cf. συπύη = σιπύη, σιπύα, ἰπύα ‘meal-tub’, cf. HT 8 su-pu2, HT 31 *415VAS
(ideogram for vessel)+su-pu;
ka-di VINa – with the ideogram ‘wine’ (ZA 15): κάδος, ‘jar or vessel for
water or wine’, κάδιν, diminutive of previous. Cf. ka-ti su-pu2[ (HT 63);
a-tu-ri-si-ti (KN Zb 5, tall, handleless vase)660: ἀθυρεύεσθαι ‘to mix, properly of
liquids’;
da-ro-pa *403VAS (HT 38): δροπίσκος, ‘flower-basket’ (Hesych.);
wa-pi-ti-na-ra2 (PH Zb 5, pithos): βαπτιστήριον, ‘swimming-bath’.
Yoke, wheel and vehicle
Lin. B ha (yoke), probably = Linear A sign A 305661: Greek ἁρμός, ‘joint’, ἅρμα
‘chariot, yoked chariot’, ἁρμή ‘junction, fitting together’ related with Old Slavonic
iarĭmŭ ‘yoke’ < Indo-European.
Lin. A, B syllabic sign qe (wheel): Old Greek πέλω < Indo-European *kuel-, ‘turn’;
Old Greek κύκλος, ‘wheel’ < Indo-European *kuekulos.
Lin. A, B syllabic sign ka (wheel): Old Greek (Thessalian) καπάνη, ‘chariot’, cf. also
ἀπήνη, ‘four-wheeled wagon’, later ‘car’ or ‘chariot’ (of possible Semitic origin:
Hebrew ophan, ‘wheel’ < aphan, ‘to revolve, turn’).
659
Akkadian parallel: https://oksanalewyckyj.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-07-
20T18:17:00%2B02:00&max-results=7&start=119&by-date=false
660
HM 2600, GORILA IV: 76; PM I fig. 416, SW Basement, MM III B context
661
Godart, L., Olivier,J.-P., Recueil des inscriptions en Linéaire A, Paris, 1985, Vol. 5, p. XXII
124
SOCIETY
Minoan city names are Greek and reflect planning urbanization during Neopalatial period from
about 1700 BCE. Minoan Greek society knew two types of rulers: sacral king and elected city ruler.
Native and foreign (mainly from Levant) slaves were known. Developed change is reflected in
frequent words like kuro ‘main sum’ = κύριος, ‘supreme’, kiro ‘debt’ = χρέος, ‘debt’, po-to kuro ‘total
sum’ = παντακύριος ‘all-supreme’ etc. Physician was a distinct profession, and healing played
important role. Among weapons, large Minoan shield, sword of Levantine origin, and mace are
reflected in Linear A, B syllabary while bow, short sword, and possibly chariot are mentioned in the
tablet HT 87.
Cities
V. I. Georgiev underlined that the name of Φαιστός is the superlative form of

Greek ϕάϜος ‘light’ and means ‘the most lighted’ (*φαϜ-ιστ-ος)662.
Similarly, Κνωσός or Κνωσσός is comparable with Greek γνωτός or γνωστός,
‘known’ (g/k in Linear A, B and Ancient Macedonian; cf. Latin Gnossus).
Cretan city of Κυδονία (Lin. А ku-do-ni) is comparable with Greek κῦδος ‘glory’
(more exactly, ‘divine power’, by E. Benvenist’s explanation), κυδάνω ‘exalt, to be
triumphant’, κυδαίνω ‘give honour’663. Cydonians were distinct tribe664, possibly akin to
Aeolians665.
Island of Καῦδος or Γαῦδος near Phaistos (Lin. А HT13 ka-u-de-ta) might be
related with Greek γαϜίω > γαίω ‘rejoice, exult’.
Four main palaces of Neopalatial period (Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia, and Kato
Zakro) had one structure as evidence of Knossos-centered united state 666. Thus, one
architectural plan of new palaces (from about 1700 BCE) might correlate not only with
united state but also with united plan of naming, so Minoan united state of the Neopalatial
period might be Greek-spoken. Exact plans of ‘Old Palaces’ are not known but absence of
fortifications, pictures of warriors and war scenes667 leads us to conclusion about only
one state in Crete during Protopalatial period.
Cretan palaces played a role of temples; they were located in valley, near double-
peaked mountains (Knossos palace is oriented to the Iouktas Mountain, Phaistos
662
Георгиев В.И. Исследования по сравнительно-историческому языкознанию. – М., 1958. – С. 104-105.
663
Georgiev V. Le dechiffrement des inscriptions minoennes, Годишник на Софийския ун-т.
Историко-филол. ф-т. София, 1949 (!). – Кн. 4. – С. 46.
664
Odyssey ХІХ, 171–175.
665
Graves, R. Myths: Minos
666
Андреев Ю. В., с. 125, 132–133
667
Бокиш Г. Дворцы Крита, Вестник древней истории, 1974, № 4, с. 93,
http://annales.info/greece/krit_pal.htm
125
palace – to Ida, Mallia palace – to Dicte)668. A. Evans qualified the Knossos palace as
the temple of priest-king and his divine mother-wife.
The Linear A tablet HT97a contains a list of the Cretan cities with numbers: ka-nu-
ti 25 pa-i-to 6 di 4 na-ti 4 ma-di 4 ju 15 ki 3 zu (or do) 5.
Lin. А ka-nu-ti = Lin. В ko-no-so = Κνωσσός; cf. Lin. А mi-nu-te = Μίνως (?); a vowel
between consonants might be a Macedonian feature; Armenian canot’ ‘known’.
Lin. А pa-i-to = Lin. В pa-i-to = Φαιστός. Greek flexion in this Lin. А word is
written identically with Lin. В – cf. Lin. А i-ta-nu = Ἴτανος669.
Lin. А di = Δῖον670, na-ti = Ἴνατος671, ma-di = Μώδα672 or Μωδαῖοι673, ju = Ἰυτός, ki =
Κίσ-σαμος674, zu or do = Δούλον675.
Perhaps, the names of cities in the Linear А tablet are used in the Greek dative
denoting adresats of offerings.
Founder of Knossos, Phaistos, and Kydonia was Minos676. A. A. Molchanov
suggested constant development of Cretan cities from the 3rd m. BCE in correlation
with their names. However, some Cretan cities had several names, e. g., Knossos was
also named Kairatos and Trita.
Different variants of the ‘Libation Formula’ contain place-names:
du-ra-re, du-314-re = du-*re-re (314 is similar to rja), possibly also du-‘pu2’-re = du-*re-
re (pu2 is similar to re) = Δρῆρος,
i-na-ta-, cf. Lin. B wi-na-to (absence of digamma in Lin. A!), Εἴνατος (Cretan city;
there is one more evidence of the reflection of only the second vowel of dyphtongs in
Linear A)677;
se-to-i-ja-, cf. Lin. B se-to-i-ja, Σηταία (Cretan city; a/o alternation in Linear A, cf. po-
to-ku-ro, Lin. B ko-no-ni-pi = kanoniphi);
tu-ru-sa, cf. Lin. B tu-ri-so, Τύλισος (Cretan city)678; Etruscan tul, ‘stone’.
668
Scully, V. The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods: Greek Sacred Architecture (New Haven; London 1962);
Dokkum, D. van. Connecting the peak with the palace,
https://www.academia.edu/15389379/Connecting_the_Peak_with_the_Palace_Minoan_religion_in_the
_Neopalatial_period
669
Packard, D. W. Minoan Linear A, University of California Press (Berkeley etc. 1974), p. 111.
670
See about the city: Semenoff A. Antiquitates iuris publici Cretensium. – Jurjevi (Dorpati), 1894. – P. 36.
671
Inatos or Einatos (Semenoff A. Antiquitates iuris publici Cretensium. – Jurjevi (Dorpati), 1894. – P. 36).
672
Semenoff A. Antiquitates iuris publici Cretensium. – Jurjevi (Dorpati), 1894. – P. 37.
673
Faure, P. La Crète aux cent villes, Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé, no2, juin 1960, pp. 232, 238.
674
Kisamos or Kissamos (Semenoff A. Antiquitates iuris publici Cretensium. – Jurjevi (Dorpati), 1894. – P.
37).
675
Doulon polis (Semenoff A. Antiquitates iuris publici Cretensium. – Jurjevi (Dorpati), 1894. – P. 36),
Doulopolis (Spyridakis S. Ptolemaic Itanos and Hellenistic Crete. – Berkeley; Los Angeles; L., 1970).
676
Diod. V 78, 2.
677
Einatos or Inatos / Binatos or Einaton was a small town of Crete, in the south coastline of the island,
a port of Priansos, http://www.kairatos.com.gr/myweb/ancientcitiesdion-grammion.htm
678
See about ancient Cretan cities: Faure, P. La Crète aux cent villes, Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume
Budé, no2, juin 1960, pp. 228-249.
126
If o-su-qa-re (TL Za 1) occupied the position of place names then it might be
Psychro (*pi or *po instead of o?), or cf. Lin. A su-ki-ri-ta (PH Wa 32), su-ki-ri-te-i-ja (HT
Zb 158), Lin. B su-ki-ri-ta < *su-qi-ri-ta, classical Greek Σύβριτα.
Minoan cities were unfortified (wa-sa-to-, wa-tu- = wastu, below), in contrast to
Final Neolithic II Cretan fortified settlements679 later (polis, absent in Linear A)
Sacral king and city ruler/judge
Titles like Linear B wanax, lawagetas, guasileus were not found in Linear A. One
very important exception is Linear A, B sign wa, which is an adoption of Egyptian
aha, ‘palace’ (A. Evans) whereas its reading is based on Greek wanaktoron, ‘royal
palace’ (V. I. Georgiev). Cret. Hier. PALACE–HANDS, reading in comparison with
Linear A, B as wa-nwa, may be another trace of the title.
magistrates in Greek cities; αἰσύμνιον, ‘council-chamber’ at Megara (Paus. 1.43.3).
The form of ja-su-ma-tu is the closest to αἰσυμνητύς ‘office of αἰσυμνήτης’ among
other cognate words. Proposed meaning: ‘to ruler’s palace – olives’. ‘Brent Davis
points out that *122 OLIV strongly resembles RE in KO Za 1b’ so ja-su-ma-tu-re may
also be readed, cf. αἰσυμνητήρ ‘ruler’681. If the title is from Αἶσα then 1) the goddess
might be a city-protector and 2) the way of election may be reconstructed.
So Minoan Greek society knew two types of rulers: sacral king and elected city
ruler. If aisumnetes, ‘judge’ might be compared with Iberian second high official,
judge and military leader (Strabo), then he was comparable with lawagetas.
As F. Matz concluded, ‘In fact the lords of these small palaces can have discharged
their duties only in the name of the king. A great deal about the forms in which they
did so will probably be discovered if Linear Script A is deciphered’682.
Native and foreign slaves
679
Nowicki, K. Final Neolithic Crete and the Sutheast Aegean, De Gruyter (Boston/Berlin 2014), pp. 264–
267.
680
681
682
The Cambridge Ancient History II.1, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge 2008), p. 572
127
Minoan slavery of both domestic and captivity origin may be reconstructed from
Linear A inscriptions. It may be an indirect evidence of Minoan thalassocracy and
wars, especially in Levant where Linear A inscriptions were found.
The Linear A tablet HT 7 from Hagia Triada683 might describe fates of Cretan
slaves
HT 7, page tablet (HM 10; Brice 1991: 44 fig. 1) (GORILA I: 14-15)

Schoep 2002, type III (single commodity: people)
HT Scribe 11
side.line Statement Logogram number Fraction
a.1 QE-TI • VIR
a.2 I-RU-JA 3
a.3 DU-JA 4
a.4 TA-NA-TI 1
a.4-5 DA-RE 1
a.5 TE-TU 1

b.1 QIf-TU-NE 1
b.2 DA-RU-*329 2
b.3 Vacant
qe-ti VIR (a.1) = qa-ti-ju (ZA 14), i.e. Hom. Κήτειοι ‘Hittites’ or rather it means
‘persons’, cf. Hom. βίοτος ‘means of living’, βιωτός ‘to be lived, worth living’ (Greek
q = gw > b after Mycenaean period).
i-ru-ja cf. λύω ‘set free’, Hom. ἔλυεν verb 3rd sg imperf ind act.684
du-ja cf. θύω ‘sacrifice, slay (a victim)’
ta-na-ti cf. θάνατος ‘corpse’; Linear A HT 98 ta-na-ti, PR Za 1 ta-na-su-
da-re cf. δῶρον ‘gift, present; votive gift or offering (to a god)’; δῶρα pl. neut.
‘presents’.
te-tu cf. θέω ‘run’ < θεϝ- or rather δείδω (for example δεδιώς part sg perf act masc
nom) as the form of δίω ‘flee’.
qif-tu-ne ‘child (?)’, cf. βιότιον, Dim. of βίοτος
da-ru-… cf. θῆλυς ‘female’ with Macedonian-like d instead Greek th.
Thus the translation of the inscription might be proposed: ‘(adult) males: three
were released, four were sacrificed, one dead, one was presented, one escaped; child:
one; females: two’.
683
The source of the Linear A inscription: http://www.people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/HTtexts.html
684
This marker of the past tense of the werb (augment) was found only in Ancient Greek (the augment
was not obligatory in early Greek), Indo-Iranian, Armenian, and Phrygian: Clackson, J., The genesis of
Greek, in: A history of Ancient Greek: From the beginnings to late Antiquity (Cristidis, A.-F., ed.),
Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press, 2007, p. 186.
128
Asiatic slaves might be present in Minoan Zakros in the easternmost Crete, near
Cyprus and Phoenicia: Linear A me-ki-di, ‘Megiddo’, pu-ni-ka-so, ‘Phoenicians’, qa-ti-
ju, ‘Kēteioi = Hittites’, and ku-pi, ‘Cypriots’ or ‘Egyptians’
ZA 14, page tablet (HM 1626) (GORILA III: 180-181) (Palace XVI A[?], LM IB context)
Schoep 2002, type IV (people?)
side.line Statement Logogram number Fraction
.1 ME-KI-DI 1
.1 Qif-*118 1
.2 PU-NI-KA-SO 3
.2 QA-TI-JU 8
.3 KU-PI 1
.3-4 TU-MI-TI-ZA-SE 45[
.4 PA-NU-QE 2
.4 JA-WI[
.5 ]vest.[
.6 vacat
infra mutila
me-ki-di *megidijos 1, cf. Greek Μεγιδδώ / Μαγεδδών, Megiddó / Mageddón in the

Septuagint; Latin Mageddo; Assyrian Magiddu, Magaddu; Magidda and Makida in the
Amarna tablets; Egyptian Maketi, Makitu, and Makedo685.
pu-ni-ka-so phoinikes 3, cf. Linear B po-ni-ki-jo, Greek Φοῖνιξ, ‘a Phoenician’,
Φοίνικες ‘the Phoenicians’, Latin Punicus686.
qa-ti-ju *qatnijoi 8, from the Syrian town of Qatna, Akkad. URUQa-ṭà-na, URUQàṭ-aṭ-
na,687 lesser Hom. Κήτειοι ‘Hittites’ (Hatti), Kition at Cyprus, Koda (Ḳdy) ‘an Egyptian
name of Kizzuwatna’.
ku-pi *kupriioi 1, possibly a shortened form, cf. Lin. B ku-pi-ri-jo ‘Cypriot’ or lesser
Aiguptios.
tu-mi-ti-za-se cf. δωματίτης ‘of, belonging to the house,’ δοματίζω ‘bestow
presents on’ or δημοτικός (form) and δημότης ‘one of the same people, a fellow-
citizen’ (mean); cf. δμώς, ‘slave’.
pa-nu-qe ‘and women’ cf. βανά, Boeot. for γυνή, Corinn. 21: pl., βανῆκες, Hsch.,
and Mycen. -qe ‘and’ = Classic Greek te.
ja-wi- cf. υἱός, ϝηιός, pl. υἱεῖς ‘son, child’
685
The form of the name after:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Megiddo
686
Independently: https://oksanalewyckyj.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-04-
13T20:26:00%2B02:00&max-results=7&start=28&by-date=false Cf.: Bourguignon, A. Semitic loanwords
in Mycenaean Greek: Multiple roads, multiple ways,
https://www.academia.edu/5030445/Semitic_Loanwords_in_Mycenaean_Greek_Multiple_Roads_Mult
iple_Ways
687
‘A German expedition from Tübingen University has unearthed the remains of a Minoan fresco
inside a seventeenth-century Minoan palace at Qatna, Syria,’ Keys, David, Colonizing Cretans
http://www.archaeology.org/0405/newsbriefs/cretans.html
129
Thus the complete translation of the inscription may be proposed: ‘One (slave)
from Megiddo, three (slaves) from Phoenicia, eight (slaves) from Qatna, one (slave)
from Cyprus, forty five compatriot (slaves), two women, and … children’.
Compare presence of Linear A documents in Ugarit.
Foreigners (merchants or also slaves) are mentioned in other tablets:
i-pa-sa-ja … a-ki-pi-e-te (KH 10), i-ku-pi[ (KH 18): Ἐφέσια … Αἰγύπτειος; Hittite A-
pa-sa, ‘Ephesus’, Lin. B a3-ku-pi-ti-jo ‘Memphite man’.
Ethnical names of slaves were known in later Greece.
Healing
Suffixal alternation -ma / -tēr might be attested in Linear A i-ja-ma / i-ja-te as well as
in Greek iama / iatēr. Linear A i-ja-ma ‘medicine’688 and i-ja-te ‘physician’689 is a Greek
paradigm with the suffixes of Indo-European, not from substrate origin.
Linear A si-ma i-ja-te (PH Zb 4), cf. -su-ma- (SY Za 2 from Syme), might mean
‘physician from (the Cretan town) of Syme’, or personal name as Lin. B si-ma,
personal name of woman690, cf. σιμή, ‘snub-nosed, flat-nosed (woman)’. G. Neumann
discovered the i/u alternation in Linear A.
Linear A ja-si-e (KE Zb 4) cf. ἴασις, ‘healing, mode of healing, remedy’ and
‘cupellation, refining’; Ἰασίων or Ἰασίως or Ἴασος or Ἠετίων (similar to Triptolemos
and Attis) was a son of Zeus and a husband of Demeter: ‘Demeter, bright goddess,
was joined in sweet love with the hero Iasion in a thrice-ploughed fallow in the rich
land of Krete (Crete), and bare Ploutos (Plutus, Wealth), a kindly god who goes
everywhere over land and the sea's wide back, and him who finds him and into
whose hands he comes he makes rich, bestowing great wealth upon him’ (Hesiod,
Theog. 969 ff).
ja-sa-ja (KN Zg 55) may be related to previous.
Change
Well-known Linear A words ku-ro, ‘sum’ and ki-ro, ‘debt’ as well as other similar
words are Greek ones.
1. Linear A ku-ro / ki-ro and Greek kurios / khreos
Lin. A ku-ra ‘sum’ (ZA 20) = κυρία ‘possession’.
Lin. A ku-ro ‘sum’ (very frequent): Greek κῦρος ‘supreme power’, κύριος ‘decisive,
supreme’, κυρίως ‘precisely, exactly’, κυρόω ‘accomplish one’s end’
(λόγῳ κυροῦται τὰ πάντα, Pl. Grg. 451c); cf. Latin summa < summus, superlative of
688
The reading according to Георгиев 1958, p. 82, instead of the recent reading sa-ja-ma
689
The reading according to Godart, L., Le pouvoir de l’écrit, Paris 1990, p. 182
690
Independently: http://oksanalewyckyj.blogspot.com/2012/07/un-fragment-de-pithos-trouve-
phaistos.html Similarly: Τσικριτσης Μ. Δ. Γραμμική Α (Ηράκλειο 2001), σ. 177–178.
130
superus ‘upper, higher’691; cf. also κύρω ‘obtain; reach’, κύρμα ‘that which one meets
with or finds’. Independently, E. Patria points to another meaning of aforementioned
Greek word, κῦρος ‘confirmation’692.
Lin. A ki-ro = χρέος, ‘debt’, χρή, χρῆ ‘it is necessary’
Lin. A ku-ro … ki-ro … ke-ki-ru … ku-ro (HT 94): ke-ki-ru ≈ κεχρημένος ‘needy’, see
also ki-ki-ra-ja (HT 85). But cf. also κέγχρος ‘millet’, Lin. B ki-ke-ro: Latin. cicero693
Lin. A ki-ra (HT 103) = χρή ‘it is necessary, it must needs’.
Lin. A a-ki-ro (ARKH 4) = ἄχρεος ‘useless’.
Lin. A ki-ra … ka-i-ro (ZA 8) = καιρός ‘due measure’694.
So two key Linear A words may be interpreted in Greek: Linear A ku-ro ‘sum’ =
Greek kyriōs ‘completely, entirely, wholly’ and Linear A ki-ro ‘deficit’ = Greek khrē
‘need’, khreos ‘debt’.
2. Linear A pa-pa before the number695: πάμπαν ‘wholly, altogether’696
3. Linear A pa-, pa-ta and Greek pan, panta
pa-se ‘sum’ (HT 18, HT 27): πᾶς (masc.) ‘all’ rather than πᾶσα, Cret. πάνσα (fem.)
‘all’
pa-ta-qe ‘sum’ (HT 31): πάντα (pl. neut. nom.) ‘all’ and -qe = Lin. B -qe
pa ‘sum’ (TY 3): πᾶς (masc.), πᾶν (neut.) ‘all’
4. Linear A po-to ku-ro ‘total sum’: παντακύριος ‘all-supreme’
ku-ro 31 … ku-ro 65 … po-to ku-ro 97 (HT 122), po-to ku-ro (HT 131)
The meaning of the Greek word παντακύριος points to the exact meaning and
etymology of ku-ro.
Lin. A a/o (pont- instead of pant-, ‘all’ but dar- instead of dor-, ‘gift’) might be an
Iranian feature; cf. ἀβλοπές· ἀβλαβές Κρῆτες (Hesych.).
Instruments and weapons
‘MM weapons are relatively rare, and this fact has led to the somewhat simplistic
conclusion that the Minoans were peace-loving and simply did not indulge in
warfare’697.
691
The Latin etymology as a typological parallel for the Greek interpretation of the Linear A word is
underlined by E. K. Chernukhin, personal communication.
692
693
ПП, с. 69
694
O. Lewyckyj interprets as Greek personal name: Lewyckyj, O. KA-I-RO est un anthroponyme grec!
(linéaire A), https://oksanalewyckyj.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-08-
09T18:59:00%2B02:00&max-results=7&start=154&by-date=false
695
PM I, p. 621; Pini, Ingo, The Hieroglyphic Deposit and the Temple Repositories at Knossos, in:
Aegaeum 5 (1990): Aegean Seals, Sealings and Administration. Proceedings of the NEH-Dickson Conference of
the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory of the Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin,
January 11-13, 1989, edited by Thomas G. Palaima, p. XIV.
696
Independently: Τσικριτσης Μ. Δ. Γραμμική Α (Ηράκλειο 2001), σ. 132–133.
131
Hier., Lin. A, B ta (scale): τάλαντον, ‘balance’, pl. τάλαντα, ‘pair of scale’ < Indo-
European.
Lin. A, B syllabic sign o (shield): ὅπλον ‘the large shield of ὁπλῖται’. Minoan
images of the shield type are well-known698.
Lin. A, B syllabic sign pa (sword): Lin. B pa-ka-na, φάσγανον, ‘sword’ (Akkadian
pāsu, Arabic faʔs-, ‘axe’).
Hier., Lin. A, B ko (mace): κορύνη ‘club, mace’699. Maces were known in Minoan
Crete, e. g. Minoan clay sealing from Kydonia (Khanià Archaeological Museum, 15th
c. BCE) represents a Minotaur armed with a mace or club700
Possibly, HT 87 represents weaponry of armed man:

qi-tu-ne ma-ka-ri-te: βιός, ‘bow’ < gu- (Vedic jiyā´ ‘bow-string’, Lith. gijà ‘thread’) and
μάχαιρα, ‘short sword’, possibly ‘armed with a bow and a short sword’ (Hebr. mekērā
may be of Greek origin)701;
pi-ta-ke-si: ἐπίταξις, ‘station on the flanks’702;
ja-re-mi: ἁρμή, ‘fitting together’ (of shields), cf. Lin. B ha (above);
di-ki-se: τευχήεις, ‘armed’ (head), Lin. B o-pi-te-u-ke-e-we;
qe-su-pu: Lin. B qi-si-pe-pe, ξίφος, ‘sword’ (< Hattic zipah, ‘sword’703; Aram. sajəfā,
Arabic sayf-, Egypt. sēfet, ‘sword’ are not explain initial, but article ha may be
suggested), possibly *ksipheus, ‘sword-bearer’, cf. ξιφήν, ‘sword-bearer’ (Suid.);
ku-ru-ku: κορύγης, Dor. = κῆρυξ, ‘herald’704;
a-ra-…-a-tu: ἅρμα, gen. -ατος, ‘chariot and horses’ (?), cf. Lin. B a-ra-ro-mo-te-me-no
of a chariot.
697
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~prehistory/aegean/?page_id=688#l105 ; see also: Polemos, le contexte
guerrier en égée à l’âge du bronze, Actes de la 7e rencontre égéenne internationale Université de
Liège, 14–17 avril 1998, Liège (1999)
698
Cf. an image: PM I, p. 691; PM III, p. 95, 502.
699
See about the hieroglyphic sign as a mace, SM I, p. 190.
700
D'Amato, R., Salimbeti, A. Early Aegean warrior 5000–1450 BC (Osprey Publising), p. 56.
701
Beekes, p. 915
702
Lesser ἀσπιδίσκος, ‘small shield’ or ποδώκης, ‘swiftfooted’.
703
Κιτσέλης, Φ. / Kitselis, Ph. Χαττίλι / Hattic, https://www.academia.edu/12636092/Hattili_Hattic_-
_The_pre-historic_language_of_central_Anatolia_in_Greek_ , ref.: ‘Tardivo (σε εξέλιξη)’
704
Lesser κόρυς, gen. -υθος, ‘helmet’ or κόρυξ: νεανίσκος, ‘a youth’ (Hesych.).
132
RELIGION
Minoan Greeks worshipped mountains and caves (Lin. A du-pu2-re : Lin. B da-pu2-ri-to), goddesses
of city (with snakes?) and of double axe, Mother, Demeter, and Eileithyia. Sacral throne was also an
object of cult. Priests and priestesses, gifts for gods, rites (burial, purification, bull leaping) and oral
law, sacral buildings (of king and of elected city ruler) are also mentioned
Mountains and caves
Names of mountains occur in the same positions of the ‘Libation Formula’ as

names of cities:
-di-ki-tu / -di-ki-te-(te), cf. Lin. B di-ka-ta(-de), Δίκτη (Cretan sacral mountain). The
name might be related to Lacon. δίζα: αἴξ, ‘goat’ (Hesych.), as possible place where
Amalthea nursed newborn Zeus (goats near peak sanctuaries are depicted on Kato
Zakro rhyton and Pylos gold ring), or to δείκνυμι, Cretan δίκνυμι (possible dialectal
monophthongization!), perfect δέδεκται, ‘show’, as a sacral landmark;
i-da(-) / i-da-a, cf. Ἴδη (Cretan sacral mountain), Ἰδαῖα, ‘of Ida’; i-da is also a separate
word in the inscription on the libation table (PK Za 18); initial w- might be absent in
Linear A.
If ‘du-pu(2)-re’ appears after the name of Dicte and before the name of Ida then it
may be misreading of o-du-ru = Lin. B o-du-ru- = Cretan ὄθρυν, ‘mountain’ (Hesych.).
However, if Lin. A often reflects the second wovel of dipthong, du-pu(2)-re might be
*d(a)u-pu(2)-re without -ινθ-suffix, cf. Lin. B da-pu2-ri-to-jo po-ti-ni-ja. So a/ja-di-ki-te-te-
du-pu-re … a/ja-sa-sa-ra-me(-na) may be ja dikta-thi laura ja sesaromena, ‘the cave in
Dicta is cleaned’. Alternatively, ‘du-pu(2)-re’ is du-re-re = Dreros (above), and
interpretation of (j)a-di-ki-te-te du-re-re might be ja Dikta de Dreros. Cf. also Messapian
tabaras ‘priest’ and tabara ‘priestess’.
pa-ta-da du-pu2-re (HT Zb 160): πεδιάς, -άδος, ‘on or of the plain’, cf. Skoteino
(Pediados) cave near Knossos705
Two etymologies of labyrinth may be proposed:
‘simple’ – *la-bur-, ‘stone house’: βυριόθεν· οἴκοθεν, βύριον· οἴκημα (Hesych.), also
βᾶρις, ‘house, wall, tower’ (LSJ, Hesych.), Messap. βαυρία ‘οἰκία’ (EM)706;
‘complete’ – Luwian lawar, ‘to break’, Lycian B laBra, ‘a stone plate’ (an indirect
evidence of Beycesultan influence on New Palaces? but hypogeum preceded Knossian
old palace), λαύρα, ‘alley, lane, passage; sewer, privy’, Λαύρειον, Λάρισα, ‘citadel’,
Thracian rera ‘stones, stony ground’ (from an earlier *lera), Alb. lerë, -a ‘stones, fallen
stones’707, phonetically cf. λάβρος/λαῦρος, ‘furious’.
705
Faure, P. Les divinités de la caverne sacrée de Skoteino (Pediados), ΕΙΛΑΠΙΝΕ: Τόμος τιμητικός
για τον Καθηγητή Νικόλαο Πλάτωνα (Ηράκλειο 1987), T. 1, σ. 341-345, T. 2, σ. 706-713;
http://digitalcrete.ims.forth.gr/sites_display.php?l=1&id=1963
706
707
133
City Goddess
Minoan City Goddess is interpreted by M. Nilsson, N. Marinatos etc.708 ‘Minoan

religion remains largely obscure owing to the absence of relevant written sources’709.
However, several interpretations of the Minoan written sources are proposed below.
Linear A a-ra-ko-ku-zu-wa-sa-to-ma-ro-au-ta-de-po-ni-za might be read in Greek as
*ἀρχαγωγεύς *ἀστυμάρπτις *αὐτοδεσποινική/ία.
a-ra-ko-, cf. ἀρχός ‘leader, chief, ruler’: ἀρχός πόλεως ‘ruler of city’710.
ku-zu-, cf. ἀγωγός, ἀγωγεύς, ‘leading’, ‘guide’, cf. ἀρχαγέτας, ἀρχηγέτης,
‘founder of a city’, ‘Spartan king’; ἀρχηγέτις, a title of Athena; ἀρχαγός, ἀρχηγός, ‘a
god of city’711.
a-ra-ko-ku-zu- may be interpreted as *ἀρχαγωγεύς, ‘chief guide’.
wa-sa-to-, cf. ϝάστυ, ἄστυ ‘town’ (‘*dwell’? cf. Household Goddess), Sanskrit wasati
‘dwell’712, Messapian vast- ‘town’; ἀστός ‘townsman, citizen’ and Ἀστός fem. as
epithet of Κόρη713. Initially it might be ‘unfortified city’ in contrast to ‘fortified city’
(polis, absent in Minoan Crete).
ma-ro-, cf. μάρη ‘hand’, μάρπτω ‘take hold of’, μάρπτις ‘seizer’; the root forms a
verb in Linear B. ‘Cretan Artemide, Βριτόμαρτις, might include Assyrian mārtu,
mārti- ‘daughter, girl’714 but brilliant Indo-European parallels were proposed;715
708
Nilsson, M. P. Minoan-Mycenaean religion and its survival in Greek religion, 2nd ed.; Marinatos, N.
Minoan kihngship and the solar goddess: A Near Eastern koine, University of Illinois Press (Urbana etc,
2010), p. 75
709
Georgoulaki, E. Discerning Early Minoan cultic trends: the archeological evidence, Kernos 15 (2002),
p. 19,
710
Prob. in Eur. Fr. 1014, LSJ, s. v.
711
Plat. Tim. 21e.
712
Possible Indo-European loanword in Egyptian: w;st [waset] ‘Egyptian Thebes’ while other name of
Thebes was used as common name of city; however, the Egyptian word is traditionally interpreted as
the cognate of was, ‘sceptre’. Egyptian proto-urbanisation may be dated to the time of possible pre-
dynastic elite migration from Mesopotamia whereas Sumerian language was Indo-Europeanized.
713
IG 12(5).225 (Paros, V c. BCE, LSJ, s. v.)
714
A deeper source of Cretan Britomartis, http://paleoglot.blogspot.ca/2009/12/deeper-source-of-
cretan-britomartis.html Cf. Proto-Semitic *marʔ- ‘son, boy, child, man, lord’ etc. (Akkadian māru) and
Canaanite-Phoenician worships of the lord (i. e. god) of city, but 1) only in Aramaic the root mārā
means ‘lord’ and 2) the feminine form, Proto-Semitic *marʔ-at-, means ‘woman’ (Arabic and epigraphic
South Arabian only) and has a suffix which is absent in the Linear A inscription. Cf. Blažek, V.
Theonymica Helleno-Semitica II. Pallas Athānā / Athānā Potnia "Virgin" or "Lady"?, Do-so-mo 7:
‘Semitic solution, based on the Semitic etymologies of whole syntagm *pallad o Athānā from *bālat
ānat "Lady CAnat" or *bat(V)lat ānat "Virgin CAnat"’, http://www.ihpt.pl/do-so-mo/do-so-mo-nr-7.pdf
715
Kaczyńska, E. Kallimachejski mit o Britomartis-Diktynnie, Classica wratislaviensia XXIV (Wrocław
2004), s. 73, https://www.academia.edu/9565556/The_Callimachean_Myth_on_Britomartis-Dictynna
134
Cretan μαρνά ‘virgo’716; the Britomartis name is traditionally compared with
μάρπτω, ‘take hold of’717.
wa-sa-to-ma-ro- might be read *ἀστυμάρπτις ‘city-holder, city-ruler, city-protector,
city patron’, cf. ἀστυάναξ ‘lord of the city’, epithet of certain gods (Aesch. Suppliant
Women 1018), and name of the throne descendant in Troy, and especially ἀστυόχος
‘protecting the city’ and Lin. B name wa-tu-o-ko718, Ἀστυόχη, Ἀστυόχεια Homeric
personal names of women; πολιοῦχος Ἀθάνα (Aristoph. Clouds 595),
Ὦ πολιοῦχε Παλλάς (Aristoph. Knights 581), Ἀθηναίης πολιούχου (Herodot. 1.160),
ὦ πολιάοχε Παλλάς (Pind. Olymp. 5); ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀθήνησιν ἀστυνόμων (Diog. Laert.
6.5)719. The structure is similar to Aeolian Λεσβῶναξ and Phrygian modrovanak (king
of the Bithynian city of Modra). Cf. wa-tu-ma-re GRA (HT 128, below). Eteocypriot a-
sa-to-wa-na-ka- and a-ra-to-wa-na-ka- < Aristowanax720.
au-ta-, cf. αὐτός, Cretan ἀFτός, fem. αὐτή ‘self’. It is common Greek-Phrygian
word.
de-po-ni-, cf. δέσποινα ‘mistress, princess, queen, goddess‘. It is an epithet / title of
Arete, Medea, Hecate, Artemide, Demeter, Persephone, Cybele etc. Two Arcadian
goddesses had this name. Cf. δέσποιν᾽ ἁπασῶν, πότνι᾽ Ἀθηναίων πόλι (Com. Adesp.
340.1), δεσποίνῃ Ἀθηναίᾳ τῇ τῆς πόλεως μεδεούσῃ (Aristoph. Knights 763), πότνια
δέσποιν᾽ Ἀθηναία ποιῶν ἀπόλωλ᾽ ἐκεῖνος κἀν δέοντι τῇ πόλει (Aristoph. Peace 250),
δέσποιν᾽ Ἀθάνα (Eurip. Rhesus 595, Suppliants 1196), δέσποινα Πολιάς (Athena, Plut.
Demosthenes 26). Despoina is an equivalent of Mycenaean Potnia, closely related to
wanax. Lin. B do-po-ta ‘god’s name or epithet’. Despoina was another name of
Persephone in Arcadia721. Demeter might also be < PIE *dems-mater ‘mother of the
716
St. Byz., s. v. Γάζα; http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Britomartis.html
717
Kaczyńska, E. Kallimachejski mit o Britomartis-Diktynnie, Classica wratislaviensia XXIV (Wrocław
2004), s. 71, https://www.academia.edu/9565556/The_Callimachean_Myth_on_Britomartis-Dictynna ;
cf. also Μάρνας, name of Zeus at Gaza (St. Byz.), Lemn. μαραζ : Etr. maru, marun- (o > u in Etruscan),
Umbrian maru, Latin maro (in P. Vergilius Maro) ‘a magistrate’, Lyc. marazi ‘judge’ (Braun, s. 15) or
maraza < mara, mere, ‘law’ (Bryce, T. R. The Lycians in literary and epigraphic sources, Museum
Tusculanum Press (Copenhagen 1986), p. 136); Μάρων, a priest at Ismarus (Hom. Od. IX 200):
V. I. Georgiev interpreted Ἴσμαρος as ‘settlement (Alb. vis ‘place’, Old Ind. viś- ‘house’, Avest. vīš
‘house, village, clan’) the great (Dac.>Rom. mare ‘great’, Gaulish -maros, Germanic -mar ‘famous’ as in
Waldemar)’, Georgiev V. I. Thrakische Etymologien, Балканско езикознание / Linguistique balkanique
XVI/1 (София 1972), с. 8.
718
V Ch p. 98
719
Cf. Лурье С. Я. Язык и культура микенской Греции, М.; Л. 1957, с. 303–307
720
Duhoux, Y. Eteocypriot and Cypro-Minoan 1–3, Kadmos 48 (2009), pp. 44–46,
https://www.academia.edu/26457464/Eteocypriot_and_Cypro-Minoan_1_3
721
‘Demeter, they say, had by Poseidon a daughter, whose name they are not wont to divulge to the
uninitiated, and a horse called Areion. For this reason they say that they were the first Arcadians to
call Poseidon Horse. <…> The Phigalians accept the account of the people of Thelpusa about the
mating of Poseidon and Demeter, but they assert that Demeter gave birth, not to a horse, but to the
Mistress, as the Arcadians call her’ (Paus. 8.25.7, 8.42.1), Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece
with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.
Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918,
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.25.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext
135
house’ (H. Frisk). Demeter and Persephone were called Δέσποιναι at Olympia, in
possible relation to Lin. B wa-na-so-i, ‘two queens’.
au-ta-de-po-ni- may be *αὐτοδέσποινα, cf. αὐτοδεσπότης ‘absolute master’,
αὐτοδεσποτεία ‘absolute rule’, οἰκοδέσποινα, ‘mistress of a famly’. About the suffix
-za in de-po-ni-za, cf. adj. δεσποινικός and Lin. B za < kja. The adjective form might
point to the vessel, possessed, i. e. offered, to the goddess.
So the whole inscription a-ra-ko-ku-zu-wa-sa-to-ma-ro-au-ta-de-po-ni-za may be read
as *ἀρχαγωγεύς *ἀστυμάρ(π)τις *αὐτοδεσποινική/ία (vessel) ‘leader’s, city-holder’s,
absolute ruler’s (vessel)’. Many Greek city-states had own patron gods722, as well as
Egyptian, Levantine, and Mesopotamian cities.
Hypothetically, the goddess, a cognate of classical Athena (who was born in
Crete)723, might be identified with Snake Goddess. ‘Perhaps the most popular and
persistant cult in Minoan Crete was that of the Snake or Household Goddess’724. Cult
of the goddess might reflect the similarity between ἔχις, ‘viper’ and ἔχω, ‘hold’.
M. Finkelberg reconstructs matrilinear dynasties in mythical Greece. Queen’s
position was similar to that of Hittite tawananna. The queen might be a priestess of
the goddess of land725. Egyptian parallels are also clear. However, ‘cf. John Younger’s
AEGEANET posting on 9 April 1997: ‘. . . the female Potnia has, in my opinion, been
wrongly identified only as a goddess (she may have been, but I’m pretty sure she
was a human too and the head of another type of administration, a religious one . . .
(Younger’s italics.)’’726
Goddess of city and elected city ruler (above), depicted as a ‘man over the town’,
might be a pair
Mother Goddess(es), Hestia vs Iasios, Demeter, Eileithyia
ma-te-re *339 (PH 15; the logogram is similar to sa as possible shortening of sa-sa-
me, ‘sesam’) might reflect Mother Goddess(es). Lin. B ma-te-re te-i-ja (dat.) ‘to the
mother of gods’, ma-te-re (PY Fr 1202) = matrei (theiai) ‘for the mother (of gods)’.
Greek ἡ Μήτηρ = Δημήτηρ.
e-si-ja (from the right to the left) on the lamp (KE Zb 4): ἑστία ‘hearth of a house’727
or Ἑστίαι, ‘to Hestia’. The goddess was the founder of Knossos728. Straight reading
%3A1999.01.0160
722
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_city-state_patron_gods
723
Diod. Sic. 5.72.3; Faure Paul. Spéléologie et topographie crétoises. In: Bulletin de correspondance
hellénique. Vol. 82, 1958. pp. 495-515.
724
Branigan, K. The genesis of the household goddess, http://smea.isma.cnr.it/wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/Branigan_The-genesis-of-the-Household-Goddes.pdf
725
Finkelberg, M. Greeks and pre-Greeks, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge 2005), pp. 65–89.
726
Finkelberg, M. Greeks and pre-Greeks, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge 2005), p. 89.
727
‘Etymological connexion with Vesta is doubtful; the dialects never have ϝ-, exc. in the pr.
n. ϝιστίαυ’, LSJ, s. v.
728
Lactant. 1.11.46.
136
(from the left to the right) ia-si-e (in possible relation with ἴασις, ‘healing’) is lesser
acceptable because the object is the lamp. However, if Demeter-related Iacchus the
torch-bearer might be compared with Demeter-related Ἰασίων or Ἰασίως (divine
participant of a Cretan rite, Hes. Theog. 969–971) then the similar name might be
inscribed on the lamp.
da-ma-te on the steatite vessel from the Ayios Georgios peak sanctuary in Kythera
(KY Za 2) is interpreted as Demeter. The goddess was of Cretan origin (Hom. Hymn to
Demeter, 123). Da- traditionally interpreted as δᾶ, Dorian variant for γᾶ, ‘earth’ (cf.
Dor. Ἐννοσί-δας for Ἐννοσί-γαιος), or < Macedonian -gdan = chthon, but Egypt. ta,
‘earth, land’ must be mentioned729
a-ra-u-da (KH 5, before a list mentioning wine, figs etc.): Lin. B e-re-u-ti-ja (KN),
Cretan Ἐλεύθυια, a goddess of childbirth, traditionally linked with Eleusis (whereas
Minoan roots of Eleusinian misteries were demonstrated by M. Ridderstad). The cave
of Eileithyia near Amnisos was mentioned by Homer (Od. 19.198). In classical times,
there were shrines to Eileithyia in the Cretan cities of Lato and Eleutherna and a
sacred cave at Inatos730 but wi-na-du in the table is ‘sweet wine’ rather than the name
of (W)Inatos731. Eileithyia was depicted as a woman wielding a torch, representing
the burning pains of childbirth, or with her arms raised in the air to bring the child to
the light732, cf. Spica in Virgo and Mycenaean Psi-figurines. Taweret, an Egyptian
goddess of childbirth and fertility, was adopted in Crete as ‘Minoan genius’733. The
genius is often portrayed with water vessels, such as ewers, so it seems to play a role
as libation bearer734. Cf. also Hitt.-Luw. arawa-, ‘free, released’
a-da-ki-si-ka (KH 5, before suggested name of the goddess): *ἀνδεκτικά, ‘(gifts)
fitted for receiving (by the goddess)’, cf. ἀναδεκτικός, ‘fitted for receiving’ <
ἀναδέχομαι/ἀναδέκομαι/ἀνδέκομαι, ‘receive’735.
729
This word is included in Egypt. Tatenen, ‘risen land, exalted earth’ > Titans.
730
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileithyia
731
http://people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/misctexts.html
732
‘Eileithyia of the hard pains had brought out the child into the light, and he looked on the sun's
shining’ (Iliad 16.187–189), http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Eileithyia.html
733
Weingarten, Judith, The Transformation of Taweret into the Minoan Genius: A Study in Cultural
Transmission in the Middle Bronze Age (Partille: P. Åströms, 1991),
https://www.academia.edu/1311877/The_Transformation_of_Egyptian_Taweret_into_the_Minoan_Ge
nius ; Weingarten, J., 2013, The Arrival of Egyptian Taweret and Beset on Minoan Crete: Contact and
Choice, in L. Bombardieri, A. D’Agostino, G. Guarducci, V. Orsi, S. Valentini (eds), SOMA 2012,
Identity and Connectivity, Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, Florence, Italy,
1–3 March 2012, Vol..I, Bar International Series 2581 (I) 2013, 371-378,
https://www.academia.edu/5799307/The_Arrival_of_Egyptian_Taweret_and_Bes_et_on_Minoan_Cret
e_Contact_and_Choice ; Rehak, P., The ‘Genius’ in Late Bronze Age Glyptic: the Later Evolution of an
Aegean Cult Figure, in W. Müller (ed.), Sceaux Minoens et Mycéniens [CMS Beiheft 5] (Berlin 1995) 215-
231
734
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_Genius
735
Lesser ἄτακτος, ‘not in battle-order (of troops)’, τακτικός, ‘regular (battalion)’, τάξις, ‘band of
soldiers’.
137
A goddess of Libation Formula?
K. T. Witczak underlines that Linear A (j)a-sa-sa-ra-me is written separately a-sa sa-

ra-me in Cret. Hier., compares the phrase with ja-su-ma-tu-re and ascribes the
meaning similar to Lin. B pa-si-te-o-i to the former and the meaning similar to Lin. B
ma-te-re te-i-ja to the latter736.
If (j)a-sa is a distinct god(dess) then (s)he might be Aisa737, one of the three
Moiras738. Etruscan ais-, ‘god’ is derived from the goddess like Etr. Tukhulkha, a
demon of Underworld, – from τύχη. However, I prefer to interprete (j)a-sa-sa-ra-
me/ma-na as pass. part. ‘cleaned’ (below).
The form of -ma-tu-re (if it is ‘mother’) may be compared with frequent Greek –
μάτωρ, -μήτωρ, e. g. θεο-μήτωρ, ‘mother of a god’; Messapian DAMATYRA-,
‘Demeter’, Δειπάτυρος (Hesych.). However, final sign might be not -re but OLIV
(below).
Double Axe-holding Idaean Mother
Two votive double axes from the Arkalokhori cave, silver and golden ones, bear
the same inscription i-da-ma-te (AR Zf 1 and AR Zf 2), traditionally interpreted as
‘Idaean Mother’, firstly – by N. K. Bouphidis739. E. Kaczyńska underlines a military
nature of other votive objects in the cave and links i-da- with ἴδα: μάχη ‘battle, fight,
combat’ (Hesych.)740. The hypothesis corresponds with two other ‘military
inscriptions’ on Minoan axes (see below) but not corresponds with i-da-a (also
without initial w-) among toponyms and in the position of a toponym in the ‘Libation
Formula’. If Idaean Mother is well-known from later sources then ‘Mother of Battle’
rather looks like Celtic goddess741.
Several other cult axes also bear Linear A inscriptions:
736
Witczak, K. T. Rev.: Cretan Studies, Vol. 5 (Amsterdam 1996), in: Živa Antika 49 (1999), pp. 212–213,
https://www.academia.edu/9580975/Cretan_Studies_vol._5_edited_by_W._F._Bakker_and_R._F._Will
etts_Adolf_M._Hakkert_Publisher_Amsterdam_1996_pp._IV_218_XXII_plates
737
Iliad 16.705, 20.128, Od. 7.198, Aesch. Ch./Lib. 648
738
Pindar, Hymn to the Fates, Fragmenta Chorica Adespota, 5. Diehl.
739
Μπουφίδης, Ν. Κ. Επιγραφές από το Αρκαλοχώρι, Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς 1952/53 (1954) 61-74.
Overview of alternative interpretations: Kaczyńska, E. Greek ΙΔΑ ‘battle, fight, combat’: a term of
Minoan origin? Kadmos XLI (2002), https://www.academia.edu/6872958/GREEK_%CE%99%CE
%94%CE%91_BATTLE_FICHT_COMBAT_A_TERM_OF_MINOAN_ORIGIN
740
Kaczyńska, E. Greek ΙΔΑ ‘battle, fight, combat’: a term of Minoan origin? Kadmos XLI (2002),
https://www.academia.edu/6872958/GREEK_%CE%99%CE%94%CE
%91_BATTLE_FICHT_COMBAT_A_TERM_OF_MINOAN_ORIGIN
741
For instance, Makha ‘battle goddess’ was Celtic.
138
tu-nu on the bronze axe (KA Zf 1): θύνω ‘rush, dart along’, θύνων (part sg pres act
masc nom), cf. Lin. B goddess pi-pi-ti-na < *wiphi-thuna or *wiph-ithuna, cf. ἰθύνω,
‘guide in a straight line, rule’, and the similar Linear A inscription from Norway;
da-ku on the bronze double axe (SE Zf 1): θήγω, Dor. θάγω ‘sharpen, whet’, θηγός,
‘sharp’ (Hesych.)
Astronomically, the goddess holding double axe means Virgo and Ursa Major
which rise in the autumnal equinox, suggested start of year in Minoan Crete, acc. to
M. Ridderstad. In contrast, Snake Goddess corresponds with Ophiouchos.
Tutelary god: personal vs of city
ti-ma-ru-wi-te as a subject of gifts (PYR 1): τιμωρητής, ‘avenger’, possibly a form

with -ευτής. It may be a pay for an executor. Alternatively, it may be a gift for a deity
similar to Erinyes who are mentioned in Linear B inscriptions fron Knossos. Despite
τιμωρός < τιμάορος, ‘avenger’, ‘executioner’ was used mainly to humans,
τόν τ᾽ ἐμὸν τιμάορον Ἑρμῆν, ‘my tutelary god Hermes’ (Aesch. Agam. 514–515) must
be mentioned. If Linear A inscriptions were mainly religious, then ti-ma-ru-wi-te =
*τιμαορευτής, ‘tutelary/avenger (god)’ may be preferred.
Palace, throne, shrine
Palaces were the most impotant cult centers of Minoan Crete, as N. Marinatos
detaily explained in her Minoan Religion.
Palace of wanax had name wanaktoron which was a base of Lin. A, B syllabic sign wa
(palace, a translation of Egyptian sign): ἀνάκτορον, ‘palace, temple’; Luw. Hier.
‘dominus’ is similar; Chinese wang ‘king’ with similar hieroglyph (see details above
in ‘Society’).
Palace of elected city ruler (or judge) might also be identified.
magistrates in Greek cities; αἰσύμνιον, ‘council-chamber’ at Megara (Paus. 1.43.3).
The form of ja-su-ma-tu is the closest to αἰσυμνητύς ‘office of αἰσυμνήτης’ among
other cognate words. Proposed meaning: ‘to ruler’s palace – olives’.
742
139
‘Brent Davis points out that *122 OLIV strongly resembles RE in KO Za 1b’ so ja-
su-ma-tu-re may also be readed, cf. αἰσυμνητήρ ‘ruler’743.
Minoan throne cult and Knossian ‘throne room’ are well-known. The name of Isis
means ‘throne’. Hattic Throne-goddess Hanwasuit744 (Hittite Halmasuit) may be also
mentioned. Sacral throne may be mentioned in Linear A.
pa-ra tu-ru-nu-se-me GRA … wa-tu-ma-re GRA (HT 128):
σεμνός, ‘holy’, of many goddess: Demeter, Hecate, Thetis, Athena, Σεμναί are
Erinyes;
Lin. B to-ro-no-, θρόνος, ‘throne’, incl. Apollo’s throne in the Prytaneum;
ἐν θρόνῳ σεμνῷ (Herodot. 2.173), σεμνοί τε θᾶκοι ‘holy seats’ (Aesch. Agam. 519),
σεμνὰς καθεδοῦνται (Aristoph. Eccles. 618)
The initial pa-ra may be compared with 1) παρά which means ‘to the side of, to’ in
composites or lesser 2) πρός ‘to’ or 3) φορά ‘carrying, bringing’.
wa-tu-ma-re is identical to aforementioned wa-sa-to-ma-ro.
So the sentence may be read: παρά θρόνῳ σεμνῷ GRA (acc.).., *(Ϝ)ἀστυμάρ(π)τις
(dat.) GRA (acc.).
u-na-ka-na-si OLE (SY Za 2) might reflect sacral enclosures.

We have parallel constructions ja-su-ma-tu OLIV and u-na-ka-na-si OLE in the same
inscription. Several variants of the word are known: u-na-ru-ka-ja-si (PK Za 12) < u-
na-ru-ka-*na-si (a and na are similar), u-na-ru-ka-na-ti (PK Za 11), u-na-ka-na-si (IO Za
2, TL Za 1, KO Za 1, PK Za 8). The u-na-ka-/u-na-ru-ka- alternation leads us to
reconstruction of arg-, ark- of arkh-. If ja-su-ma-tu in the parallel construction is a
building (an office of city magistrate: ja-su-ma-tu is closest to αἰσυμνητύς ‘office
of αἰσυμνήτης’ among other cognate forms) then u-na-(ru-)ka-na-si/ti might be a
building too, cf. ἑρκάνη, ὁρκάνη ‘enclosure’745. So the translation ἐν ὁρκάνῃσι(ν) ‘in
the (sacral) enclosures – olive oil’ possibly referred to natural temples might be
proposed. However, a name related to ἄρχων ‘ruler, commander, chief, king’
(archon’s office?) can’t be also excluded.
Minoan ‘rural sanctuaries’ are well-known746.
743
744
Proto-Semitic han, ‘place’ and shwth, ‘sitting’.
745
Alternbative but lesser acceptable: ἀρχείνη, ‘priestess’ and ἄρχων, ‘ruler’ (dat. plur. in both cases;
-ti/-si point to the latter).
746
‘The Minoans also had rural sanctuaries in open sites that were unconnected with peaks or caves.
The archaeological evidence for these sacred enclosures is slight, but Bogdan Rutkowski (1986) argues
that the images carved on sealstones and rings are sufficient proof that they existed. […] Sometimes,
we may imagine, boundary stones or small cairns were used to mark the edge of the precinct, or a
rough, low drystone wall. The more important sacred precincts were probably bounded by more
substantial walls: the Gypsades Rhyton seems to show one of these. The sacred tree cult mentioned
earlier led to the building of enclosure walls round individual trees or groups of trees thought to have
been visited by deities. Several seal impressions and rings show a high wall with a double cornice
140
Oral law and magic charm in games
pi-te-ri a-ko-a-ne (PK Za 11): πατρὸς ἀκουήν (Od. 2.308), πατρὸς ἀκουὴν (Od. 4.701),
‘hearing of father’, from ἀκοή, epic ἀκουή, ‘hearing’, cf. πατρὸς (gen.) ἀκούσας (part
sg aor act masc nom attic epic ionic), ‘hear of father’ (Od. 4.114); Zeus-Minos
communication in the sacral cave was a source of power and laws.
[κατά] Πατρόιο ἀκοήν, ‘(according to) Father’s (Cretan Zeus’) hearing (oral law)’
may be reconstructed.
A gold pin of unknown origin (now in Haghios Nikolaos Museum) 747 bears an
inscription: a-ma-wa-si ka-ni-ja-mi i-ja za-ki-se-nu-ti a-ta-ma. Complete Greek
interpretation of the inscription may be proposed.
a-ma-wa-si: *ἄμευσις, ‘victory (in a game)’ < ἀμεύομαι, ‘surpass, outstrip, conquer’
(esp. Pind. Pyth. 1.44–45), in Crete means ‘purchase (?)’;
ka-ni-ja-mi: γανύμενος (part sg pres mid masc nom) < γάνυμαι, ‘be glad’;
i-ja: ἔῃ (verb 3rd sg pres subj act epic ionic) < εἰμί, ‘to be’;
za-ki-se-nu-ti: γᾶς, Cypriot ζᾶς, ‘of land, farm’ (Gen.) and ξενϜισταί (Dat.) <
ξενιστής, ‘guest-friend, foreigner’, Lin. B ke-se-ne-wi-ja, ke-se-ni-wi-jo, ke-se-nu-wi-ja;
also ξεν-ίς, -ίδος, ‘road leading abroad’748;
a-ta-de: ἐντάδε, ἐνθάδε, ‘thither, hither; here, there’.
So whole inscription may be interpreted: *ἄμευσις γανύμενος ἔῃ ζᾶς ξενϜισταί
ἐντάδε, ‘Let a glad purchase of a land will be for guest (t)here’.
Rites: burial, purification, bull leaping
surmounted by sacral horns, or a high fence surrounding a tree.

Within the enclosure, which may have been quite small, there were sometimes cult buildings,
sometimes not. A clay model from Arkhanes, and dating from the very end of the Minoan civilization,
shows the sort of modest shrine that may have been erected in a sacred enclosure: an oval hut with a
conical roof, entrance doors and a cult idol inside. These were lightly built and have not survived well
in the archaeological record; nevertheless, the remains of cult houses measuring about 4 metres across
have been found at Gazi, Kefala (in the Pediados district), Plai tou Kastrou near Kavousi, and at
Pachlitsani Agriada. Some of the sacred enclosures may have had much more elaborate structures like
the tripartite shrines at Juktas and in the Knossos Labyrinth.
As well as cult buildings, the sacred enclosure may have contained altars of various shapes, as shown
on the Gypsades Rhyton, and decorated with plaster and paint, as shown on the Agia Triadha
sarcophagus. There were probably also sacrificial tables and statues of deities, like the clay goddess
found at the sacred enclosure of Sachturia’, Castleden, R. Minoans – Life in Bronze Age Crete, Routledge
(1990), http://erenow.com/ancient/LifeinBronzeAgeCrete/index.html
747
Chadwick, J. Linear B and related scripts (London 1987),
748
Lesser *zakuns-oneti (Dat.), cf. Ζάκυνθος, Odysseus’ island, and ὠνητός, ‘bought (of slave)’, lesser
ὠνητής, ὠνατάς, ‘buyer, purchaser’ (because of the next word ‘slave’), structurally *Zakuns /
Ζάκυνθος : Τίρυνς / Τίρυνθ-, *zakuns-onetos : Λεσβ-ώναξ
141
ta-na-su-te-ke (PR Za 1): τεθνώσας749 θῆκαν750, ‘(they) placed (buried) the dead’
ta-nu-ni-ki-na i-[pi-na-ma] (PL Zf 1.1): τανῦν/τὰ νῦν, ‘now’ or θανών, ‘the dead’751
(ὁ θανών) and ἰκνά: τροφεῖα752,
(j)a-sa-sa-ra-me/(j)a-sa-sa-ra-ma-na, a frequent word of so-called ‘Minoan Libation
Formula’, may be neither Hittite-Luwian *a/ishasara ‘Lady’ nor Semitic Ashera but
Greek pass. part. -mena (fem. because of ja- fem.), as in another word of the Formula,
i-pi-na-ma / i-pi-na-mi-na (below).
It may be σεσαρωμέν-, part sg perf mp masc nom redupl: οἶκος σεσαρωμένος
‘home is cleaned’ (Matt. 12:44, cf. Luc. 15:8, Eurip. Hecuba 363) < σαρόω, σαίρω,
‘sweep clean; to be swept clean, exhausted’.
So the word group ‘city-name (j)a-sa-sa-ra-me/-ma-na’ is an equivalent of Mattew’s
οἶκος σεσαρωμένος.
a-ka-nu-za-ti (KN Zc 7) may be related to ἁγνίζω, ‘wash off, cleanse away’, esp. by
water (τὸ πῦρ καθαίρει … τὸ ὕδωρ ἁγνίζει, Plu. 2.263e), τινὰ πηγαῖς (Eur. IT 1039).
If tu-me-i in tu-me-i ja-sa[-sa-ra (PK Za 8), ]tu-me-i ja-sa-sa[ (PK Za 14) might be a
form of θυμία ‘incense’, θυμόεις ‘thymy’, θύμον, θύμος ‘Cretan thyme’, θυμίασις
‘fumigating’, θυμιάω ‘burn incense’ then ja-*di-ki-te-te-du2-pu-re tu-me-i ja-sa[-sa-ra]
might mean ja dikta-thi laura tumiai ja sesaromena, ‘the cave in Dicte is cleaned by
incense’753.
da-wa-du-wa-to (KN Za 10): θεόθυτος, ‘offered to the gods’, θεόθυτον, ‘a victim’ <
θύω, ‘offer by burning’ meat or drink to the gods, ‘made an offering’ of cheese,
‘sacrifice, slay’ a victim, ‘offer sacrifice’, ‘celebrate’ with offerings or sacrifices; θυητά,
‘fumigations’; θυήεις, ‘smoking with incense, fragrant’, Epic epith. of βωμός.
(j)a-ta-i-301-wa-ja = ja *θηϊο-θυηεια, ‘altar’ or ‘rite’ (purification by smoke of
brimstone): θήϊον, Epic form for θεῖον, ‘brimstone’, used to fumigate and purify (Od.
22.493) < θϜ-754. Previous interpretation of i in (j)a-ta-i- as no opened a possibility to
read ta-no (Tanos, gen. of Tan, ‘Cretan Zeus’) but the disputed sign is the same as in i-
da-ma-te (above). So the initial word of the formula might be translated: ‘a (rite of)
purification by smoke of brimstone’.
a-sa-su-ma-i-se BOSm 5 (GO Wc 1): if se may be similar no then a-sa-su-ma-i-no =

ἐσσύμενος, ‘hurrying, eager, impetuous’, a possible trace of famous ‘bull-leaping’ on
749
acc. pl. fem.
750
verb 3rd pl aor ind act homeric ionic unaugmented < τίθημι, ‘put, place, lay down’
751
part sg aor act masc nom, in the construction: ‘he will die and pay the earth the full price of his
nurture’, Aeschylus. Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two
volumes. 1. Seven Against Thebes. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University
Press. 1926, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0014%3Acard
%3D457
752
Cf. ἰκνείαν: τροφείαν, ἰκνεῖος: τροφεύς (Rhodian words, Hesych.), θανὼν τροφεῖα (Aesch. Seven,
477), rather then ἴκνυς ‘ashes’ (τὰν ἴκνυν ἀπὸ τῶ βωμῶ ... ἀφελὲν ἐς καθαρόν Berl. Sitzb.
1927.159, Cyrene) because cremation is not usual in MM Crete.
753
Cf. τέθυμαι, perfect of θύω, ‘to offer by burning’. Alternatively, cf. Homeric οὐκ Ἀτρεΐδῃ
Ἀγαμέμνονι ἥνδανε θυμῷ (Iliad 1.24)
754
Beekes 537
142
Minoan frescoes. Alternatively, ‘BOSm’ might be pa-pa, a designation of ‘sum’ before
the number755
Priests and priestesses
a-se-tu-qi … ra-o-di-ki … pi-ru-e-ju … se-sa-pa3 … (PH 2): ἄστυ or Ἀστυόχη,

Λαοδίκη756, Πυρόεις, Σίσυφος and σέσυφος (πανοῦργος, Hsch.; -sa- cf. not only σοφός,
‘clever’, Hitt. šuppi-, ‘pure’ but also σαφής, ‘clear’, Latin. sapiens). Possibly, there are
names of priests and priestess.
Linear A inscription on a silver bowl from Ugarit/Ras-Shamra757 is readed as ro-da
ka-wa or ka-a: Ῥόδια, ‘Rhodian, of or from Rhodes’, and γόης, κόης, κοίης, ‘priest’ (a
g / k alternation in both Linear A and Ancient Macedonian Greek dialect reflected in
Linear A), feminine form *kowia / *kawia (cf. Greek Linear A dar- as in Classic Greek
Dar-dan-, Tin-dar-, Dares and later Greek dor-, ‘gift’) and related Lydian kaweś, ‘priest’,
Sanskrit kaví-, ‘seer, sage’. Alternative interpretation: γαῖα < *γαϜῖα, ‘earth’: ‘Rhodian
land’758.
Rhode, Ῥόδη was Rhodian sea-goddess759
Alternative interpretation of ka-wa is in relation with καίω, κάω < καF-jω, ‘kindle’,
πυρ-καεύς, ‘fire-kindler’ (Ναύπλιος). Fire for sailors might be associated with rose
(ῥόδον).
i-ja-re-di-ja (IO Za 5, stone lamp): Lin. B i-je-re-ja Dor. and NWGr ἱαρέα or ἱάρεα, ‘a
priestess’, Cypr. ἰερηFίjα, ‘sanctuary’, ἱερατεία, ‘priesthood’, ἱερατεῖον, ‘a
sanctuary’, ἱερωτός, ή, όν, Thess. ἱαρωτός, ἱαρουτός, ‘consecrated’, ἱρήτειρα,
‘priestess’ (Hesych.).
i-ja-pa[ in the same inscription (IO Za 5): ἅπτω, ‘kindle, set on fire’, ἅπτρα, ‘wick
of a lamp’ (> Ἥφαιστος?), more archaic form ἰάπτω, ‘hurt, spoil’ (> Ἰαπετός the
father of Prometheus, an old form of Hephestus?).
Gifts for gods: bread, votive sculpture, gold ring
755
See pictures:
https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/18000/17_2A_Cadogan_CRETE_Younger_67-
70.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
756
Independently, the same interpretation: Patria, E. The ideophonetic system of Linear A [2011],
http://www.enricapatria.com/file/THEIDEOPHONETICSYSTEMOFLINEARA_eng.pdf ; O. Lewyckyj,
Linéaire A et Iliade
757
PM IV 2, p. 783
758
Cognates: gava(s) ‘county, countryside’, Goth. gawi, http://groznijat.tripod.com/thrac/thrac_5.html
759
http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheRhode.html
143
i-pi-na-ma si-ru-te, frequent word group of the ‘Minoan Libation Formula’, has two
important variants: wi-pi- (KN Zc 7) and i-pi-na-mi-na (PK Za 11); the latter points to
pass. part. -menos (masc.) / -mena (fem.) / -menoi/-menai (plur. masc. and fem.
respectively) as in (j)a-sa-sa-ra-me/(j)a-sa-sa-ra-ma-na. Perhaps, ipneumenos < ἰπνεύω,
‘bake in the oven’ is the most possible; Lin. B i-po-no.760 Stable formula οἱ ἰπνίτοι
ἄρτοι (LSJ) helps us to read si-ru-te as *a-ru-te (Lin. A si is similar to a)761, so the word
group may be read ipneumenoi artoi, ‘loaves of wheat-bread baked in the oven’.
‘Pisani Ric. ling. 1 (1950):141 derives it from Iranian *arta- ‘flour’ as a borrowing,
which is impossible for a word already attested in Mycenaean’762, but Iranian
influence on pre-Mycenaean Greece is possible, cf. Lin. B guasi-leus. N. N. Kazansky
compares with Luw. arsa- ‘bread’ and Anat. Hier. sign ‘bread’ similar to Linear A,
B763
The next word group of the ‘Libation Formula’, i-na-ja-pa-qa, might contain a word
for ‘baker’, cf. Lin. B a-to-po-qo [arto-pokwos] > ἀρτοπόπος > ἀρτοκόπος, ‘baker’, si-to-
po[-qo]/a-si-to-po-qo. A comparison of i-na-ja-pa-qa (PK Za 11) and ja-pa-ka (PK Za 12)
gives a possibility to identify i-na = ἵνα, ‘in that place, there’, ‘in which place, where’.
If ‘na’ is similar ‘di’ then it may be *idiopokwia, ‘special baking’, cf. ἰδιοποιός and
ἀρτοκοπία, ‘baking’.
Perhaps, ina ja pokwia ‘where is baking’ might be a reading of the word group, then
i-pi-na-ma ‘si’-ru-te i-na-ha-pa-qa may be ipneumenoi artoi ina ja pokwia, ‘baked loaves
where is baking (oven?)’.
Female idol with Linear A inscription was found near the peak sanctuary of
Monte Morrone at the Adriatic shore of Italy764. The figurine is similar to that of the
Ozieri culture (3200–2800 BCE)765 with Cycladic- and Minoan-influenced ceramics.
J. Best’s reading of initial signs, a-ti-a-wi-wa-ya-766, resembles the beginning of
‘Minoan Libation Formula’, a-ta-i-*301-wa-ja-. However, very hypothetic Greek
reading might also be proposed:
760
Hitt. happina, ‘in the hearthfire’, a cognate of ἰπνός, ‘oven’ (Иванов В. В. Разыскания в области
анатолийского языкознания 9–16, Этимология 1977, Москва 1979, с. 145), might be a source of
καπνός, ‘smoke’ without etymology (cf. Beekes, p. 639) as possible loanword.
761
Lesser, σιρός, ‘a pit or vessel for keeping corn’, σιρωτόν, ‘vessel for holding wine or vinegar’ (vessel
for ashes?).
762
Beekes, p. 143.
763
Казанский Н. Н. Об одном названии хлеба в языках Восточного Средиземноморья, Античная
балканистика: Этногенез народов Балкан и Северного Причерноморья (Москва 1980), с. 27–28.
764
Woudhuizen, F. C. The Linear A inscription on the idol from Monte Morrone, Italy, Acts of the VIIth
International Congress of Hittitology, Vol. II (Ankara 2010),
https://www.academia.edu/7712022/The_Linear_A_Inscription_on_the_Idol_from_Monte_Morrone_It
aly
765
See the image: Гимбутас, с. 186; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozieri_culture
766
Woudhuizen, F. C. The Linear A inscription on the idol from Monte Morrone, Italy, Acts of the VIIth
International Congress of Hittitology, Vol. II (Ankara 2010),
https://www.academia.edu/7712022/The_Linear_A_Inscription_on_the_Idol_from_Monte_Morrone_It
aly , with references and comments.
144
a-ti-ki-ri-pi-ja re-tu-ma: *ἀρτιγλυφία ‘new carving’, cf. ἀρτιγλυφής, ‘newly carved’,
λατομία, ‘quarrying of stone’, cf. λατόμος ‘stone-cutter’;
ku-ra-tu-jo: κρατύς, ‘strong’ or similar and Myc.-Hom. gen. sing. (-o-io), possibly
personal name;
a-we-ko-ku-ja re-tu-ma: εἰκονοποιία, ‘image-making’ < Fεικ-, λατομία.
So whole inscription might be read: ‘Kratys’ new-carved figurine’
Labyrinth-shaped Mavro Spelio ring is an example of ‘gold for gods’
Mavro Spelio Ring (KN Zf 13)767
The ring from Mavro Spelio, Crete, bears spiral inscription in Linear A. The form
of the inscription symbolically corresponds with the ‘labyrinthian’768 image of the
cave. It is not astronomicar artifact, despite its spiral form, and the Greek reading of
the inscription may be proposed:
a-re-ki-ne-di-sa(?)-ma: *ἀραχν-ένδεσμα ‘spider’s web-like amulet’ < ἀράχνη,
‘spider’s web’, ἔνδεσμα, ‘amulet’,
si-pa-ja-ta-ri-se-te-ri-ki (16th sign, similar to the 3rd one, is ki769): σπέιατ' or rather
σπέιαθ’ ἀριστερόχειρ, ‘left-handed’, cf. σπεῖος ‘cavern, grotto’, irreg. dat. pl.
σπεάτεσσι, as if from σπέας (Xenoph. 37),
a-ja-ku: εἰκών, ‘image’ or rather a form of ἔχω, ‘hold’.
Possible translation of whole inscription: ‘amulet, looking like spider’s web, (is) in
the cave; (it) was on the left hand’.
767
http://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=
%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:Mavro_Spelio_Ring_.jpg&filetimestamp=20080827210733
768
Moore, D. Thomas Spratt: 19th century antiquarian traveler to Crete,
https://www.academia.edu/4460542/Thomas_Spratt_FSA_Travels_in_Crete_in_the_19th_Century
769
Forsdyke, E. J. The Mavro Spelio Cemetery at Knossos, The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol.
28 (1926/1927), p. 284 and pl. 19, http://www.jstor.org/stable/30098237
145
146
Chapter Four
CHRONOLOGY, RELATIONS, RECONSTRUCTIONS
HIGH PRECISION ASTRONOMICAL CHRONOLOGY

OF ENEOLITHIC-BRONZE GREECE
Hesiod gives two precise timelines: astronomical (‘generations of gods’) and archaeological
(‘generations of humans’). Greek tradition confirms the Thera eruption date about 1530 BCE.
Eusebius’ and Parian dating of three earliest kingdoms of Greece coincided (+ 30 years!) with Early
Helladic III, Middle Helladic I, and Late Helladic I
Multi-disciplinary periodization of Balkan prehistory
Key role of climate events in socio-cultural changes

The climatic causes of social destructions, migrations, and emergency of new
social organisms may be suggested.770
The beginning of the Atlantic period about 7,050 / 6,910 ВС771 possibly related to the
Vesuvius eruption about 6940 BCE772 and the eruption of Erciyes Dagi (the highest
mountain in central Anatolia) about 6,880 BCE773 might be related to the first ceramic
Neolithic migration in the Eastern Europe, the Rakushechnyi Yar culture 774, and
Sesklo (from about 6850 BCE), initially aceramic.
The 8.2 kiloyear event / Bond event 5 about 6,200 BCE (caused three-hundred year
aridification and cooling episode in West Asia)775 coincided with the migration of the
770
Клименко В.В.Климат и история в эпоху первых Высоких культур (3500–500 гг. до н.э.), Восток,
1998, № 4, с. 5–24; Клименко В.В. Холодный климат ранней субатлантической эпохи в Северном
полушарии, М., 2004; Kennett, D.J. & Kennett, J.P. (2006). Early state formation in southern
Mesopotamia: sea levels, shorelines, and climate change. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 1, p.
67–99; Klimenko V.V. Klimat: neprochitannaya glava istorii [Climate: the history unread chapter].
Moscow, 2009, 408 p.; Иванова С. В. История населения Северо-Западного Причерноморья в
бронзовом веке (инвайроментальный подход), Индоевропейская история в свете новых
исследований, Москва 2010, с. 124-127.
771
Иванова С. В. История населения Северо-Западного Причерноморья в бронзовом веке
(инвайроментальный подход), с. 124
772
http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=211020
773
http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=213010
774
Cf.: Kotova, N. S. The Neolithization of Northern Black Sea area in the context of climate changes,
Documenta Praehistorica XXXVI (2009), p. 163-165,
https://www.academia.edu/4478690/Kotova_N.The_Neolithization_of_Northern_Black_Sea_area_in_t
he_context_of_climate_changes
775
The latest Storegga slide in the Norwegian Sea occurred around ~6225–6170 BCE and might be a
cause of the global cooling, Bondevik, Stein; Dawson, Sue; Dawson, Alastair; Lohne, Øystein; Dawson,
Sue; Dawson, Alastair; Lohne, Øystein (5 August 2003). "Record-breaking Height for 8000-Year-Old
147
complex of Hacilar IX-IV-Pre-Sesklo-Starčevo-Kőrös-Criş-Karanovo I–II from
Anatolia to the Balkans. The Surs’ka and Bug-Dniestr culture appeared in the time.776
The end of the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province, the collapse of the
related Eneolithic archaeological cultures are dated from about 3800–3700 BCE and
777
caused the great migrations. The Indo-European migrations as well as the end of
the Gumelniţa and the Balkan-Carpathian Metallurgical Province might be caused by
climatic events. The 5.9 kiloyear event / Bond event 4, about 3900 BCE caused intense
aridification triggered worldwide migration to river valleys, such as from central
North Africa to the Nile valley778, abrupt end of the Ubaid period;779 the Kikai
eruption about 4350 BCE and the Hekla H-Sv eruption about 3900 BCE occurred. The
beginning of the Subboreal, more cool and dry than previous Atlantic, was dated to
about 3710 BC.780
The major climate change was occurred about 3,200 BCE781 and coincided with the
spread of the Corded Ware Indo-European elite. The Piora Oscillation was an abrupt
cold and wet period (c. 3200-2900 BCE).
Tsunami in the North Atlantic". EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 84 (31): 289, 293;
Bernhard Weninger et al., The catastrophic final flooding of Doggerland by the Storegga Slide
tsunami, Documenta Praehistorica XXXV, 2008; Spinney, Laura. Archaeology: The lost world, Nature.
2008. V. 454. P. 151–153, http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080709/full/454151a.html Cf. about
another cause of the climatic event which lasted in 6300–6140 BCE, Виноградова Е. И., Киосак Д. В.
Календарная хронология заселения Сев.-Зап. Причерноморья, Stratum plus, 2010, No. 1, p. 193,
https://onu-ua.academia.edu/DKiosak
776
Kotova, N. S., The Neolithization of Northern Black Sea area in the context of climate changes, p.
167-170,
https://www.academia.edu/4478690/Kotova_N.The_Neolithization_of_Northern_Black_Sea_area_in_t
he_context_of_climate_changes
777
Иванова С. В. Ямная культурно-историческая общность: парадокс культуры,
http://www.iianthropology.org/rprponline2008_svetlana_ivanova.html
778
Brooks, Nick (2006). "Cultural responses to aridity in the Middle Holocene and increased social
complexity".Quaternary International 151 (1): 29–49; Bondevik, S; Lovholt, F; Harbitz, C; Stormo, S;
Skjerdal, G (2006)."The Storegga Slide Tsunami – Deposits, Run-up Heights and Radiocarbon Dating
of the 8000-Year-Old Tsunami in the North Atlantic". "American Geophysical Union meeting";
Bondevik, S; Stormo, SK; Skjerdal, G (2012). "Green mosses date the Storegga tsunami to the chilliest
decades of the 8.2 ka cold event". Quaternary Science Reviews 45: 1–6;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storegga_Slide
779
Parker, Adrian G.; Goudie, Andrew S.; Stokes, Stephen; White, Kevin; Hodson, Martin J.; Manning,
Michelle; Kennet, Derek (2006). "A record of Holocene climate change from lake geochemical analyses
in southeastern Arabia". Quaternary Research (Elsevier) 66 (3): 465–476
780
Gliederung des Holozän. Geozentrum Hannover,
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Суббореальный_период ; 3,700/3,650 ВС, Иванова С. В. История
населения Северо-Западного Причерноморья в бронзовом веке (инвайроментальный подход), с.
124; the dating of Usatove about 3631/3377 ВС – 2880/2620 ВС, ibid., с. 127, might be related to the
event.
781
Magny, Michel; Haas, Jean Nicolas (2004). «A major widespread climatic change around 5300 cal.
yr BP at the time of the Alpine Iceman». Journal of Quaternary Research 19 (5): 423–430; Caseldine, C.; et
al. (2005). "Evidence for an extreme climatic event on Achill Island, Co. Mayo, Ireland around 5200-
5100 cal. yr BP". Journal of Quaternary Science 20 (2): 169–178;
https://web.archive.org/web/20080115112153/http://www.news-about-space.org/story/2409.html
148
The 4.2 kiloyear event / Bond event 3 about 2200 BCE caused the transition from the
Subboreal period to the Subatlantic period, beginning of a severe centennial-scale
drought in northern Africa, southwestern Asia and mid-continental North America.
The dry period during 22nd c. BCE caused the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the
fall of the Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia, early bronze civilization of Canaan,
Early Minoan period in Crete, the collapse of Neolithic cultures around Central
China and extraordinary floods of the Yellow River 782 (which was described in the
Chinese sources and also had astrometrical interpretation; so the Chinese flood is
confirmed by natural, historical, and astrometrical evidence). The Hekla H-4 eruption
about 2310 BCE might be related to the events. The climatic event caused mass
migrations in Mesopotamia, Pontic Steppe etc. More exact climatic date is 2180–2170
calBC: a brief (only ~ 20 yr) and extreme ‘dry-spike’ in the Dongge Cave in China.783
Several Pontic Steppe cultures such as Yamna and Catacomb came to an end.
The Late Bronze Age collapse about 1200 BCE (caused the end of Mycenaean
kingdoms, Hittite Empire, the Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt) might
also be caused by climatic change.784 The Trojan War as the most important event in
Greek mytho-historical tradition as well as Biblical Exodus might be linked to the
collapse.
Climate changes, metal ages, and Hesiod’s mythical generations

Ancestors of Greeks might be related to the ‘golden age’ of the Carpatho-Balkan
metallurgical province and the ‘silver age’ of Usatove.
782
Stanley, Jean-Daniel; et al. (2003). "Nile flow failure at the end of the Old Kingdom, Egypt:
Strontium isotopic and petrologic evidence". Geoarchaeology 18 (3): 395–402
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gea.10065/abstract;jsessionid=44A608E8ADEF474CDFADE
AECC7F515BF.d03t03 ; Weiss, H; et al. (1993). "The Genesis and Collapse of Third Millennium North
Mesopotamian Civilization". Science 261 (5124): 995–1004
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/261/5124/995 ; Gibbons, Ann (1993). "How the Akkadian Empire
Was Hung Out to Dry". Science 261 (5124): 985; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.2_kiloyear_event ;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_environmental_events ; Chun Chang Huang; et al. (2011).
‘Extraordinary floods related to the climatic event at 4200 a BP on the Qishuihe River, middle reaches
of the Yellow River, China’, Quaternary Science Reviews 30 (3–4): 460–468 ;
http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/tilmari/tilmari2.htm#first ; the catastrophe of about 2200 BCE was related to
India and Kenia, Нудельман Р. Библейская археология, Ростов-на-Дону: Феникс; Краснодар:
Неоглори, 2008, с. 221–226
783
Weninger, B. Forecasting societal change due to climate variability, p. 4
https://ecip.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/weningerb_abstract.pdf
784
Weiss, Harvey: (1982) «The decline of Late Bronze Age civilization as a possible response to climatic
change» in Climatic Change, Volume 4, Number 2, June 1982, pps 173—198; Wright, Karen: (1998)
«Empires in the Dust» in Discover Magazine, March 1998 issue.
http://discovermagazine.com/1998/mar/empiresinthedust1420 ; Fagan, Brian M. (2003), "The Long
Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization (Basic Books); Kershner, Isabel (22 October 2013). "Pollen
Study Points to Drought as Culprit in Bronze Age Mystery", The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/world/middleeast/pollen-study-points-to-culprit-in-bronze-era-
mystery.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 ; Langgut, Dafna; Finkelstein, Israel ; Litt, Thomas (October 2013)
"Climate and the late Bronze Collapse: New evidence from the southern Levant",Journal of Institute of
Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, 40 (2) : 149–175.
149
Hesiod proposed two periodizations of history. According to one (Theogonia),
Chaos, Uranus, Cronus, and Zeus changed each other. These generations of gods
might be related to the change of constellations where the full Moon was located in
the spring equinox:
Chaos (‘open mouth’) correlated with Sagittarius looked like open mouth (a place
of the full moon in the spring equinox before about 4600 BCE),785
Uranus with his phallus pointed to the Milky Way (where the full moon was
located in the spring equinox about 4600 BCE),
sickle of Cronus correlated with the sickle-shaped constellation of Scorpius (where
the full moon was located in the spring equinox during about 4000-3000 BCE), while
Zeus and Hera correlated with Arcturus and Spica, the brightest stars of the next
period. The Zeus battles with Titans and Typhon might also symbolize astro-
786
chronological events.
According to another Hesiod’s periodization (Works and Days), the golden, silver,
bronze,787 heroic, and iron generations changed each other.
The golden generation was related to the reign of Cronus and, as Ovid commented,
good climate, in contrast to the silver generation under the reign of Zeus. If the end
of the Carpatho-Balkan metallurgical province (archaeological ‘golden age’) roughly
coincided with the global cooling about 3900 BCE in the period when the equinoctial
full moon was located in Scorpius (Cronus’ sickle) then Hesiod’s golden generation
may be identified. The earliest gold was used in Gumelniţa-Varna, Tiszapolgár,
Bodrogkeresztúr and Lasinja during Early and Middle Copper Age (the ‘Golden
785
Eros as a representation of the first generation who had a bow might be Sagittarius, cf. Eros =
Sagittarius in the Argonautica. Kama ‘love’ of Indian cosmogony might point to common Indo-
European roots of the image.
786
The constellations which were located southward from Scorpius and regarded as the Titans became
invisible about 2000 BCE. So the war between the Olympians and the Titans leading by Cronus
occurred when the Age of Cronus came to end (Libra as a part of Scorpius became invisible in the
autumnal equinox after about 2600 BCE) but the Titans yet remained on the earth (the constellations
southward of Cronus were visible until about 2000 BCE). Typhon, the last offspring of Gaia, was
related to Ophiuchus, and Zeus-Typhon combat may be interpreted in relation to the moving of the
equinoctial sun: the constellation of Serpens as a part of Ophiuchus became invisible in the autumnal
equinox about 2200 BCE (Corona Australis as a symbol of reign is located between Serpentis Cauda
and Arcturus), so Arcturus and Spica, the stars of Zeus and Hera, became the brightest star of the east
horizon before the sunrise in the autumnal equinox. The role of Spica as a star of Hera is clear in the
episode of the Judgement of Paris in which the moon as a star of Athena and Venus as a star of
Aphrodite were located near Spica. The Zeus-Typhon combat might be connected with possible
geological or asteroid-caused catastrophe about 2200 BCE, cf.: Niroma, T. The third millennium BC,
http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/tilmari/tilmari2.htm about the asteroid, and two possible eruptions of the
volcanos in Iceland, Hekla-4 about 2310 BCE and Katla about 2200 BCE. The astronomical and climatic
events of about 2200 BCE correlated with the end of silver-rich Yamna. Perhaps, the first centuries of
the Zeus’ reign about 2600–2000 BCE were the period of the struggle for his throne, as astronomical
events were interpreted by the Greeks. The last stars of Serpentis Cauda became invisible about the
suggested date of the Thera eruption, 1627 BCE.
787
The Ancient Greek had no different names for copper and bronze, and bronze had no special names
distinct from khalkos ‘copper, bronze’.
150
Age’ ended about 3500 BCE), in contrast to Late Copper Age. 788 Scorpius (Pelasgian
Cronus’ sickle) became invisible at the spring equinox morning in this period, and
the reign of Zeus began with the Silver Age.
The silver generation preceded the bronze one while only silver of Usatove (about
3600 – after 3000 BCE) preceded the Bronze Age of the Balkans which began about
3200/3000 BCE. The beginning of Usatove (about 3600 BCE) coincided with the
beginning of Subboreal (about 3700–3650 BCE),789 so the ‘silver age’ changed the
‘golden age’ simultaneously with climate change. Global cooling occurred in 3500-
3400 BCE.790 Only Usatove and Budzhak were silver-rich (S. V. Ivanova), and both
mentioned cultures are closely linked with the Baden cultural circle.
The bronze generation also appeared in relation with climatic changes. The
beginning of Aegean Bronze Age coincided with the climatic events (global cooling)
3200-3100 BCE while the Iron Age began after the Bronze Age Collapse which was
caused by the climatic event about 1200 BCE.
The heroic age was related to the (late?) Mycenaean period while the Iron Age
began about 1200 BCE, after the Trojan War.
Despite the Near Eastern, especially Hurrian influence on the Hesiod’s
generations of gods (nine years of each reign is sometimes interpreted as nine
hundred years, and it is precession-related lunar mansions: the Moon crosses one
mansion during about 1000 year), his metal ages were related to archaeology of the
western Pontic and climatic events. Thus, Hesiod described astronomical chronology
as the generations of gods and archaeological (metalworking) chronology as
generations of terrestrial heroes and humans.
So ancestors of Greeks might be related to the ‘golden age’ of the Carpatho-Balkan
metallurgical province (in which the latest gold-rich culture was the Lasinja group of
Baden) and the ‘silver age’ of Usatove and Budzhak. The information about the
golden and silver ages might be inherited by Greeks from post-Baden peoples.
Cernavodă I might be a link between Gumelniţa and Usatove; Usatove was a link
between the ‘Golden Age’ (Carpatho-Balkan metallurgic province) and the ‘Silver
Age’ (Circum-Pontic metallurgic province phase I).
Sumerian-Akkadian-Hurrian timeline includes Alalu (: Sum. AL.LUL ‘the
constellation of Cancer’ as the constellation of the spring equinox before 6000 BCE
when the Ubaid culture began, cf. Greek Chaos?) – Anu (‘sky’, cf. Greek Uranus) –
Kumarbi (related to silver, cf. the Silver Age; Greek Cronus) – Teshub (stormgod;
Greek Zeus).
788
Makkay, J. The rise and fall of gold metallurgy, Prehistoric gold in Europe, J. Morteani & I.
P. Iorthover (eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995, p. 65, 71. The late phase of Lasinja was dated to
3900-3300 BCE, Minichreiter, K., Marković, Z. Architecture of Lasinja culture settlements, Documenta
Praehistorica xxxviii (2011), p. 337, http://arheologija.ff.uni-lj.si/documenta/pdf38/38_26.pdf
789
Иванова С. В. История населения Северо-Западного Причерноморья в бронзовом веке
(инвайроментальный подход), Индоевропейская история в свете новых исследований, Москва 2010, с.
124-127.
790
Klimenko V.V. Klimat: neprochitannaya glava istorii [Climate: the history unread chapter]. Moscow,
2009, 408 p.
151
More precise than calibrated radiocarbon:
Ancient chronology of early Greek kingdoms and the Helladic culture
Eusebius dated the beginning of the first Greek kingdom (in Sicyon) to 2120 BCE.
The second kingdom (in Argos) emerged in 1885 BCE, while the third (in Athens) –
in 1587 BCE791 (or in 1582/81 BCE according to the Parian Marble). The appearance of
kingdoms roughly correlated (± 30 years which is more precise than radiocarbon) with
the beginnings of Early Helladic III (2200/2150 BCE), Middle Helladic I (2000/1900
BCE), and Late Helladic I (1550 BCE) periods.
The beginning of the first Greek kingdom in Sicyon (near Mycenae, Lerna and
Tiryns) coincided also with the start of hieroglyphic tradition in Crete, i. e. with the
beginning of written history of the island. Sicyon was founded by mythical
Aegialeus, whose tribe Herodotus (7.94) named Pelasgians. The ‘Sicyon kingdom’
and the ‘Lerna IV (royal?) tumulus’ were strongly related.
The start of Athenian kingdom in 1580s BCE coincides with steppe type of psalia
(related to Multi-Rolled Ware culture) which appeared in Mycenaean shaft grave IV
of circle A about 1570–1550 BCE (S. Marinatos)792. Athens is located near the way in
north-east Peloponnes (where Mycenae was built) via Isthmos.
Thus, the Greek ‘mytho-historical tradition’ (A. A. Molchanov’s term) preserved
the information about the main historic-cultural events in Mainland Greece. The first
Greek kingdom emerged either when the suggested ‘coming of the Greeks’ took
place, or when the separation of the Greeks from other Paleo-Balkan tribes was
happening. It may have happened due to the establishment of the new ruling form.
The first state-related event in Greek oral history was the foundation of the Early Helladic III
kingdom (Sicyon in the written source, Lerna and Tiryns archaeologically).
As an example of later coincindance of Greek tradition and archaeology, we can
compare Κυνόρτας, the Spartan king (early 14th BCE) and grand-grandfather of
Tyndareus (contemporary with Heracles, early 13th c. BCE), and ki-nu-ra, the name of
king in Linear B.
Minoan Floods: about 1530 BCE (the Thera eruption?) and others
Greek mythology reflected several floods including one referred to about 1530 BCE, one among
possible dates of the Thera eruption, but not mentioned the flood in about 1628/1627 BCE.
791
http://www.attalus.org/translate/eusebius1.html#173
792
Василенко А. И., Супрун А. В. К вопросу о происхождении костяных поясных пряжек, VII
Донская археологическая конференция «Проблемы археологии Юго-Восточной Европы» (Ростов-на-
Дону, 22-26 ноября 1998 года): Тезисы докладов, http://annales.info/life/don7/vas_sup.htm ;
http://studopedia.ru/17_141762_transport.html ; http://historylib.org/historybooks/Terenozhkin-A-
I_Kimmeriytsy/17
152
The Ogyges Flood was dated from the mid-XVIII c. BCE by Eusebius.
Paulus Orosius dated the flood to 1040 before the foundation of Rome 793. The date
correlated with the planet conjunction in Aquarius (symbolic ‘flood’ in Plato’s
Timaeus while the idea was of Oriental origin) and Pisces on Feb 14, 1775 BCE; cf. the
date of Thera/Santorini eruption during 1978 (92.7%) 1606,794 the dates of the Avellino
eruption of Vesuvius 1880-1680 BCE795 and an earthquake between Middle Minoan II
and Middle Minoan III periods in about 1700 BCE which destroyed the old palaces of
Crete.
Josephus Flavius mentioned Ogyges as the name of the oak by which Abram (later
Abraham) dwelt while he lived near Hebron;796 it might be dating of Hammurabi’s
(who reigned during 1792–1750 BCE) contemporary Abraham to the Ogyges time.
Deucalion was the constellation of Aquarius797 while the Deucalion Flood occurred
in the 1529/1528 BCE (the Parian marble) or during 1556–1506 BCE (Eusebius); cf. the
planet conjunction in Aquarius on January 20, 1515 BCE and the Vesuvius eruption
about 1550 BCE.798 The interval between the Ogyges and Deucalion floods was 250
years (Eusebius) or 260 years (my calculations: from 1775 BCE to 1515 BCE, see
above). The date coincided with the destructions at Chania and Myrtos-Pyrgos in the
end of the Late Minoan IB period about 1520 BCE, 799 the abandonment of Avaris
about 1530 BCE, and the Hyksos period which might last between two possible
793
i 7.3
794
Fantuzzi, T. The debate on Aegean High and Low chronologies, p. 60
https://unive.academia.edu/TizianoFantuzzi
795
Giardino, Claudio (2005). "The Island of Capri in the Gulf of Naples between the 5 th and the 2nd
Millennium BC", in: Attema, Peter; Nijboer, Albert; Zifferero, Andrea. Papers in Italian Archaeology VI:
Communities and Settlements from the Neolithic to the Early Medieval Period: Proceedings of the 6th
Conference of Italian Archaeology held at the University of Groningen, Groningen Institute of Archaeology, the
Netherlands, April 15–17, 2003. BAR International Series 1452 (II) II. Oxford: Archaeopress. pp. 625–632
796
Joseph. Antiqu. i 10.4.
797
Hyg. Astron. II 29.
798
http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=211020 Cf.: ‘Accordingly, caution should be applied
to the dating offered by Friedrich et al. and their proposal [late 17th century BCE] cannot b e u s e d t o
discount the date range of 1525–1490 BC proposed for the eruption from
numerous other radiocarbon studies,’ Cherubini, P. et al. The olive-branch dating of the Santorini
eruption, Antiquity 88 (March 2014), p. 271–272,
https://www.academia.edu/10076738/_Radiocarbon_and_the_Thera_Eruption_Antiquity_88_339_Mar
ch_2014_277-282
799
Manning, S. W. Clarifying the ‘High’ v. ‘Low’ Aegean/Cypriot chronology, The Synchronisation of
Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B. C. III, Vien 2007, pp. 107–108,
http://dendro.cornell.edu/articles/manning2007a.pdf
153
Thera eruptions, about 1645 BCE and about 1530 BCE.800 Evans’ ‘minor earthquake at
Knossos’ may be compared801
According to the Parian marble, the conflict between Ares and Poseidon in
Athens took place several years before the Deucalion Flood; on June 27, 1523 BCE
Mars (the star of Ares) was located in Virgo (Athens) while Uranus (Poseidon) was
located in Aquarius. The conflict might also be referred to a natural event.
Greek tradition ascribed dialectal diversification of Greeks to Deucalion’s grandsons
Aeolus and Dorus while the third grandson, Xuthus (‘yellow’, i. e. yellow-haired, so
of northern origin), was the father of Achaeus and Ion. The diversification might be
dated to mid-XV c. BCE. Dorus’ son Tectamus (Τέκταμος, Τέκσαφος, Τεύταμος,
Τεκταῦος, Τεκταῖος) appeared in Crete as a leader of Aeolians and Pelasgians (Diod.
4.60.2) or Dorians and Achaeans (Diod. 5.80.2), married the daughter of Aeolus’ son
Κρηθεύς (‘Cretan’) and Τυρώ (‘Tyrian’, i. e. Phoenician) and became the father of
Asterius. So the Greek invasion in Crete in the second half of the XV c. BCE is attested
not only by Linear B but also by the Greek tradition. The invasion was accepted by
A. Evans802
Danaus myth might be related to Egyptian late Hyksos and post-Hyksos pharaohs.
The Danaus trip from Egypt to Argos was dated to 18 years after the Deucalion
flood (the Parian marble), in the Thutmose I time, or 775 years before the founding of
Rome (Orosius i 11.1), i. e. in 1528 BCE, during the Ahmose I reign while ‘the
beginning of Ahmose’s reign is to be fixed around 1539 cal BC.’803 Eusebius proposed
late 19th century BCE for Inachus and mid-15th century BCE for Danaus. The planet
parade on May 19, 1495 BC in and near Hydra (ship in Minoan art) might be
interpreted as the event while many stars of the constellation resembled 50 daughters
of Danaus or / and 50 oars of the ship.
‘Minoan’ princess 3h-htp / Ahhotep [iahhotp] might be the Argive princess Ἰώ804
closely related to Egypt. The name of Ἰώ resembles the name of Ahhotep more close
than the suggested prototype such as the name of Isis, Egypt. [iset]). Ahhotep’s
husband T3-’3 qn might be Io’s husband Telegon (D. Rohl). Then the lunar cult of the
800
Bietak, M., Höflmayer, F. Introduction: high and low chronology, p. 14,
https://chicago.academia.edu/FelixH%C3%B6flmayer ; cf. about the 1525 BCE date, Höflmayer, F. The
date of the Minoan Santorini eruption, https://chicago.academia.edu/FelixH%C3%B6flmayer ‘Among
the 28 radiocarbon results from Akrotiri published by Manning et al. (2006), 25, once (individually)
calibrated at 2 sigma, suggest an eruption date as late as the middle of the XvI century, and 19 could
also allow a date more recent than 1530 cal BC <…> It is also interesting to note that a volcanic horizon
in Dye-3, dated to 1525-1524 cal BC, perhaps corresponding to tree ring anomalies attested in several
regions, might be connected with the Theran eruption,’ Fantuzzi, T. The debate on Aegean High and
Low chronologies, pp. 56–57, https://unive.academia.edu/TizianoFantuzzi
801
Ventris Chadwick 1973, p. 28
802
Evans, A. 1894, p. 359, comments: Prent, p. 73.
803
Fantuzzi, T. The debate on Aegean High and Low chronologies, p. 54,
https://unive.academia.edu/TizianoFantuzzi
804
Her name might also be influenced by Egyptian iw,’t, ‘cow,’ Примечания В. Г. Боруховича в кн.
Аполлодор. Мифологическая библиотека, Л., 1972, с. 142
154
Egyptian dynasty805 might be related to the Greek Argos, the name of Io’s homeland
and the Moon.
Ἔπαφος, the son of Io and grand-grandfather of Danaus in the Greek mythology,
might be Apepi (Greek Ἄπωφις), the last Hyksos pharaoh who reighed about mid-
XVI century BCE and was a contemporary of Ahhotep.806
The name of Io’s father and a river god Ἴναχος is similar to Egyptian Inhapi which
contains the name of Nile. The Egyptian princess Ahmose Inhapi as a sister and wife
of the pharaoh T3-‘3 ‘Thoth (lunar god) is great’ might be compared with Greek
Inachus and his sister and wife Argia,807 ‘lunar.’
Inachus’ son Φορωνεύς or Φορωνέας was a pharaoh while Phoroneus’ children
Ἄπις and Νιόβη who also was claimed as a Phoroneus’ mother were also related to
Egypt, cf. another name of Ahmose I, Nebpehtire. Phoroneus’ brother Αἰγιαλεύς
might be the pharaoh of Kamose, Ahmose’s brother who had another name W3ḏ-ḫpr-
Rˁ [Wadjkheperre].
Thutmose I and Thutmose III crossed Euphrates and may be compared with the
pharaoh of Βῆλος (Babylonian name of the pharaoh who was known in the region)
who founded a colony on Euphrates.808 Belus’ wife Ἀγχινόη, the sister of Μέμφις,
might be Khnumt-Amun Hatshepsut, co-ruler of Thutmose III.
The Danaus’ trip might be an expedition similar to the Hatshepsut’s expedition in
Punt. Amenhotep III named Tanaja the Greek Empire.809
Alternatively, Danaus might be Greek anti-Hyksos warrior in Egypt
Danaus became the king of Argos in 1505 BCE (Eusebius); he came to Argos in
1511/10 BCE (the Parian Marble). It was the time when Thutmose I’s reign began; one
of his ‘Nebty names’ was jṯj-tȝw-nb(w)810 which was similar to Δαναός. His mother’s
name was Senseneb resembling Ἀγχινόη, the name of Danaus’ mother: s > h in Greek,
so Ἀγχινόη < *Sansinob. The ‘Horus name’ of Ahmose I, the suggested Thutmose’s
father, was ˁȝ-ḫprw which might be assimilated to Αἴγυπτος (the name of Danaus’
brother) in Greek. Βῆλος, Aegyptus’ and Danaus’ father, as well as his grand-
grandfather Ἔπαφος might be related to the Hyksos rulers (Semitic Baal, ‘lord’) and
especially to Ἄποφις, the last among them.
The old hypothesis, where Danaus was among the expelled Hyksos, may be
corrected. Cretans were the allies of Ahmose in the war against the Hyksos. ‘Minoan’
805
Ah ‘the Moon’ in the names of Ahhotep and his son Ahmose, Thut ‘the Moon’ in the names of the
Ahhotep’s grand-grandson Thutmose and his successors.
806
Rohl, David, The Lords of Avaris. London, Arrow Books 2007. Minoan frescoes in Avaris and
Ahhotep, a lady of Crete of possible Cretan origin (Manfred Bietak) might be related to the legend.
Thutmose III marshed in Canaan and crossed Euphrates in the secong regnal year, and the Danaus’
migration might be connected to the event. He might use Cretan ships, Рол Д. Боги Авариса, с. 149–
150. The migration of the Philistines, Egypt > Crete > Levant may be reconstructed (Gen. 10:13–14;
Amos 9:7) in possible relation to the Danaus legend.
807
Hyg. Fab. 143.
808
Diod. i 27.28.
809
Georgakopoulos, K. Minoan-Anatolian relations, Talanta xlix (2012), pp. 149–150,
https://independent.academia.edu/KostasGeorgakopoulos
810
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тутмос_I
155
sailors (possibly including the Hyksos people) might have left Egypt at the end of the
war, subsequently, colonizing Argos and Rhodes.
The Minoan image of a goddess in the dragon-shaped boat might be related to
Virgo near Hydra where Neptune, a long-periodical planet (which might be visible
for nacked eye after special training), was located during 1540-1505 BCE. Danaus
appeared in Argos when Neptune left Hydra: Danaus and his 50 daughters (the stars
of Hydra) landed in Greece. Similarly to the Bible and the history of Roman kings,
the planet may be used to date the early Greek history by the details from myths.
Therefore, the Danaus myth may be historically interpreted using five groups of
sources (Greek mythical genealogies, Greek chronologies, Egyptian written
documents, astronomy, and archaeology).
In the third version, Apepi the Hyksos Pharaoh, his daughter Herit, and his sister
Tani may be compared with Epaphos, his foe Hera, and his descendants Danaos and
Danaids. The Danaos myth might be related to suggested partial emigration of
Hyksos elite in Crete whereas the name of Apepi’s predecessor, Khyan, was well
known at Knossos. If the Io myth is related to the image of Isis then enigmatic origin
of the name of Hera might be related to the name of Apepi’s daughter, Herit; -t is
feminine flexion. Tani, pharaoh’s sister, might have been influence the image of
Danaids.
So the Greek mythology reflected several floods including one referred to about
1530 BCE, one among possible dates of the Thera eruption, but not mentioned the
flood in about 1628/1627 BCE.
The Telchines and Heliadae:

astromythical chronology of ancient Rhodes
confirmed the early date of the Thera eruption
The first morning rise of Corona Borealis (its seven brightest stars might symbolize the seven
Heliadae) replaced the first morning rise of Hercules (lamed figure might symbolize Hephestus and
the Telchines as smiths) about the most acceptable (for many researchers) date of the Thera eruption,
1628 BCE
The name of the Telchines (Ancient Greek Τελχῖνες, Τελχΐναι, Θελγΐνες) was
derived from the name of their mother, a primordial sea goddess of Thalassa
(Ancient Greek Θάλασσα, ‘sea’). This name of sea usually wrongly regarded as ‘non-
Greek’ and even an argument against early Greek seafaring but the name is namely
Greek one, cf. Ancient Macedonian Greek dialect form δαλάγχαν, ‘θάλασσαν’
(Hesych.), Ancient Greek στάλαγ-μα, ‘a drop’ and σταλάσσω, ‘let drop’.
The Telchines were not only seamen but also famous metalworkers who
inhabited Rhodes before the flood. Then they were replaced by the seven Heliadae.
The myth might have not only archaeological (a replace of the Minoan Greeks by
the Mycenaean Greeks) but also astronomical interpretation. The sun at the autumnal
156
equinox (Cretan new year, according to some researchers) rose with Hercules (lamed
figure which symbolized Hephestus and other smith gods) as possible celestial
equivalent of the Telchines the smiths and then, after the precessional moving, with
Corona Borealis, a constellation which contains seven bright stars as possible celestial
equivalents of the seven Heliadae. Both constellations are located near Boötes which
form resembles the form of Rhodes and which the brightest star of Arcturus (reddish
star, cf. the name of Rhodes) was main calendrical star for the ‘Minoans’ (Marianna
Ridderstad), i. e. Minoan Greeks. The mentioned precessional moving of the
autumnal equinox point occurred about mid-second millennium BCE.
However, constellations could not be observed in the sunrays. So the last
morning rises of the constellations might be observed. The first morning rise of
Corona Borealis replaced the first morning rise of Hercules at the autumnal equinox
about the most acceptable (for many researchers) date of the Thera eruption, 1628
BCE.
Lunar and solar chronology of Late Mycenaean Crete

in the Minos-related myths
Cretan mythical cycle preserved the precise chronicle of solar and lunar eclipses during late 14th –
early 13th centuries BCE
Theseus was an Athenian king in mid-13th c. BCE (the Parian marble) or in late
13th c. BCE (Eusebius) but aforementioned sources dated the Trojan War several
decades later then our calculations, and a correction might be more than twenty
years (the end of the Trojan War occurred in 1209/1208 BCE according to the Parian
marble but in 1230 BCE in our calculations). So Theseus’ activity might be related to
early 13th c. BCE. The black sail (eclipsed Moon) instead of the white one (full Moon)
when Theseus returned in Athens in the 7th of the month of Pianepsion might reflect
the total lunar eclipse in Taurus (looked like the bull’s face as bull-faced Mino-tauros,
‘lunar bull’) near Perseus (Theseus) on November 4, 1282 BCE. In another version of
the myth, the seal was red811 like the Moon during the eclipse.
18 year and 11 days (one saros) before mentioned eclipse, on October 23, 1300
BCE, another lunar eclipse in Taurus ocurred. The Athenian sacrifice to Minotaur
was prepared every nine years812 and Theseus included himself in the third
sacrifice,813 i. e. 18 years after the first sacrifice. The Athenians were ordered to
sacrifice to Minotaur in 1295/1294 BCE (the Parian marble) or earlier, according to
our correction.
The first sacrifice mentioned above was made when Minotaur was adult, i. e. the
conceiving of him by a bull and Pasiphae hidden in the statue of bull was earlier. On
811
Plut. Thes. XVII after Simonid.
812
Euryp. Heracl. 1327.
813
Plut. Thes. XVI.
157
October 13, 1318 BCE the lunar eclipse in Taurus occurred. The full Moon was
located in Taurus when the Sun was located near Hercules, ancient Minotaur.
The myths of Europe-bull and Pasiphae-bull were very similar (Yu. V. Andreev).
Both Pasiphae (‘full-shined’) and Europe (‘wast-eyed’) symbolized full Moon. On
October 2, 1336 BCE total lunar eclipse near Taurus occurred. The Moon was located
between Taurus (Zeus turned into a bull) and Perseus (Europe’s brother, Cadmus).
The war between three brothers for the Cretan crown might be interpreted as the
Moon (Minos) reached the royal star of Regulus before Mercury (Sarpedon) and the
Sun (Radamanthus, cf. Egyptian Ra-Atum) after the solar eclipse (the Cretan king’s
death) on June 25, 1312 BCE. The same solar eclipse near Canis Minor (Greek skulaks,
‘whelp’) might also be related to the story of Scylla who cut the hair lock of his father
to help Minos. Scylla was Canis Minor, her father Nysos with purple lock was the Sun
(cf. Shamash, ‘the Sun’ and Samson), and Minos who killed Nysos was the Moon
which eclipsed the Sun.
The Minos’ death in Sicily (old name Thrinakia from thrinaks, ‘fork’ reflect the
shape of the Sextant constellation, cf. in the Odyssey) symbolized the lunar eclipse on
February 4, 1276 BCE near Sextant.
The flying of Dedalus and Icarus to Sicily reflected the celestial events in June
1277 BCE: Mars and Mercury moved closer to Sextant but Mercury was burned in the
sunrays. The Minos’ expedition in Sicily was synchronized with new Mycenaean
influence on the island and formation of the North Pantalica culture from about 1270
BCE.814
The Cretan cult of the Moon and its phases may be suggested basing on the
names: Minos, ‘moon-faced,’ might include a Paleo-Balkan name of the Moon (cf.
Egyptian lunar god Thoth like Minos was a judge because judgement and
measurement were associated), his wife Pasiphaa, ‘lights fully’ (full Moon), their
daughter Phaidra, ‘bright, beaming’ (but cf. Arabic bader, ‘full Moon’), their oldest son
Katreus, ‘(lunar) quadre’ (non-Greek Paleo-Balkan form of ‘four’) etc.
The Hippolytus myth might reflect the lunar eclipses near Auriga (a charioteer
who symbolized Hippolytus) on October 23, 1281 BCE and October 12, 1280 BCE.
The myth of Glaucus (Greek glaukos, ‘gleaming’ described the Moon) who
drowned in the vessel of honey reflected the lunar eclipse in vessel-shaped
Capricornus on July 1, 1303 BCE; the eclipsed Moon is reddish like honey.
The murdering of Androgeus < *Andr-aigeus, ‘man-goat’ (a cause of the sacrifices to
Minotaur) who’s name resembles the Greek name of Capricorn, Aigokeros, and might
reflect the same event in Capricorn related to the first sacrifice in 1300 BCE, see
above.
Eratosthenes cited Hesiod (perhaps, his lost Astronomy) that Orion was a
grandson of Minos, i. e. Orion’s stories might be dated from the first half of the 13 th
century BCE. The total solar eclipse near Orion on June 15, 1284 BCE might be
interpreted as a blinding of Orion. The star of Vindemiatrix (Greek Prothrugater,
814
http://academia.edu/236991/Mycenaean_influences_on_the_pottery_of_North_Pantalica_culture_Si
cily_
158
‘vine-worker’) which rose during the eclipse symbolized Oenopion who blinded
Orion. Orion carried Hephestus’ teacher Κηδαλίων the smith who symbolized anvil-
shaped Gemini over Orion.
Why the Cretan myths were not reflected in the Minoan and Mycenaean art?
Because the myths were related to the end of the Mycenaean empire and were
formed after the fall of the empire.
The Cretan expedition of the Athenians and the Sicilian expedition of the Cretans
in early 13th century BCE might be related to the Sea Peoples activity in the period.
The Sea Peoples during the 1280s BCE in the Argonautica
Astrochronology of the Argonautica might confirm the participance of the Mycenaeans among the
Sea Peoples in the Sherden invasion in Egypt in 1289 BCE and in the battle of Kadesh in 1285 BCE
The story of Phrixus (Φρίξος) and Helle (Ἕλλη) as a prologue to the Argonautica
might be related to the solar eclipse in Pisces (sea) near Aries (ram) on March 13,
1335 BCE when the eclipsed Sun was located near Jupiter (possibly Phrixus); the
eclipse was solar because of the golden ram and the name of Helle similar to the
name of Helios.
The Argonauts sailed one generation before the Trojan War.
The Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius reflected three cycles of Mars, a symbol of
Jason (Jason was similar to Ares),815 during 1289–1280 BCE in relation to two
astrological houses of Mars,816 Scorpius near Aquila (a symbol of the king of Aeates,
‘eagle’) and Aries (a symbol of the Golden Fleece).817
The planet parade near ship-shaped Capricornus (Argonaut’s ship), wave-shaped
Aquarius (sea), and Pegasus (the Pagasae hafn) might be observed in January, 1289
BCE and interpreted as the beginning of the Argonauts’ sailing; cf. the war of
Ramesses II against the Shardana in the same year.
Jason visited the island of the Amasons: Mars was located in Virgo in June–July,
1288 BCE. Six-handed monsters818 were Ophiuchos in which Mars was located in
September–October 1288 BCE.
815
Ap. Rhod. Argonautica iii 1283; he had a purple cloth, i 722, and was similar to a star, i 774–781
816
Ptol. Tetr. 17
817
The variants: the exact date of the fall of Troy VI might be calculated in comparison to the
astronomical dating of the Argonauts’ sailing. The beginning of the travel was related to the planet
conjunction 1) in boat-shaped Capricornus in the winter solstice, January 1, 1289 BCE, or 2) in
Capricornus and near Pegasus in February 1278 BCE, or 3) near Pegasus as a symbol of the
Pegasae/Pagasae hafn in mid-February, 1276 BCE. The disappearance of Hylas might be compared
with the lunar eclipse on August 11, 1277 BCE when the Moon was located near Jupiter (Heracles) in
Aquarius (Hylas). The Argonauts in the Pagasae harbor might be compared with the planet
conjunction near the Square of Pegasus/Pagasus in the middle of February, 1276 BCE. The solar eclipse
in Sagittarius (the symbol of Colchis) on November 19, 1274 BCE (when Mars as the symbol of Jason
was located near Argo) might be symbolically related to the capture of Golden Fleece.
818
Ap. Rhod. i 944–946.
159
The eclipsed Moon near Jupiter on 10/11 September, 1288 BCE might be
interpreted as Hylas819 who was stolen from Heracles which planet was Jupiter.
The solar eclipse near Venus on February 10, 1286 BCE when Mars was located in
Virgo might be interpreted as the Golden Fleece stolen by Jason and Medea.
Mars moved from Capricornus, Aquarius and Pegasus to Aquila (Greek Aiwetos,
‘eagle’ as a homonym of Aiwetes, ‘Aeates,’ cf. the eagle of Zeus to torture Prometeus)
during the first two-year cycle, via bulls (Taurus), yoke (yoke-shaped Auriga), teeth
grouthing as warriors (tooth-shaped Gemini) and warriors (Orion) to ship-shaped
Capricornus during the second cycle.
The Argonauts met two sons of Phrixus, Melas, ‘black’ and Argus, ‘quick,’ and
invited them in their ship: little visible Neptune and quick Mercury were located
near Mars in ship-shaped Capricornus about December 16, 1288 BCE.
When Jason came to Colchis, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite met to help Jason:
when Mars was close to Saturn, Venus (the star of Aphrodite) and the Moon (the star
of Athena) were close to Spica (the star of Hera) on August 9, 1286 BCE.
The total solar eclipse on June 15, 1284 BCE when Saturn (Aeates) and Mars
(Jason) were located near Ophiuchos (dragon) might be regarded as the stealing of
the Golden Fleece.
The Argonauts visited Circea (Greek Kirke as a homonym of the name of the
constellation of Cancer) and sailed near the Sirens (Canis Maior with Seirios, ‘Sirius’
and Canis Minor), between Scylla (Leo, Sumerian UR.MAH, ‘big dog’) and Harybdis
(Hydra), near Thrinacia (Sextans), visited the sickle-shaped island of Drepanon
(Greek ‘sickle’, i. e. Scorpius) in July–December 1283 BCE when Thetys and the
Nereids leaded Argo,820 i. e. Neptune and Uranus were located near ship-shaped
Capricornus. Jason saw girls under the goat-skin and then a water horse: Mars
moved in Capricornus and then near Pegasus during September–December 1282
BCE. The Argonauts visited the place of the gold apples and the dragon of Ladon:
Mars moved near the Pleiades (regarded as apples on the tree-shaped Milky Way)
and Cetus in early 1281 BCE. Medea killed Talos (a bull, according to Apollodorus,
and the Sun, according to Hesychius): Mars and Venus were located in Taurus when
the solar eclipse occurred in the constellation on April 14, 1281 BCE. The Argonauts
met Apollo: Mars was located in Sagittarius and the planet parade might be observed
near Capricornus in January 1280 BCE.
The beginning of the Argonauts’ trip in 1289 BCE might be related to the sea
battle of Ramesses II against the Sherden, Lukka, and Shekelesh peoples in the same
year. The captured Sea Peoples took part in the battle of Kadesh in the Ramesses II
army in 1285 BCE. If Heracles took part in the Argonaut’s trip after the labour of
boar821 (possibly Ophiuchus) when he also fought the centaurs (Sagittarius) then
Jupiter as a star of Heracles was located near Orion (which belt was connested with
the belt of Hippolyta the Amazonian queen while the Amazons were the Hittites)
819
Greek Hulas ‘Aquarius’: Sumerian GU.LA ‘giant, Aquarius’ but the Akkadian name is different.
820
Ap. Rhod. iv 937–938.
821
Ap. Rhod. i 126–127.
160
during 1285 BCE when the battle of Kadesh occurred. So the Mycenaeans might take
part in the battle as the allies of Ramesses II while the Dardanians were the allies of
the Hittites, and then the Pentaur Poem about the battle might influence the Iliad.
Greece and Troy between two Trojan wars
The Theban Epic Cycle and the myth of Alexander reflected Mycenaean and Trojan history in
mid-13th century BCE
The Theban Epic Cycle referred to the events which occurred in about mid-13th
century BCE and preceded the Trojan War described in the Trojan Epic Cycle.
In the Oedipodea, the murdering of Laius and self-murdering of Sphynx were
related to the observation of the lunar eclipse near the royal star of Regulus in Leo on
January 5, 1265 BCE.
The self-blinding of Oedipus might be referred to the solar eclipse (‘blinding’)
near Hercules (En gonasin, ‘Kneeler’ in the Greek mythology, cf. lamed Oedipus) on
September 27, 1261 BCE.
In the Thebaid, the combat of the brothers (Ἐτεοκλῆς, ‘who has real glory’ and
Πολυνείκης, ‘who has many hostility’) near Thebes reflected the conjunction of
‘good’ Jupiter and ‘bad’ Saturn near reddish Arcturus and Virgo (a golden warrior
goes after a woman on the shield of Polineices, according to Aeschylus) on August,
1257 BCE: it might be an astronomical correlation of the destruction in Thebes.822
In the Epigoni, a new attack on Thebes, ten years after the Seven, was described.
Thebes was destroyed, possibly by earthquake, in late LH IIIB1 which ended
about 1260 BCE.823
Alexander, the Trojan king between Kukkunnis/Laomedon and Priamus

Perhaps, Alexander (the predecessor of Priamus on the Trojan throne) was
interpreted as a son of Priamus when two captures of Troy were mixed.
Muwatallis II was the next Hittite king (after Mursilis II) who had a treaty with
Alaksandus, a king of Wilusa ‘Ilion’; Motylos was a king who helped Alexander when
he fled from Sparta to Troy. Perhaps, Alaksandus-Alexander was the king of early
Troy VII. Apaliunas, the god of Alaksandus, was Apollo, the god of Alexander.
So the synchronization of Hittite Mursilis/Myrtilos, Mycenaean king Eurystheus
and his generalissimo/lawagetas Heracles, Trojan Kukkunnis/Kyknos and the next
generation of Hittite Muwatallis/Motylos and Trojan Alaksandus/Alexander may be
proposed.
Tawagalawas, the brother of a king of Ahhiyawa, might be compared with
Etewoklewos (cf. the Mycenaean form of the name), the king of Thebes and the brother
822
Cf.: Rohl, D. / Рол Д. Боги Авариса, с. 420–421.
823
Nur, A. Apocalypse: earthquakes, archaeology, and the wrath of god, Princeton University Press
(Princeton etc., 2008), pp. 159–160.
161
of another king of the city, Polyneikos. However, the name of Tawagalawas’ brother
in the Hittite document is Laharzis or Larurzis similar to Lawertes, a contemporary of
Etewoklewos.824
Precise chronology of the Bronze Age Collapse

in the Trojan Epic cycle
The Trojan Epic Cycle described the events between 1259 and 1189 BCE, and its unified nature may
be confirmed by astronomy of these texts
Precise chronology of the Trojan War in the Trojan Epic Cycle. Key events of the epic
might be related to astronomy.
The solar eclipse of Odyssey825 occurred when the nights were long826, i. e. in
winter. The solar eclipse on December 21, 1220 BCE is the most acceptable. The
eclipse occurred before the sunset827 and coincided with the feast of Apollo828 (the rise
of the constellation of Sagittarius). The total solar eclipse on July 18, 1230 BCE near
the royal star of Regulus in Leo might be interpreted as a sign of the fall of Troy; in
the evening of September 11, 1230 BCE, Spica in Virgo (Troy, cf. Pallas ‘Athena’ and
Palladion ‘symbol of Troy’), Mars (Hector) and Saturn (Priam) were invisible in the
sunrays (Troy was burning) while Pegasus (the Trojan horse) rose and Jupiter
(Odysseus) was located between ship-shaped Capricorn (Odysseus’ ship) and wave-
shaped Aquarius (sea).829
824
Cf.: The Hittites had two wars for Troy: the first one occurred during the reign of Muwatallis when
Alaksandus was intronised in Troy and the second one was when the Troy was given to the Achaeans
during the Tawagalawas’ reign, Гиндин, Цымбурский, с. 109–110.
825
Od. xx 356-357: ἠέλιος δὲ // οὐρανοῦ ἐξαπόλωλε, κακὴ δ᾽ ἐπιδέδρομεν ἀχλύς.
826
Od. xv 392.
827
Cf. Od. xxi 226.
828
Od. xxi 258. See the commemts: Муравьев С.Н. Новые астрономические фрагменты Гераклита
(P. Oxy. 3710), Mathesis: Из истории античной науки и философии, М., 1991, с. 75-80, available at:
http://www.sno.pro1.ru/lib/mathesis/mathesis.pdf
829
The date coincided with the date of transition between LHIIIB and LHIIIC; cf. the Amazons’
invasion in 1256/1255 BCE, according to the Parian marble, interpreted as the invasion of the
Kimmerians, Сафронов А. В. Проблема датировки Троянской войны, Сборник Русского
истрического общества, 2000, вып. 2, http://annales.info/mal_az/troy/safronov.htm If LHIIIb was
synchronous with the Ramesses II’s reign and LHIIIc was synchronous with the Merneptah’s reign
(Тэйлор, У., Микенцы, М., 2003) and the Mycenaean imports ended after the end of the Ramesses II’s
reign (Гиндин Л. А., Цымбурский В. Л. Гомер и история Восточного Средиземноморья, М.: Наука,
1996, с. 145) then the fall of Troy occurred about the date between two reigns, 1224 BCE. C. Blegen
follows Furumark in the dating of the Mycenaean IIIB period to 1300–1230 BCE, Blegen, Carl (1967),
"The Mycenaean Age: The Trojan War, the Dorian Invasion and Other Problems", Lectures in Memory
of Louise Taft Semple: First Series, 1961–1965, Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 30; Furumark,
Arne (1972). Mycenaean Pottery. Svenska institutet i Athen. The Mycenaean-related date of 1230 BCE is
important in the Ultra Low Chronology of the Bronze/Iron Age Aegean, Fantuzzi, T. The debate on
the absolute chronology, https://unive.academia.edu/TizianoFantuzzi
162
Odyssey reflected the moving of Jupiter in 1230–1220 BCE, and the return of
Odysseys to Laertes after the twenty-year absence like the return of Jacob to Isaac
after the same period of absense reflected the period between two Jupiter-Saturn
conjunctions which was very important in ancient astrology. On February 13, 1240
BCE, the planets were located near ship-shaped Capricorn, wave-shaped Aquarius,
and Pegasus (which was regarded as a ship in Mesopotamian, Biblical and Greek
traditions): the Greek heroes prepared to the sailing in Troy. Cepheus and Virgo with
sword-shaped Boötes was visible, cf. Zeus and Themis as the initiators of the Trojan
War. Mars as the planet which can be far from the sun (Telemachus, ‘far-fighting’)
was located between palm-shaped Gemini (Palamedes, cf. palame, ‘palm’) and
plough-shaped Taurus (Odysseus’ plough) near yoke-shaped Auriga while Jupiter
(Odysseus) was located near Taurus on June 25, 1240 BCE. Mercury reached Virgo
and soon became invisible in the sunrays on July 18–19, 1240 BCE: Protesilaus was
the first who was murdered near Troy.
Helen (Greek Helena was a variant of the name of Selena, ‘moon’, cf. her silver
cloth830) spend twenty years in Troy,831 so the stole of her by Paris (cf. the name of the
Perseus constellation) occurred about twenty years before the fall of Troy and about
thirty years before the return of Odysseus. The lunar eclipse in Virgo during the
location of the Sun near Perseus occurred on February 28, 1251 BCE. When Helen
was stolen, Menelaus took part in the burial of Katreus in Crete, cf. the conjunction of
Mars (red-haired Menelaus) and Jupiter (the Cretan king) near Taurus (Crete, cf.
Cretan karten, ‘cow’). Several years before the event Helen was stolen by Theseus
(related to the same constellation of Perseus) and Πειρίθοος (cf. Greek Puroeis
‘Mars’): the lunar eclipse in Virgo during the location of the Sun and Mars near
Perseus occurred on February 26, 1259 BCE.
The first event which was described in the Cypria was the steal of Helen by
Theseus which reflected the celestial event of 1259 BCE, see above. The marriage of
Peleus (Πηλεύς) in the Mount of Pelion (Πήλιον) was the planet parade near the
Plejades (Peleiades by Hesiod) in early May, 1253 BCE when Uranus (the water
goddess of Thetis) was located close to the Plejades.832 The Judgement of Paris when
Hermes brought a golden apple to Paris to choise the fairest one between Athena,
Aphrodite, and Hera reflected the location of the sun (the golden apple) near Venus
(Aphrodite), Athena (the moon), and Hera (Spica) near Libra as a symbol of the
judgement on the late September, 1253 BCE.833 Paris leading by Aphrodite arrived in
Sparta where he met Menelaus and Helen: Mars reached Leo (Greece, cf. Lion Gate in
Mycens) and was located near Venus (the star of Aphrodite), the sun (‘yellow’
830
ііі 141
831
Iliad xxiv 765–766
832
The first line of the Iliad, μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος, might point to the Pleiades.
833
An alternative interpretation: the Judgement of Paris when Hermes brought a golden apple to Paris
to choise the fairest one between Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera reflected the location of the sun (the
golden apple) about the summer solstice (a cause to describe the event in the mythical interpretation)
near Mercury (the planet of Hermes), Mars (Paris) conjuncting Venus (Paris choising Aphrodite),
Athena (the moon), and Hera (Uranus?) on the late June, 1253 BCE.
163
Menelaus) and the moon (the name of Helen was a variant of the name of Selene, the
moon) in early August, 1253 BCE. Iris telling Menelaus about the steal of Helen was
Mercury which was located near the sun on February 28, 1251 BCE. Menelaus met
Nestor and grouped the Greeks to marsh on Troy: the sun-Uranus conjunction and
the planet parade in mid-April, 1251 BCE.
The episode of the Odysseus’ insanity and Palamedes was also included in the
Cypria and reflected the celestial event which occurred on June 25, 1240 BCE, see
above. Achilles murdered Kuknos (Κύκνος), a king of the Troad who might be
compared with Kukkunnis, a predecessor of Alaksandus; if Kukkunnis was not a
title of the Trojan kings then two captures of Troy were mixed in the Greek epic:
Kuknos was murdered by Heracles.
The first event described in the Iliad was the discussion between short-living
Achilles (short-periodical Mercury), Agamemnon (the royal star of Regulus in Leo)
and long-living Nestor (Uranus);834 the discussion reflected the location of the planets
near Regulus in early August, 1231 BCE, one year before the fall of Troy. Aeneus was
stolen by Aphrodite from Menelaus835: the Mercury-Venus conjunction occurred near
the sun in Ophiuchus in early November, 1231 BCE. Hector burnt the Greek ships 836:
Mars and then the sun moved to Hydra (regarded as a ship in the Minoan art) and
Argo in June, 1230 BCE.
Patrocles was murdered by Hector: the Mars-Uranus conjunction ocurred on July
5–7, 1230 BCE. Achilles with his spear met Athene 837: Mercury and the Moon were
located in the spear-shaped constellation of Cancer on July 16–17, 1230 BCE.
Menelaus and Merion carried the body of Patrocles 838: the sun and Mercury
conjuncted with Uranus on late July, 1230 BCE. The heroes were covered by haze
from Zeus between the murdering of Patrocles and the carrying of his body by
Menelaus and Merion839: the total solar eclipse occurred on July 18, 1230 BCE.
Achilles met with his mother Thetis: the close position of Mercury and Uranus
might be observed in late July and early Augus, 1230 BCE. Athene covered by the
purple cloud was sent by Zeus840 reflect the lunar eclipse (when the moon might be
become red) near Jupiter on August 2, 1230 BCE. Hector was murdered by Achilles
near Troy (the Mercury-Mars conjunction in the constellation of Virgo on August 14,
1230 BCE), Priamus met with Achilles (the Mercury-Saturn conjunction on August
22–23, 1230 BCE), and then Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, and Apollon were near Troy
(Regulus in Leo, Uranus, Mars, and Mercury near Virgo in mid-July, 1230 BCE).
Athene, Aphrodite, Ares, Poseidon, and Apollon were in the battle841: the moon
was located near Mars, the planet of Ares (July 19, 1230 BCE) and then near Venus,
834
Il. i 54–305.
835
Il. iii 380–381.
836
Il. xv 701–725; xvi 113–124.
837
Il. xxii 214–222.
838
Il. xvii 735–736.
839
Il. xvii 644–645.
840
Il. xvii 544–551
841
Il. xxi 391–467.
164
the planet of Aphrodite (July 21, 1230 BCE) while Uranus (Poseidon) was located
near Mercury, the planet of Apollon; all these planets were located near Virgo.
According to the Aethiopis, Achilles was murdered by Paris in the Scaean gate842
(the Mercury-Mars conjunction near gate-shaped Libra on November 9, 1230 BCE)
and then Achilles was taken from the funeral burning by his mother Thetis (the
Mercury-Venus conjunction near the sun on November 15, 1230 BCE).
Agamemnon was murdered in the Nostoi: the occultation of Regulus
(Agamemnon) by Venus (Clytemnestra) might be observed on July 27, 1229 BCE.
The campaigns of the Sea Peoples during the 1220s BCE are symbolically
described and dated in the Odyssey which is based on the idea of the relation between
celestial and terrestrial objects.
The terrestrial aspect of the Odysseus’ journey is interpreted in the Greek epic
oecumene (see above). The astronomical events between 1230 BCE and 1218 BCE were
described in the Odyssey.
The tribe of the Κίκονες might point to the constellation of Cygnus, Κύκνος which
set in evening simultaneously with Jupiter (Odysseus) in late 1230 BCE.
The Lotophagoi might be lotus-shaped Pisces.
Greek krios, ‘ram’ who saved Odysseus from the Cyclops’ cave843 might resemble
Krios, ‘Aries’, cf. Greek Poluphemes ‘Aries’ (because of his ship) and Sumerian
mul.lu.HUN.GA ‘Aries’; the blinding of the Cyclops was total lunar eclipse near
round Corona Australis (regarded as the Cyclops’ eye) on June 11, 1228 BCE when
Jupiter (Odysseus) left Aries.
The bull’s skin from Aeolus844 might point to Taurus.
The Λαιστρυγόνες as the giants845 might be Orion the giant.
Odysseus’ spear846 might be regarded as spear-shaped constellation of Cancer,
and ‘high-horned deer’847 might be Monoceros while the island of Circea was a place
of the summer solstice848; Hermes visited Odysseus849 while Mercury conjuncted with
Jupiter on May 30, 1225 BCE.
Odysseus in Hades might be compared with Jupiter invisible in the sunrays in
late June, 1225 BCE. The persons who were met by Odysseus in Hades correlated
with the constellations of the second part of year (Orion the archer among them was
Sagittarius the Archer, not the constellation of Orion).
Two Sirens (Σειρῆνες) might be Canis Minor and Canis Major with Sirius, Seirios.
The way of Odysseus between Scylla (‘she-dog’) and Harybda (water snake) but
closer to Scylla might be compared with the way of Yupiter between Leo (Sumerian
UR.MAH, ‘big dog’) and Hydra.
842
Il. xxii 359–360.
843
Od. ix 447, 461
844
Od. x 19
845
Od. x 120
846
Od. x 145, 162, 170
847
Od. x 158: ὑψίκερων ἔλαφον
848
Od. x 190–192
849
Od. x 277–308
165
Thrinacia (Greek thrinaks, ‘fork’) resembled fork-shaped Sextans.
Kalupso ‘Virgo’ resembled Sumerian AB.SIN, ‘Virgo’ while vine in the island850
might point to Vindemiatrix, ‘vine-dresser’ in Virgo, seven years in the island of
Kalypso might be referred to Uranus which reached Virgo before Jupiter and was
located in the constellation during seven years.
Odysseus’ raft and sail851 resembled Lupus and Centaurus.
Scheria might point to the Babylonian goddess of Scorpius Išhara while the other
name of the island in Argonautica, Drepana, was related with Greek drepanon, ‘sickle’
which might be related to sickle-shaped Scorpius; Alcinous as a judge might
symbolize Libra as a symbol of judgement and a part of Scorpius (Libra was not the
distinct constellation but a part of Scorpius in ancient Greek astronomy). Odysseus
met Ino-Leucothea and then Nausicae while Jupiter-Mercury conjunction near Libra
occurred on October 16, 1222 BCE. The pillar in the palace of Alcinous 852 is the Milky
Way. Εὐρυμέδουσα853 might be related to Gorgo Medusa and Scorpius.
An eagle killing Antinous and other Penelope’s suitors might be compared with
Sumerian AN.ZUD and Babylonian Etana, Entena carrying by an eagle; so the
Antinous legend might be very old.
Poseidon in Ethiopia854 resembled Neptune in Gemini (Egypt) in 1230–1220 BCE;
Poseidon left Ethiopia when Odysseus reached the Phaeacians 855 while Neptune left
Gemini when Jupiter reached Libra.
The meeting of ‘yellow’ Menelaus and Proteus, his daugter and son in Egypt
reflected the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Neptune in Gemini in early June, 1220 BCE.
The meeting of Telemachus and Nestor in Pylos, ‘gate’ might be compared with
the conjunction of Mars and Neptune in Gemini near gate-shaped Auriga in late
June, 1221 BCE, cf. Telepylus of the Laestrygonians in relation to the same
constellations. The meeting of Telemachus with ‘yellow’ Menelaus and Helen in
Mycens might reflect these astronomical events: Mars, the Sun and the Moon were
located in Leo in early August, 1221 BCE.
Aegistus (‘of goat’) was killed when ‘yellow’ Menelaus returned;856 the total lunar
eclipse in Capricornus ocurred on July 12, 1220 BCE when the sun reached Leo.
The identification of Odysseus by Telemachus might be connected with the
closest position of Mars and Jupiter in mid-August, 1220 BCE. The identification of
Odysseus by Penelope symbolized the Venus-Jupiter conjunction on December 31,
1220 BCE. The identification of Odysseus by Laertes correlated with the Jupiter-
Saturn conjunction in mid-March, 1218 BCE.857
850
Od. v 69
851
Od. v 251–261
852
Od. vi 307
853
Od. vii 8
854
Od. i 20–22
855
Od. v 282
856
Od. iii 307–311
857
The Phoenician influence on the Odyssey might be hypothetically suggested, cf. the name of
Odysseus and Hebrew hodesh, ‘new Moon’ in the relation to the return of the hero when the new
166
According to the Telegony, Odysseus visited Elis to see his cattle (Aries and
Taurus), returned in Ithaca (Sagittarius), visited Thesprotia and married the queen of
Kallidike (the constellation of Virgo), returned to Ithaca and was murdered by
Telegonus there: the story reflected two cycles of Jupiter which returned in its house
of Sagittarius in 1208 BCE and 1196 BCE; the close location of Mercury and Jupiter on
the edge of Sagittarius on November 30, 1196 BCE might be interpreted as a
murdering of Odysseus by Telegonus. After that Odysseus was buried in Aeaea
while Telegonus marries Penelope and Telemachus marries Circea: Odysseus
(Jupiter), Telemachus (Mars), Penelope (Venus), and Mercury (Telegonus), and the
sun (Circea?) were located in the costellation of Cancer (the island of Aeaea) in June,
1189 BCE.
In contrast to Eurypides’ Theoclymenos, Homer’s Theoclymenos described not
the Merneptah eclipse 1223 BCE but the Odysseus eclipse 1220 BCE.858
The allies of Troy, Telephus (Τήλεφος)859 the Mysian king and his son Eurupulos
(Εὐρύπυλος) related to the Keteans = the Hittites, were Tudhaliyas IV the Hittite king
and his son Suppiluliumas II who reigned in the second half of the 13 th century BCE.
Tudhaliyas remained the king in about 1219 BCE.860 Eurupulos was killed at the end
of the Trojan War, and this mythical event might be related with the killing of
historical Suppiluliumas II. Another Eurupulos was a king of Ormenion or Armenion
in East Thessaly. If the name of Mois-oi, Mus-oi, Muš-k- (with Armenian plural suffix)
was related to the Armenians then two heroes with the same names, i. e. the king of
Mysia and the king of Ormenion, were related to possible participance of the
Armenians in the Trojan War. Moesia, Ormenion/Armenion and then Mysia might
be a homeland of the Paleo-Balkan component of the Armenian language; according
to Strabo, the Mysian language was a ‘mix’ of Phrygian and Lydian, i. e. Paleo-
Balkan and Hittile-Luwian components.
The third Trojan War and the fall of Troy VIIb1 might be dated from about 1184
BCE in relating to the Sea People campaign against Ramesses III and the Joshua’s
campaign in Canaan, see below. So three Trojan Wars related to the activity of the
Sea Peoples might be suggested: the first in about 1306 BCE when Troy VI was
captured; the second during 1240–1230 BCE when Troy VIIa was captured in relation
to the Merenptah war against the Sea Peoples in 1220 BCE; the third during 1194–
1184 when Troy VIIb1 was captured in relation to the Ramesses III war against the
Sea Peoples in 1180s BCE. Thuoris/Twosret was she-pharaoh and a contemporary of
the capture of Troy (Maneto, Eusebius) thirdly. However, the traditional date of the
Trojan War, 1194–1184 BCE, might be related to the location of Neptune in Virgo, the
celestial equivalent of Troy, and might have no historical prototype, cf. the capture of
Moon will appear. However, if the image of Hermes influenced the image of Odysseus, according to
G. Nagy, then the Sumerian name of Mercury as the star of Hermes, DU.SE.E, may be taken into
consideration.
858
Od. xx 350–357.
859
Od. xi 519; Hyg. Fab. 273
860
Сафронов А. В. Датировка письма, 2011, https://ivran.academia.edu/AlexanderVSafronov
167
Jericho. Ramesses III fought the Sea Peoples including the Peleset and the Tjeker
about 1195/1194 BCE, see below.
Aeneas who reigned in Troy after the fall of the city861 might be the Hittite king of
Arnuwandas who reigned after the fall of Troy VIIa about 1230 BCE but before the fall
of Troy VIIb1.
So the Trojan Epic Cycle described the events between 1259 and 1189 BCE, and its
unified nature may be confirmed by astronomy of these texts. The line of Heracleia-
Argonautica, Thebaid, and the Trojan Epic which described the events of early, mid-
and late 13th century BCE respectively, might be reconstructed. These epics were
preceded by the myths of Danaus as the ‘Proto-Argonautica’, of Perseus, and of
Tantalus and Pelops. Greek cities such as Mycens was destroyed, possibly by
earthquake, about 1190 BCE.862
861
Iliad xx 307.
862
Nur, A. Apocalypse: earthquakes, archaeology, and the wrath of god, Princeton University Press
(Princeton etc., 2008), pp. 155–160.
168
GREEK WORLD IN THE BRONZE AGE: LONG-DISTANCE CONTACTS
Mycenaean oecumene: Greek epic evidence
On the one hand, Linear A inscriptions are found not only in Crete but also in
southern Greece (Laconia, Tiryns), Cyclades (Melos, Thera, Kythera), Samothrace
(with hieroglyphic inscriptions), Troy, Miletus, Haror and Lachish. Chronological
horizons ‘would spread now from the Pre-palatial and the Protopalatial Period in the
case of Troy and Samothrace to the Postpalatial period in the case of Lachish and
Tiryns, for Tiryns too has produced what was identified by J.-P. Olivier as a Late
Minoan IIIB Linear A inscription which, similar to the Lachish find, does not easily
lend itself to interpretation in terms of the conventional chronology of Aegean
writing’863.
On the other hand, ‘A lack of evidence of diplomatic relations between the
Aegean and the Near East in the thirteen century BCE – save, perhaps, the contact
between Hatti and the neighboring Ahhiyawa kingdom <…> - may attest to the
limited involvement of the Aegean rulership in Near Eastern politics. No evidence
has been found of diplomatic relations with Nineteenth Dynasy Egypt following the
peak in the days of the Eighteenth Dynasty <…>’864
Persons from several neighboring countries are mentioned in Linear B texts.
There are mi-sa-ra-jo ‘Egyptian man’ and a3-ku-pi-ti-jo ‘Memphite man’ (both KN), ku-
pi-ri-jo ‘Cypriot man’ or ‘Gublite (from Byblos)’ (KN, PY) and a-ra-si-jo ‘Alashiyan
man (from Cyprus)’ (KN), mi-ra-ti-ja ‘woman from Miletus’ (PY) and mi-ra-ti-jo ‘man
from Miletus’ (TH), a-si-wi-jo ‘man from Asia/Lydia’ (MY, PY, KN), pe-ri-ta ‘man
from Beirut (?)’ (KN), tu-ri-jo ‘man from Tyre (?)’ (KN, PY), po-ni-ki-jo ‘man (?) from
Phoenicia’ (KN), a-ra-da-jo ‘man from Ar(v)ad’ (KN), ra-mi-ni-ja and ra-mi-ni-jo
‘woman and man from Lemnos’ (PY), ko-ro-ku-ra-i-jo ‘man from Corcyra (?)’ (PY)
etc.865
The journeys of Heracles, Jason, and Odysseus reflected the sacral seafaring,
including in Atlantic, in relation with astronomical images and chronological dates.
If Phoen. Gadir ‘Kadiz’ correlated with Greek Hades866 and Aegean Tartessos – with
Greek Tartaros867 (in its terrestrial, not celestial image) then Lissabon (Phoen. allis uppo
‘security hafn’, Gr. Ολισσιπών) might be compared with Elisium (Gr. Ἠλύσιον
πεδίον). Phoenician gad, ‘happy’ in Gadir may be compared with the concept of the
Happy Islands; the ‘aboriginal’ name of the Plato’s Atlantis’ king, Gadir, was
863
Finkelberg, M. Bronze Age writing, Aegeum 18 (1998),
http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/aegaeum18(pdf)/31%20Finkelberg.pdf
864
Yasur-Landau, A. The Philistines and Aegean migration at the end of the Late Bronze Age, Cambridge
University Press (Cambridge etc. 2010), p. 38.
865
Yasur-Landau, A. The Philistines and Aegean migration at the end of the Late Bronze Age, Cambridge
University Press (Cambridge etc. 2010), pps. 40-41.
866
Андреев Ю. В. Поэзия мифа и проза истории, 1990
867
Strabo
169
translated into Greek as Eu-melos (Phoen. gad = Gr. eu ‘good’); Gr. Μακάρων νῆσοι
traditionally derived from the Phoenician name of the Melqart Islands. Phineus who
predicted the way of the Argonauts was the son of the Phoenician king Agenor or the
son of Phoenix (‘the Phoenician’) and the grandson of Agenor.
Erythia (‘red’) island, visited by Heracles (the 11th labour), was the Purple
Islands868 or the Canarian Islands as a source of Phoenician purple. The name of
Erythia is similar to Guanche Ten-er-efez ‘Tenerife’, i. e. ‘White Mountain’.869 The
Canarian temperature is the same during a year because of the Canary Current, cf.
the islands of eternal spring in Greek mythology. The dog of Ὄρθρος (an inhabitant
of Erythria who was killed by Heracles) might also be linked by Greeks with Ten-er-
efez while another name of Orthros, Γαργήττιος, might be related to Guanche gerage
‘sky’ (possibly also reflected in the name of Kirke, see below).
The peak of Tenerife (visible from the African coast) might be regarded as the
mountain of Atlas. Hesiod’s Prometeus was chained to the middle pillar870 between
the mountain of Atlas (the most western point in Ptolemy’s Geography) and South-
East Asia (Malakka as the Golden Peninsula – the most eastern point by Ptolemy).
The Titan of Atlas was related to the constellation of Orion located near the
Atlantides/Pleiades and the Apples of the Hesperides = the Pleiades and/or the
Hyades. The Titan of Prometheus was related to the constellation of Sagittarius
located near the constellation of Aquila = the eagle. Atlas-Orion and Sagittarius-
Prometheus might be observed on the west (Atlas) and east (Prometheus) horizon
near the Milky Way regarded as the celestial pillars. Greek Promethus brought fire
from the sky in the stick while Indian Mātariśvan did the same.871 This Indo-
European myth had his meaning when the fire (Indian Agni = the Sun) was located
in the Milky Way regarded as the stick near Sagittarius = Prometheus, i. e. about 5000
BCE when the event coincided with the autumnal equinox. ‘Macro-geodesy’ of
western Atlas, middle Prometheus and (reconstructed) eastern Malakka correlated
with ‘micro-geodesy’ of the Aegean-Pontic: western / Canarian Circea, middle /
Cretan Pasiphae, and eastern / Colchian Aeatus.
If the Oceanus River is Hulfstream then the Helios’ daughter Kirke ‘Circea’ in the
island near Oceanus is the sun goddess of Tenerife Chaxiraxi (Guanche definite article
ach and xerax, gerage ‘sky’). Guanche’s pigs resemble the pigs of Circea872 while
868
Plin. Nat. hist.
869
Низовский А. Ю. Загадки антропологии http://sv-scena.ru/athenaeum/zagadki-
antropologii.Razdel-1-2-1-6-24.html#Razdel-1-2-1-6-24
870
Hesiod Theog. 522
871
His name means ‘growing in the mother,’ i. e. the sacrificial fire, the "mother" in which it grows
being the fire-stick.
872
The image of Kirke (‘round’) might be also influenced by the form of the island of Stongule, modern
Stromboli, one of the Aeolian = Liparian islands: many islands visited by Odysseus are located near
Italy. Additionally, Kirke (‘round’) might embody the Northern Tropic near the Canarian islands. If
the name of Kirke is related to Greek kirkos, ‘hawk’ (Aia Island and cf. Semitic *ʔayy- > Hebrew
ʔayyā 'black kite', Tgr. ʕaya 'falcon', forms after http://starling.rinet.ru/ , details: Seidel, M. A. Epic
Geography: James Joyce’s Ulisses, Princeton University Press (Princeton 1976), p. 212, after: Bérard, V. Les
Phénicient et l’Odissée, Paris 1902-1903) then cf. also Azores < Spanish, Portugal azor ‘hawk’. Contra:
170
Roman name of Gomera was Capraria, ‘island of pigs’. The Canarian island of Gomer
(the Guanche name which is derived from the name of Moroccan Berber tribe of
Gomara)873 resembles the western Kimmerians in Odyssey in contrast to the northern
Kimmerians in the history (Gomer is Near Eastern name of the Kimmerians, so the
names might be associated by the Phoenicians).
Kronos in the Happy Islands (Canary) or in Tartaros (Tartessos near the Canarian
Islands) might be the main Guanche god Acoron (the islands of Gorgons or Gorgadae874
might reflect the same name) while Minos, the judge in the Otherworld, might be the
Guanche leader who had the title mencey. Minos’ brother Radamanthus, the
inhabitant of Elisium, had the reddish hair875 like the Guanches. The same colour of
Apollo’s hair symbolize the Celts of British Islands (Apollon < Belenus, the dates of
their feasts are similar); the islands of the Atlantides = Canary and the islands of the
Hesperides = Britain were mixed by the Greeks. However, forty days of sailing from
the islands of the Gorgons to the islands of the Hesperides were the distance between
Canary and Britain. The apples of the Hesperides resemble Celtic Avalon, ‘Apple
Island’876 and the apples of the goddess Idunn in Old Northe mythology; the
astronomical correlate of the apples may be the Pleiades as the symbol of spring near
the Milky Way similar to a tree.
The Canarian signs are similar to Linear A and B, and the title of the priestesses in
the cave temple of Gran-Canaria Ari-magw-ada is similar to the name of Cretan ‘lady
of the labyrinth’ (Linear B) Arihagna.877 Heracles’ enemy Gerion might be the
Guanche god Acoron or Huerahan. The Gerion’s cattles were not Canarian (cattles
were not known in Canary) but well known Balearian. The dead in the animal skins
in Canary and Aea may be compared; 878 the name of Aea, Greek Aia, is traditionally
compared with the Phoenician name of an island. However, the Hittite myth of the
Eia Tree and the Fleece on it (Hittite kursa > Greek bursa, ‘fleece’) as a symbol of the
sun-king may be also taken into consideration.
suggested Mycenaean form of the island name, aiwa (cf. Aiw-ol-os).

873
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Gomera
874
Plin. Nat. hist.
875
Hom. Od. iv 563–568
876
Common Celtic Belenus might be a source of image and name of Greek Apollo. May feasts of Belenus
(Beltain) and Apollo (Thargelia) symbolize the first evening rise of Sagittarius. Diodorus of Sicily
described an astronomical temple of Apollo at the northern island in the Atlantic Ocean, i. e.
Stonehenge in Britain. The Boreades, the priests of the temple, resemble the Hyper-boreans, i. e. the Celts,
and Brude as the most frequent name of Pictish kings. The Delos Island in the centre of the Cycladic
islands resembles astronomical circles. This island might be chose as a land of Apollo and a
mythological copy of Stonehenge. Perhaps the idea of another Apollo’s sity, Delphi as the omphal of
the earth, reflected the observations of the center of the Milky Way, cf. Omphale the queen in the
myths of Heracles and the island of Calipso = Virgo as the omphal of the sea = sky. The transition of the
gifts from the Hyperboreans to Delos might reflect the way of the accepting of the cult of Apollo.
877
Biedermann, H. Altkreta und die Kanarischen Inseln, Almogaren, Hallein, 1970, No. 1, pp. 120–121;
Большаков А. А. За Столпами Геракла: Канарские острова, М.: Наука, 1988, с. 30–31.
878
The Aea Island and its goddess Circea were located in the most West and the most East; the
assosiation of Aea with Colchis is later.
171
The Odysseus’ sailing in Atlantic (Apollod. Epit. vii) is not mentioned directly,
but the Oceanus River = Hulfstream and Harybda (who swamps water thrice a day =
twice in inclusive counting) = Atlantic tides are the evidence of Atlantic seafaring.
Diodorus mentioned Phoenician sailing in Atlantic.
The Aeolus Island might be Pantelleria with stong winds between Italy and Tunis
near the Aeolian = Liparian Islands. The image of copper island of Aeolus and the
image of the Aea Island might be also influenced by copper Cyprus which have the
old name Alasia / Ajasia > *Aiahia > Aiaia.
The island of goats might be one of the Egadi, Greek Αιγάται Νήσοι, ‘the islands
of goats’, especially the biggest among them, Αιγούσα, modern Favignana.
The island of the Cyclopes, Φορβαντία, is modern Levanzo near Favignana. The
main figure among the Paleolithic and Neolithic pictures of Grotta del Genovese in
Levanzo is shepherd among the hooved animals (but not sheep).
The land of the Laestrygonians and their giant queen and princess is the African
coast inhabited by the Tuaregs (perhaps, Laestrygonians < lavos, ‘people’ and Tuareg)
which have a legend about the queen who killed her suitors. The Berbers were
known from Central Mediterrannean to Gibraltar; their name Amazigh (sing.),
Imazighen (plur.) was well known as Amazonians in Ancient Greece. Tele-pulos, ‘far
gate’ as a capital of the Laestrygonians designed Gibraltar. R. Hennig underlines the
presence of Cretans in Spain and hypothetises their presence in Canarian Islands and
Madeira879.
The island of Sirens was located near the island of Circea; 880 it might be the
Balearian Islands which have old name Tyrrenian ones881. Turren-, ‘Tyrrenian’ might
be *Tseren- in the Phoenician pronunciation882 which was similar to Greek Seiren-, ‘of
Sirens’ (cf. the Syria island as Eumeus’ homeland). The sea activity of the Tyrsenians-
Tursha among the Sea Peoples during xiii-xii cc. BCE coincides with the chronology
of Odyssey. The name of the island, as well as the names of Kabiri (Arabic ‘great’) and
Ino (Babylonian Sin, ‘moon god’, and s > h in Greek) might be the evidence of
Phoenician navigation.
If the Thrinacia Island is located near Scylla883 then it is Sicily; the names of Skulla
and Sikulia are similar.
The island of Kalypso (‘who hides’) is Malta, her cave is the cave temple of Hal
Saflieni. The figurines of the ‘slipping goddess’ were found in the temple.
The island of the Phaeacians has the form of sickle,884 i. e. it is the island of sickle-
shaped Korfu.
Heracles’ labours include sacral astronomy and geography: Nemean Lion means
Mycens with Lion Gates and Leo, Hydra is Hydra under Virgo etc.; Cretan Bull
879
Hennig, R. Terra incognitae (Leiden 1944), Bd. I.
880
Одиссея ХІІ, 166.
881
Немировский 1983, с. 36.
882
Phoen. Tsor: Gr. Tur-, Hebr. seran- ‘Philistine king’: Gr. turannos.
883
Одиссея ХІІ, 261
884
Ap. Rhod.
172
means Crete and Taurus, Mares of Diomedes – Gemini looking like horse head, Belt
of Hippolyta – Orion’s Belt and Orion-shaped Asia Minor while Amazons were
Hittites, Cattle of Gerion – Atlantic coast of Spain or an island near it and Monoceros,
Apples of Hesperides – Canary (seven islands resemble seven Pleiades) and
Cerberus – Canary (‘islands of dogs’). About September 5, 1305 BCE the planet
parade (the Sun, the Moon, Mercury = Apollo, Venus = Hesione, Mars = war, Jupiter
= Heracles, Uranus = Poseidon) near Spica in Virgo (Troy) and Hydra (Cetus) means
the capture of Troy by Heracles. Perhaps, the image and name of Heracles was
influenced by the image of Horemheb (‘Horus is in Jubilation’), famous warrior who
originated from Heracleopolis. Heracles’ mother, Alkmene, was related to Egypt
(hieroglyphs were found in her tomb)885 and might be compared with Ankhesenamun,
the wife of Ay (predecessor of Horemheb). Horemheb fought not only Hatti (Hittite
Empire) but also Haui-Nebu (Aegean Islands), and he might be well known in
Greece. Brutal Busiris might be Seti I (1301–1290 BCE), famous warrior who
personally killed captured warriors and named himself Usiri. He murdered many
Shasu in his first regnal year (1301 BCE), and the fact might be described in the story
of Moses’ birth (80 years before 1223 BCE). Herakles in Egypt and his murdering of
Busiris might be interpreted as Sherden, Lycian, and Sikulian invasion in Egypt in
the second regnal year Ramesses II, soon after the death of Seti I. So Herakles’ war
against Amazons (Hittites) before his invasion in Egypt might be synchronized with
anti-Hittite war of Seti I.
Thus Heracles (correlated with Phoenician Melqart) who began his labours
around Mycens might visite the Atlantic coast of Iberian Peninsula, the Canarian
Island and/or Madeira; the Argonauts might reach two Aea islands (Phoen., ‘island’),
Eastern one (Phoenician Cyprus = Ajashia > *Aiasia > *Aiahia > Aiaia) and later
Western one (Canary and Madeira); the main part of Odyssey were located near Italy
but Gibraltar, Hulfstream and Canary were also known.
The traditional chronology of the Heracles’, Jason’s and Odysseus’ journeys is xiii
c. BCE, a period of the Sea Peoples’ activity. A part of information in these Greek
periples might be of Phoenician origin. E. g., Iason, ‘healer’ might be related to
Phoenician Eshmun the healer, literally ‘eights’ (among the Kabeiroi, the sea gods like
the Argonauts); cf. the Old Rus epic song (bylyna) of Sadko (the name is traditionally
compared with Phoen. Zadek, ‘Jupiter’, literally ‘wise’), and the Ukrainian fairy tale
Flying Ship (heroes like several Argonauts had the names of handymen).886
Strabo’s (xv 1.6.14-15) Taprobana (7/20 days of sailing from India, 8,000/5,000
stadies length); the island is located ‘much further south’ from India (Strab. II 4.5.14).
885
Plut. De genio Socratis.
886
V. L. Tsymburskiy stressed the similarity between Jason’s and Theseus’ jorneys as sacral practices.
The symbolics of two trips might be interpreted only astronomically: the end of the Taurus Age
(Jason’s and Theseus’ victory over the bull) and the beginning of the Aries Age (the Golden Fleece as a
symbol of king’s power for the Argonauts and the Mycenaean rulers) when vessel-shaped
Capricornus as a constellation of the winter solstice symbolized the rebirth of the Sun and mythical
heroes, cf. the death of Pelias and Minos. These myths might be dated from about 2000 BCE. However,
these myths might be reinterpreted in the relation of the astrochronology of the 13th century BCE.
173
Alternatively, if the island is located ‘towards Ethiopia’ (from India) then it may be
Maldives. The name of Taprobana may include Dravidian *pan ‘ground’, cf.
Dravidian *dip ‘hill’ in Serendib.
Perhaps, the Greeks and their neighbours correlated celestial and terrestrial
images, not only small as the sickle-shaped island of Kerkyra and the sickle-shaped
constellation of Scorpius, but also large as Greece with Capricornus (as in the Aegeus
myth and in the Bible) or earlier with Aquarius (Greek aiges, ‘waves’), Phoenicia with
the fish cult and Pisces, Crete with the bull cult and Taurus (cf. Talos), Egypt as a
double country and Gemini, Caria and the constellation of Cancer, Mycenae (and
Hittite Empire) with the Lion Gates and Leo (cf. the Nemean Leo near Mycenae),887
Troy and Virgo, Caucasus and Aquila etc.
Cretan sacral king of the Helios dynasty,

Chinese yellow-clothed king, and Tocharian sun god
Etymological parallels between the titles of Cretan and Chinese kings which were designed by
similar signs may be proposed, and the name of the Tocharian sun god might be an intermediate link
between two titles
East Asiatic parallels of Greek thalassa and taos were suggested, and some
parallels between ancient Cretan and ancient Chinese cultures may be proposed:
possible Minoan influence on the concept of ‘flying horses’ in the Chinese painting;
mythical cycles about Heracles and Chinese archer; the Chinese parallels of
Trypillian-Balkan images of yin-yang and shell; Chinese moku, ‘eatable mushroom’
and Greek mukes, ‘mushroom’ etc.
The Cretan hieroglyphic sign and similar Linear A, B syllabic sign wa
(wanakterion, ‘palace’) related to the title of Cretan sacral king of wanax may be
compared with Chinese wang, ‘king’ which is designed by a hieroglyph similar to
Cretan sign.
Tocharian nakt, ‘sun god’, possibly depicted on the Okunevo steles which people
migrated to the Tarim basin, might be an intermediate link between the images of
Cretan sacral king of the Helios dynasty and yellow-clothed Chinese king.
The Seima-Turbino trans-cultural phenomenon might be an intermediate link
between Mycenaean and Tocharian worlds.
Abkhaz-Adyghe origin of the Greek king title: βασιλεύς
The Mycenaean title of minor king might be of West Caucasian origin
887
Cf. Biblical Dan as a snake (Gen. 49:16), possibly Hydra which rose with Leo and was depicted with
Leo in Babylonian astronomy, Dan as a lion (Deut. 33:22) and related to ships (Judg. 5:17); ship-related
Dan was traditionally interpreted as the Greek Danaoi, but. cf. also the constellation of Hydra as a ship
in Minoan art.
174
Linear B (Mycenaean) qa-si-re-u = guasileus (without Indo-European etymology888,
later βασιλεύς) may be divided into two parts:
1) qa-si- = guasi ‘king’, cf. Hattic katte/i, Hittite haššu- ‘king’ (non-Indo-
European889), Luwian Hieroglyphic hasu-890, Greek ἀσών ‘leader’, Phrygian (glossa)
ἐσσήν ‘king’ (possibly inherited from the Hittites immediately!), and especially
Abkhaz guaša, Adyghe guaše ‘she-chief’; cf. also Proto-Nakh. *’aši ‘chief’891, Sumerian
gašan/m ‘lady, mistress’, Elamite hašša ‘ruler (?)’, and even Proto-Austronesian *qazi
‘king’892; Amerind parallel may also be proposed;
2) -re-u = leus, cf. Attic λεός, λεώς = λαός ‘people’.
So, βασιλεύς may be compared with Ἀναξίλεως.
Is the title from Colchis or from Multi-Rolled culture which migrated in Greece
about 1700 BCE?
Minoan-Mycenaean Greeks in Colchis
Cretan stone anchor 16–15 cc. BCE was found near Thracia893, Minoan sheep
figurine with Linear A inscription of possible Black Sea origin was also known894 and
Minoan signs were found in Burgas895, so Cretans visited the Black Sea. ‘Not only
Southern Greece and the Cyclades, which have always been regarded as Crete’s
natural sphere of influence, but the entire Eastern Mediterranean, from Bulgaria and
Samothrace in the north to the Negev in the south, should now be taken into account
in this connection’896
888
Нерознак В.П., Шарыпкин С.Я. Древнегреческая этимология в свете данных крито-микенских
надписей, Вестник древней истории, 1994, № 4, с. 120.
889
Николаев С.Л. Северокавказские заимствования в хеттском и древнегреческом, Древняя
Анатолия, М., 1985, с. 61–62
890
Common Hittite-Luwian word: Древние языки Малой Азии, М., 1980, с. 134.
891
The reconstruction after: Иванов В.В. Древневосточные связи этрусского языка, Древний Восток:
этнокультурные связи, М., 1988, с. 212.
892
The reconstruction after: Кулланда С.В. Материальная культура и экономика народов
Западной Индонезии в дописьменную эпоху (по лингвистическим материалам), Народы Азии и
Африки, 1983, № 5, с. 75.
893
Магидович И. П., Магидович В. И. Очерки по истории географических открытий (Москва 1982),
с. 72.
894
Silver, Morris, The Argonaut epos and Bronze Age economic hystory
http://sondmor.tripod.com/index-4.html
895
Гълъбов И. Минойская надпись, найденная в Бургасе, Вестник древней истории, 1956, № 3, с.
151–157, http://liberea.gerodot.ru/a_quest/burgas.htm Cf.: Fol, A., and R. Schmitt. 2000 "A Linear A
Text on a Clay Reel from Drama, South-East Bulgaria?" Prähistorische Zeitschrift 75.1: 56-62, dating:
LHIIIB–IIIC, Finkelberg, M. Greeks and pre-Greeks, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge 2005), p.
61.
896
Finkelberg, M. Greeks and pre-Greeks, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge 2005), p. 61.
175
Caucasus played an important role in Greek sacral geography while journeys of
Heracles, Argonauts, and Odysseus might be sacral rites. Hesiod’s Prometeus was
chained to the middle pillar897 between the mountain of Atlas (the most western
point in Ptolemy’s Geography) and South-East Asia (Malakka as the Golden Peninsula
– the most eastern point by Ptolemy). ‘Macro-geodesy’ of western Atlas, middle
Prometheus and (reconstructed) eastern Malakka correlated with ‘micro-geodesy’ of
the Aegean-Pontic: western / Canarian Circea (the sun goddess of Tenerife Chaxiraxi
< Guanche definite article ach and xerax, gerage ‘sky’), middle / Cretan Pasiphae, and
eastern / Colchian Aeetes. ‘I believe that the earth is very large and that we who
dwell between the pillars of Hercules and the river Phasis live in a small part of it
about the sea, like ants or frogs about a pond’ (Plato, Phaedo, 109a). The name of
Aeetes (Αἰήτης) is comparable with the Greek name of eagle; the constellation of
Eagle (located near the Milky Way looking like a pillar) is observable on the east
horizon while the Pleiades (looking like apples belonged to Atlas) is observable on
the west horizon, so Hesiod’s pillar is explained by astronomy which correlated with
sacral geography.
Myth of Argonauts is linked to myth of Prometheus: an eagle is the king of
Kolchis, and an eagle tortured Prometheus in Caucasus. The name of Προμηθεύς
might be of Mitannian Aryan/Azov Sind origin (Vedic pramathyus, ‘thief’) while his
image is closely related to Caucasus: Georgian Amirani, Ossetic Amran, Abkhaz Abr-
skil (: Abkhaz amra, ‘the Sun’, and Megrel skua, ‘son’, acc. to N. Ya. Marr; cf. Greek
(Dorian) ἆμαρ, ‘day’). Perhaps, the myth of Amirani was influenced by archaic
Arabic myths (Kamari < Arab. kamar, ‘the Moon’, Badri < Arab. bader, ‘full Moon’), cf.
Moon-related names of members of the Minos family. In Chechen mythology (which
includes several images and names similar to Greek), Pkharmat (Chechen pkh’ar,
‘smith’) stealed fire from sky god (the direction of borrowing is unclear but contact is
undoubtful). The idea of fire in a plant traced to the Sun located on the Milky Way
near the constellation of Eagle about 4800 BCE, in late Proto-Indo-European time.
Idea of solar ram traced to about 2000 BCE when the Sun began to locate in Aries
in vernal equinox. In that time, Egyptian pharaohs began bear the name of Amen-em-
hat, ‘Amen (solar ram) on the horizon’. Hittite kings regarded himself as the Sun, and
Hittite myth of the tree of eia and sheep-skin on it (related to cults of the Sun and
king while Jason’s labours resemble initiation of Hittite princes)898 might be related to
the solar ram image as royal constellation. Mycenaean and Colchian kings might
accept the idea of the Golden Fleece as king symbol from Hittites, cf. below about
Kuta-isi, ‘the place of fortress’, from Hittite kutt-, ‘fortress’, and common Hittite-
Mycenaean symbol of Lion’s Gate. Murdered Phrixus and fleece resemble Colchian
aeral burial rite.
897
Hesiod Theog. 522
898
Цымбурский В. Л. Эя и Троя (Прагреки в Северо-Западной Анатолии и происхождение
топонима Αἶα), Hrda manasa: Сборник статей к 70-летию проф. Л.Г.Герцeнберга, СПб, 2005,
http://russ.ru/academ/Filologicheskie-teksty-Vadima-Cymburskogo
176
Ἰάπετος (father of Prometeus who gave metals) < ἰάπτω ‘hurt’ of unknown origin
might be originated from Kartvelian bd- ‘to strike fire’, abd- ‘flint stone’.
Greek Κηδαλίων was an asistant or, according to one version, a tutor of Greek
smithgod Hephestus; Georgian mčedeli ‘smith’ might be a source of his name.
Medea was not Mzia because of her lunar symbolism; *me-ttue, ‘lunar person’, i. e.
‘priest of the Moon’, might be Kartvelian prototype of the name.
The image and name of Argo might be traced to early 3rd m. BCE when Gilgamesh
visited Ziusudra, possibly in Cyprus: Sumerian magur, ‘ship’.
Ἀργοναύται / Ἀργοναῦται might be compared with hlw-nbwt (Aegeans in
Egyptian sources) while ἀργός, ‘shining’ is comparable with ἕλη, ‘the sun’s heat’.
The name of Telchines899, children of Θάλασσα and Πόντος, might be a cognate of
the name of θάλασσα900 or the name of Colchis901 and possibly Adyghe Tlepsh, a
smith god. Telchines, like Colchians, were metalworkers and sailors. Cf. χαλκός,
Cret. Καυχός, ‘copper’, and Hattic-Hurrian hapalki, ‘iron’.
Ino (< Babylonian Sin, ‘the Moon god’ while s > h in Greek), a foe of Phrix and
Helle, was a daughter of Cadmus the Phoenician (alternative etymologies: from
Greek kekadmenos or Hurrian Hedammu, mythical snake), and the motif of warriors
who were born from teeth (Σπαρτοί, ‘sown [men]’, from σπείρω, ‘to sow’) is known
in the myths of Cadmus and Argonauts; the name of Spartans correlates with the
name of ancient Georgian tribes like Herodotus’ Sa-speirs (between Colchians and
Μῆδοι, cf. Μήδεια; Ispir in northeast Anatolia was named after the tribe). The name
of Jason (‘healer’) might be a transformation of the name of Phoenician god of healing
and sailing (!) Eshmun (cf. the name of Jason’s father, Aeson, and the Phoenician sea
gods of Cabiri similar to the Argonauts) while Homer compares Phaeacians and
Phoenicians, so Mycenaean or even Minoan periplus might be combined with
Phoenician periplus.
Aeetes was the king of Corinthus; Jason and Medea were related to the city, cf.
Greek (‘pre-Greek’) Kor-inth-, ‘top’ (korus, gen. kor-uth-os, ‘helmet’) and Georgian
gora/i, ‘hill’ and -eti, suffix of place names; Akro-korinthos looks like semi-translation
of Georgian Zemo-Gor-ethi (Macedonian k : Greek g). A. V. Urushadze regarded
Corinthian version of the Argonauts myth as the oldest902. Sacral nobility persons of
Georgian origin might be hypothetised in some Greek cities, and Homeric μῶλυ :
Georgian moli (Proto-Kartvelian)903 might reflect an element of Greek sacral language.
899
Τελχίς, later Τελχίν, ‘one of the Telchines, described as inhabitants of Crete (hence called Τελχινία,
St. Byz.), Rhodes (Τελχινίς, Strab. 14.2.7), Sicyon (St. Byz. s.v.), Ceos (Call. Fr. 9.65 P.), or Cyprus
(Paus. 9.19.1), and the first workers in metal’, LSJ.
900
Doric σάλασσα, Macedonian δαλάγχα, cf. σάλος, ‘rolling swell (of the sea)’, σταλάσσω, ‘drop,
drip’, ταράσσω, θράσσω, ‘stir, trouble (e. g., sea)’, δρόσος ‘sea water’.
901
Cf. δελφύς, ‘womb’ and κόλπος, ‘womb’
902
Урушадзе А. В. Страна волшебницы Медеи, Кавказ и Средиземноморье (Тбилиси 1980),
http://liberea.gerodot.ru/a_quest/medea.htm
903
H. Fähnrich, Z. Sarjveladze, The Etymological …, 334; Chotalishvili, L. The Colchian ‘heritage’ of
Helios against the background of linguistic data, Phasis, Vol. 10, No. 1 (2007),
http://phasis.tsu.ge/index.php/phasis/issue/archive?issuesPage=5#issues
177
If Aeates and Medea are related to Indian Yayati (whose brother was Ayati) and
his daughter Madhavi (‘of mead’) and Irish Eohaid and his daughted Medb (‘of
mead’)904 then they are related to Proto-Indo-European Eagle-Mead myth (*av- ‘bird’
and *medh- ‘mead’). If Hayasa really related to Aea (< Lin. B Aiwa, king Aiwetos)
then Phrygian component of Armenian language may be mentioned.
Ἄψυρτος (who’s body was cut into pieces, because he might be a god of fertility,
cf. Osiris) might be Swan Apsat(i) (parallels in several other languages of Caucasus), a
god of animals.
The date of the Argonauts’ sailing was early 13th c. BCE while the journey of Phrix
(a Phrygian?) and Helle (Hellenic woman?) might be dated to early 14 th c. BCE.
Peoples related to Phrygians (Moesians/Mysians/Mushki) might start his migration
in late Mycenaean time (Egyptian sources attested the Sea Peoples as early as the 14th
BCE) and the migration might reach Colchis (cf. Mycenaean migrations in Asia
Minor and even Italy and Minoan figurine in Italy). E. g., Georgian cixe [tsihe],
‘fortress’ is comparable with Greek teikhos. So-called ‘Eteocretan’ inscriptions are
readable in Phrygian.
Phrix and Hella, as well as Argonauts, might be waves of the Sea Peoples. The
Greeks might sail in the Black Sea before the fall of Troy because Troy VI and VIIa
were Greek, according to the Trojan Script similar to Linear A evidence. Argonauts
sailed in the Black Sea about the date when Heracles (a participant of their trip)
captured Troy.
If Lydian λαίλας, ‘tyrannos’ (Hesych.) = Hittite lahhiyalas, ‘warrior’ then
Mycenaean/Linear B Aiwa, ‘Aia’ (> Hittite Eia) might correspond with Hittite
Ahhiyawa905, cf. Achaeans in West Caucasus. Perhaps, Argronauts initially sailed in
Ahiyawa which was located in Western Anatolia (where myth of Eia-tree and fleece
appeared). Later, Ahhiyawa shifted eastward, in Colchis, in the form of Aia, while an
image of another Ahhiyawa in the Greek Mainnland might also appear. Initial
Ahhiyawa in Asia Minor might be Greek homeland.
Abkhaz Khait, ‘the Sun god’, might be related with Aeetes. If Aiates < Aiwates
(Colchian king title or the name of divine… of kings) then the Abkhaz name is derid
from Greek in post-Mycenaean time when w disappeared.
The name of the Argonauts, Minyans, might be related to the Cretan king title of
Minos (possibly from *Men-ops, ‘moon-faced’, cf. his wife Phaidra and Arabic bader,
‘full moon’, Badri in Amiraniani, Minos’ oldest son Katreus ‘lunar quarter?’, Glaucus
related to owl and three-colored moon etc.), cf. cities of Minoa as markers of Minoan-
Mycenaean colonization. Pausanius mentioned a Greek colony in Colchis founded by
Aeetes.
904
Петросян А. Миф об аргонавтах, Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология ХХ
(СПб. 2016), https://sci.academia.edu/ArmenPetrosyan
905
топонима Αἶα), Hrda manasa: Сборник статей к 70-летию проф. Л.Г.Герцeнберга, СПб, 2005,
http://russ.ru/academ/Filologicheskie-teksty-Vadima-Cymburskogo
178
The Golden Fleece might be the Mycenaean symbol of royal power which is
known from the Atreus-Thyestes myth. One Greek name of the Golden Fleece is
κῶας, ‘fleece’ (with an epithet χρύσεον ‘golden’906 or without the epithet907). The
Indo-European etymology is proposed for κῶας < *κῶϜας908, but it might be accepted
from the West Kartvelian form *t’q’ow-909. The form is archaic and might be dated to
pre-common Zan period because it contrasted with Georgian t’q’av- and Zan
*t’q’eb-910. Linear B ko-wo might be an evidence of Mycenaean-Kartvelian contact.
Another Greek name of the Golden Fleece is χρυσό-μαλλος ‘with golden wool or
fleece’ (also as an epithet of κῶας911). The Linear B ideogram No 145 LANA (a
ligature of two syllabic signs ma-ru) is based on the Linear A word 912; the same word
is a prototype of μάλλυκες = τρίχες Hesych., a cognate of μαλλός913. Etymologically,
μαλλός is attested as unclear914. Cf. Hittite miluli- ~ maluli- ‘skin’915 (in the context of
the Hittite myth of every green tree of eia and the fleece on it) while Hittite mida- ~
midi- ~ mitta- ‘red wool’916 are similar to Greek mitos, ‘thread’. Georgian t’q’-av-i,
‘sheep’s skin’ and ma-t’q’-l-i, ‘wool’ might be prototypes of κῶας and μαλλός. The
latter is traditionally interpreted as ‘Minoan’ and might reflect the Crete-Colchis
relations in the Linear A time.
Similarity of Greek σταφυλή, ‘bunch of grapes’ and Georgian-Zan *stwal-, ‘grape-
harvest’917 is an evidence of old wine-working.
If the name of Phasis (river and city) reflects the a-form (possibly Swan) of the
name of Phothi then the name of Kutaisi (or its Cretan cognate) has not only Linear B
mention and Cretan parallel but also possible Hittite cognate (prototype?) of kutt-,
‘walls, fortress’, esp. ‘outer city walls’. Hittite kutteššar, ‘wall made of natural stone
and/or (backed) brick’918; the name of Phrix’s son, Κυτίσσωρος, is identical to
aforementioned Hittite kutteššar. So Kutaisi might be founded in the Hittite time, i. e.
906
Pind. Pyth. iv 231
907
Hdt. vii 193
908
Frisk ii 59
909
Иванов В. В. К проблеме соотношения древнегреческой и хаттской традиций, in: Славянское и
балканское языкознание: Проблемы языковых контактов, М.: Наука, 1983, с. 56–57.
910
R. Gordeziani, Mediterranea..., III, 490; Chotalishvili, L. The Colchian ‘heritage’ of Helios against
the background of linguistic data, Phasis
911
Pherecyd. 105 J
912
Ventris M., Chadwick J. Documents in Mycenaean Greek. 2nd ed. Cambridge, 1973, pp. 52, 314.
913
Казанский Н.Н., in: Балканы в контексте Средиземноморья: Проблемы реконструкции языка и
культуры: Тезисы к симпозиуму, М., 1986, с. 158; Предметно-понятийный словарь греческого языка:
крито-микенский период, Л.: Наука, 1986, с. 159
914
Frisk ii 168
915
root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\ier\ana&limit=-1
916
root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\ier\ana&limit=-1
917
Gordeziani, R. Mediterranea-Kartvelica, Vol. IV (Tbilisi 2008), p. 58.
918
The Hittite dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (Güterbock, H. G. etc., eds.),
Chicago 2002, vol. Š, fasc. 1, pp. 9–10,
https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/CHDS.pdf
179
before about 1200 BCE. The name of Kutaisi is Proto-Kartvelian 919 while G. A. Klimov
dated the divergence of Proto-Kartvelian to early 2nd m. BCE, i. e. to early Hittite
time. ‘Pre-Greek’ suffixes of -iss- and -inth- might be toponymical initially and
possibly related not only to Anatolian toponymical suffixes but also to Georgian
suffixes -isi and -eti in place names, cf. Megrel infix -n-.
Aegean-related Trialeti culture might be Proto-Kartvelian, but Phrygian elite
might be presented, cf. possible Caucasian component of Minoan-Mycenaean elite
(Mycenaean guasi-leus, ‘lesser king/viceroy’, literally ‘prince of people’ < West
Caucasian guashe, ‘prince’, Athana < Ossetic Satana).
Greek χρυσός, ‘gold’ as well as similar Semitic names (Assyr. hurāšu, ‘gold’)
might be ultimately derived from Hurrian huprushi-, ‘vessel’. Greek ὠχρός, ‘pale
yellow’ and related Georgian oxro, ‘gold’ might reflect Megrel prefix o- (= Georgian
sa-) and the root identical to that in χρυσός: o-xr-.
Minoan Greeks in Bronze Age Norway

and Cypriot Hurrian trade elite of Proto-Germanic people
Linear A we-tu-na ma-ti ‘εὔθυνα μάτηρ’ vs ‘εὔθυνα μάτη’ is possible evidence of

Greek judgement in Bronze Age Norway. Cf. ἰθύνω, ‘steer’
There are many archaeological, art and linguistic evidence of the Bronze Age
contacts between North Europe and East Mediterranean, e. g. North European amber
in Aegean, images of Cretan labyrinths in Scandinavia, Phoenician name of ape in
Germanic and common Latvian-Etruscan another name of ape etc.920 Proto-Germanic
*skipam ‘ship’ (‘Germanic noun of obscure origin’, Watkins)921 might be related to
Greek σκάφος ‘ship’ while rock-carved ships of the Nordic Bronze Age resemble pre-
Dynastic Egyptian and Cycladic pictures of ships. So Egyptian hieroglyph netjer
(‘god’), Phoenician ‘Baal’ sign,922 Hittite (Luwian) hieroglyph ‘divine’ and Cretan
Linear A inscription (that is interpreted below) are not surprising in Scandinavia.
In 2005 two professors of archaeology, Kristian Kristiansen, University of Gothenburg, and

Thomas B. Larsson, University of Ume'in Sweden, published a book entitled 'The Rise of Bronze
Age Society' (Cambridge University Press) in which they argue, based on a vast amount of
evidence, that the rich and spectacular Early Bronze Age of Denmark and Scandinavia can only be
explained in terms of a contact between the Minoan-Mycenaean civilization and Scandinavia. They
write (pp. 235-236): 'Mycenaean traders settled in western Mediterranean and established direct
trading connections with southern Germany, and thus linked up with the network that reached
919
Гордезиани Р. В. Проблемы гомеровского эпоса Тбилиси, с. 209
920
Cf.: Flemming, K. The Nordic razor and the Mycenaean lifestyle, Antiquity, June 1, 2013,
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-334944176.html
921
Online etymology dictionary [of English], ship (s. v.), http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?
allowed_in_frame=0&search=ship&searchmode=none
922
Mörner, N.-A, Lind, B. G. Long-distance travel and trading in the Bronze Age: the East
Mediterranean-Scandinavia case, Archaeological Discovery, 2015, 3, 133, Published Online October
2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ad http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ad.2015.34012
180
Jutland and the amber producing areas. Recent archaeological discoveries have completely
changed our perception of Mycenaean presence in this part of Europe'. And 'a genuine Mycenaean
find appeared in a Middle Bronze Age fortified settlement in Bavaria: a gold diadem made of gold
foil of the type found in the shaft graves at Mycenae, together with some raw amber.
(') Mycenaean and south German and even south Scandinavian chiefs had direct personal
contacts. (') Moreover, it makes it easier to understand how east Mediterranean prestige goods,
such as folding stools and flange-hilted swords of Mycenaean inspiration, could be transmitted so
directly to southern Scandinavia. But why this region' more than other regions in Europe 'adopted
a Mycenaean cultural idiom as basis for the new Nordic Bronze Age society remains yet to be
explained.' And p. 249: 'However, foreign origins were most consciously demonstrated in the
formation of the Nordic Bronze Age Culture from 1500 BC onwards, basing itself on a
Minoan/Mycenaean template.'
The authors also point to the fact that a sign or symbol akin to the Hittite hieroglyph meaning
'divine' is among the rock carvings at Fossum in Sweden, associated with images of what could be
representations of divinities (p. 342).
Minoans, having reached Kongsberg, most likely around 1700 BC, at the heyday of Minoan
civilization, when silver could be traded for its double weight in gold in Egypt, and leaving a
message on a cult place there, would probably have thanked the gods for what ever riches they
had come for. The only reason for their coming to Kongsberg would have been the area's richness
in easily accessible native silver.923
In 1987 a Minoan inscription was discovered in Norway, engraved on the rock face of a Bronze
Age cult site on the outskirts of the town of Kongsberg924
For the last hundred years it has puzzled archaeologists that the development of the original
Nordic Bronze Age culture shows a ‘Mycenaean’ impact. […] A number of Mycenaean cultural
influences were apparently transformed into a genuine Nordic style925.
Bronze was imported to Scandinavia from the East Mediterranean. This trading started about
1750 BC. At just the same time amber from the Baltic started to appear in Mycenaean and Minoan
graves. This gives evidence of active trading between the Mediterranean and Scandinavia […]
In Great Britain, the Bronze Age began around 2100 BC. This corresponds well with the
proposed onset of tin exploitation in Cornwall (Penhallurick, 1986; Haustein et al., 2010). Trading
abroad is likely to have commenced at the same time. Tin from Cornwall has been identified in
Mycenaean-Minoan bronze objects […]
Scandinavia and Central Europe suddenly stepped into the Bronze Age at about 1750 years BC.
The bronze objects were imported from the Mediterranean area (Ling et al., 2014). At just the same
time amber started to occur in masses in Mycenaean and Minoan graves (Figure 1). The
provenience of that amber is shown to be the south Baltic coasts. This means that we have evidence
of a simultaneous import/export exchange between Scandinavia and the Eastern Mediterranean
region (Mörner & Lind, 2010) […]
923
BARS-16: Brit-Am Research Sources. A collection of informational leads for further study,
http://www.britam.org/BARS/BARS-16.html#3
924
https://jarnaes.wordpress.com/1-minoan-crete-linear-a/
925
Kristiansen, K. From stone to bronze, Kristiansen, K., Rowlands, M. Social transformations in
archaeology, Routledge (L.; N. Y. 2005), p. 133, https://books.google.com.ua/books?
id=mNqIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA133&lpg=PA133&dq=mycenaean+origin+of+nordic+bronze&source=bl&
ots=HImYTBTxoZ&sig=adO2S7kirpzm41Q-
a1T65kGVvpo&hl=uk&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=mycenaean%20origin%20of%20nordic
%20bronze&f=false
181
At the same time, pictures of huge ships started to be carved into the bedrock and into big
blocks in Scandinavia […]
Therefore, it seems logical to propose an integrated interpretation, viz. that people from the
Mediterranean at about 1750 BC, in their excellent ships, reached all the way up to Scandinavia,
introducing bronze tools to the region, exporting the valuable amber, and giving the local people
reasons to start the new costume of creating rock-carvings of ships (Mörner & Lind, 2010, 2013) […]
An oral tradition of a country in the far north named Hyperborea where there was a river of
amber termed Eridanos […]926
… my studies of material culture and rock art in the Nordic area has shown that there are a
number of images, symbols and combinations of figures that show distinct similarities with
features and depictions originating in the Mediterranean area, both from the Greek Bronze Age
cultures, the Minoan and the Mycenaean cultures, and from the later Geometric Period, as well as
from Egypt at the time of the eighteenth Dynasty. There seem to have been two distinct phases
during the Bronze Age when long distance connections and interaction were particularly
intense; the Early Nordic Bronze Age (1300-1100 BC) when the main source of inspiration
for aspiring elites in the societies of Northern Europe was the Mycenaean culture, as Kristian
Kristiansen and Thomas B. Larsson have recently shown in a massive study of the rise of Bronze
Age Society. The later phase occurs during the Nordic Late Bronze Age, in Period 5 (900-500 BC)
when house urns are found in ship settings on the Swedish island of Gotland.
The Nordic Late Bronze Age coincides in time with the Iron Age in Greece and with the period
of Greek colonization, and with the Villanova culture in Northern Italy927.
Lin. A we-tu-na ma-ti (Norway) cf. Ζεὺς δ᾽ ἔμπης πάντ᾽ ἰθύνει (Iliad 17.632) while
ἰθύνω is Homeric variant of εὐθύνω ‘guide, direct, rule, lead’ and μάτηρ ‘mother’. So
the inscription might mean ‘(Great) Mother leads (us to here)’ or rather *εὔθυνα
‘Mother-judge’ (fem. of εὔθυνος ‘judge’). Or cf. μάτη, ‘fault’, ἡ εὔθυνα βλάβη
τις δικαία ἐστίν (Arist. Rh. 1411b20),928 εὐθύνας or εὔθυναν ὀφλεῖν, ‘to be
convicted, or accused, of malversation’ (And. 1.73, Lys. 10.27), ἢ τὴν παιδείαν τὴν
τοῦ Διός, ᾗ εὔθυνε τὴν Κρήτην (Plat. Minos 320d), Ἅιδης ἐστὶν εὔθυνος βροτῶν
(Aesch. Eumen. 254), βέλος δ᾽ ἴθυνεν Ἀθήνη ‘she sped it straight’ (Iliad 5.290).
In the light of afore-mentioned facts, Hurrian parallels of pre-Germanic substrate

words may be interpreted as not only Neolithic or Chalcolithic/Eneolithic relations
but also Cyprus-North Europe Bronze Age contacts:
Proto-Germanic *aþalaz ‘noble’ cf. Hurrian adali ‘strong’;
Old Norse erilaR ‘noble’ > earl U ere/ili ‘king’929;
Proto-Germanic *geban ‘to give’ cf. Hurrian kib- ‘to put, set’, giban- ‘to bring’;
Proto-Germanic *saiwaz ‘sea’ cf. Hurrian šiwe ‘water, river’;
926
Mörner, N.-A, Lind, B. G. Long-distance travel and trading in the Bronze Age: the East
Mediterranean-Scandinavia case, Archaeological Discovery, 2015, 3, 129-130, Published Online
October 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ad http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ad.2015.34012
927
Winter, L. From diffusion to interaction,
https://www.academia.edu/219941/From_Diffusion_to_Interaction_Connections_Between_the_Nordic
_Area_and_Valcamonica_During_the_First_Millennium_BC
928
http://folk.uio.no/amundbjo/grar/rhetorica/texts/Rhetoric_Teubner_1898.pdf
929
Джаукян Г. Б. Урартский и индоевропейские языки, Ереван 1963, с. 44.
182
Proto-Germanic *saiwalo ‘soul’ cf. Hurrian šuhuri ‘life’, Urartian šeheri ‘alive’;
Proto-Germanic *dimbaz ‘dark’ cf. Hurrian timerri ‘black’;
Armenian art ‘field’, Hurrian arde ‘town’, Urartian ardi-ne ‘id.’
Not only Minoan (Cretan) Greeks and Phoenicians but also Cypriot Hurrians
(which were located between Cretans and Phoenicians) might visit North Europe.
Hurrians might be presented as a part of elite in Minoan Greek Crete930. Genetically
(autosomal), a Neolithic farmer from southern Sweden (Funnel Beaker) was the
closest to modern Cypriots931. V. A. Safronov underlined similarity of south
Scandinavian Funnel Beaker with Early Cycladic II (including ‘frying pans’!) and
Early Helladic II–III. Perhaps, Hurrian in North Europe might be of Cypriot origin
(while Cypro-Minoan was Hurrian), or Funnel Beaker was Hurrian-spoken. If the
similar lexicon reflects trade contacts then Cypriote merchants might be suggested in
pre-historic North Europe.
Κουρῆτες and Τάλως: Hurrian sacral warriors and bull cult in Crete?
Hurrian elite might be presented in several metallurgical cultures, e. g. in Balkan Vinča, Trans-
Caucasian Kura-Araxes and Syrian Khirbet-Kerak, Cyprus, and also Crete
The name of the Couretes might be a contamination (synthesis) of Greek kouros

‘young man’ and Hurrian (from Babylonian) huradi ‘warrior’ or / and the people
name of Te-ukr- (‘long-legged’ in Hurro-Urartian), one of the Sea Peoples and
founders of Troy.
In the Bible, Kerethi and Pelethi (2Sam. 8:18; 15:18-19) or Kari and Pelethi (2Sam.
20:23) are mentioned in David’s army, and they were David’s bodyguards (Josephus,
Ant. vii 110). Simultaneously, Kerethi and Pelethi were priests (2Sam. 8:17-18). Cretan
Couretes were also bodyguards and priests of Zeus. The name of David of unknown
origin might be related to Indo-European *deiuos ‘god’, especially Hittite-Luwian
Tiwat- ‘Sun god’ (cf. Hittite elite in David’s army) while the Keret (‘the Cretan’) Epic
was known in Minoan-Mycenaean-related Ugarit. Couretes were known in Caria
(Diod. v 60.2-3). In the books of Zephania and Ezekiel, the Philistines are the people
of Kretim. Pelishtim and Keretim are mentioned as foes (Ezek. 25:16)932.
930
Cf.: Norse dwarves: Bronze Age metallurgists from the Mediterranean?
http://eurogenes.blogspot.com/2013/05/norse-dwarves-bronze-age-metallurgists.html : ‘the remains
from a TRB (Funnelbeaker) Culture burial in western Sweden were recently genotype for autosomal
DNA and they came out surprisingly Mediterranean’, see Skoglund, P. et al (below).
931
Skoglund, P. et al. Origins and genetic legacy of Neolithic farmers and hunter-gatherers in Europe,
Science 27 April 2012: Vol. 336 no. 6080 pp. 466-469,
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6080/466.abstract ; Prehistoric Scandinavians genetically most
similar to present-day Poles, http://eurogenes.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/prehistoric-scandinavians-
genetically.html
932
Ganor, N. R. Who were the Phoenicians, Kotarim
183
So Cretan Couretes were priests and warriors who migrated in Caria while
Biblical Kerethi were also priests and warriors who were mixed with Carians and
related to Cretan Philistines. They might be Hurrians in Crete and Syria.
The Keret Epic (as the Proto-Iliad, alongside Egyptian Pentaur Poem) might reflect
Cretan-Hurrian contacts in Syria because of possibly Hurrian names of Keret’s town
(Hubur), his wife (Hariya) and her father (Pubala). If the name of the princess was
related to the self-name of Hurrians (Hurri ‘morning’) then it might be compared
with the name of Helen ‘light’.
Τάλως as a bull (Apollodor) and the Sun (Hesychius) pointed to the solar bull, i. e.
the spring equinox in Taurus during 4th – 3rd millennia BCE. Hurrian tilla ‘young bull’
and Baltic-Slavic tele ‘young bull’ (of unknown origin) might be related to the cult, cf.
proto-Slavic lexical elements in Greek which might be brought by Multi-
Rolled/Mnogovalikovaya culture.
Hurrian elite might be presented in several metallurgical cultures, e. g. in Vinča,
Kura-Araxes and Khirbet-Kerak, Cyprus, and also Crete.
Celts in Middle Greece?
Greek mythology has special (not common Indo-European) parallels with Celtic,
especially Irish, e. g.: Ἔλατος, father of Ἴσχυς the beautiful, and Old Irish Elatha, the
father of Bres the beautiful. Elatha appeared from the sea, and Hesychius knew
Ἐλάτης· ὁ Ποσειδῶν, ἐν Ἀθήναις. Elatha’s ring for Bres resembles Poseidon’s ring for
Theseus whereas Bres may be compared with Perseus. Bres’ mother Ériu (Irish
reinterpretation?) is similar to Theseus’ mother Αἴθρα who renamed her island as
Hiera (Paus. II 33.1) which closely resembles Greek name of Ireland, Ierne. Bellerophon,
Perseus ‘copy’, killed Belleros, whereas Lugh (‘light’, cf. Perseus ‘light’) murdered
Balor.
Calydonian boar is worth special attention: it resembles Irish boar rites; Greek
Καλυδών city near the Εὔηνος River (in Middle Greece) and the centaur of Νέσσος on
its shore resemble Caledonia, ‘Scotland,’ Avon, ‘Celtic name of river’ (and common
word for ‘river’ in several Celtic languages), and monster in the Ness Lake or, in
early variants, in the Ness River. So the legend of the Loch Ness Monster might be of
Greek origin. Similar mythical animal of Celtic folklore is kelpie ‘water horse’ in the
Scots language, a cognate of Gaelic calpa ‘heifer, colt’; Greek Nessus is also known as
water horse.
The region of Βοιωτία (cf. βοώτης ‘ploughman’) and the tribe of Τηλεβόης were
also located in Middle Greece. The names may be compared with the name of Celtic
tribe Boii, as in Latin Boio-haemum (Proto-Germanic *haimaz ‘home’) and Bajuwarii.
‘Bulls’ is rather Greek than Celtic (cf. Mycenae, perhaps < Greek mukaomai, ‘low’) but
the images and names might be coincided or common. The image and name of Celtic
Arthur is strongly related to the Greek star of Arcturus in the constellation of Boötes.
184
185
GREECE, THE HITTITES, MITANNI, AND EGYPT:
SYNCHRONISMS OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE
Hittite and Mitannian kings

in the Tantalus-Pelops and Atreus-Thyestes myths
Hittite and Mitannian kings of the 14th BCE might be mythologized by the Greeks
Is the Tantalus-Pelops myth of Hittite origin?

Tantalus and his son Pelops the charioteer might have been Tudhaliyas (Tudhaliyas
II and his son Tudhaliyas the Younger) and his successor Suppiluliumas respectively;
Suppiluliumas was depicted as a charioteer on the Hittite relief. Oenomaus with his
exclusive chariot, murdered by Pelops, might be Artashumara, the Mitannian king or
rather his younger brother Tushratta whose name means ‘with a horrible chariot’; the
murders of both were organized by Suppiluliumas. Suppiluliumas usurped the
Hittite throne of his elder brother and it was interpreted as an outstanding crime of
the whole dynasty during the reign of Mursilis,933 Suppiluliumas’ son, cf. Myrtilos
who put a curse on Pelops and his descendants.
According to a hypothesis, Suppiluliumas became a member of the royal family
when he married the daughter of Tudhaliyas II; Suppiluliumas ascended the throne
when Tudhaliyas ‘the Younger’, his predecessor, was killed; Taduhepa, Tudhaliyas’
II second wife or even Tudhaliyas’ ‘the Younger’ wife was an ally to
Suppiluliumas.934 Therefore, several motifs of the Pelops myth have parallels in
Suppiluliumas’ biography. Moreover, the name Tadu-hepa may be compared with
the name Hippo-damia, the daughter of Oenomaws who was married by Pelops.
Suppiluliumas’ spouse was sent to Ahhijawa because of being of possible Greek
origin (E. Forrer), and, thus, she might be a source of the Greek myth about the king.
Myrtilos, a person who helped Pelops to take power was Mursilis II,
Suppiluliumas’ son. The reign of Mursilis is dated to the end of 14th century BCE
owing to the solar eclipse at the tenth year of his reign, on June 24, 1312 BCE.
The lands of Tantalus, Phrygia and Lydia, were destroyed during his time by the
earthquake, while Troy was flooded:935 the myth might be a combination of 1) the
Troy VI destruction by an earthquake 2) the Troy VIIa destruction during the reign of
Tudhaliyas IV (confused with Tudhaliyas II in the Greek myths; the grandson and
the great grandson of Greek Tantalus had the same name). Myrtilos was cast into the
sea like Mursilis III who reigned after Mursilis II (but not immediately) was exiled
from the country to the seaside.
933
See The First Plague Prayer of Mursilis, Stavi, B. The genealogy of Suppiluliuma I, Altorientalische
Forschungen, 38 (2001) 2, 226–239,
https://www.academia.edu/5905056/Stavi_2011_The_Genealogy_of_Suppiluliuma_I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppiluliuma_I
934
https://www.academia.edu/5905056/Stavi_2011_The_Genealogy_of_Suppiluliuma_I
935
Strabo i 3.17
186
Is Atreus-Thyestes myth of Mitannian origin?
Eusebius dated Atreus’ and Thyestes’ activity to 13th c. BCE. Atreus was the first
who discovered the solar eclipse936, which occurred between Taurus and Aries on
April 14, 1281 BCE. However, the Atreus-Thyestes conflict resembles the struggle
between Mittannian Shutarna III (Atreus < *Satreus) and his successor Shattiwaza
(Thyvestes) during the reign of Suppiluliumas, the Hittite king, which took place in
late 14th century BCE. Tushratta as their predecessor might be Chrysippos from the
Greek myths, a son of Pelops, who was killed before the reigns of his brothers (if
Tushratta was not Oenomaus). Artatama/Artadama, who reigned after his possible
brother Tushratta and made a treaty with Suppiluliumas, might be reflected in the
image of Hippodamia , the daughter of Enomaus and the wife of Pelops in the Greek
myth. Artashumara, the elder brother of Tushratta, reigned before the aforementioned
kings of Mitanni and his murder was abetted by Suppiluliumas. We might conclude
that Artashumara might be Enomaus killed by Pelops.
Suppiluliumas was an active participant of the Mitanni struggle for kingship, and
the Greeks might confuse the Hittite and Mitanni empires and interpret
Suppiluliumas’ favorite kings as his sons. Consequently, not only Egyptian and
Hittite but also Mitannian history might be reflected in the Greek myths.
The family of Amenhotep III in the Greek myths
Amenhotep’s III family was well known for the Mycenaean Greeks
Amenhotep III Nebmaatre, Greek Mimmuria, was Ethiopic Memnon in the Greek
mythology (a traditional interpretation) who reigned for five generations: it was an
interval between the reign of Amenhotep III and the Trojan War. The Greek
designation of Amenhotep III and his wife as Ethiopic persons was caused by the fact
that Tiye, the main wife of Amenhotep III, was of Nubian origin and founded a
temple in Sudan.
Amenhotep III, who had a title ‘3-hpsh [hahepesh] ‘with great courage’, and his
Hurrian wife Gilu-hepa, Egyptian Kir-hepa, might be interpreted in relation to
Kepheus and Kassiepeia.
Tithonos, Memnon’s father, was Amenhotep III’s father, Tutmose IV; cf. also the
one among the Tutmose IV names, ddwj nyswt, which was very similar to the name of
Tithonos.
Aimathion, the brother of Memnon, was Amenemhet, the Amenhotep III’s brother.
The parents’ names of Kepheus, Egyptian king Belus and Ankhinoe, might be
compared to the Horus name of the pharaoh as a bull. The Egyptian Belus might be
confused with the Phoenician image of Belus the bull and the name of Amenhotep
III’s mother, Mutemwiya.
936
Hyg. Fab. 258
187
Damno, the sister of Kepheus, was Tentamon, the sister of Amenhotep III.
The Akhenaten and Mursilis eclipses:

the cause of reform and the basis of chronology
The total solar eclipse on August 15, 1352 BCE, i. e. at the beginning of Akhenaten reign, was a
very possible cause of Akhetanen’s solar cult
The reign of several pharaohs may be dated exactly in reliance on the Mursilis II
eclipse which occurred in the tenth regnal year of the Hittite king on June 24, 1312
BCE. Thus, the king ruled from 1321 BCE, Arnuwanda II, his elder brother – in 1322–
1321 BCE, and Suppiluliumas I – before 1322 BCE. Tutankhamun’s widow (Hittite
Dakhamunzus, Egyptian Ankhesenpaamun)937 sent two letters to Suppiluliumas,
immediately before his death and her marriage with Ay who ascended the throne.
Therefore, Tutankhamun’s nine-year reign lasted from 1331 till 1322 BCE, whereas
Ay’s four-year reign was in 1322–1318 BCE. The two-year reign of Smenkhkare ‘nḫ-
ḫprw-R‘ mrj-nfr-ḫprw-R‘ covered 2 years: 1333–1331 BCE, while the two-year reign of
the pharaoness Ankhkheperure-mery-Neferkheperure – in 1335–1333 BCE.938
Akhenaten’s reign that covered seventeen years lasted from 1352 till 1335 BCE939
(or, if the pharaoness was only his co-ruler, from 1350 till 1333 BCE). The total solar
eclipse on August 15, 1352 BCE, i. e. at the beginning of Akhenaten’s reign, very
possibly caused the Akhenaten solar cult.940 If the eclipse occurred closely to the date
of Akhenaton’s inthronizaton, the eclipse might have been the strongest influence on
his religious reform.941 The pharaoh demonstrated his special relations with the sun
from the first year of his reign.942
937
Перепелкин, с. 313. It might also be ‘a Hatti rendering of "T3 khm(-t) nsw", "The King's Wife,"’
http://realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/Egypt/a_The_Zannanza_Affair.htm
938
The Menophris era related to the Sothic cycle might belong to Smenkhkare or the pharaoness who
bore similar titles; alternatively, the era of Aten might have replaced the Menophris era around the
time of the beginning of Horemheb’s reign who claimed that his predecessors from Akhenaten to Ay
were illegitimate pharaohs. However, the most credible hypothesis may be as follows: if the beginning
of the Sothic cycle in 1322 BCE occurred during the reign of Ay, this pharaoh might be confused with
Merneferre Ay of the Thirteenth Dynasty, whose name was interpreted as Menophris.
939
Cf.: 1352–1336 BCE, Shaw, I. (ed.) 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
940
The Santorini eruption as a cause of the strong solar cult of Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten / Echnaton
is impossible according to the more up-to-date information as regards the eruption: either in 1628/1627
BCE or about 1530 BCE. The new proposed dating of the five-year duration of Akhenaten’s reign,
Gertoux, G. Akhenaten’s reign, https://mom.academia.edu/GerardGERTOUX , may contrast to the
duration of the realization of pharaoh’s reform.
941
‘There are no reports of solar and lunar eclipses from pharaonic Egypt. Thus ancient Egyptian data
are absent in modern astronomical analysis of recorded eclipses,’ Krauss, R. Dates relating to seasonal
phenomena, Ancient Egyptian chronology, Hornung E. et al. (eds.), Brill (Leiden etc., 2006), p. 377.
942
Перепелкин Ю. Я. История Древнего Египта, СПб., 2000, с. 285.
188
Seti I’s eleven-year reign and Ramesses I’s 1.5-year reign lasted during 1301–1290
BCE and 1303/1302–1301 BCE respectively. Horemheb’s reign943 covered fourteen
years: 1318–1303 BCE. Horemheb’s reign duration confirmed the dating of the reign
of Ramesses II from 1290 BCE. The wars of Horemheb and Seti I in Asia might have
been the international context of the Greek activity against Troy and the Hittite
empire at the end of 14th century BCE - the beginning of the 13th century BCE.
Merneptah’s eight-year and Seti II’s six-year reign lasted during 1224–1216 BCE
and 1216–1210 BCE respectively. Siptah ruled six years during 1210–1204 BCE while
Twosret’s reign covered two years, i. e. during 1204–1202 BCE.944 Setnakhte reigned
two or three years, i. e. during 1202–1200/1199 BCE. The reign of Ramesses III began
in 1199 BCE and lasted until 1168 BCE. The fifth and the eighth ruling year when he
fought the Sea Peoples might be 1195/1194 BCE (cf. 1194 BCE as a traditional date of
beginning of the Trojan War) and 1192/1191 BCE respectively; the Akaiwash/Ekwesh
was not among the Sea Peoples, for the Mycenaean empire fell before the
aforementioned dates. The pharaoh’s war with the Lybians on the eleventh year of
his reign may be dated to 1189/1188 BCE. Ramesses IV reigned six years during
1168–1162, Ramesses V – four years during 1162–1158 BCE, and Ramesses VI – eight
years during 1158–1150 BCE. The financial troubles or other kinds of problems which
began from the end of Ramesses V’s reign were likely to be caused by the climatic
event in 1159 BCE, perhaps the Hecla volcano eruption.
The calibrated ascension dates of the pharaohs are: Thutmose III – 1489/1486 BCE,
Akhenaten – 1260/1259 BCE, Tutankhamun – 1244/1242 BCE, Ay – 1234/1233 BCE,
Horemheb – 1331/1329 BCE, Ramesses II – 1287/1285 BCE, Merenptah – 1221/1219
BCE, Ramesses III – 1191/1189 BCE.945
Mycenaean-Hittite war, the fall of Troy VI,

and the Sherden invasion in Egypt in the Heracles myth:
astronomical dating
943
Jacobus Van Dijk, New Evidence on the Length of the Reign of Horemheb, Journal of the American
Research Centre in Egypt (JARCE) 44, 2008, p. 195–198.
944
Cf. a ‘Egyptian vase bearing the cartouche of queen Tawseret (1193-1186 BC in the traditional
chronology), found atDeir 'Alla in association with LH III B ware,’ Fantuzzi, T. The debate on the
absolute chronology, https://unive.academia.edu/TizianoFantuzzi
945
Ramsey, Ch. B. et al. Radiocarbon-based chronology for Dynastic Egypt,
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2010/06/15/328.5985.1554.DC1/Bronk_Ramsey.SOM.pdf
189
Heracles might personify the Mycenaean warriors who may have fought the
Egyptians and the Hittites among the Sherden (the part of the Sea Peoples), while the
Argonauts were also the Greeks among the Sea Peoples
Heracles, Mycenaean generalissimo in late 14th – early 13th centuries BCE

The mythical image of Heracles was related to both the constellation of Hercules
and the planet of Jupiter as a star of Heracles in ancient Greek astronomy.
Heracles was a contemporary of the Argonauts, the fathers of Trojan War heroes.
The long night when Heracles was conceived might be related to the total solar
eclipse on December 30, 1332 BCE, near the winter solstice; the morning rise of
Hercules occurred nine months after the event.
Heracles, strongly related to Mycens, might be a Mycenaean generalissimo,
lawagetas.
The solar eclipse on November 19, 1274 BCE near Venus (Deianira as the cause of
event) happened when the constellation of Hercules (Heracles) was located in its
zenith and Mercury was located in Sagittarius the Archer (Philoctetes who inherited
Heracles’ arrow). The eclipse itself might be interpreted as an act of self-burning by
Heracles.946
The Mycenaean-Hittite war in late 14th c. BCE

Heracles fought Cetus and captured Troy; the monster might be related not only
to the constellation of Cetus (which is located relatively far from the constellation of
Virgo as a possible symbol of Troy, cf. Pallas ‘Athena’ and Palladion ‘the symbol of
Troy’) but also to the constellation of Hydra (a sea monster) near Virgo (which is
related to Troy and Hesione).
The battle between Heracles and Ketos (Κῆτος) near Troy might reflect the conflict
between Mycenaean Greece and the Hittites (Hatti) in the Troad at the end of
Laomedon’s Troy VI. The comparison might be drawn between the name of the
Trojan princess, Hesione (Ἡσιόνη) and the Hittite-Luwian king title, hassus. Moreover,
the name of the princess may perhaps be compared with the name of Muwatallis’
mother, Hassulawiya.
Before the murder of Ketos (the Hittites) near Troy, Heracles fighted the Amazons
(in addition to Hittites).947 According to the Parian marble, the Amazonian invasion
in Greece (Mycenaean-Hittite war?) took place in 1256/1255 BCE. If the astrometrical
date of the fall of Troy (1230 BCE) preceded the Parian date (1209 BCE) we will be
able to accept the 20-year (approximately) correction and propose the earlier date of
the invasion -- the early 13th century BCE. The date correlated with Heracles’ war
against the Hittites, i. e. Ketos and the Amazons, closely to the date of Heracles’ trip
with Argonauts.
946
The act of Heracles’ self-burning could not be related to the solar eclipse on September 17, 1298 BCE
when Hercules and the Sun rose simultaneously.
947
Гиндин Л. А. Население гомеровской Трои, М., 1993, с. 80.
190
Attarisiyas, a king of Ahhiyawa who had a war with the Hittites, is probably
neither Atreus (who was not known as a warrior) nor Atrides Agamemnon.
Attarisiyas might be Otreus, the Phrygian king who fought the Amazons = Hittites as
an ally of Priamus and Mygdon. Μύγδων, the son of Ἄκμων, might be Madduwattas
in the Hittite sources, while Ἄκμων might be Akagamunas, the great-grandfather of a
Trojan War contemporary.
Piyama-Radu who had a conflict with the Hittites might not only be Priamus948 but
also Palamedes (Piyama in Hittite means ‘gift’ just like Priamus in Greek means ‘one
who was bought’). Uhha-ziti, Piyama’s predecessor had the name which was similar
to the name of Hiketaon, Priamus’ elder brother (Uhha-ziti was dethronised like
Priamus’ father). Tapalazunaulis, Piyama’s uncle, resembles Tlepolemus, a participant
of the Trojan War. Mursilis II was fighting with Uhha-ziti (Apasa-Ephesian king from
the kingdom of Arzawa who fled in Ahhiyawa) in Mursilis’ third regnal year. In
addition, he made a treaty with Kukkunnis from Wilusa-Ilion in his fourth regnal
year and observed the solar eclipse in the tenth year of his reign, in 1312 BCE. The
war of Apasa-Ephesus, Millawanda/Milawata-Miletus and Ahhiyawa against the
Hittite Empire might be an introduction to the Trojan War of Heracles against
Kukkunnis / Laomedon. Conceivably, Argivians, a Greek tribe among three Homeric
names for the Greeks, inhabited not only Argolis as the eastern part of Peloponnesus,
but also Arzawa (V. I. Georgiev) as the western part of Asia Minor.
The capture of Troy VI about 1306 BCE

Heracles captured Troy after the war against the Amazons = the Hittites in the
traditional interpretation, i. e. during the ninth labour before or during the trip of
Argonauts.949
Poseidon, ‘lord of the earth,’ also conjured earthquakes, one of which was the
cause of Troy VI destruction. The Late Helladic IIIB pottery is absent in Troy VI, thus,
the fall of the city was at the end of Late Helladic IIIA about 1300 BCE or 10–20 years
later.950
Laomedon was a king of Troy who was killed when the city was captured by
Heracles with Poseidon as an accomplice. The myth of Hanymedes, who was
captured by Zeus from Laomedon, may be additionally used to determine the date:
948
Piyama: Priamus cf. Hittite Piggaja: Greek Pergaia, Георгиев 1958, с. 172.
949
Val. Flacc. Argonautica ii 451—529; Hyg. Fab. 89. The Amazonian expedition to Attike during
Teseus’ reign might be the Mycenaean-Hittite war (the details of the campaign see Diod. iv 28); the
date of the war on the Parian marble - 1256/1255 BCE - may be corrected by reference to the Parian
date of the end of Trojan War - 1209/1208 BC instead of 1230 BCE, see below. Consequently the
correction is as follows: 1256/1255 – 22/21 years = 1277/1276 BCE. Heracles symbolized Juppiter (the
star of Heracles, cf. Melqart), Poseidon and his monster Cetus were a wave-shaped Aquarius and
Cetus near it. Hesione symbolized the constellation of Andromede. Juppiter was moving near the
aforementioned constellations during 1276–1275 BCE.
950
Wood, Michael: Вуд, Майкл, Золото Трои or Троя: В поисках Троянской войны; the Amazonian
invaders in Greece might be Iranian Kimmerians, the successors of Multi-Cordoned Ware-
Sabatynivka, Сафронов А. В. Проблема датировки Троянской войны, Сборник Русского
истрического общества, 2000, вып. 2, http://annales.info/mal_az/troy/safronov.htm
191
the lunar eclipse (the abduction) in Aquarius (Hanymedes) near Jupiter (Heracles)
and Pegasus (a horse) on July 31 / August 1, 1314 BCE might be symbolically
interpreted as follows: Zeus abducted Hanymedes and gave the finest horses to
Laomedon, the Trojan king.951
Poseidon and Apollo were serving Laomedon, while Uranus (possibly Poseidon’s
planet) was located in Virgo during 1311–1305 BCE. The solar eclipse on August 17,
1306 BCE when Uranus (Poseidon) and Jupiter (Heracles) were located in Virgo
might be related to the legend where Heracles kills Laomedon. Poseidon served
Laomedon before the capture of Troy952: Uranus was located in Virgo (possible
constellation of Troy in the Iliad) since 1310 BCE.
Thus, Troy VII existed in circa 1300–1230 BCE by A. Furumark’s dating of the
Late Mycenaean IIIB pottery and about 1306–1230 BCE by the astronomical dating:
the solar eclipse in 1306 BCE and the location of the planets in 1230 BCE might be
used to date the fall of Troy VI and Troy VIIa.
Kuknos, killed by Heracles, was Kukkunnis, a predecessor of Alaksandus, the
Trojan king; cf. Kuknos the king of Troy before the Trojan War who left his son like
Priamus left Alexander; Alaksandus was adopted by Kukkunnis as well as
Alexander was adopted by Priamus, according to Euripides’ Aleksander. Therefore,
Heracles was a contemporary of Mursilis II.
Lawo-medon, ‘king of people,’ might be a title of the Trojan king probably named
Kukkunnis / Kuknos; cf. the name of Hector’s son, Asty-anaks, ‘king of city,’ as a
possible title.
If it is very doubtful that Heracles killed two Trojan kings and fought the Hittites
(as the Amazons and Cetus) twice, thus, it is possible that one event has two mythical
interpretations.
The invasion of the Sea Peoples in Egypt in the Heracles myth
Heracles left the Argonauts at the beginning of their trip. The murder of Busiris(a
pharaoh) by Heracles might be a Greek interpretation of the Sea Peoples invasion in
Egypt in 1289 BCE. The name ‘Busiris’ was related to the religious center in the Nile
delta.
Consequently, Heracles might personify the Mycenaean warriors who might have
had wars with Egyptians and Hittites among the Sherden of the Sea Peoples, the
Argonauts being the Greeks among the Sea Peoples.
951
According to an alternative interpretation, two variants of the myth about Hanymedes (Greek
‘sweat honey,’ Aquarius in the ancient tradition) might be related to two similar astronomical events:
1) the capture of Hanymedes, Laomedon’s son (the Trojan king during Heracles’ time), which
symbolized the solar eclipse in November 17, 1301 BCE when Juppiter (Zeus and Heracles) was
located in Aquarius and 2) the capture of Hanymedes, Tros’ son (Laomedon’s grandfather)
symbolized the solar eclipse near Aquarius (Hanymedes) and Aquila (Zeus turned into Aquila) in
January 8, 1340 BC.
952
Iliad xxi 444–447.
192
Ramesses II, Merneptah, and the Sais Battle
in the Greek literature
Homer and Eurypides described the Greek (among the Sea Peoples) invasion in Egypt around 1219
BCE
Ramesses II ruled in 1290–1224 BCE: the date is calculated basing on 1) Moses, the
solar eclipse in 1223 BCE at the beginning of Merneptah’s reign as well as 2)
A. A. Nemirovskii’s argumentation on the dates of Ramesses II’s reign.953 Then
Merneptah reigned from 1224 BCE.
Merneptah’s Sais battle took place on the 3rd day of the 3rd month of the Shemu
season = April 19, 1219 BCE (Merneptah’s reign is calculated from the summer of
1224 BCE onwards).
Meryey, a Lybian leader, and the Sea Peoples,954 might be Menelaos who visited
Lybia before visiting Egypt; Merion, a Cretan prince and a participant of the Trojan
War, might as well be taken into consideration. The Sais Battle might be described as
Menelaus’ trip to Egypt.
Odysseus himself described an unsuccessful invasion of the Sea Peoples in
Egypt.955
Homer and Herodotus mentioned Tonis, either a pharaoh or a minister, who
consorted with Alexander-Paris (when he fled from Greece) and Menelaus. The name
Tonis may be compared with the name of Tanis city near the residence of Seti II,
Ramesses II, and Merneptah.
Polydamna, Tonis’ wife, was a daughter and a wife of Ramesses II, Meritamon (her
statue was known in Tanis).
‘Proteus of Egypt, the immortal old man’956 was Ramesses II while the name
Proteus might reflect the pharaoh’s title, nebtawi ‘lord of both lands,’ or rather a part
of his other titles, kȝ-nḫt wr ḥȝbw-sd mrj-tȝwj, cȝ-ḫpš mry-tȝwj, wsr-ḫpš mrj-tȝwj.
Eidothea, Proteus’ daughter, who helped Menelaus in Egypt, was the daughter
and then the wife of Ramesses II, Nebettawi. The Mars-Venus conjunction on the edge
of Gemini (a possible symbol of twofold Egypt) on May 14, 1219 BCE (after the Sais
battle around April 19, 1219 BCE) might be interpreted as the Menelaus-Eidothea
meeting.
Thus, Homer knew Ramesses II’s two daughters and then wives, Polydamna
/Meritamon and Eidothea/Nebettawi. If Polydamna was named a wife in Homer’s
text and Eidothea was named a daughter, it was an interval between 1265 and 1260
BCE when the first was already his wife while the latter was still his daughter.
953
Немировский А. А. Синхронизмы эпохи Хаттусилиса III и «короткая» хронология
позднебронзового века, ВДИ, 2003, № 2, с. 3–10
954
The Lybian leaders were depicted in the helmets of the Sea Peoples, Сафронов А. В. Троянцы в
Ливии, Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология – XVII, СПб., 201ё3, с. 795.
955
Od. xvii 425–444.
956
Odyssey iv 430ff
193
In Herodot’s genealogy, Proteus was the son of Pheron (‘pharaoh,’ perhaps the
same Ramesses II), the grandson of Sesostris (Seti I in this case) and the ancestor of
Rhampsinitus (Ramesses III).
Eurypides’ Helen reflects Egyptian rites957 and might be a source of historical
information. Homer’s Proteus as an immortal old man might be linked with
Eurypides’ Proteus as the pharaoh who died and became an immortal god 958 until
Menelaus’ arrival; the change of Proteus’ shapes from a lion to water and to a tree959
might signify Jupiter’s movement from Leo in 1224 BCE (the same year Merneptah
became a pharaoh) to the Milky Way or rather the wave-shaped Aquarius in 1219
BCE (the year when Menelaus arrived in Egypt), cf. the same year Jupiter reached
Gemini.
Theoclymenos (Θεοκλύμενος, ‘one who knows about the gods’), the king of Egypt,
the successor of Proteus and the enemy of the Greeks in Helen, might be Merneptah
mrj-nṯrw, ‘beloved by the gods’. Theonoe, Theoclymenos’ sister, might be Bint-Anat,
Merneptah’s sister, whereas Psamathe (Ψάμαθη), both her and Theoclymenos’ mother,
might be Isetnofret, Merneptah’s and Bint-Anath’s mother; Nereus, Theonoe’s father,
might be mrj-Rc, ‘beloved by Ra,’ i. e. Seti I, Ramesses II’s father, Isetnofret’s father
not being known.
In accordance with Euripides, Proteus died and Theoclymenos inherited the
throne of Egypt before Menelaus’ arrival in Egypt. It was Merneptah who became the
pharaoh several years before the Sea Peoples invasion in 1219 BCE.
Teucer, the first Greek to invade Egypt according to Helen, may be interpreted as
Egyptian Tjeker among the Sea Peoples who later attacked Ramesses III.
Ilion fell seven years before the Greek invasion in Egypt when Proteus died960.
Ramesses II died six years after the fall of Troy, the interval between the fall of Troy
and the Sais battle being eleven years.
The death of Menelaus’ steerman Canopus reflected the evening set of Canopus(a
star) in Argo(a constellation) around the time of the Sais battle in April, the city of
Canopus being located in the place of the Sais battle; the star was visible in Egypt,
but not in Greece.
Cretan Radamanthus (Alcmena, his wife, being related to Egypt961) might
symbolize Egyptian Ramesses II Meritamen, while Lycian Sarpedon might be a Hittite
emperor or a leader of the emigration from Crete. Thus, three brothers - Minos,
Radamanthus, and Sarpedon - might be the rulers of Crete, Egypt, and Asia Minor
respectively, cf. the Hittite definition of Ramesses II and Hattusilis as brothers.962
957
Борухович В. Г. Египет в классической греческой трагедии, Античный мир и археология,
Саратов, 1974, вып. 2, http://ancientrome.ru/publik/article.htm?a=1291545464
958
Od. iv 385. Cf. Ino-Leucothea who was mortal and then was turned into a goddess, Od. v 333–335.
959
Od. iv 456–458
960
Helen 112
961
Плутарх, О демоне Сократа.
962
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/ramses-hattusili-treaty.htm
194
CRETAN THEOCRACY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY MODEL
Structure of authorities and symbols of kingship in Crete are hypothetically interpreted
Minoan religion origins
M. Gimbutas supposed ‘the transformation of Old Europe: the change of the social
structure, transition from matrilineal to patri[li]neal order, from learned theocracy to
militant patriarchy, from balanced to unbalanced society, from the chthonic goddess
religion to the Indo-European male-dominated and sky-oriented pantheon of gods.
[…] The main theme of Old European goddess symbolism is the mystery of birth and
death, and the renewal of life, involving not only human life but all life on earth’. She
contrasted ‘two religions and mythologies, the Old European indigenous, inherited
from the Paleolithic, the Indo-European intrusive, related to the Near Eastern’ 963. It is
well known that the scholar regarded Minoan Crete (goddess, bull, snake) the last
‘Old European’ culture while the Samara culture (burial hills, horse pictures, solar
ornaments) – the first Indo-European.
However, M. Yu. Videiko underlines typological and chronological, but not
genealogical feature of the contradiction between ‘goddess-moon-bull-snake’ and
‘god-sun-horse-vehicle’ complexes964. Really, the Elshan culture (suggested of post-
Zarzian origin), an ancestor of Samara and ultimately all later ‘kurgan cultures’ until
Pit Grave, had North Caucasian R1b haplogroup (like Pit Grave), whereas Zarzi
might be Proto-Dene-Basque or main part of it. But R1b can’t be Indo-European
because Indo-European elite had R1a haplogroup of clear northern origin. The
kurgan hypothesis contrasts with archaeology and paleodemography
(M. Yu. Videiko), while recent achaeogenetic results (supposedly supporting the
Kurhan hypothesis) might be re-interpreted: R1b migrated from Caucasus to
Neolithic Spain via North Africa and later spread with Bell Beakers.
So the non-Indo-European attribution of ‘goddess-moon-bull-snake’ complex
(supported in my post-doctoral thesis on the Cucuteni-Trypillia language
reconstruction) may be wrong. More precise information, including chronology, may
be taken from archaeoastronomy.
Shortly, the goddess complex might be formed when Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius,
and Pisces were the constellations of vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal
equinox, and winter solstice respectively, i. e. about 6000–4000 BCE. Hacilar twin
figurines (Gemini) and a goddess (Virgo) staying on the beast of prey (Leo) in Hacilar
or sitting between two lions (Leo and Leo Minor?) in Çatalhöyük as well as images of
963
Gimbutas, M. The collision of two ideologies, When worlds collide: Indo-Europeans and Pre-Indo-
Europeans (Presented by: T. L. Markey & John A. C. Greppin), Karoma Publishers, Inc. (Ann Arbor
1990), pp. 171, 172–173, 175.
964
Personal communication.
195
a goddess with double axe (Ursa Major), sword (Boötes) and a dove (Coma Berenices
looks like wings) may be ultimately traced to the time. Mesolithic fish cult had roots
not only in fishing but also in image of Piscis Austrinus, the third but the oldest fish
image in the sky (Pisces were not regarded ‘fish’ before Greeks). The full moon was
observed in Virgo at the winter solstice (but many other sources of the moon cult are
not excluded). Indo-European twin cult was linguistically reconstructed, and the
Gemini Age was the lats time of the Proto-Indo-European language. When the sun
was in Gemini at vernal equinox (and the constellation was invisible in the sunrays),
Taurus rose, and the bull cult (e. g. in Çatalhöyük) might be (partially) traced to the
same time.
Çatalhöyük-Hacilar ideology as possible source of the Old Europe religion
reflected astronomical observations conserved in cults. The spread of the First
Temperate Neolithic in Europe during the second half of the 7th m. BCE 965 coincided
with the global cooling about 6200 BCE (Bond event 5) and with the period when
aforementioned celestial events become visible.
Horse and wheel were known, e. g., in the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture from late V
m. BCE, long before supposed ‘kurganization’/indoeuropeanization of Europe.
About 4000 BCE, when horse-rich Dereivka culture flourished, yoke-shaped Auriga
(‘chariot’) became a constellation which was visible at the eastern horizon before the
sun rose at the vernal equinox. So terrestrial and celestial reasons have been met, and
the hose cult was additionally sacralized by the sky.
So Minoan cults conserved not ethnical but chronological archaisms.
Sacral royal family: a ‘Lunar Dynasty’?
Cretan king (Minos < *Men-ops ‘moon-eyed/faced’, possibly a title)966 was a son of
the Lunar Goddess (‘wide-eyed/faced’ Europe) whereas Cretan queen (Pasi-phae ‘who
lights for all’ < ‘*full light’) symbolize Lunar Goddess (‘Pasiphae is a title of Selene’
Paus. 3.26.1), a daughter of the Sun God (Helios). Cf. Θεία Εὐρυφάεσσα, wife of
Hyperion (Helios’ father or Helios). However, Pasiphae might also bear solar
features: his father Helios, brother Aeates (cf. Abkhaz Khait, ‘Sun god’) and sister Kirke
(‘round’) might represent solar cult.
Initially, Europe was the Lunar Goddess whereas his husband and step-father of
Minos (Asterios) and his son (Asterios, an initial name of Minotauros) symbolized
starry sky. The bull image of sky is well known in Egypt and was possibly related to
965
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Temperate_Neolithic
966
‘If Minos was originally a lunar deity or the title of its priest, the rather curious idea of a mortal king
becoming a judge in the underworld could be explained by the much older Mesopotamian myth of
the moon god Nanna (Sin), who once in a month acted as a judge in the underworld, and was
substituted by his three siblings to be able to leave there’, Ridderstad Foreign (to Egypt) Menws is
mentioned in Levant and the Aegean in Egyptian documents,
https://www.academia.edu/3749330/A_Matter_of_Times_Tell_el_Daba_and_the_interlinked_chronolo
gies_of_Minoan_Crete_and_Egypt_in_the_Bronze_Age
196
the Taurus Age (about 4000–2000 BCE) when the spring equinox was in Taurus.
Young Cretan Zeus (related to Velkhanos and Talos) embodies young Sun, in
contrast to mighty night Moon, and possibly Cretan king. Pharaoh was Horus (living
Sun) in Egypt, and king was terrestrial Sun in the Hittite state. Synthesis of the ‘Solar
dynasty’ and ‘Lunar dynasty’ ideas may be observed in Bronze Age Crete. Asteria
was an old name of Crete: Ἀστερίη· ἡ Κρήτη καὶ ἡ Δῆλος οὕτως ἐκαλοῦντο
(Hesych.). M. Ridderstad links Minoan tripartite shrines with Mesopotamian-like
triad of the Sun, the Moon, and Venus967 but three parts of the island (represented by
Minos, Radamanthus, and Sarpedon) might also be taken into consideration.
Other children of Minos might also be related to the lunar cult: Katreus, ‘lunar
quarter’, Glaukos, ‘moon-colored’, Phaidra, ‘full moon’ (cf. Arabic bader, ‘full moon’).
Talos as Helios (Hesych.) and a bull (Apollod.)968 might be the Sun in Taurus
whereas Minotaur was the Moon in Taurus. White bull from Poseidon was a symbol
of Minos’ power. Cretan queen had a sacral marriage with a bull which is
traditionally compared with the Indo-European sacral marriage of queen with a
horse. In a Cretan rite, the Sun in the bull image shows a place for life 969, cf. Cadmus
myth. Cult of horns possibly reflected a homonymy between κέρατα ‘horns’ (Hom.
mostly of oxen) and Κρήτη ‘Crete’, cf. also Biblical Kereth-im, king David’s guards.
The name of the island may be derived from κράτος ‘strength, might, power,
mastery, victory’, cf. names of Cretan cities (Knossos, ‘the most known’; Phaistos,
‘the most light’; Kudonia, ‘glorified’) and Argos (‘light’).
R. Graves linked another Talos, the nephew of Daedalus, and Icarus the son of
Daedalus, and regarded both as a sacrifice. Winged Talos on the Cretan coins
confirmed the idea.
If the name of Theseus may be compared not only with νομο-θεσία, ‘legislation’ but
also with Etruscan Thesan ‘dawn goddess’ (Venus?) then Minos-Theseus conflict may
be interpreted as the Moon replaced by dawn. Theseus’ and Jason’s trips might be
initiations of crownprinces in sacral centres970.
‘Lunar dynasty’ of Minos might be Phrygian. 1) If Minos < *Men-ops then e > i may
be attested, cf. Phryg. dios ‘god’ : Greek theos, Cretan thios; Phryg. Midas might be
compared with Greek μέδων, ‘ruler’. 2) If the name of Katreus might mean ‘(lunar)
quarter’ then ku > k may be attested, cf. Phryg. ke < kue, Greek te ‘and’. Phrygian Men
god might be the closest cognate of Minos.
967
Ridderstad
968
Talos as a bull may be compared with Hurrian Tilla, ‘calf god’ while Talos as the Sun – with Arabic
ṭlʕu ‘rise (of the sun)’, Proto-Western Chadic *tal- ‘sun’, Afro-Asiatic forms after:
http://starling.rinet.ru/ Ph. Kitselis (pers. comm.) links the name of Talos with τάλα: μέγα (Hesych.).
969
Anecd. Bekk. 344. 10; Лосев А. Ф. Античная мифология, М. 1957, с. 134; Борухович В. Г. Зевс
Минойский, Античный мир и археология, Саратов 1979, вып. 4,
http://ancientrome.ru/publik/article.htm?a=1291542587#n022
970
топонимии Αἶα), Hrdā manasā: Сборник статей к 70-летию проф. Л.Г.Герцeнберга, СПб, 2005, ref.
197
Golden-haired Ra-dama-nth-us might personify Egyptian cult of Ra-Atum971 while
Sarpedon (linked with Lycia) might be ultimately a mountainous god972. Ra-Atum as
setting sun contrasts with Velkhanos as rising Sun. Minos and Radamanthus were
brothers whereas setting Sun and rising Moon are visible simultaneously. Tripartite
Minoan shrines might reflect not only Mesopotamian-like Sun-Moon-Venus divine
triad (M. Ridderstad) but also three parts of the island, later united under Knossian
ruling.
Ari-adna/hagna might be the Moon or rather Venus (she was equated with
Aphrodite in Cyprus), ‘lady of labyrinth’ (da-pu-ri-to-po-ti-ni-ja in Linear B) and a
participant of ‘sacral marriage’ with the heir of throne (not with Theseus but with
Dionysus, attested in Linear B and equated with Iacchus related with Arcturus, acc.
to M. Ridderstad)973. Persephone in Hades (literally ‘invisible’) and Ariadne in the
Labyrinth are invisible Venus, cf. Parsiphae (united Pasiphae ‘Moon’ and Persephone
‘Venus’) in one ‘Eteocretan’ inscription. Image of Ariadna’s thread was influenced by
the similarity of Arihagne and Arakhne ‘spider’ (name of the latter is of Semitic origin).
Minoan Venus may be compared with Inanna-Ishtar.
Daedalus (‘torch’: δαΐς, δαίς ‘fire-brand, pine-torch’ > Latin taeda, δαλός ‘fire-
brand, burnt-out torch’) might be a priest of labyrinth who leaded sacrifices, a close
cognate of Iacchus, astronomically interpreted in relation with Arcturus by
M. Ridderstad.
Labyrinth (‘mountainous cave’ in the Etymologicum Magnum, from laura, or more
simple < la- ‘stone’ and bur- ‘house’ Hesych.) might be derived from the cult of caves
(esp. natural Skoteino cave or partially human-made tunnels at Gortyn) as a place of
initiations, cf. Minos, Epimenides, and Pythagoras in Cretan caves. The oldest Cretan
labyrinth is known from the Linear B tablet. Seven lines of Knossian labyrinth
symbolize levels of the Moon during its 18-year cycle (‘high Moon’ and ‘low Moon’)
related to the cult of Minos or levels of Venus, ‘the Lady of Labyrinth’.
Eight- or nine-year (nine-year in inclusive counting?) period of reign might reflect
octaeterid, a Sun-Moon-Venus harmonic cycle which was later repeated in Sparta and
Uppsala, cf. Egyptian heb-sed possibly related to the Saturn cycle.
Minos’ son Androgeus (< *Andr-aigeus, ‘man-goat’, cf. archaic Cretan pictures of
Minotaur as semi-goat974, *Mino-tragos) was killed during games (i. e. sacrificed) in
Athens while other Minos’ son Minotaur (and also Glaucos?) was killed (i. e.
sacrificed) in Crete. Perhars, these sacrifices reflect sacral marking of space –
mainland Greece symbolized by a he-goat (cf. the king of Aigeus and a king of
Greece as ‘he-goat’ in the Bible) while Crete symbolized by a bull (cf. Talos the solar
bull). Minos’ son Katreus was killed by his own son Altemen, so a Cretan rite of
971
Alternative Greek etymology: ‘who tames easily’.
972
Indo-Iranian *sar-, ‘head’, cf. Minoan cult of mountains.
973
In contrast to Iacchus, Dionysus may be related to another star in Virgo, Vindemiatrix ‘vine-
dresser’.
974
PM I, between pp. 358 and 359. Mingrelian Ocho-kochi ‘goat-man’, lived in the palace and was killed
by a hero.
198
sacrifice of the king or/and the king’s sons (cf. Minoan children-eating and the myth
of Aun from Uppsala who sacrificed own sons to continue his reign) may be
reconstructed. Two sons of Minos, Androgeus and Minotaur, might reflect zodiacal
constellations of Capricorn and Taurus; historically, these sons could be born when a
long-periodical planet (Saturnus?) was located in these constellations (possible sacral
marking of time).
A nature of ‘Cretan Zeus’ (Zan/Dan/Tan, close cognate of Etruscan young Tin,
Thracian Din- and possibly to Latin Janus < *Dianus as a ‘year god’; Hittite-Luwian
cognate Tiu- means ‘the Sun’) might be explained from the Amalthea myth: a goat
nursed newborn Zeus when sacral warriors (Kuretes) danced. Newborn Zeus related
to newborn Sun – the winter solstice in Capricorn from about 2000 BCE when Cretan
state formed. Sagittarius, which rose in the winter solstice, was regarded as a
warrior. The myth reflected an image of the winter solstice at the beginning of
Minoan state.
Origin and structure of Minoan-Mycenaean power: evidence of titles
Wanax was derived from Hattic title of a god as a lord of land. Guasileus was a result of the steppe
influence in pre-Mycenaean time. The high oficial name ki-nu-ra from Mycenaean Pylos reflects the
name of Spartan king Kinortas
Origin of Mycenaean king titles reflects ethno-linguistic and socio-cultural

relations and sacral prototypes of Cretan and Mycenaean kingships and states.
Linear B (w)anakt- (Lin. A, B wa < wanaktoron, ‘royal palace’975; Cret. Hier. wa-nwa)
might be linked to Tocharian nakt- ‘god’976 or might mean ‘king (*-kt-, Hattic katte and
Carian kdous, ‘king’) of land (*wana-, Hitt.-Luw. wana, ‘country’977, Armenian avan,
Urartian ebani)’, cf. the same structure of many god names: Greek Posei-don from
Poti-chthon ‘lord of earth’, Kassite Buri-jaš ‘lord of earth’, Sumerian En-ki ‘lord of
earth’, Hattic wuru-n katte ‘king of land’ – wanakt- might be a semi-translation of the
latter. Similarly, Golden Fleece as a Mycenaean symbol of kingship may be adopted
from Anatolia. Pylian wa-na-ka not only accepted gifts (alongside Hera, Hermes,
Pereswa, Potnia, Atimite and Paideus the child-god, Un 219) but also gave power to
other officials (Ta 711) as terrestrial ruler. Pe-re-ku-wa-na-ka appeared in Pylos (from
Mycenae) to purify the city by hearth fire and blood.
975
The sign was of Egyptian origin (A. Evans) but neither the name of palace nor pharaoh titles were
adopted from Egypt; however, cf. kȝ-nḫt wr-nḫtw, ‘strong bull, great in victories’ and nm wr, the
Middle Kingdom name of Mnevis.
976
Иванов Вяч. Вс. К происхождению микенского греческого wa-na-ka, Античная балканистика:
Первый симпозиум по балканскому языкознанию: Предварительные материалы, М. 1972; Иванов Вяч.
Вс. Микенское греческое wa-na-ka и его индоевропейские соответствия, Балканский
лингвистический сборник, М. 1977, с. 165–171,
http://www.inslav.ru/images/stories/pdf/1977_Balkanskij_lingvisticheskij_sbornik.pdf
977
Гиндин Л. А. К методике выявления и стратификации лингвоэтнических слоев на юге
Балканского полуострова, Этимология 1967, с. 223.
199
Similarly, Cretan Hieroglyphic WOMAN’S BREASTS might be read in relation
with τιτθός, τίτθη, ‘a woman’s breast’ = τίταξ ‘king’978 (Hattic titah, ‘great’) whereas
WOMAN’S BREAST-ne – in relation with τιτήνη, ‘queen’.
The image of lawagetas (literally ‘army leader’) is represented by mythical Heracles
whos deeds were dated to early XIII c. BCE in Greek chronology. His first labour
might be related to initiation (symbolized by the skin of lion, a symbol of Mycenae)
while the second one was linked to Lerna (a sacral centre of Greeks or Pelasgians
from the Early Helladic II time?). If Phrygian wanaktei lawagtei (both are belonged to
Midas whose name might mean Greek medon, ‘ruler’ as in Agamemnon < Mega-med-)
were not loans from Greek but genuine then they might be more ancient than one
can think.
Menuwa was a high Mycenaean official with a rank equated with lawagetas of Pylos
but mentioned before the latter (An 724.1–7); menua2 is a variant of the title (cf.
Minuai, ‘Minyans’ and frequent Urartian king name Menua) whereas his name was
kinura979, cf. 1) Κινύρας the singer, founder of Cypriot state and a contemporary of
the Trojan War (Ugaritic Kinarum was the lyre god; Phoen. > Greek κινύρα) and
Minyan Phoenician dynasty or rather 2) Κυνόρτας, the Spartan king (early 14th BCE)
and grand-grandfather of Tyndareus (contemporary with Heracles, early 13th c. BCE).
The first component of Linear B guasi-leus closely resembles Adyghe guaš ‘prince’980
(Abkhaz kuazhu ‘id.’) which might be brought by Multi-Rolled Ware people (which
influenced Greek elite in the XVII c. BCE) whereas the second component means
‘army’: Greek λαός, ληός, λεώς, ‘men as soldiers’ . In the same way, enigmatic name
of Athena might be derived not only from Greek aith- ‘to burn’ (first of all she was a
Moon-goddess) but also from Iranian, cf. the matriarchal princess of Satana in Ossetic
Nart Epic. Mycenaean masks may be ultimately related to Catacomb culture rites
whereas the Catacomb culture was an ancestor of Multi-Rolled Ware. Satana/Satanei-
guasha in the Nart Epic was ‘matriarchal’ clan leader, and Greek basileoi might have
the similar function981, cf. Homer’s Phaeacian Island of Scheria (Iliad 8.390–391:
Alcinoos and twenty basileoi in the island) and Ithaca (Iliad 1.394–396, 18.64: many old
and young basileoi in the island)982. Perhaps, φύλαρχος was a title of phyle-leader
before the Multi-Rolled Ware influence, cf. φυλοβασιλεύς.
So lawagetas might be a tribal or super-tribal military leader while wanaks – super-
tribal sacral chief who functioned as sacral ruler-priest (and judge?) over several
978
See τίταξ: ἔντιμος, ἢ δυνάστης, οἱ δὲ βασιλεύς, Hesych.; τιτήνη, ‘queen’. Hattic origin of Greek
τίταξ independently: Κιτσέλης, Φ. / Kitselis, Ph. Χαττίλι / Hattic,
https://www.academia.edu/12636092/Hattili_Hattic_-_The_pre-
historic_language_of_central_Anatolia_in_Greek_
979
Полякова Г. Ф. Социально-политическая структура пилосского общества, Наука (Москва 1978),
с. 221–223
980
Similar but independent: Tardivo, G. Pre-Greek studies, https://www.academia.edu/20298569/PRE-
GREEK_STUDIES I was informed about the reference by Ph. Kitselis (pers. comm.)
981
Cf. http://www.sno.pro1.ru/lib/andreev_gomerovskoe_obshestvo/13.htm , ref.
982
Comments: http://www.sno.pro1.ru/lib/andreev_gomerovskoe_obshestvo/13.htm
200
tribes, like Mycenaean pe-re-ku-wa-na-ka in Pylos. Like ancient Persian ‘king over
kings’, wanax was ‘king over tribal kings’.
‘Mycenaean empire’ may be described in terms of chiefdom structure: guasileus
might be a chief of simple chiefdom (‘local/tribal king’), wanax and lawagetas – chief
diarchy (highest priest and military leader) of complex chiefdom (like Pylos), and
presgu-wanaks (arrived in Pylos from Mycenae) – sacral chief of super-complex
chiefdom (‘Mycenaean empire’).
If Sub-Mycenaean Greece closely resembles Middle Helladic archaeologically then
basileoi (in their function but not in title) might be traced to pre-Mycenaean society.
Sacral-military diarchy
Dual structure of power might be attested from the Paleolithic when tribal elder
and military ruler make a diarchy. In fairy tales, a king sends a hero to do his exploits
– as an initiation of a new elective king or a military ruler behind the king. Non-
single ruling was known in Mesopotamia and Elam. Three kings co-ruled in Elam
contemporary (high king, his brother, and his son as a ruler of the capital). In early
Sumer, en (‘lord’) and possibly ensi were priest-rulers whereas lugal (literally ‘big-
man’, as Gilgamesh) was military chief.
Diarchy of sacral and military rulers was known in several societies such as
Mycenaean Greece: wanax – lavagetas, whereas Phrygian Midas had both titles;
Sparta (one among two king might be of pre-Doric Achaean and more sacral
origin)983,
Merovingian France: rex – majordomus,
Proto-Slavs: *voldyka (later – Proto-Slavic *kŭnęzĭ > Polish ksiądz) – *vojĭvoda. The
same order appeared in pre-Christian Kyivan Rus’: Askold and Dir, Oleg and Igor,
Sveneld and Sviatoslav, Dobrynia and Volodymyr: the second person in each pair
might be sacral ruler (kŭnęzĭ) while the first one might be military chief (vojĭvoda),
Chazar Empire: khagan (formal sacral ruler whose title means ‘emperor’ and who
can be sacrificed!) – beg (title of Iranian origin)/shad (military chief). The power form
was traced to early Turkic empires. Similar Turkic order appeared in medieval Japan
(sacral emperor – shogun ‘military chief’) and early Hungarians (kende/kündü, ‘sacral
king’, and gyula, ‘war-chief’, cf. kundur as the third official in Chazar Empire: so
Chazar empire might be among sources of the early Hungarian sacral power image).
The sacral-military diarchy may be reconstructed for the period of the Indo-
European formation. Thor with his hammer symbolizes Corded Ware culture, his
mother Fjorgunn (from Indo-European *perk- ‘thunder god’) – hammer-rich Funnel
Beaker culture, and Thor’s father Odin – Mesolithic northern component of Corded
Ware, with symbols of elk and birds. Sacral and military components of G. Dumezil’s
983
However, Spartan rulers were named ‘kings’ (basileus sing.) only abroad while in Sparta they were
named ‘leaders’ (archagetas sing., cf. Mycenaean lawagetas sing.)
201
triad represent two elite groups whereas the third, agricultural component embodies
non-elite people.
It is important that two closest neigbours of Crete, Egypt and the Hittite state, not
used the diarchy model (but Tawananna bears some features of priest-king) whereas
these two monarchies were also theocratic.
Cretan ruling model might be reconstructed as follows:
Sacral king (wanax), legitimated by his parents, Sky god (Tan the ‘Cretan
Zeus’/Asterios) and Lunar Goddess (Europe the ‘Cretan Athena’);
Several ‘lesser kings’ (gwasileoi, Phaeacian example was proposed to compare);
Military leader (lawagetas).
Aristotle (Politics 1329b) tells us that the ‘caste system’ still prevalent in the Crete
and Egypt of his own times was established by Minos in Crete and by Sesostris in
Egypt984. Some ethnical groups of Minoan Crete might be included in the ‘caste
system’: e. g., armed Kouretes (: Hurrian huradi, ‘warriors’) might represent Hurrian
ethno-social group in the island.
From elected to inherited king
‘The Bronze Age Aegean lacks a readily legible iconography of rulership,

permitting widely contrasting speculation on the character of Minoan society; it was
egalitarian, heterarchical, gynocratic or a theocracy overseen by priest-kings’985.
No traces of Lin. B wa-na-ka, ra-wa-ke-ta, qa-si-re-u or other Mycenaean ruler titles
are found in the Linear A inscriptions. Lin. A u-na-ka- is not king title because of its
variant u-na-ru-ka-. However, cf. wanaktorion in Lin. A, B syllabic sign wa (a Greek
interpretation of Egyptian hieroglyph ‘palace’, as A. Evans noticed) and wa-nwa
(PALACE+HANDS) in Cretan Hieroglyphic give us a possibility to reconstruct the
title in the Hieroglyphic and Linear A times.
Perhaps, ‘Minoans’ or Minoan Greeks worshipped the Great Goddess and
terrestrial (possibly young) king, her son and husband (cf. Europe and Pasiphae
respectively) as two sacral rulers. A mechanism of transformation from ‘matriarchal’
to ‘patriarchal’ ruling might be reconstructed as follows.
Initially, the Great Goddess might correlate with priestess-ancestress as possible
city and state founder, as Hestia the founder of Knossos, Dido the founder of
Carthago. Cretan-born Demeter as Thesmophoros (‘law-bringer’) may be an image of
the goddess. Her sacral image dominated over the position of sacral king, initially
young and, possibly, an object of sacrifice rite (cf. the Minotaur-Theseus myth in the
984
Armstrong, R. Cretan Women p. 1
985
Tully, C., Crooks, S. Enthroned upon mountains: The construction of power in the Aegean Bronze
Age, The throne in art and archaeology: 10th ICAANE, Vienna 2016,
https://www.academia.edu/25216345/Tully_C.J._and_S._Crooks._2016._Enthroned_Upon_Mountains_
Iconography_and_the_Construction_of_Power_in_the_Aegean_Bronze_Age._ICAANE_10_Vienna
202
light of Sir James G. Frazer ideas: not only Minotaur was another image of Cretan
king but Aegeus, Theseus’ father, sacrificed kimself after the initiation of his son)986.
Then, the king began to remain on the throne repeatedly by heb-sed-like987 rite:
Minos accepted his power and laws in the sacral cave every eight year, in correlation
with the Moon or rather Venus cycle988. Minos’ sons (Androgeus, Minotaur, Glaucos,
Katreus as well as his grandsons Ippolitus and Altemenes) were sacrificed possibly
instead of Minos. Similar rites were known in Sparta (ephors observed stars to judge
the ruling of two kings according to laws accepted from Crete) and Uppsala
(influenced by the Aegean in Minoan and Mycenaean periods) where king Aun (V c.
ACE) sacrificed one of his sons every ten year. M. Ridderstad shows that Spica
(correlate of Demeter) and Arcturus (correlate of Iacchus-Dionysus, ‘a torch-bearer
lead the procession of the Eleusinian mysteries’); and Venus (Persephone-Kore) must
be added: observation of Spica-Venus conjunction was very important for ancient
peoples989.
After that, king’s position may become inherited, cf. aisumnetes as elected city king
in Linear A, possibly from Αἶσα, like Μοῖρα, the divinity who dispenses to every one
his lot or destiny. The origin of the title points to the way of election.
Royal bull cult
Cretan bull cult was different from that in Egypt, however, similarities may be
found. During his heb-sed feast, pharaoh imitated a ritual running around Egypt –
like Cretan Talos (another image of Minos-Minotaur?) who was a bull (Apollodorus)
and the sun (Hesychius) runner around Crete. Minos’ visit of the Zeus cave every
nine years also resembles Egyptian heb-sed rite.
The image of solar bull traced to the 4000–2000 BCE period when the sun was
located in Taurus in the vernal equinox. Title of Zeus Tallaios indicates a link between
Cretan supreme god (and Minos’s father) and the bull cult. Zeus turned into a bull in
the Europe myth and Mino-taurus (Minos’ bull or Minos-bull) might be other links.
986
Cretan rites of human sacrifice correlated with Phoenician ones. More, the dynasty of Atamantus in
Orchomenus (interpreted by J. G. Frazer) might be Phoenician: his brother was Salmon-eus (‘peaceful’,
cf. Salomon), his wife – Ino (Babylonian Sin, the Moon god, with s > h in Greek or, as D. I. Pereverzev
proposes in pers. comm., Inanna), his son – Melikertes (Melqart), his daughter – Turo.
987
Egyptian heb-sed after thirty-year reign and then every three years might be related to the Saturn
cycle: the planet visibly returns in the same place every about 30 years and remains in every zodiacal
constellation about 2,5 years.
988
Probably, ‘the king in the cave’ initially symbolized the Low Moon every 18 years (while period of
ruling in ancient times was about 16 years), and the Labyrinth might symbolize levels of Moon or
Venus trajectory.
989
During the first state of Ebla (2400–2300 BCE), Dagan (‘grain’) as ‘Lord of the gods’ and his wife
Belatu (‘Lady’, Semitic name of Venus) were worshipped in E-Mul (‘House of the Star’); Venus
occulted Spica in the evening Jul 20, 2301 BCE.
203
Minotaur hidden in the labyrinth is Сretan king hidden in his palace990. Double peaks
of mountain (Ida near Knossos) resemble bull’s horns.
A bull was sent to Minos from Poseidon, and the animal was an embodiment of
the god like Hapi – of Nile. According to a hypothesis, a bull and twelve ‘acrobats’
were used to predict earthquakes991.
Sacrifices to Minotaur and Zeus-Minos conversations occurred every nine years,
and the same period of reign (as in Sparta and Uppsala) may be reconstructed.
Palaic-Hittite tiuna/i- ‘bull’992 might be linked with an image of Dionysus
(mentioned in Linear B) as a bull.
Golden Fleece: a kingship symbol from the Anatolian Greek homeland?
Golden Ram and Golden Fleece as the symbol of Mycenaean kingship are reflected
in both Atreus-Thyestes and Argonautic myths. A primeval sense of the myth is the
vernal equinoctial Sun in Aries from about 2000 BCE when, in comparison,
Amenemhat I established the Amon (solar ram) cult as a new symbol of Egyptian
kingship. It was also a time when the first Greek state (Early Helladic III) formed.
Hittite Eia-tree and ram skin on it might be derived from Greek: classical Aia
traced to Mycenaean Aiwa (which can’t be derived from Hittite eia) while ‘proto-
Ahhiawa’ might be located in western Anatolia993.
Argonaut’s trip in Aea-Colchis might replace the trip in western Anatolian Aea. If
it was so, then Anatolian Aea/’pra-Ahhiyawa’ yet existed after about 2000 BCE, when the
Sun entered Aries in the vernal equinox. When Hittite state became stronger,
Anatolian Ahhiyawa lost its positions and, possibly, remained in Troy while Cretan
and Mycenaean Greeks take power. The trip was Jason’s attempt to sacralize his
future reign and take the symbol of kingship from the Greek homeland994.
990
Кинжалов Р. В. Шесть дней древнего мира (Ленинград 1989), с. 73.
991
Кинжалов Р. В. Шесть.., с. 87.
992
https://www.academia.edu/28707857/Palaic_tiuna-_and_Middle_Hittite_tiuni-
_A_Common_Ancient_Anatolian_Word_for_Bull_
993
L. A. Gindin and V. L. Tsymbursky; cf. Hittite kursa- > Mycenaean Greek *qursa > Classical Greek
bursa, ‘skin’.
994
топонимии Αἶα), Hrdā manasā: Сборник статей к 70-летию проф. Л.Г.Герцeнберга, СПб, 2005, ref.
204
Chapter Five
MINOAN EXACT SCIENCE: SACRAL ASTRONOMY
ASTRONOMY AND CALENDAR
Orientation of buildings
The studies of M. S. Blomberg, G. Henriksson and P. E. Blomberg on the Cretan

buildings orientation show that Minoans had high level of astronomical
development and recognized solstices and equinoxes. The precise orientation of
Minoan buildings to positions of the sun marking the beginning of each solar month
implies that the celestial sphere had important symbolic meaning in Minoan
traditions and religion.
New palace at Phaistos was oriented to the highest peak of the mountain in the
south behind which the bright star Canopus became visible in the southern sky as a
result of precession. The heliacal rising of the star was three days before the autumn
equinox following its long period of invisibility during the summer months. The
orientations to Arcturus at four sites reveal also the Minoan use of this important
calendar star for the agricultural year, as it was later used by the Greeks. Double Axe
might be Orion-Sirius in the autumnal equinox.
Ceremonial rooms of the palace at Zakros was oriented to moonrise at the major
southern standstill.
Reconstructed Minoan calendar was lunisolar and the New Year began at the
appearance of the new crescent moon following the autumn equinox995.
Eight-year cycle and Venus cult
The most informative summary of recent ideas about Minoan calendar is

presented by Marianna Ridderstad. ‘It is concluded that the Minoan society had
religious beliefs and ritual practices, which were closely related to periodical celestial
events’996.
The evidence of enneoros (literally ‘of nine years’ or ‘of eight years’ in inclusive
counting997) of Minos who speaks with Zeus in the sacral cave every nine of eight
years998 may be interpreted in several ways:
995
http://minoanastronomy.mikrob.com/
996
Ridderstad, M. Evidence of Minoan astronomy and calendrical practices, p. 27.
997
E. g., inclusive counting is well known in classical Roman calendar.
998
Hom. Od. xix 172-180; Plato, Laws i 624-625. See: Greswell, E., Origines calendariae hellenicae, Oxford,
1862, vol. 4, p. 400-414.
205
1) a half of 18,61 lunar period which is investigated by Gerald Hawkins in
relation to Stonehenge (9 year from the ‘high moon’ to the ‘low moon’ and vice
versa)999;
2) 8-year period of Venus which was very important as the coordination of the
sun’s, the moon’s and Venus motions (8 solar years = 99 lunar months = 5 Venusian
periods)1000 and sacralised in Egypt (as possible cause of preserving of Egyptian
calendar without intercalations, according to Erich Zeren; cf. heb-sed after 30-years
ruling of pharaoh as possible reflection of Saturnian period); cf. also the Sumero-
Babylonian myth about the descending of Inanna-Ishtar, i.e. Venus, in the
Underworld;
3) it is the classical Greek octaeteris (‘eight tears period’), i.e. the coincindance
of eight solar years and 99 lunar months without calculations of the Venusian
periods. The third interpretation is the most popular among the researchers.
The sending of human tribute to Minotaur every nine years1001 is usually
interpreted as the reflection of the same calendrical period.
Apollo as the solar god was also related to eight year cycle 1002. The Semele myth
was related to a half of the eight-year cycle: ‘Semele had 50 daughters, the Menae,
who presided over the 50 lunar months, half of one octaeteris and one Olympiad
(Pausanias, Description of Greece 5:1:4). Thus, in the Classical mythology it was the
moon that governed the long calendrical cycles’1003.
Olympic four-year period, or pentaeteris by inclusive counting, might be reflected
on the Phaistos Disc as 49 signs of the outer circle of Side A.
According to E. Greswell, ‘as the life of the Mneuis… was limited to 30 years, and
that of the Apis to 25, and that of the Ram to 19; so might that of his Minotaur be to
eight years’1004.
999
Cf.: “In the Phrygian, Eleusinian-like mystery cult of Demeter and the moon god Men Askaenos,
the initiation rites took place in a temple very much like the Knossian Throne Room… <…> …Minos
then would have been the person to play the part of the lunar god in the sacred ceremonies of the sun
goddess. <…> There is an arc resembling the moon sickle depicted on the Knossian throne seat…”,
Ridderstad, p. 26.
1000
‘The name Pasiphae means ‘the all-shining’, which is an epithet for the moon goddess, which she
was (Pausanias, Description of Greece 3:26:1). In one version of the Minotaur myth, Pasiphae was
supposed to make offerings to Aphrodite (Hyginus, Fabulae 40), which may reflect her connection to
Venus, as both the moon and Venus have an eight-year cycle’, Ridderstad, M. Evidence of Minoan
astronomy and calendrical practices, p. 6.
1001
Plutarch, Theseus xv 1.
1002
‘Apollo was one of the deities associated with the eight-year cycle. Every eight years in Thebes, a
festival of Apollo Ismenius was held, where representations of the sun, moon, and stars were carried
in procession’, Ridderstad, M. Evidence of Minoan astronomy and calendrical practices, p. 8, after: Olcott,
William Tyler, Sun Lore of All Ages (London, 1914). Available at:
http://www.sacredtexts.com/astro/slaa
1003
1004
Greswell, E., Origines calendariae hellenicae, Oxford, 1862, vol. 4, p. 481.
206
Clear information about the Minoan lunar cult is the mention about Pasiphae
who hides in the statue of cow for her sacral marriage with divine bull: the mention
reflects an observation of the full moon (the name of Pasiphae means ‘shining for all’
but may be interpreted as ‘full-shining’) in Taurus.
Aphrodite was worshiped as Aphrodite Ariadne in Amathus1005. If Ariadne
(originally Ari-hagne ‘noble and pure’) is Venus1006, the marriage of her with Dionysus
may be regarded as a conjunction between Venus and Vindemiatrix in Virgo, cf. the
idea about Demeter and Persephone as Spica in Virgo and Venus. ‘…The heliacal
rising of Spica near the autumn equinox and the conjunctions of Spica with Venus
could be Demeter meeting Persephone after her annual visit to the netherworld’1007.
According to the myth of Persephone, when the goddess appears, grain can grow
again. We known two variants of the myth: Persephone spends in Hades four month
or a half of year. Two astronomical fact is mixed in this myth: if the goddess is absent
a half of year, she is Spica in Virgo (every zodiacal constellation is visible a half of
year in morning and a half of year in evening); if the goddess is absent four months,
she is Venus (the planet is visible during eight months as the Morning Star and the
same period as the Evening Star). I am sure that the goddess of grain is Demeter
(with Spica ‘ear of corn’ in Virgo; cf. Deo, another name of Demeter, from dea, zea
‘barley’), not Persephone. Perhaps, the mixing of Persephone with Demeter might be
based on the interpretation of Persephone not only as Venus (which may be observed
in Virgo every year) but also as Spica, the part of Virgo = Demeter 1008. Eleusinian
epopteia might be a demonstration of the ear of corn1009 which imitated celestial image
of rising Spica.
Demeter’s looking for Persephone during nine days like several days of Inanna-
Ishtar’s descending in the Underworld reflects the short period of the Venus’
invisibility. The absence of Venus in the sky might be mythically interpreted as the
descending of Inanna, Ishtar, Persephone, and influenced the story of Theotokos. The
occultations of Spica by Venus might be also observed by the Minoans.
Minoan cult of Venus might be reflected in the feast of Thesmophoria1010.
1005
1006
The Phoenician word adon ‘lord’ might influence the name of Ariadne, cf. the Sumerian name of
Venus, Inanna ‘mistress of heaven’.
1007
Ridderstad, p. 25.
1008
The conjunction of Venus with Spica occurred a few days before the autumn equinox in 1700-1600
BC. Minoan octaeteris might be calculated as ‘the period from one conjunction of Venus rising with
Spica to another’, Ridderstad, p. 21-22.
1009
Hyppolytus, Refutatio haereseon, V, 8, 39.
1010
‘Besides the Eleusinian Mysteries, the other great festival related to Demeter in Classical times
was Thesmophoria. Thesmophoria was celebrated about one lunar month after the Eleusinian
mysteries, which corresponds to the present September-October. The mention of Hesperos, Venus as
the evening star, appearing before Thesmophoria, shows that the start of the festival was originally
connected to planet Venus in some way. This may reflect the Minoan observations of Venus rising
close to the sun or Spica near an autumnal festival of the great goddess’, Ridderstad, p. 25.
207
If Minoan year began at autumnal equinox1011, Virgo was the constellation which
rises in the morning during the first month of year. So, the Mother of the Beasts
(Greek Potnia Theron)1012, surrounded by Leo and modern Leo Minor (ancient
Leopard?), might be the main constellation of the Zodiac.
The very important idea of M. Ridderstad is that the torch-bearer Iacchus (which
precedes the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter and Persephone) is Arcturus which
rises ten days before Spica in Virgo1013. Iacchus was regarded as a star: ‘Iacchos, Oh
Iacchos, the light-bringing star of our nocturnal rite’1014. The Minoan cult of Iacchus-
Dionysus, the son of Semele, might be reflected in the Ugaritic epic (eagle-goddess
Tsamala = Semele eats Akhit = Iacchus).
‘The cult of Phrygian Attis had a torch-bearer, which means that it also had a
procession like the Eleusinian Mysteries. <…> It is therefore likely that in the
origin of both the Eleusinian and the Phrygian cult there was an earlier Minoan
cult of Demeter and her companion, and that both had preserved some key
aspects of the Minoan rituals and symbols’1015. Attis might be *Aktis earlier, like
Attika was Aktika.
Several Minoan altars (Greek kernoi) were interpreted as lunisolar calendars1016.
Minoan clay disc with 1, 15, 24, 38, and 61 holes in five concentric circles might be
used as lunisolar calendar for three year and octaeteris1017, cf. 38 years of the Romulus
ruling and 61 fields of the Phaistos Disc; 119 signs on the Disc Side B coincides with
the number of the days in four synodic lunar month (29,53*4).
Seven lines of labyrinth might reflect levels of the Venus trajectory, and Ariadne
the ‘Lady of Labyrinth’ might be Venus.
Sacral star of Arcturus
Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern hemisphere and the fourth brightest
in the night sky after Sirius, Canopus, and Alpha Centauri.
‘At two peak sanctuaries near Zakros, there are walls oriented such that they could have
been used to facilitate observations of the heliacal rise and set and also the acronychal rise
and cosmical set of the bright star Arcturus ca 1800 BC. … We argue from these results that
1011
Blomberg, Mary, and Henriksson, Goran, "Archaeoastronomy: New trends in the field, with
methods and results from studies in Minoan Crete", Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry,
Vol. 247 (2001) 609-19; Ridderstad, p. 19, 24.
1012
See about the goddess: Al, B. Cretan Religion in Relation to Greek Religion, Mnemosyne, Third
Series, Vol. 12, Fasc. 3 (1944), pp. 208-222
1013
Ridderstar, p. 10-11.
1014
Aristophanes, Frogs, 341-342, transl. Matthew Dillon
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0032%3Acard%3D340
1015
Ridderstad, p. 26.
1016
Herberger, Charles F., "The Mallia table: kernos or clock?" Archaeoastronomy, Vol. 6 (1983) 114;
Hillbom, Niklas, Minoan games and game boards, Ph.D. thesis (Lund, 2005); Ridderstad, p. 14-15.
1017
Ridderstad, p. 15-16.
208
the Minoans had begun systematic observations of the sun, the moon and the bright star
Arcturus by the end of the Early Minoan Period (ca 2000 BC)’1018.
‘The short axis of the building on Pyrgos is oriented to the heliacal set of Arcturus, one
of the four brightest stars and an important calendar star in the Aegean from very early
times. This is the third example from a Minoan peak sanctuary of the orientation to
Arcturus, the other two being on Petsophas and Traostalos. At the beginning of the Middle
Minoan period the heliacal set of the star as seen from Pyrgos would have occurred directly
above the prominent peak of Kako Kefali, which thus served as a foresight in the same way
that Modi did for the heliacal set of the same star as seen from the peak sanctuary on
Traostalos’1019.
‘Here on Petsophas the heliacal rising of Arcturus in the years when the sanctuary was
in use, took place one moon month before the autumn equinox. This coincidence provided a
simple method for regulating a lunisolar calendar that began in connection with the autumn
equinox’1020
Perhaps, Iacchus (from Egypt. akh ‘star’), standing for a torch-bearer, who led the
procession of the Eleusinian mysteries, is the personification of Arcturus (which
heliacal rise happened about ten days before the heliacal rise of Spica in autumn) 1021.
The Athenian festival Proerosia or Proarctouria before Thesmophoria was dedicated to
Arcturus1022.
1018
Henriksson, G., Blomberg, M. Possible Minoan Contributions to Greek Astronomy, Joint European
and National Astronomical Meeting, JENAM-97. 6th European and 3rd Hellenic Astronomical Conference,
held in Thessaloniki, Greece, 2-5 July, 1997, Meeting Abstract, p. 332, online at:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu//abs/1997jena.confE.332H See also: Henriksson, G., Blomberg, M. Evidence
for Minoan astronomical observations from the peak sanctuaries on Petsophas and Traostalos,
Opuscula Atheniensia 21 (1996) 99-114; Blomberg, M., and Henriksson, G. Archaeoastronomy: New
trends in the field, with methods and results from studies in Minoan Crete, Journal of Radioanalytical
and Nuclear Chemistry, 2001, Volume 247, Number 3, 609-619; Henriksson, G., and Blomberg, M. The
evidence from Knossos on the Minoan calendar, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, 2011, vol.
11, No. 1, p. 64 (59–68), online at: http://www.rhodes.aegean.gr/maa_journal/7_Blomberg.pdf
1019
Blomberg, M., Henriksson, G. The Minoan peak sanctuary on Pyrgos (Maleviziou), AJA 106 (2002),
No 2, p. 302, online at: ftp://ftp.whoi.edu/pub/users/hanu/web_pdf/bal02_ashkelon.pdf
1020
Blomberg, M., and Henriksson, G. Archaeoastronomy: New trends in the field, with methods and
results from studies in Minoan Crete, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 2001, Volume
247, Number 3, 611.
1021
Ridderstad, Marianna, Evidence of Minoan astronomy and calendrical practices, p. 10-11, online at:
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0910/0910.4801.pdf
1022
Boutsikas, E., Astronomy and Ancient Greek cult, 2007, p. 170, online at:
https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/7566/1/E.BoutsikasDoctoral%20Thesis.pdf
209
The cult of Boötes is tracked in some ancient Greek texts. “Mad Odysseus” yoked
a donkey or horse (Ursa Minor) and an ox (Ursa Major)1023 to his plough (Boötes)1024;
compare with the Sumero-Babylonian interpretation of the constellation Boötes as a
yoke (Sumerian ŠUDUN, Akkadian Nīru)1025. The stars of Greek Boötes were used as
the ziqpu-stars in Sumero-Babylonian astronomy. The same stars are mentioned at
the beginning of Mesopotamian lists of the ziqpu-stars1026.
According to one of the suggestions, Odysseus was born in Boeotia1027 which is a
possible homonym for Boötes. According to another one, he was named Οὖτις
‘nobody’ for his ὦτα ‘ears’1028 (cf. Boötes as a possible name for bull’s ear). ‘Demeter,
lady of the golden sword’1029 (descendant of Minoan goddess holding double axe?) is
Virgo near sword-shaped Boötes; cf. the Graeco-Roman goddess of Justice (Virgo)
with the sword (Boötes) and scales (Libra).
Compare with 1) a mythological hero Χρυσάορος, Χρυσάωρ ‘Golden Sword’,
who was born simultaneously with his brother Pegasus, and with 2) the Hindu lunar
mansion, Nakshatra (Swati ‘sword = sword-shaped Arcturus’). The name Chrysaor
may be interpreted as a name of red or golden (to be more exact, orange-yellow)
Arcturus. According to the computer reconstruction of the Minoan sky above
Phaistos 1601 BC1030, the first morning rise of Square of Pegasus coincides with the
first evening rise of Boötes in the second half of February, while the first evening rise
of Pegasus does not coincide with the first morning rise of Boötes. Thereby, the motif
of simultaneous birth of Pegasus and Chrysaor reflects a calendar ritual of
1023
Two stars of Ursa Major were regarded as oxen (Hyg. Astron. II 2.2). “Aratos [581-585] refers to a
lost tradition, in which Boötes drives a wagon drawn by oxen. […] Ἀρκτοφύλαξ was supposed to be
the star Arcturus or the constellation Boötes and was used to locate the position of circumpolar stars”
(Blomberg, P.E. 2003. The northernmost constellations in early Greek tradition, Calendars, Symbols, and
Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture. Uppsala, p. 70). Compare with the similar fact in
Romanian folk astronomy: “Usually, the Chariots <Ursa Major and Ursa Minor> are formed from the
four Wheels and the Shaft; but some of the peasants imagine the four Wheels as the Chariot’s body,
and the next two stars are the Oxen of the Chariot”; after the Ovid’s time, “the seven stars of Ursa
Major were looked on as seven oxen grazing the sky’s fields. Thus, this constellation became Septem
Triones for the Romans, and its guardian became the bear-watchman, Bootes”, see: Ottescu, I.
Romanian peasants’ beliefs in stars and sky http://sarm.ro/ottescu/Chapter%201.pdf
1024
Apollod. Epit. 3.7; Proclus in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 18; Lucian, De domo
30; Philostratus, Her. xi.2; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 818; Cicero, De officiis iii.26.97; Hyginus,
Fab. 95; Serv. Verg. A. 2.81; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. i.93; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 12, 140ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 35; Second Vatican Mythographer 200).
1025
Куртик Г.Е. Звездное небо древней Месопотамии: Шумеро-аккадские названия созвездий и других
светил, СПб.: Алетейя, 2007, с. 495–499. Boötes had been also identified with Mercury in
Mesopotamian astronomy (Куртик, с. 497–498), and the Sumerian name of Mercury, GU.UD, may be
also compared with Boötes < *Gwootes.
1026
Куртик, с. 609. The location of some ziqpu-stars coincides with appearance of another celestial
body, which may be invisible during the daytime due to meteorogical circumstances) on the south
horizon.
1027
Istr. Alexandr.: Lycophr. Alexandra 783 and comment.; Plut. Graec. quest. 43.
1028
Ptol. Hephaest.
1029
Hymn. Hom. 2 to Demeter, 4
1030
StarCalc 5.73 http://starcalc.en.softonic.com
210
observation of Square of Pegasus and Boötes in February. Probably, both
constellations were considered the signs of spring. According to Hesiod, Chrysaor
was born with a golden sword in his hand1031. Compare Celtic Arthur with his sword
as possible personification of sword-shaped Arcturus.
It is well known that the star division of a year is used by Homer (e.g. Sirius as a
star of opora ‘later summer’1032) and Hesiod but their works do not contain any system
of star seasons.
In Hesiod’s calendar of archaic period the first evening rise of Arcturus was the
sign of the beginning of spring1033; the first morning rise of the star indicated the
period of vintage1034.
Here is a hypothetic reconstruction of the Hesiod’s star year:
- spring from the evening rise of Arcturus1035;
- summer from the morning rise of the Pleiades1036;
- threshing time from the morning rise of the first star in Orion1037;
- heat from the morning rise of Sirius1038;
- navigation, the end of summer (theros) fifty days after the summer
solstice1039;
- vintage from the morning rise of Acturus and from culmination of Sirius
and Orion1040;
- ploughing (arotos) = winter, completion of the navigation season; from the
morning set of the Pleiades1041, of the Hyades, and of Orion1042.
According to Hippokrates, a year was divided into four seasons:
- spring from the vernal equinox until the rise of the Pleiades,
- summer from the Pleiades until the rise of Arcturus,
- autumn from the rise of Arcturus until the set of the Pleiades,
- winter from the set of the Pleiades to the vernal equinox.
Hippocrates also divided a year into seven seasons:
- ear ‘spring’ from the vernal equinox,
- theros ‘summer’ from the morning rise of the Pleiades,
- opora from the morning rise of Sirius,
1031
Hesiod, Aegimius, fr. 295.
1032
Iliad v. 5. See the same opinion of Aristotle (Meteorolog. ii. 5) contrasting with his other mention of
the Orion’s morning rise as the beginning of the same season (Problem. xxv. 26, xxvi. 14).
1033
Hesiod, Works and Days, 565–567.
1034
Hesiod, Works and Days, 610.
1035
Op. 564, cf. the Pliny’s spring.
1036
Op. 383, cf. the Hippocrates’ summer.
1037
Op. 595.
1038
Op. 582.
1039
Op. 663.
1040
Op. 609.
1041
Op. 383, cf. Hippocrates’ arotos.
1042
Op. 615. See: Astronomia, in: A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities, ed. by W. Smith, W. Wayte,
G. E. Marindin, 1890, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu ; Паннекук, А., История астрономии / Перевод
Н.И.Невской, Москва, 1966, с. 105-106.
211
- metoporon from the morning rise of Arcturus,
- arotos from the morning set of the Pleiades,
- kheimon ‘winter’ from the winter solstice,
- phutalia from the last rise of Arcturus and appearance of swallows1043.
According to Pliny, a year was divided into four seasons by astronomical and
weather events:
1) west wind (between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox) is the
beginning of spring;
2) morning rise of the Pleiades (between the vernal equinox and the
summer solstice) is the beginning of summer;
3) set of Lyra (between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox) is
the beginning of autumn;
4) the morning set of the Pleiades (between the autumnal equinox and the
winter solstice) is the beginning of winter1044.
Varro divided a year into eight seasons:
from the West Wind to the vernal equinox;
from the vernal equinox to the rise of the Pleiades;
from the rise of the Pleiades to the summer solstice;
from the summer solstice to the rise of Sirius;
from the rise of Sirius to the autumnal equinox;
from the autumnal equinox to the set of the Pleiades;
from the set of the Pleiades to the winter solstice;
from the winter solstice to the west wind1045.
Arcturus might have been used as ‘the star of spring’ (from the first evening rise,
according to Hesiod) and as the ‘star of autumn’ (from the first morning rise,
according to Hippocrates).
Thucydides can date by the rise of the star Arcturus without having to wade into
the confusion of disconnected city-state lunisolar calendars1046.
So, Arcturus may be regarded as an important sacral and calendrical star at least
in the period from the Minoan Age up to the Classical Greece.
Minotaur-Theseus myth and Hercules-Perseus-based calendar
1043
Greswell, E., Origines calendariae hellenicae, Oxford, 1862, vol. 2, p. 656; Böckh A., Ueber die
vierjährigen Sonnenkreise der Alten, vorzüglich den Eudoxischen, Berlin, 1863, S. 76–77; Lehoux, Daryn,
Astronomy, weather, and calendars in the ancient world: Parapegmata and related texts in Classical and Near-
Eastern Cocieties, Cambridge, 2007, pp. 205-206. The mentioning of swallows reminds of Swallow as
the Babylonian constellation.
1044
Lehoux, Daryn, Astronomy, weather, and calendars in the ancient world: Parapegmata and related texts in
Classical and Near-Eastern Cocieties, Cambridge, 2007, p. 254.
1045
Lehoux, Daryn, Astronomy, weather, and calendars in the ancient world: Parapegmata and related texts in
Classical and Near-Eastern Cocieties, Cambridge, 2007, p. 208.
1046
Thucydides, II 78.2.
212
Blomberg and Henriksson (2001; 2005) measured the axis orientation of symmetry of the
main cult room in the west wing of the palace at Mallia to be (az 107.6 deg), and argued, that
the sun rose between the mountains one lunar month after the autumn equinox in 2000 BCE,
marking the time of the beginning of Minoan agricultural year1047.
The heliacal rise of Hercules occurred around one month after the autumnal
equinox. So, Minoan calendar, as it was reflected in the orientation of the palace at
Mallia, may be regarded as Hercules-based one. Minotaur staying on one knee can be
seen on many ancient depictions1048.
Minotaur1049
His position may be compared with the form of the constellation of Hercules,
Ancient Greek En gonasin (Ἐγγόνασιν or ἐν γόνασιν) ‘Kneeler’1050. Hercules (=
Minotaur) culminates, when Perseus (= Theseus) rises; Hercules sets, when Perseus
culminates. The proper name of Minotaur, Asterion ‘starry one’, may be regarded as
an evidence of his starry nature. Depictions of Minotaur surrounded by several stars
are present on ancient Greek coins. Argus-like Minotaur and other starry Minotaur
Asterios are depicted in A. Cook’s Zeus.
The rise and set of Hercules may have been the heart of the Minoan
constellational calendar used in mythology. This constellation, being observed
during the first evening appearance of stars, rose at the vernal equinox, culminated at
the summer solstice and set at the winter solstice. Perseus began to rise at the
summer solstice, when Hercules culminated, and culminated at the winter solstice
when Hercules set in the evening.
The Hercules-based constellational calendar may be related to the very ancient
observations: the North Pole was located near τ Hercules around vii millennium BC,
when the hill of Cretan Knossos was inhabited and Aegean sailors transported
obsidian from Melos.
Minotaur in the center of Labyrinth (e. g., see Roman mosaic in Rhaetia,
Switzerland1051) may depict the location of Hercules at the zenith.
The calendar of Plutarchus1052 was definitely based on the morning observations
of the constellation of Perseus. Interval between the start of Theseus’ sailing from
1047
Ridderstad, p. 20.
1048
http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Minotauros.html
1049
PM I, p. 358.
1050
Богданов К.А. Комментарий, in Арат Солийский. Явления / Пер. с древнегреч., вступ. статья и
комментарий К.А. Богданова, СПб.: Алетейя, 2000, с. 218.
1051
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth
1052
Theseus.
213
Athens (the 6th of Mounichion ≈ the first new moon after the vernal equinox plus six
days)1053 and the end of it (the 7th of Pyanepsion ≈ the first new moon after the
autumnal equinox plus seven days) reflects the interval between the morning rise
and the morning set of Perseus. The black sail of the ship hoisted at the beginning
and at the end of the journey stands for the same astronomical event: the invisible
(‘dark’) moon before appearance of the new moon. The culmination of Perseus (i.e.,
the victory of Theseus) occurs in the middle of period between the morning rise and
the morning set of the constellation, i. e. at the summer solstice when Hercules
(Minotaur) sets.
The killing of Minotaur by Theseus may be regarded as a shift from the Hercules-
based ‘monoconstellational’ calendar towards the Perseus-based one. Theseus was
known as the creator of the Athenian calendar.
Pasiphae, Circea, Aeëtes and seasonal markers
According to Hesychius, Talos is Helios. Copper giant Talos (Τάλως)1054 circles

Crete thrice yearly1055. This motif may be regarded as a metaphoric description of
three-seasonal year. Cretan three-seasonal year and its reflections in Greek
mythology are researched by R. Graves. Year with three seasons is well known in
ancient Egypt. The beginning of Egyptian year was marked by heliacal rising of
Sirius.
Perhaps, the stellar designations of three-seasonal year may be reconstructed
basing on the myth about Pasiphae, Circea, and Aeëtes. These characters are the
children of Helios (‘sun’) and Perse (‘moon’? cf. Parsiphai as the combination of
Pasiphae and Persephone in an Eteocretan inscription).
The name of Circea (Greek Kirke) might be interpreted, among other variants, as
an anagram of the name of Cancer constellation (Greek Karkinos) while the name of
Aeëtes (Greek Αἰήτης) – as an anagram of the name of the constellation Aquila
(Greek Ἀετός) which rises with Scorpio. The name of the third child, Pasiphae, may be
an anagram of the name of Cassiopeia constellation which rises with Aquarius and
Pisces. The interval between the risings of Cassiopeia (or/and Andromeda, ‘queen of
men’)1056 and Cancer is around four months; the intervals from the rising of Cancer to
the rising of Aquila and from the rising of Aquila to the rising of Cassiopeia are also
1053
6th of Mounichion ≈ the vernal equinox (April 4 in 2001 BC, March 31 in 1501 BC) + 1–14 days to the
new moon + 6 = April 11–24 (the middle date is April 18) in 2001 BC and April 7–20 (the middle date is
April 14) in 1501 BC (cf. 13 century BC as traditional dating of Theseus’ life).
1054
Greek χαλκεϊος τριγίγας ‘copper thrice giant’: Argonautica Orphica 1350-1352. The cult of Talos is
attested in Phaisos: Андреев Ю.В. От Евразии к Европе. – СПб, 2002. – С. 524; Лосев А.Ф.
Мифология греков и римлян. – М., 1996. – С. 148. Winged ΤΑΛΩΝ armed with a stone is depicted
on the silver didrachm from Phaistos (ca. 300/280-270 BC).
1055
Plato, Minos 320c.
1056
Ancient constellation of Cassiopeia might be bigger than modern one, and its rising might continue
more.
214
around four months. The mother of Pasiphae, Circea and Aeëtes is Perse whose
name may be related to the name of Perseus, i. e. the spring equinox near Perseus
about mid-second millennium BCE. The marriage of Helios and Perse may symbolize
the sun near Perseus as beginning of year. An alternative interpretation: Perse is the
moon, and the ancient Greeks observed the sun and the moon in these cardinal
constellations. Perhaps, the similar constellational calendar is symbolized by Moses
(possibly linked with Perseus), Joshua (possibly linked with the constellation of
Cancer), and Aaron (possibly linked with Ophiuchus or/and Scorpio).
If Minoan three-seasonal year was identical with Egyptian one (as the Phaistos
Disc might show), each marker of the season was observed when the constellation
completely rose. E. g., the first heliacal rising of Sirius (the beginning of the Egyptian
season) coincides with the complete rising of Cancer (the beginning of the Minoan
season).
Compare with the view of C. Flammarion in his Les Etoiles:
Let us note that Aldebaran in Taurus, Antares in the Scorpion, Regulus in Leo and
Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus are almost at right-angles to one another, and divide the sky into
four equal parts. These four stars, bright and remarkable, sometimes called royal stars, were
venerated by the Persians around 2500 B.C. as the sky’s four guardians. Then, Aldebaran, or the
Bull’s Eye, was at the vernal equinox as the guardian of the east; Antares, or the Scorpion’s
Heart, was at the autumnal equinox and was the guardian of the west; Regulus, the Lion’s
Heart, was at a little distance from the summer solstice point; Fomalhaut was at a short distance
from the winter solstice point. These last two indicated south and north for the Persians. No
doubt Chou-king, China’s historical recorder, spoke of these stars when he reported that the
Emperor Yao in 2357 B.C. ordered the astronomers Hi and Ho to observe the star Niao of
spring, the star Ho of summer, the star Hiu of autumn, and the star Mao of winter, verifying at
the same time the Sun’s shadow.1057
Calendrical instruments
1057
The translation after: Ottescu, I. Romanian peasants’ beliefs in stars and sky
http://sarm.ro/ottescu/Chapter%201.pdf
215
Minoan Lunisolar Disc with Ships1058 includes 13 lunar months (13 external spirals)
and 4 main solar points (four τροπίς ‘ship’ as a homonym for τροπή ‘solar point’,
literally ‘the turn’, and 4 crosses with 3 months between them). Every spiral includes
19 sections (Metonic cicle?), the circle consists 81 dots (three sidereal month?)
1058
See the image: PM II, pt. 1, fig. 111.
216
According to Minas Tsikritsis, the Minoan Age object (which I names Calendrical
Disc with Corners) discovered in 1898 (Paleokastro site, in the Sitia district of western
Crete), preceded the heralded ‘Antikythera Mechanism’ by 1,400 years, and was the
first analog and ‘portable computer’ in history. The mechanism used as calculator of
solar and lunar eclipses, sundial, and as an instrument calculating the geographical
latitude1059. A method of the latitude identification using the northern stars was
described by Strabo.
1059
Researcher cites ancient Minoan-era ‘computer’ http://crisisboom.com/2011/04/07/ancient-minoan-
computer/
217
The instrument includes: eight dots on each of 25 outer corners; 50 squares on the
outer circle and 11*4 lines on the inner circle; 8 and 7 squares on the horizontal
spokes, 7+7 squares on upper vertical spoke and 8+7 squares on lower vertical spoke.
The number of squares on the vertical spokes, 8 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 29, may symbolize
synodic month divided into four phases or weeks. The number of the squares on
horizontal and vertical spokes (15 + 14 + 15 = 44) consists one and a half synodic
month and resemble full and crescent moon (= one and a half synodic month) on the
Nebra Disc and three tributes to Minotaur (seven boys and seven girls in each
tribute) in the Theseus myth. 50 squares on the outer circle resemble 50 signs on the
outer circle of the Phaistos Disc and might be interpreted as 50 month in the four-
year cycle. 200 dots on the corners may symbolize 25 eight-year (lunisolar and
Venusian) cycles (octaeteris or enneoros in inclusive counting) or 99*2 month in two
octaeteris.
On Calendrical Disc with Solar Barge, the central cross with four dots (which
resemble Crux) might symbolize the places of the sunrise and sunset at solstices and
equinoxes. 27 dots of outer circle may represent the days of lunar month while 18
dots of inner circle – the days of 2/3 of lunar month. The position of arc is the same as
on the Nebra Disc, and the number of dots near the arc (eight) is the same too.
Cycladic Solar Pan

Cycladic ‘frying pan’ (Early Cycladic II period; National Museum, Athens1060) with
the Sun with 29 rays in the centre surrounded by four spirals and four fish (Linear A,
B mi as fish-shaped syllabic sign and Greek maine ‘fish’) between them may be also
lunisolar calendar.
1060
See the image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dandiffendale/3056587533/
218
IN SEARCH OF MINOAN STAR CATALOGUE
Double Axe and Ursa Major
Double axe, or labrys, was the main symbol of Minoan Crete. Many different
hypotheses on the origin and meaning of the symbol may be suggested. E. g., it may
be combination of depictions of waxing and waning moon. Labrys may also stand for
Ursa Major, which looks like double axe. This constellation is visible during the
whole year; many peoples use the constellation as a stellar clock.
Four double axes constitue a figure of cross on the Minoan vase1061. This figure
may reflect four position of Ursa Major used as a night clock.
The Greek word labyrinthos is regarded as a derivation from the name for double
axe, labrys. Based on this etymology and Minoan painting, the palace of Minos is
considered ‘the house of double axe’. The name of labyrinth is attested in Linear B as
da-pu2-ri-to = daphurinthos. If labrys really stands for Ursa Major, then the name of
labyrinth may be compared, in addition to many other hypotheses, with the
Egyptian name of Ursa Major, Taweret, ‘she, who is great’. Taweret is the wife of
Apep (snake) and is depicted with a crocodile (Draco) on her back. The form of the
constellation of Draco resembles labyrinth. The name of Taweret (Greek Thoeris) may
be also compared with the name of Troy; Troy is another possible symbol of Ursa
Major, according to proposed astronomical interpretation of epic symbols.
If the celestial prototype of labrys is identified correctly, Minos may be associated
with Cepheus near Ursa Major. Cepheus, the king in the myth of Perseus, and Zeus
may be also related with this constellation.
Theseus left Crete with the third tribute for Minotaur. Each tribute contains seven
boys and seven girls; three tributes contain 42 persons in total. These teens may stand
for days in lunar calendar. There are 42 days from the rise of Cepheus (Minos, who
ordered the Athenians to pay tributes regularly) till the rise of Perseus (Theseus).
The ‘Minoans’, i. e. the Minoan Greeks, might regard three neighbour
constellations, Cepheus, Ursa Major, and Draco, as Minos, double axe, and labyrinth,
respectively.
So, Minos’ wife Pasiphae may stand for Cassiopeia, queen in the myth of Perseus.
However, it not exclude the incorporation of lunar symbols in the image of Pasiphae.
The Ancient Egyptians regarded some circumpolar constellations as the Heaven’s
Adzes1062. One of them, Mshtiw (bull’s thigh), might be regarded by the Minoan
Greeks as related to the image of Minotaurus. The constellation of Draco looks like
an adze and, perhaps, is symbolically described in Odyssey as σκέπαρνον, ‘adze’1063
1061
Dempsey, J., Calendar house http://ancientlights.org/CalendarHouse/ch7.html
1062
Belmonte, J.A. The Ramesside star clocks and the ancient Egyptian constellations, Calendars,
Symbols, and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture. Proceedings of the 9 th annual meeting of the
European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC). Uppsala, 2003, p. 63.
1063
Od. v 237.
219
(the description of Odysseus’ preparation for raft sailing from Callypso, like the
prediction of Tiresius, may be interpreted as metaphorical descriptions of the sky).
Adze = Draco may be hypothetically found on the Phaistos Disc.
Constellations in Minoan art
The astronomical interpretation of Minoan seals, frescoes, and figurines is

proposed by many researchers. ‘In Minoan art, symbols for celestial objects were
depicted frequently and often in a religious context. The most common were various solar
and stellar symbols. The palace of Knossos was amply decorated with these symbols’ 1064.
‘Celestial bodies, or objects and symbols that can be interpreted as those, are a frequent
motif in Minoan engraved and clay seals, moulds, rings, jewellery, garments, pottery,
wallboards, ceiling boards, decorative inlays, frescoes, and reliefs’1065. ‘The find of the
Minoan constellations illuminates a great part of the prior knowledge the bronze age
inhabitants of Crete applied to the world for calendrical purposes, navigation, agriculture,
superstition, religion and story-telling; they can thus offer a window into the workings of
the Minoan mind’ (Dr. Evangelos Kyriakidis)1066.
P. Blomberg identifies some Minoan constellations among the Cretan figurines1067,

E. Kyriakidis found the images of Orion, Hyades, Hydra, Ursa Major (as a leg, like in
Egyptian astronomy), Boötes, and Corona Borealis1068. D. Trifiletti proposed an
astronomical interpretation (including the images of Leo and Hydra) of the ‘Ring of
Nestor’1069. Minoan ‘acrobat’, bull, doves, and the Snake Goddess may be identified
with Perseus, Taurus, the Pleiades, and Ophiuchus1070. Spica and Arcturus were the
sacral stars for the Minoans1071. Ursa Minor and Draco might be depicted by the
Minoans (like by the Egyptians) as two beasts1072.
1064
Ridderstad, M. Evidence of Minoan astronomy and calendrical practices, p. 1
1065
Ridderstad, p. 11.
1066
Archaeologist to reconstruct the Minoan sky http://www.kent.ac.uk/news/stories/minoanrings/2008
1067
Blomberg P. An attempt to reconstruct the Minoan star map, Astronomy of ancient societies /
T.M. Potyomkina, V.N. Obridko (eds.), Moscow, 2002, p. 95–97.
1068
Kyriakidis, E. (2005) The Unidentified Floating Objects on Late Minoan Seal Iconography. American
Journal of Archaeology, 109, pp. 137-154.
http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/109.2/AJA1092_Kyriakidis.pdf
1069
Trifiletti, D. The ring of Nestor: Evidence of Minoan astronomy?
http://apexinstitute.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=lkgGClIZD1Y
%3D&tabid=61&mid=445&forcedownload=true The image of the “Ring of Nestor” see: PM III, p. 153.
1070
Glyn-Jones, W., The constellation art of Knossos,
http://ancientworldblog.blogspot.com/2005/03/constellation-art-of-knossos-by.htm ; OSullivan, M.
Changing Zodiac Signs: The Serpent Bearer, Ophiuchus, Precession, and return of the Great Goddess
http://www.upfirst.com/changingzodiacsigns.htm
1071
Ridderstad, Marianna, Evidence of Minoan astronomy and calendrical practices, p. 10-11
1072
Dempsey, J., Calendar house http://ancientlights.org./CalendarHouse/ch6.html
220
Minoan Snake-Goddess may be considered as the image of Virgo and Spica
and/or Ophiuchus; the sacral knots and bees – as Orion (cf. the knot of Orion in the
Bible, Job 38:31); the gates – as Libra; the ships – as Argo1073. Minoan double axe may
be regarded not only as Orion but also as Ursa Major. The double axe near the Poppy
Goddess in the center of Isopata ring1074 may be compared with the axe of
Clytemnestra and interpreted as Ursa Major near Virgo.
Several groups of constellations may be found in Minoan art.
Houses with zigzags and snakes1075 seem to be house-shaped Cepheus, zigzag-
shaped Cassiopeia, Lacerta, and Draco.
Two men, seven globes, and a he-goat on the steatite jewelry1076 are Gemini, The
Seven (the Pleiades), and Capricorn.
A bull with one acrobat over him and another one behind him1077 are Taurus,
Perseus, and Aries. The third acrobat on the Minoan fresco ‘Toreador’ who stands in
front of the bull (while two other acrobats occupy the same positions as described
above) may be Gemini.
The image of ritual sacrifice of a bull1078 (like Mithraic rite) may be a depiction of
Perseus and Taurus. The Mycenaean relief with a bull and a tree1079 may be a
depiction of Taurus and the Milky Way.
A deer, two dogs, and an arrowhead1080 are Monoceros, Canis Major and Canis
Minor, and Columba or rather Cancer (cf. arrow between Scylla and Charybdis in
Odyssey).
A goddess with a lion1081 may be Leo and Virgo while the mountain goddess with
a man, two lions, and horned tower near them1082 are Orion, Leo, Leo Minor, Virgo,
and Libra; cf. also the goddess with two lions on the Mycenaean gem1083. The goddess
with the ear of corn, a line under her feet and horns and some other objects aside 1084
are Virgo (with Spica on the left), Corvus, Crater, and Hydra (below).
Two groups of constellations are depicted on the Ivory Half Cylinder from
Knossos1085: a man, a woman, a dog, and jugs are Virgo, Orion, Canis Major (or/and
1073
See about the Mediterranean origin of Argo: Rogers, J. H., Origins of the ancient constellations II:
Mediterranean tradition, Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol. 108, no. 2, p. 87.
1074
http://www.rosetta.bham.ac.uk/issue6/bronze-age-rings/
1075
PM I, p. 674.
1076
Evans, A. J., Cretan pictographs and prae-Phoenician script, L.; N. Y., 1895, p. 71.
1077
PM I, p. 694.
1078
PM IV, pt. 1, p. 40. Compare the minoan image of a bull over the sacrificial …: PM IV, pt. 1, p. 41.
1079
PM III, p. 197.
1080
CMS-II4-202-1 (MM II-SM III)
http://www.arachne.uni-koeln.de/browser/index.php?
view[layout]=siegel_item&objektsiegel[item]=2389&objektsiegel[thumb_item]=0
1081
PM I, p. 505.
1082
PM III, p. 463.
1083
Evans A. The Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult, and Its Mediterranaen Relations, L., 1901, p. 66.
1084
Crystal Lentoid from Idaean Cave (PM I, p. 222).
1085
PM I, p. 197.
221
Canis Minor?), and Lepus; a dog, an archer, a tree or branch, and a he-goat are
Lupus, Sagittarius, Aquila, and Capricorn.
The double axe over the bull’s head1086 is Orion near Taurus1087, so not only Ursa
Major may be associated with the double axe symbol. Two bulls near a tree from
Mycenae1088 may be Taurus and Monoceros near the Milky Way.
The goddess holding an oar in a ship looks as a hippocamp with two horned
objects in the ship1089 may be interpreted as Virgo, Corvus (oar), Sextans and Crater
(horned objects), and Hydra (hippocamp-shaped ship).
A he-goat and a tree1090 may be Aquila and Capricornus. The Minoan starry
goat1091 is Capricornus; cf. Asterios ‘starry’ as a proper name of Minotaur.
Astronomical provenance of the Linear A iconography
Minoan naval astronomy might be reflected in the Cretan syllabary. Possibly, the
Linear A, B scripts preserved Minoan Greek star catalogue, and order of signs in
more late alphabets (like Phoenician which was of syllabic origin) was not random
and described sectors of the sky.
The syllabary of the Cretan Linear A and B scripts may be also interpreted
astronomically, and the signs with the same consonant (including ‘zero-consonant’,
i.e. only vowel signs) denote the constellations which are located closely.
The astronomical origin of the Linear B signs may be reconstructed as follows:
Vowel-series – circumpolar constellations:
a (Greek aksine, ‘axe’) – Ursa Major (a celestial prototype of Minoan Double Axe),
e (Greek hedos, ‘temple’) – Cepheus,
i (Greek ios, ‘arrow’) – Sagitta (?) or Draco’s head interpreted as a palm of hand or
Ursa Minor,
o (throne as a part of Cassiopeia on the throne, Ptol.) – Cassiopeia,
u (Greek hunnis, ‘plough’) – Ursa Minor or lesser Lyra.
a2 (ha, i. e. hamaxa ‘vehicle, Ursa Major’) is possible alternative designation of
Ursa Major, cf. a (axine ‘axe, Ursa Major’), or Auriga
K-series:
ka (wheel) – Corona Borealis or Corona Australis,
ke (insect) – Ophiuchus,
ki – Draco (?),
ko (mace) – Boötes or lesser Lyra or Delphinus,
ku (Greek kuknos, ‘swan, the constellation of Cygnus’) – Cygnus.
1086
PM IV, p. 344.
1087
See also: Scherer, A. 1953. Gestirnnamen bei den indogermanischen Völkern, Heidelberg, S. 188.
1088
Evans, A. The Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult, and Its Medirerranean Relations, L., 1901, p. 58.
1089
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~catshaman/15Sailors/05sailors12.htm
1090
PM I, p. 275.
1091
PM I, p. 358.
222
D-series:
da – Andromeda or Taurus or less Perseus;
J-series:
ja – Pegasus or rather Centaurus,
je – Pisces or rather Ara,
jo – Perseus or Cetus or rather Indus,
*65 (ju) = Sculptor or rather Phoenix;
P-series:
pa (Greek phasganon, ‘sword’) – Virgo or Boötes
pu2 (phu) = part of Virgo (Vindemiatrix?),
pi (ship?) – Hydra
pu (plant) – Aquila or lesser Pisces
R-series:
ra (dog) – Sumerian UR.IDIM ‘Mad Dog, Lupus’ or (Greek lewon from Akkadian
labu ‘lion’) – Leo,
ra2 (rya) = Hydra,
ra3 (rai) = Crater,
re (plant) – Aquila (?)
ro2 (ryo) = Corvus,
ru (lyra?) – Lyra
Q-series:
qa – Norma,
qe – Corona Australis;
qi (sheep) – Aries (?)
M-series:
ma (cat or lion) – Cat near Aries in the Dodecaoros,
me (goat): Capra/Capella,
mi (fish) – Piscis Austrinus,
mo – Grus,
mu (bull’s head) – Taurus (bull’s head) or Microscopium (regarded as a bull’s
head?).
N-series:
na – Aries,
ne – Cetus,
ni – Taurus or Monoceros (a tree in the Odyssey),
no (hand) – Gemini,
nu – Orion
nwa (crossed hands) – Monoceros or Orion.
S-series:
sa (Greek sepia) – the constellation of Cancer, similar in shape and name
(‘crawfish’ in Sumero-Babylonian astronomy),
se – Monoceros or Canis Major,
si (Greek sitos, ‘bread’) – Spica in Virgo (si-to-po-ti-ni-ja, ‘bread-lady’ in Linear B),
223
so – Boötes or Leo,
su – Hercules or Leo.
*82 (swa) = Vulpecula;
T-series:
ta – Libra,
te – Scorpio,
ti – Sagittarius or Sagitta,
twe = Arcus (bow) in Sagittarius,
two – possible alternative designation of Scutum, cf. wi
to – Aquila,
tu – Capricornus or Delphinus.
W-series:
wa (palace) – Pegasus Square or house-shaped Auriga,
we (worm) – Aquarius or worm-shaped Vulpecula,
wi – Scutum,
wo – Sagittarius or Ara;
Z-series:
za (Egyptian ‘cross of life’) – Crux,
ze – Circinus or Musca,
*22 (zi) – animal-shaped Ara, Musca or Circinus,
zo – Triangulum Australis or Norma,
*79 (zu, eye) – Pavo or Telescopium
More rare constellations (i.e. the constellations which are visible several days a year
because they are southern ones) such as signs belonged to z-series are designed by
more rare signs.
Thus, the ‘Minoans’, i. e. the Minoan Greeks, reflected the constellations in their
script. E. g., vowel-series (a, e, i, o, u) reflected the northern (circumpolar)
constellations while M-series (ma, me, mi, mo, mu) reflected the constellations of the
beginning of year. The first morning rise of Equuleus coincided with winter solstice
about 1600 BC. This constellation regarded as the cosmogonic ‘golden egg’, i.e. the
egg-shaped constellation which is related to the location of the ‘newborn’ sun at
winter solstice. Perhaps, this Minoan image of Equuleus as a cat related to the
Egyptian motif of Re as the cat killing the snake Apep (Apep is Hydra which sets
when Equuleus rises). The Minoan sign ma is comparable with Egyptian mja ‘cat’.
P-series denotes the constellations which were located on the horizon several
days before the spring equinox when the year of the Phaistos Disc began.
So, order of the letters in alphabets may reflect the order of rising of
constellations.
224
Aegean-influenced Phoenician alphabet as a star calendar
Phoenician alphabet might be initially syllabic and strongly influenced by Minoan

syllabary.
The catalogue of the Phoenician constellations may be reconstructed basing not
only on the Proenician mythology (and its remains in Greek mythology) but also on
the Phoenician alphabet.
The forms, names, and the order of letters (originally hieroglyphs or mixed
hieroglyphical and alphabetical signs?) in the Phoenician alphabet is of clear
astronomical origin.
Aleph ‘bull’1092 (cf. Akkadian Alpu ‘bull, Hyades in Taurus’, Greek ἄλφα
‘Phoenician for βοὸς κεφαλή’, Hsch.): Taurus form and name,
Beth ‘house’: Gemini form,
Gaml ‘throwing stick’: javelin-shaped Cancer,
Dalt ‘door’: triangle-shaped Sextans,
He ‘window’: Virgo form,
Wau ‘hook’: hook-shaped Coma Berenices,
Zayin ‘sword, weapon’: sword-shaped Boötes (cf. Egyptian ankh ‘the life, to
live’ and Cretan syllabic sign za based on Greek zao ‘to live’ as a translation of this
Egyptian hieroglyph),
Het ‘wall’: Vela,
Tet ‘wheel’: wheel-shaped Corona Borealis,
Yod ‘hand’: hand-shaped Hercules,
Kaf ‘palm of a hand’: palm-shaped Ophiuchus,
Lamd ‘goad’: Scorpius,
1092
The “hieroglyphic meaning” of the letters after: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_alphabet ,
with many references. The images of the letters are taken from the same site using the links to each
letter
225
Mem ‘water’ – to wave-shaped Vulpecula,
Nun ‘serpent’: Serpens in Ophiuchus,
Samk ‘fish’: fish-shaped Telescopium (cf. with Sphaera Barbarica),
Ain ‘eye’ – to round Corona Australis,
Pe ‘mouth’: Delphinus looks like lips (cf. Sumerian KA, Akkadian pû

‘mouth, Delphinus’),
Sade ‘hunt’: Sagittarius,
Qof ‘needle head’: spear-shaped Sagitta,
Rosh ‘head’: head-shaped Equuleus,
Shin ‘tooth’: teeth-shaped Lacerta or Cassiopeia,
Tau ‘mark’: Perseus.

The number of letters (cf. with 27 signs in the Ugaritic alphabet) may be
compared with the number of 27 lunar mansions or, if the number was originally 24,
with the half-month periods1093.
So, Phoenician alphabet may be regarded as a ‘moving catalogue of the
constellations’, the constellational calendar, or annual moving sky map. The same
astronomical information may be discovered in other scripts.
Phoenician alphabet was of certain Cretan origin, but re-structurized (the vovel-
series was omitted), translated from Greek into Phoenician (mu > aleph, ‘bull’
depicted as bull-head) or adopted (me, ‘goat’ > mem, ‘water’) etc. However, there
were other sources of the alphabet, e. g., gimel, later associated with gamal, ‘camel’,
might originate (in its form and name) from Hittite kalmus, curved royal scepter.
Cf. Lin. A, B su (house, an acceptance of Egyptian per ‘house’ with the same form)
and beth, Lin. A, B i and yod, Lin. A, B, Lin. A, B se (ear of corn, from Sumerian še
‘barley’) and samekh, Lin. A, B qa and qoph, Lin. A, B ra and rosh etc.
‘Non-Ptolemaic’ constellations in the Sphaera Barbarica,
1093
Compare: Thompson, G.D. The astronomical origins of the alphabet
http://members.westnet.com.au/gary-david-thompson/page7.html#alphabet
226
Lunar Zodiac, and Dodekaoros
Sphaera Barbarica
It is very important, that Ptolemy’s catalogue of the constellations represents one
particular tradition; another concepts should be taken into consideration as well.
Firstly, it is Sphaera Barbarica by Teucer, which includes some constellations being
absent in Ptolemy’s catalogue1094.
‘The Hellenistic astrologer Teucrus of Babylon lived between the 1st-century BCE and
the 1st-century CE. <…> The Sphaera Barbarica is thought to have originated in Asia Minor.
(Aby Warburg proposed that the Sphaera Barbarica was devised in Asia Minor.) From there
it eventually (1) passed to Egypt, and (2) passed eastward to the Orient (India and then the
Islamic Persian Empire) and eventually became incorporated in the Kitab al-mudkhal al-kabir
ila 'ilm ahkam an-nujjum (Latin title: Introductorium maius) by the Islamic scholar Abū
Ma'shar. (The Sphaera Barbarica of Teucrus was translated into Pahlavi for the first time circa
the 3rd-century CE.) This astrological tradition finally reached Latin Europe via the Arab-
Islamic world toward the end of the Middle Ages (via Spain into France).’1095
Possible place and time of Teucer’s observations are Antioch on the Orontes,
36 N 36oE, 1 BC.
o
Teucer’s ‘parapegm’ may be interpreted as follows.
Aries:
the 1st decan: Athene ‘Andromeda’, Cetus’ tail, one third part of Triangulum,
Cynocephalus ‘Camelopardalis?’, Torch-bearer ‘Perseus’ or less Arcturus, Cat’s
head ‘Microscopium?’;
the 2nd decan: Andromede, the middle part of Cetus, Gorgo ‘part of Perseus’,
Perseus’ sickle ‘part of Perseus or less Auriga’, a half of Triangulum, the middle
part of Cat;
the 3rd decan: Cassiepeia on her throne, Perseus, Cetus’ head, rest part of
Triangulum, Cat’s tail’, etc.
‘Non-Ptolemaic’ Teucer’s constellations may be interpreted as Ptolemaic, but
mentioned under alternative names. E.g.,
Ophis ‘snake’ which rises with Gemini, may be Lynx or Eridanus (cobra-shaped
Orion is mentioned separatly);
Κάνθαρος ‘scarabaeus’, which rises with Cancer, is Lepus;
Three Charites, which rise with Cancer, may be three-branched Monoceros.
Skaphos (the 1st and 2nd decan of Leo) is Argo;
‘Small Man’, which rises with Leo, may be Canes Venatici;
Phrygian flutes, which rise with the second decan of Leo, are Sextans;
Arotron ‘plough’ (the 2nd and 3rd decan of Virgo) may be Coma Berenices (cf.
Sumerian APIN ‘plough, Triangulum’);
1094
Boll, F. 1903, Sphaera, Leipzig, S. 16-21 etc.
1095
Thompson, G. D. Sphaera Barbarica and Sphaera Graecanica, online at:
http://members.westnet.com.au/gary-david-thompson/page11-14.html
227
Ariadne’s Wreath (the 3rd decan of Libra) is Corona Borealis;
Asclepius, which rises with the second decan of Scorpius is Ophiuchus which
rises with the third decan of Scorpius. In other words, some constellations might be
included into Sphaera under different names.
Hawk, which rises with Sagittarius, is Aquila (Hawk begins to rise from his head
during the first decan while the head of Cygnus, another bird among constellations,
rises later).
Pelagos ‘sea’, which rises with Sagittarius, may be a result of misreading of
Pelargos ‘stork, Cygnus’ (according to Teucer, a Big Bird, or Cygnus, also rises with
Aquarius); another variant of the text of Teucer contains the word pelargos itself1096.
‘Eileithyia on the throne’ is Cassiopeia under different name (she is named
‘woman on a throne’, according to another variant of the text1097).
Big Fish, which rises with Capricornus, is Telescopium (cf. ‘Big Fish’ on the Greek
vessel in the same position, under Odysseus = Sagittarius and Cyclops = Scorpius).
Trokhos ‘Wheel’, which rises with Capricornus is Corona Australis (cf. Wheel =
Corona Australis on the Phaistos Disc).
Nereus, which rises with Capricornus, may be compared to Phorcys in Odyssey
and identified with Telescopium.
Hippocrator, which rises with Aquarius may stand for Bellerophon = Perseus, or
a part of Pegasus; cf. Syrian Horse, which rises with Aries1098 and may be compared
with Perseus (= Bellerophon on Pegasus), and Aramaic prš ‘horseman, cavalry-man’.
Deer, which rises with three decans of Pisces, is horned Camelopardalis.
Crocodile which rises with three decans of Pisces may be Cetus (sea monster) or
less Telescopium.
Zeus, which rises with Pisces1099, may be compared with Cepheus, which rises
with Aries1100 in the same text.
Note: Teucer describes not only morning but also evening rise of constellations without
special destinction. Some examples of constellations which rise in evening are:
Skeptron (the 2nd decan of Taurus) like Cadiceus among lunar mansions (see
below) is Scorpius, cf. Akkadian zuqaqipu ‘Scorpio’;
Trokhos ‘wheel’ (the 1st decan of Gemini) is Corona Australis;
Snake which rises with three decans of Gemini may be not only Lynx or Eridanus
(which rise in the morning this month) but also Serpens or Lacerta (which rise in the
evening);
Lyra and Heracles (the 2nd decan of Gemini) are Lyra and Hercules;
‘the Snake on the Tree which was hunted by Heracles’ (the 2nd decan of Gemini) is
Serpens near Hercules;
1096
Boll, F. 1903, Sphaera, Leipzig, S. 29.
1097
1098
1099
1100
228
Apollo, Lyra, and Dolphin (the 3rd decan of Gemini) are Sagittarius, Lyra, and
Delphinus;
Satyros (the 1st decan of Cancer) may be Capricornus, cf. Pan and Aegipan
‘Capricornus’;
‘the goddes on her throne’ (1st decan of Virgo) is Cassiopeia;
He-goat (three decans of Libra) is Capra in Auriga, cf. Auriga as paranatellom of
the 2nd decan of Libra;
Tauros ‘bull’ (three decans of Scorpius) is Taurus;
Kuon (the 1st decan of Sagittarius) and Argus (the 2nd decan of Sagittarius and the
1st decan of Capricornus) are Canis Major;
En Gonasin ‘Kneeler’ (the 3rd decan of Pisces) is Hercules.
So, the conclusion of Aby Warburg about Sphaera Barbarica
This work is nothing more than a description of the fixed-star heaven, which with the
addition of star names from Egypt, Babylonia, and Asia Minor, surpasses the star catalog of
Aratus almost three times over1101
may be disputed. Perhaps, the constellations of Teucer are neither Babylonian, nor
Egyptian, but reinterpreted Greek constellations with some possible additions like
Telescopium. Some of them are considered to exist under different names. The size of
Teucer’s catalogue caused by 1) the usage of synonyms and 2) the description of
morning and evening constellations, i.e., each constellation is described twice.
Lunar Zodiac
Secondly, it is the lunar zodiac in the magical Papyrus 121, preserved in the British
Museum and dated to the 4th century AD1102, which contains aforesaid lunar
mansions:
(*ὕς ‘swine’,)1103
βοῦς ‘ox’1104,
γύψ ‘vulture’,
ταῦρος ‘bull, Taurus’,
κάνθαρος ‘scarabaeus’ (scarabaeus-shaped Lepus or rather Ophiuchus),
ἱέραξ ‘hawk or falcon’ (Aquila),
καρκίνος ‘crawfish, Cancer’,
κύων ‘dog, Canis Minor or Major’,
λύκος ‘wolf’,
δράκων ‘dragon’ (Cetus),
1101
Cted after: Thompson, G. D. Sphaera Barbarica and Sphaera Graecanica, online at:
1102
Weinstock, S. Lunar mansions and early calendars, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 69 (1949), p.
60; cf. p. 52.
1103
The reconstruction of this single mansion is based on the F. Boll’s list (see below) while the
S. Weinstock’s list consists of 27 mansions (not 28).
1104
Also the constellation Taurus, Max. 162. LSJ
229
ἵππος ‘horse, Pegasus’,
χίμαιρα ‘Chimera, i.e. some constellation near Perseus = Bellerophon’,
θέρμουθις ‘Egyptian asp’ (Lynx? Eridanus? cobra-shaped Orion?),
αἴξ ‘she-goat, Capra’ (modern Capella in Auriga),
τράγος ‘he-goat, a constellation of the δωδεκάωρος’1105 (Taurus or less
Monoceros),
κυνοκέφαλος ‘ape’ (Gemini resembles a monkey head),
αἴλουρος ‘cat’ (a Greek interpretalion of Sumerian AL.LUL ‘crawfish, Cancer’?),
λέων ‘lion, Leo’,
πάρδαλις ‘leopard’ (Camelopardalis or rather Leo Minor, cf. the goddess with a
lion and a leopard),
μυγαλός ‘shrewmouse’ (Leo Minor?),
ἔλαφος ‘deer’ (Sextans, Crater, or Coma Berenices),
πολύμορφος παρθένος ‘girl, Virgo’,
λαμπάς ‘torch’ (Boötes with Arcturus)1106,
ἀστραπή ‘lighting’ (Serpens?),
στέλμα ‘crown’ (Corona Borealis),
κηρύκειον ‘herald’s wand’ (caduceus-shaped Scorpius)1107,
παῖς ‘child’ (Scutum?),
κλείς ‘key’ (Aquila?).
One particular variant of the catalogue of the lunar mansions was the object of
interest of Franz Boll1108. He suggests the following order of constellations:
Schwein1109, Rind, Geier, Stier, Käfer (κάνθαρος), Sperber, Krebs, Hund, Wolf,
Drache, Pferd, Chimaira, Thermuthis (Schlange), Bär, Bock, Kynokephalos (Affe),
Katze, Löwe, Pardel, Wiesel, Hirsch, Vielgestaltige Jungfrau, Lampe (λαμπάς), Blitz,
Kranz (στέλμα), Heroldstab (κηρύκειον), Knabe, Schlüssel.
The order of constellations may be mixed in both lists of the lunar mansions. E.g.,
morning and evening constellations may be mistakenly included in one list (cf.
Dodekaoros).
Dodekaoros
1105
Teucer in Cat. Cod. Astr. 7.204, 8(4).198, Id. in Boll Sphaera 48. Δωδεκάωρος, ἡ, is a circle plate
displaying 12 animal figures embodying the double hours of the Chaldaean νυχθήμερον, Teucerin
Cat. Cod. Astr. 7.195, al. (LSJ).
1106
See: Ridderstad, M.
1107
Geminus’ Κηρυκεῖον is interpreted as Corona Australis (Ramsay, W. Astronomia, in: Smith, W.
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875, pp. 153) but I can’t accept
this interpretation.
1108
Boll, F. Der ostasiatische Tierzyklus im Hellenismus. Vortrag gehalten am 9 April 1912 auf dem
XVI. Internationalen Orientalisten-Kongress zu Athen, T'oung Pao, Second Series, Vol. 13, No. 5 (1912),
p. 711.
1109
Cf. the Minoan image of spear-holded man (Sagittarius), tree-branched plant (Aquila), and a boar
(Centaurus), PM I, p. 718.
230
Thirdly, it is so called Dodekaoros. The name of Dodekaoros, i.e. ‘twelve hours’,
reflects the Babylonian unit of measurement, double hours.
Teucer’s images of paranatellonta of zodiacal constellations are related to
astrological Dodekaoros. One example of Dodekaoros is the ‘Zodiac of Cairo’ or the
‘Daressy Zodiac’, dated from the Roman Imperial Period.1110
‘Depicted on the Daressy Zodiac are the Greek zodiacal signs and associated animals
according to a doctrine called "Dodekaoros." (The astrological doctrine of Dodekaoros is
known to us from the writings of the astrologer Teucrus (circa 1st-century BCE) and the
Byzantine astrologer Rhetorios (circa 600 CE).) There are 2 concentric bands enclosing a
central area. Depicted in the central area are busts of the sun (Sol) as Apollo and the moon
(Luna) as Phoebe (with a bow); and a snake(?). The outer band has the clockwise depiction
of the signs of the Greek zodiac. The inner band has 12 animals depicted. Twelve radial
lines divide the bands into 12 individual sectors. In his book Sphaera (1903) the German
philologist Franz Boll showed that the inner band contains representations of animals that
are associated with the zodiacal signs according to an astrological doctrine called
"Dodekaoros."
The pairs pictorially depicted (juxtapositioned) on the Daressy Zodiac are:
Aries (ram (with belt): cat (sitting),
Taurus (bull): dog, (or jackal)
Gemini (twins (man and woman): serpent,
Cancer (crab): scarabaeus/crab,
Leo (lion): donkey/ass,
Virgo (virgin): lion (walking),
Libra (balance (borne by a man): goat (or gazelle),
Scorpio (scorpion): bull/ox,
Sagittarius (archer (centaur)): falcon,
Capricorn (goatfish): baboon/ape,
Aquarius (waterman): ibis,
Pisces (fishes): crocodile’1111
1110
See the image: Thompson, Gary D., Greek Constellations 14: Sphaera Barbarica and Sphaera
Graecanica, online at: http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page11-14.html See also
Dendera Round Zodiac: the image: www.okemboha.mysteria.cz/7dil.htm ; White, Gavin, A new
interpretation of the Dendera zodiac (from his Babylonian Star-Lore, An Illustrated Guide to the Star-lore and
Constellations of Ancient Babylonia), http://www.solaria-publications.com
1111
Thompson, G. D. Sphaera Barbarica and Sphaera Graecanica, online at:
231
The Greek names of the animals of Dodekaoros are1112:
Another example of Dodekaoros is Bianchini's planisphere, 2nd century A.D. Paris,

Musée du Louvre, inv. Ma 540.
‘Discovered in Rome in the 18th century, this plate displays the surviving fragments of a
planisphere incorporating the so-called "Barbaric Sphere", which depicts the Greek,
Egyptian and Mesopotamian constellations. In the centre we see the constellations of Ursa
Major, Ursa Minor and Draco. The four circles contain images of the Chaldean zodiac, two
Greek zodiacs, an area with numbers that indicate the planets' influence on the individual
signs of the zodiac, and lastly, the Egyptian Decans (the gods who preside over the 10-day
sequence), each with his name. The outer circle shows the faces of the Greek Decans, or
personifications of the seven planetary deities’1113.
‘ ‘Planisphaerium Bianchini’ or ‘Tabula Bianchini’, a marble astrological table. It is dated

not earlier than the 2nd-century CE by Wilhelm Froehner (1869) but is noe thought to likely
date to the 3rd-century CE. The illustration above was included as 1 of 22 engravings
(plates) in l'Origine de tous les cultes ou religion universelle by Charles-François Dupuis (1795)
with the title/description ‘Planisphere astrologique de style Egyptian’. The centre of the
system is drawn on the pole of the ecliptic (with the constellation Draco or Dragon), not on
the pole of the equator (with the constellation Ursa Major) because the Sun's passage
through the sky along the ecliptic is the relevant path for the system of astrology. The
separation of the 2 bear constellations is accurately represented in the central roundel.
Around the central roundel are a series of concentric bands (rings). From the centre
outwards the bands contain: (1) the dodekaoros (i.e., the Egyptian zodiacal signs), (2) and (3)
the Greek zodiacal signs repeated in 2 identical bands, (4) the 36 decans (i.e., the guardians
of each third of each sign, of Egyptian origin like the dodekaoros), and (5) the planetary
deities corresponding to each decan’1114.
1112
After: Chavannes, E. Le Cycle Turc des Douze Animaux, T'oung Pao, Second Series, Vol. 7, No. 1
(1906), p. 120, with the images of Chinese zodiacs.
1113
http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/galileopalazzostrozzi/object/BianchinisPlanisphere.html See also:
Maunder, A. S. D. The origin of the symbols of the planets, The Observatory, Vol. 57, p. 238-247 (1934)
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?
1934Obs....57..238M&data_type=PDF_HIGH&whole_paper=YES&type=PRINTER&am
p;filetype=.pdf
1114
Thompson, Gary D., Greek Constellations 14: Sphaera Barbarica and Sphaera Graecanica
232
Taking into consideration all ideas mentioned above, some comments on
Dodekaoros may be proposed.
Dog or Jackal correlated with Taurus may be Lupus which rises when Taurus sets;
Serpent correlated with Gemini may be Serpens in Ophiuchus which rises when
Gemini sets;
Scarabaeus correlated with Cancer may be scarabaeus-shaped Lepus wich rises
with Cancer;
Donkey correlated with Leo may be Aselli, asterism in Cancer;
Lion correlated with Virgo may be not only Leo but also Leo Minor (possible,
leoparg in ancient iconography of mountain goddess);
Goat or Gazelle correlated with Libra may be Capra in Auriga which rises when
Libra sets;
Bull correlated with Scorpius may be Taurus which rises when Scorpius sets;
Falcon correlated with Sagittarius may be Aquila which rises with Sagittarius;
Baboon correlated with Capricornus may be Gemini looks like the head of baboon:
Gemini rises when Capricornus sets;
Ibis correlated with Aquarius may be Corvus: Aquarius rises when Corvus sets;
Crocodile correlated with Pisces may be Cetus which rises with Pisces or less
Hydra which sets when Piscer rises.
Only Cat correlated with Aries (cf. the same correlation in the Sphaera Barbarica) is
remained without possible identification.
So, the main principle of nomination of the beast in Dodecaoros is astrological
aspect of opposition: rising Lupus – setting Taurus; rising Serpens – Setting Gemini;
rising Capra – setting Auriga; rising Taurus – setting Scorpius; rising Gemini –
setting Capricornus; rising Aquarius – setting Corvus. The second principle is
paranatellonta: Lepus (Scarabaeus) rises with Cancer; Aselli (Donkey) rises before Leo;
Aquila (Falcon) rises with Sagittarius; Cetus (Crocodile) rises with Pisces.
Dodekaoros of Antiochus of Athens (ii c. AD) includes snake or dragon (spring,
Gemini), hawk (summer, Sagittarius), crocodile (autumn, Pisces), and child on the
lotus (winter, Virgo),1115 i.e. snake-shaped Eridanus near Gemini (which rises in
morning at spring), Aquila near Sagittarius (which rises in evening at summer),
water monster Cetus near Pisces (which rises in evening at autumn), and Spica or
Arcturus near Virgo regarded as her child (which rises in evening at winter; cf. Isis
and Horus as Harpocrates = new-born sun, Theotokos and Jesus Christ).
Compare with four forms of Apollo: infans child on the lotus (nord), hawk (south),
crocodile with serpent’s tail (west), winged dragon with a crown (east),1116 or ibis
(east), cynocephalus (west), serpent (nord), and wolf (south)1117
http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page11-14.html , with the image.

1115
Подосинов с. 77.
1116
PGM ii 105–115 (iv–v cc. AD); Подосинов с. 77–78.
1117
PGM viii 6–11; Подосинов с. 78.
233
The hypothesis of Franz Boll about the relations between above-mentioned lists of
lunar mansions and Chinese zodiac (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse,
Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig) seems to be very interesting 1118. Turkic
calendar of the Proto-Bulgarians includes the following beasts: mouse, cow, wolf,
hare, ?, snake, horse, sheep, ?, hen, dog, swine1119. Possible intermediate link between
Crete and China was Seima-Turbino trans-cultural phenomenon.
So, non-Ptolemaic tradition of constellational astronomy is not of Egyptian or
Sumero-Babylonian origin. It does reflect poetic, metaphorical, as it were, non-
barbarian names of constellations.
Possible Pre-Classical Greek Parallels of Egyptian and Arabic Constellations
According to Gary D. Thompson,
It has proved extremely difficult to identify the ancient Egyptian constellations/asterisms

with their modern Western constellation equivalents. There is still unresolved controversy
over the identification of the constellation figures displayed on Egyptian tomb ceilings. The
most recent and the most satisfactory likely identifications of ancient Egyptian constellations
(with modern Western constellations) is set out in Table 6.1 (Pages 162-163) in Lull, José. and
Belmonte, Antonio. (2009). "The constellations of ancient Egypt." In: Belmonte, Juan. and
Shaltout, Mosalam. (Editors). In Search of Cosmic Order: Selected Essays on Egyptian
Archaeoastronomy. Identifications are made for 32 ancient Egyptian constellations. (José Lull
is an Egyptologist and amateur astronomer and Juan Belmonte is an astrophysicist working
in archaeoastronomy and an amateur Egyptologist.) In Table 6.2 (Page 163) Lull and
Belmonte set out 9 further constellation identifications that are subject to disagreement. The
41 constellations (note that due to font limitations the transliterated constellation names are
mostly approximate only) are:
Ancient Egyptian Constellation Name (Transliteration and Translation) / Identification With
Modern Western Constellations
1118
“Accepting Boll's conclusions (as they are generally accepted by experts), we must also conclude
that the Greek original of the Chinese animal set was used in hellenised Egypt not only (as suggested
by the Orphic analogy) in a Lunarium of the common type but in one combined with the mansions as
in the text of the Cromwellianus or in the writings περὶ καταρχῶν”, Weinstock, S. Lunar mansions
and early calendars, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 69 (1949), p. 64. According to the S. Weinstock’s
reconstruction, the lunar mansions are of Babylonian origin and are accepted by the Greeks and the
Indians and then via the Greeks by the Arabians, the Indians (repeatedly), and the Chineses. See also:
Иванов, В.В. Названия лет в двенадцатиричном годовом цикле, Календарно-хронологическая
культура и проблемы ее изучения: к 870-летию «Учения» Кирика Новгородца: материалы научной
конференции (отв. ред. Р.А. Симонов), М., 2006, с. 114–116, online at:
http://hbar.phys.msu.ru/gorm/chrono/kirik.pdf (Sanskrit aśva- horse, paśu- ‘sheep’, makkara ‘ape’,
kukkuta ‘cock’, śvāna ‘dog’, sukhara ‘pig’, mandilya ‘rat’, gova ‘cow, bull’, vyāghra ‘tiger’, śaśa ‘hare’, nāga
‘dragon’, ahi ‘serpent’). “As a matter of speculation it may be suggested as quite possible that the
Egyptians observed the course of the moon amongst the dekanal stars and so arrived at a twenty
seven or twenty eight day grouping, but as yet there is no evidence of this”, Chatley, H. The lunar
mansions in Egypt, Isis, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Apr., 1940), p. 397.
1119
Николов, Н., Време: перипетиите на календара
http://www.euro2001.net/issues/3_1997/7BR97F11.htm
234
1) spdt = Triangle Sirius & its companions
2) s3h = Sah Parts of Orion (Head at the Belt)
3) ‛rt = Jaw Hyades Cluster, with Aldebaran
4) h3w = Myriad or Flock The Pleiades Cluster
5) kd = The Circle or Sheepfold Head of Cetus
6) sb3 n s‛r = Star of fire Capella
7) 3pd = The Bird Triangulum & Perseus
8) ‛ryt = (The 2) Jaw(s) Cassiopeia
9) nht = The Giant From Aquila to the Square of Pegasus
10) tms n hntt = The Red One of the Prow Antares
11) srt = The Sheep or Goat Capricornus, perhaps extending to the area of Grus
12) wi3 = The Boat Sagittarius
13) sb3w ‛š3w = Many Stars Coma Berenices
14) rrt (3st d3mt) = The Female Hippopotamus Big area near the Pole covering from Lyra to
Boötes
15) Crocodile on back of rrt Area of Serpens Caput
16) t٤ nfr = Beautiful Child Spica
17) mnit = Mooring Post Area of Boötes, including Arcturus
18) mshtyw = The Bull's Foreleg The Plough
19) ٤ n(w) = Anu, an avatar of Horus From Lynx to Venatici
20) ipds = Its Own Count or Bright Star β Centauri
21) sbšn = Sage's Star α Centauri
22) wš3ty bk3ty = Twins and Two Ladies Southern Cross
23) d3t = The Ferryboat Area of Argo Navis
24) htp rdwy = Lying on His Feet Hydra
25) m3i = The (Divine) Lion Leo
26) hkw n s‛k = The Plunderer Leo Minor
27) sb3w nw mw = Stars of Water The Praesepe Cluster (M44)
28) tpy-‛ sb3wy = Predecessor of the Two Stars Alhena, in Gemini
29) sb3wy = Pair of Stars Castor and Pollux
30) štwy = The Two Tortoises Procyon and Gomeisa
31) knmt = Cow? Canis Major & Puppis
32) nwt = The Goddess Nut The Milky Way
33) [none] = Standing man of celestial diagram Gemini (Lull) / It may be identical to the giant
(Belmonte)
34) [none] = Triangular shape of celestial diagram An astronomical instrument similar to a
gnomon (Lull) / The constellation mnit of Ramesside clocks (Belmonte)
35) mnitwy = The Mooring Posts One of them is the mnit of Ramesside clocks (Lull) / The posts
held by the Hippopotamus - in Ursa Minor and Draco - they might represent the Celestial and
Ecliptic Poles (Belmonte)
36) srkt = Selkis Goddess Ursa Minor (Lull) / Virgo (Belmonte)
37) kdty = The 2 Nets Between Sagittarius and Scorpius, Corona Australis could be one of them
(Lull) / One of them might be Corona Australis (Belmonte)
38) hnwy = 2 Khanuwy Fishes Region of λ Scorpius (Lull) / α Sagittarius & β Sagittarius
(Belmonte)
39) tm3t = The Wings In Corvus and Crater (Lull) / In the area of Argo Navis (Belmonte)
40) 3hwy = The Two Spirits Square of Pegasus (Lull) / Pisces (Belmonte)
41) b3wy = The Two Souls Alferatz and Algenib, in the Square of Pegasus (Lull) / No
identification (Belmonte).1120
1120
Thompson, G. D. Early Egyptian constellation, online at: http://members.westnet.com.au/gary-david-
thompson/page11-19.html
235
Some comments to this list may be proposed.
The name of kd (No. 5: The Circle of Sheepfold = Head of Cetus) is similar to
Greek Ketos ‘Cetus’ of unknown origin.
The constellation nht (No. 9: The Giant = From Aquila to the Square of Pegasus)
resembles 1) Sumero-Babylonian image of Aquarius as a giant an 2) Laestrygonian
giants (from Aquarius to Taurus) in Odyssea.
The constellation wš3ty bk3ty (No. 22: Twins and Two Ladies = Southern Cross)
resemble the inages of Nausicae and her girl-friends as Southern Cross in Odyssea.
The constellation d3t (No. 23: The Ferryboat = Area of Argo Navis) resembles
Argo.
The constellation hnwy (No. 38: 2 Khanuwy Fishes = Region of λ Scorpius (Lull) /
α Sagittarius & β Sagittarius (Belmonte)) may be fish-shaped Telescopium (located
between Scorpius and Sagittarius) regarded as a fish in Greek iconography.
Some Sumero-Babylonian parallels of Egyptian constellations may be also
proposed.
The name of the constellation tm3t (No. 39: The Wings = In Corvus and Crater
(Lull) / In the area of Argo Navis (Belmonte)) resemble Babylonian Tiamat ‘Hydra’
(near Corvus and Crater), the name related to Akkad. tâmtu ‘sea’.
According to Abū al-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī1121, the Arabic

nomads used own images and names of constellations. Some of these names are
comparable with pre-Classical Greek ones.
Two Calves in Ursa Minor and Two Bulls between Draco’s head and Two Calves
may be compared with Ursa Major and Ursa Minor as “Minoan” oxen.
Outstretched Arm (heads of Gemini) resembles Gemini as a fist on the Phaistos
Disc and in the image of Polydeucus (one among Gemini) as a boxer.
Several stars of Canis Major interpreted as the Virgins1122 resemble the “non-
Ptolemaic” constellation of three maidens.
NEOLITHIC ROOTS OF MINOAN SKY MAP
Neolithic Zodiac and Mountain Mother

1121
Бируни. Краткое вразумление начаткам науки о звездах, in: Бируни, Избранные труды,
Ташкент: Фан, 1975, т. 6, вступит. статья, перевод и примеч. Б.А. Розенфельда и А. Ахмедова, с.
71-74 (text), 278-281 (comments). Cf.: Evershed, M. A. Arab astronomy, The Observatory, Aug. 1935,
No. 735, pp. 237–242.
1122
Samaha, A. H. M. Arabic names of stars, Helwan Observatory, Bulletin No. 39, p. 8–9.
236
Several Balkan Neolithic artifacts are interpreted as possible astronomical objects.
Pre-historical calendars are found in Balkan Peninsula. The famous example is the
lunar calendar with the month divided into decades from Slatino (Bulgaria) 1123.
‘Egyptian-like’ calendar from Slatino consists three seasons, 30-day months, and five
additional days1124. Balkan astronomical knowledge might be depicted on the
Tartaria tablets1125, on the disk from Karanovo (regarded as the celestial map)1126, on
the vessel from Gradeshnitsa1127, on the Eneolithic globe and other artifacts from
Slatino1128.
According to some researchers of XIX c. and modern astronomer A. Gurstein,
zodiac may have Paleolithic origin.
The Cretan and Anatolian images of the Mountain Goddess (Greek Meter Ideia
‘Mother of (the mountain) Ida’, Meter Oreia ‘Mountain Mother’, Meter Theron ‘Mother
of Beasts’)1129 may be related to the location of Virgo as the highest constellation
among other ones, i. e. Virgo as the place of summer solstice during VI-V millennia
BC. Virgo as Mother of Beasts was regarded as main constellation in the ζῳδιακὸς
κύκλος ‘circle of beasts’. However, the beast around Great Mother Goddess might be
Leo and Leo Minor (leopard in ancient iconography), not all zodiacal images.
Greek Κυβέλη or Κυβέκη or Κυβήβη is related to 1) Old Phrygian Matar Kubileya /
Kubeleya (perhaps ‘Mountain Mother’) and 2) Sumerian Kupapa with pre-Sumerian
phonetic structure (‘banana’ substrate).
1123
Nikolov, N, Kharlampiev, V., Zvezdochety.., p. 39. Стойчев, Тодор. Археоастрономия.
Праисторически свидетелства за измерване на времето от България. София, 1998. Compare:
Tchohadjiev S. L’Astronomie a l’âge du cuivre, Dossiers d’histoire et archéologie, CXXXVII, 1989.
1124
Бурганський Г., Фурдуй Р. Загадки давнини, К., 1988, с. 77–78.
1125
Kaulins, A. Balkan Danube script (Transilvania): Planisphere of the heavens ca. 4000 BC
www.megaliths.net/danubescript.png
1126
Flavin, Richard D., The Karanovo zodiac, Epigraphic Society Occasional Papers, Vol. 20, 1991
(released 1992), pp. 37-42, http://www.flavinscorner.com/karanovo.htm ; Flavin, Richard D., The
Karanovo Zodiac and Old European Linear, Epigraphic Society Occasional Papers, 1998, Vol. 23, pp. 86-
92, http://www.flavinscorner.com/kz2.htm
1127
Николов В. Към интерпретацията на керамичната “плочка” със знаци от Градешница //
Изкуство. - 1990. - 2, 47, с. 47-49
1128
Чохаджиев С. Археологически данни за календар от началото на каменно-медната епоха //
Археология. - 1984. - 2-3, с. 1-7; Tchohadjiev S. L’astronomie a l’age du cuivre. Dossiers histoire et
archeologie, 1989. – 137 р.; Tchohadjiev S., Koleva V., Kolev D. A Copper age “Celestial Globe”, Paper
presented at the Fourth “Oxford” Conference on Archaeoastronomy. - Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, in
Oxford IV, Abstracts of Contributions, Oxford, 1993; Чохаджиев С. Слатино – праисторически
селища. - Велико-Търново, 1997; В. Колева, Д. Колев, С. Чохаджиев. Энеолитическая модель
небесной сферы из Западной Болгарии // История и культура Востока Азии. Том I,
Новосибирск: Институт археологии и этнографии СО РАН, 2002
http://www.sati.archaeology.nsc.ru/Home/pub/Data/LARYCH/?html=koleva.htm&id=1330
1129
Ἡ Πότνια Θηρῶν, ‘Mistress of the Animals’ is a term first used (once) by Homer (Iliad xxi 470). See,
e.g., Василева М. Гора, бог и имя: о некоторых фрако-фригийских параллелях, Вестник древней
истории, 1990, № 3, с. 94-100; Munn, Mark, "Kybele as Kubaba in a Lydo-Phrygian Context": Emory
University cross-cultural conference "Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors in Central Anatolia", 2004
(Abstracts).
237
The cult of Mountain Mother or Mother of Beasts (perhaps, of Mesopotamian
origin) coincides with the Proto-Indo-European cult of the Twins. The Age of Gemini
(VI-V millennia BC) coincides with the Proto-Indo-European period. In the Neolithic
and Proto-Indo-European zodiac, Gemini and Virgo were constellations of the vernal
equinox and summer solstice respectively.
Tartaria Tablets: a deep precursor
The first astronomical interpretation of the Tartaria tablets (dated to around 5300
BC)1130 was proposed by Andis Kaulins1131, but I couldn’t accept his identification of
the constellations.
In my opinion, the round Tartarian tablet reflects evening sky around the first
morning rising of the Pleiades which coincided with the spring equinox in the 6th
millennium BC.
NE: Hercules and Corona Borealis.
NW: Ursa Major (cf. the constellation in another tablet), Boötes, Virgo or/and
Coma Berenices, Leo, Cancer (round-shaped in ancient astronomy).
SW: Vela and Crater.
SE: Arcus (Bow in Sagittarius) or Scorpio, Lupus, Centaurus, and Ara.
The tablet and the Phaistos Disc reflect the same principle of calendrical dating:
the combination of constellations on the east and west horizons might be visible only
one or several days.
The vertical line is the meridian of summer solstice. The point of the solstice is
located between Leo and Corona Borealis, i.e. in the stars of Virgo near Libra. The
horizontal line is celestial equator while the hole is the North Pole.
Another Tartarian tablet consist the depiction of morning sky around the first
morning rising of the Pleiades.
NE: Ursa Major.
NW: Ophiuchus. SW: Sagittarius, Capricorn.
SW: Vela and Crater.
SE: Pisces (or Perseus), the Square of Pegasus, Aquarius.
The hole is the North Pole.
The third tablet shows Aquarius (cf. it on the second table) and Capricorn in the
spring equinox morning.
Thus, the Tartaria tablets reflect the morning (before the disappearance of the stars)
and evening (after the appearance of the stars) sky maps at the beginning of year, i.e. at
the time of the first morning rising of the Pleiades.
1130
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%83rt%C4%83ria_tablets The date after: Haarmann, Harald:
"Geschichte der Schrift", C.H. Beck, 2002, p. 20.
1131
http://ancientegyptweblog.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_archive.html
238
239
THE PHAISTOS DISC: AN ASTRONOMER’S INSTRUMENT?
Sign-grouping in the Phaistos Disc: An evidence of non-linguistic/astronomical text
The Phaistos Disc, side A
The Phaistos Disc, side B
240
The symbols of the Phaistos Disc
S. P. B. Durnford named the scripts of the Phaistos Disc, the Arkalokhori Axe, and
the single sign on the seal impression from Phaistos (CMS II.5 246, MM IIb) ‘Mesaran
Pictographic’ (central-southern Crete, near Phaistos), in contrast to ‘non-Mesaran
Pictographic’ (eastern Crete)1132.
‘The date [of the Phaistos Disc] is fixed by the context <…> in which it was
Discovered: at the end of MM III, in the 17th-16th centuries’1133.
The Phaistos Disc contains several sign-groups which may correlate with groups
of constellations, e. g.:
Haired Head-Wheel = hair-like Scorpius and round Corona Australis or lesser
Coma Berenices (‘Hair of Berenice’, but it is later constellation identified in Ptolemaic
Egypt) and round Corona Borealis;
1132
Durnford, S. P. B. Did the Mesara Plain have its own pictographic script during MMII/III?
https://www.academia.edu/28701314/Did_the_Mesara_Plain_have_its_own_pictographic_script_duri
ng_MMII_III_draft
1133
Dow, S. Minoan writing, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 58, No. 2 (Apr., 1954), p. 99.
241
Cypress (or Stick)-Walking Man = stick-like part of Andromeda (βγ) or
Camelopardalis and Perseus (walking man and the biggest constellation, according
to Aratus);
Haired Head-Wheel-Bounded Man-Fig (?)-Fish (A5) = Scorpius-Corona Australis-
Sagittarius-Microscopium-Piscis Austrinus;
Flying Bird-Horn = Cygnus-Vulpecula;
Haired Head-Skin-Boat = Scorpio – skin-shaped Ophiuchos – boat-shaped
Capricornus;
Arrow-Nail-Corner = Aquila or Sagitta-Pegasus-Triangulum;
Walking Man-Hoof = Perseus and hoof-shaped Aries;
Water-Breast = wave-shaped Aquarius and breast-shaped part of Pisces etc/
So it is a non-linguistic /astronomical text, and it will be interpreted in another
chapter of the book.
Sailor’s tool
A1: Haired Head-Wheel-Cypress-Walking Man-Corner = Scorpio-Corona

Australis-Andromeda or Camelopardalis-Perseus-Triangulum. If Scorpio-Corona
Australis point to 205o-257o (near Phaistos) then Camelopardalis-Perseus-Triangulum
point to 20o-85o, i. e. the direction designed by mentioned constellations is about 52o –
about 230o.
A2: Building-Fig (?) or rather Lips-Wheel = Cepheus-Microscopium or mouth-
shaped Pisces-Corona Australis; Cepheus point to 40o-65o while Microscopium-
Corona Australis point to 176o-212o, i. e. the direction is about 52o – about 194o.
A3: Cat’s Head-Stream-Breast = Scutum (Old Norse squirrel between eagle and
snake = Aquila and serpent-like Scorpio) or tail-shaped Boötes with reddish
Arcturus-Aquarius-part of Pisces. Aquarius-part of Pisces point to 124o-172o, i. e. the
direction is about 148o.
So the southern direction changed from about 230o in A1 via about 194o in A2 to
about 155o in A3. According to an old hypothesis, ever sign of the Disc correlates
with a day, so A1-A3, containing 11 signs, correlate with 11 days. During the period,
the direction changes from 257o (western edge of Scorpio) to 124o (eastern edge of the
part of Pisces), i. e. 133o from the first day (the first sign in A1) to the eleventh day
(the third sign in A3), about 13o per day. It is a parameter of the lunar motion while
the Moon was main object of ancient Cretan cult. The direction of reading of the Disc
correlates with the direction of the lunar motion.
Cat-Cat-Bee in A4 may be southern and northern parts of Cetus, and 14 days of
A1-A4 reflects a half of synodic or sideric month.
A5-A6 reflect the same part of the sky, from Scorpio to the part of Pisces; Bounded
Man means Sagittarius while Skin means Ophiuchos.
Since this cluster lies 4º north of the ecliptic, it can be occulted only when the
ascending node of the Moon's orbit is in the Pisces-to-Sagittarius part of the ecliptic.
242
This situation repeats every 18.6 years, the time required for the ascending node to
complete one circuit of the ecliptic.
Lunisolar Calendar
Some regularities of the arrangement of the signs on the Disc can’t be interpreted
at this moment. E. g., 13 fields of the outer circle on side A and 12 fields of the outer
circle on side B bear resemblance to 13 and 12 lunar months; 31 fields on side A and
30 fields on side B may be compared with the number of days in 31-days and 30-days
months. These numbers may be regarded as an evidence of lunisolar calendar.
The distribution of the signs on the side A may be interpreted as several groups:
‘the first circle’ from A1 to A13 contains 48 + 2 signs (including one unreadable
sign). Deleted sign in A8 is the 31th from the start of reading and it might mean the
additional day of month;
‘the second circle’ from A14 to A22 contains 37 signs which are subgrouped by
the repeating signs (12, 13, and 12 signs);
‘the third circle’ from A23 to A28 contains 24 signs;
‘the fourth circle’ from A29 to A31 contains 12 signs.
If the signs may be calculated as months, the ‘1st circle’ = four ‘normal’ years plus
two additional months, the ‘2nd circle’ = three years including one 13-months, the ‘3rd
circle’ = two ‘normal’ years, and the ‘4th circle’ = one ‘normal’ year. This ten-year cycle
(4 + 3 + 2 + 1 years) resembles the Pythagorean tetractis and may be interpreted as a
system of intercalation.
The intercalation system of the Phaistos Disc may be compared with the similar
system of eight-year lunisolar calendar known as octaeteris:
the year 4 is 14-month, the year 6 is 13-month in the ‘decaeteris’ of the Phaistos
Disc;
the years 3, 5, and 8 are 13-month in octaeteris while the ears 9 and 10 (the first and
the second years of the next octaeteris) which may be added to consist ‘decaeteris’
are 12-month.
So, ten years consist 123 months in the ‘decaeteris’ system and the same number
of months in the octaeteris system. The lunisolar calendar of the Phaistos Disc is an
alternative to octaeteris.
The difference between ten solar years (365.25 x 10) and ten l2-months synodic
lunar years (354 x 10) is 112 days. This distance may be compared with 1) 4-month
season of the Disc calendar and 2) four synodic lunar months (118 days).
The field A28 is repeated as the field A31 but this dublication can not be
interpreted as an evidence of a lunar calendar (as some researchers suggest) because
the distance between the identical signs in this field is 12, not 11 signs, and the
distance is not equal to the difference between solar (365 days) and synodic lunar
(354 days) years. However, this distance is 12 days if the solar year is 366-days.
243
Lunar Phases
The fields B22 and B29 are similar, and the distance between two these fields is 29
signs / days, i. e. the synodic lunar month. If the constellations were observed in the
morning, B22 reflects the sky during 18-21 of October and B29 – 16–19 of November
but if the constellations were observed in the evening, B22 reflect the sky during 10–
13 of March while B29 – 8–11 of April, i.e. the last synodic month before the vernal
equinox (occurred on April, 4 ca. 1600 BC and on April, 8 ca. 2100 BC). The
observations of lunar fases around the vernal equinox might be related to the
practice of intercalations.
As it is reflected in the myths, the Minoan Greeks observed the new and full
moon (dark and white sails of Theseus) in several constellations (Europe, literally
‘wide-faced,’ on the bull and Pasiphae, ‘full-shining’, in copulation with the bull = the
full moon in Taurus). Compare with the motif of the murdering of Acrisius (an
anagram of κρίσις, ‘judgement,’ as a designation of Libra) by the Perseus’ disc
symbolizes the full moon in Libra when the sun is located in Perseus; the usage of
shield as a mirror in the battle of Perseus and Medusa symbolizes the observation of
the full moon in the direct opposition to the sun near Algol (the eye of Medusa) in
Perseus.
The Minoan Greeks calculated the lunisolar years very exactly. The motif of the
Athenian human tributes for Minos (seven boys and seven girls) might reflect an
intercalation cycle: the Athenians sent 14 humans to Minos every nine year; one solar
includes 12 synodic months (29.5 x 12 = 354) + 11 days while nine solar years include
108 synodic month + 99 days; if each human of the tribute symbolize the lunar
quarter, 14 humans which must be send every nine years symbolize 98 additional
days or, more exactly, 29.53 ÷ 4 x 14 = 103.355; 29.5 ÷ 4 x 14 = 103.25; 365.25 x 9 =
3287.25; 29.5 x 108 = 3186. So, nine solar years consist 3287.25 days while “Minos
Tribute Calendar” includes 108 synodic lunar months (29.5 x 108 = 3186) + 14
quarters of synodic month (29.5 ÷ 4 x 14 = 103.25) = 3289.25 days. The error is three
days. Theseus dressed two boys as girls, i. e. proposed the correction of calendar. The
“Theseus Revised Calendar” includes 108 synodic lunar months plus 14 quarters of
synodic month minus two days, i. e. 3287.25 days. The Theseus lunisolar calendar
includes 3287 full days per nine years and harmonises the solar and lunar periods.
According to the ancient Greek sources, Theseus was the inventor of Athenian
calendar.
Egyptian Method of Intercalations
According to R. Parker’s hypothesis, the 13th month was added to Egyptian year if
the first heliacal rise of Sirius occurred during the last eleven days of the 12th month.
The first day of the moon’s invisibility after the first morning rise of Sirius was the
244
first day of the year.1134 The repeating of the signs in A28 and A31 with the 12-sign =
12-day distance between the beginnings of two fields might reflect the similar way of
calendrical calculations: the constellations which depicted in A28 and A31 were
observed before the first morning rise of Sirius (11–13 of July in A28 and 23–25 of
July in A31 if the constellations were observed in the evening; the summer solstice
occurred on July, 7 ca. 1600 BC and on July, 11 ca. 2100 BC). Perhaps, the disc might
be created ca. 2100 BC or reflected the sky of this period (see above about the spring
equinox on April, 8).
Venusian Period
The number of signs on the Disc (242) like the number of holes on the Siberian
Paleolithic spiral calendar from the Mal’ta site1135 (243) may be also compared with
the period of the morning or evening visibility of Venus (around 242 days)1136.
The beginning of the season reflected on side A (March 25) approximately
coincided with the beginning of the evening visibility of Venus in 1601, 1609, 1617…
BCE (see above the fields from A6 to the Addition to the field B30 in the first variant
of the interpretation of the Disc calendar). The beginning of the first season in the
second variant of the Disc calendar (August 19) approximately coincided with the
beginning of the evening visibility of Venus in 1603, 1611, 1619… BC and with the
beginning of the morning visibility of the planet in 1608, 1616, 1624… BC. The users
of the Disc might observe the morning or evening Venus during the seasons of the
Disc calendar.
Prediction of the Eclipses
Perhaps, the Disc was used for the measurement of the moon’s movement. The
similar (but manual, not instrumental) measurement was known in Sweden,
according to G. Henriksson. Pre-Christian Sweden priests used the eight-year cycle
of celebrations1137, and the same cycle was known in ancient Crete (this similarity
reflected in the myths of Minos and pre-Christian Uppsala king Aun was described
1134
Куртик, Г. Е. Астрономия древнего Египта, Историко-астрономические исследования, вып. XXII:
На рубежах познания Вселенной / Под. ред. А. А. Гурштейна, М., Наука, 1990, online at:
http://www.astro-cabinet.ru/library/Stat/Egypt_1.htm
1135
Mal’ta-Buret’ culture.
1136
Марченко Г.Ю. Фестський диск – календарно-астрономічний пристрій, Мова та історія, 2004,
вип. 72, с. 123; Марченко Г.Ю. Фестський диск – астрономо-математична система ІІ тис. до н.е.,
Мова та історія, 2006, вип. 86, с. 138–139.
1137
Henriksson, G. The Pagan Great Midwinter Sacrifise and the ‘royal’ mound at Old Uppsala,
Calendars, Symbols, and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture. Proceedings of the 9 th annual meeting
of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC). Uppsala, 2003, p. 15.
245
by J. G. Frazer). So, some other parallels in the calendrical traditions may be
assumpted.
Uppland farmers determined the dates of the next full moon by measuring the moon’s
distance at sunset… The distance between the thumb and the forefinger was called a ‘span’
and corresponded to the moon’s movement during a 24-hour period1138.
This distance between the thumb and the forefinger is similar to the diameter of
the Phaistos Disc. The mentioned diameter (16 cm) is the equivalent of the angular
size of the Disc (around 13o) if it is observed on the distance of the outstretched arm
(75-80 cm). This angular size correspond with the angular distance which passed by
the moon during 24 hours. Perhaps, the sidereal period of the moon was measured
by the Disc. The sidereal month (27.321661 days or 27d 7h 43m 11.5s) is similar to the
draconic month (27.212220 days or 27d 5h 5m 35.8s).
The number of the signs on the Phaistos Disc (242 plus one deleted sign in the field
A8) corresponds with the number of the draconic month (242) in the saros (the eclipse cycle
which contains 18 years 11 days or 6585.322 days)1139. Compare with the Paleolithic
calendrical object from the Siberian Mal’ta Site which might be not only annual
calendar1140 but also the instrument for the prediction of lunar eclipses, according to
V. E. Larichev’s hypothesis.
If the signs of the Disc might be calculated not only as days but also as months,
the Minoan Greek astronomers might count the month of possible future eclipse by the
signs while the day of the eclipse by the whole Disc as an instrument for measuring the
moon’s distance to calculate the date of the next full moon and the place of its
location on the sky. The Antikythera mechanism reflects the usage of more exact
eclipse cycle, triple saros or exeligmos1141. The similar cycle is reflect in Stonehenge
(according to G. Hawkins’ hypothesis) and in the Apocalyptic ‘the Beast’s number’
666 (cf. 669 synodic month of exeligmos and the term draconic).
The possibility of the usage of the Disc for the prediction of the (lunar) eclipse may
be investigated more correctly in the future researches.
1138
Henriksson, G. The Pagan Great Midwinter Sacrifise and the ‘royal’ mound at Old Uppsala,
Calendars, Symbols, and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture. Proceedings of the 9 th annual meeting
of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC). Uppsala, 2003, p. 19.
1139
223 synodic months is approximately equal to 242 draconic months, which is approximately equal
to 239 anomalistic months.
1140
Фролов Б. А. Числа в графике палеолита. Новосибирск, Наука. 1974. С.124.
1141
“The mechanism predicted lunar and solar eclipses on the basis of Babylonian arithmetic-
progression cycles”, see: Freeth, T., Bitsakis, Y., Moussas, X., H. Seiradakis, J., Tselikas, A., Mangou,
H., Zafeiropoulou, M., Hadland, R., Bate, D., Ramsey, A., Allen, M., Crawley, A., Hockley, P.,
Malzbender, T., Gelb, D., Ambrisco, W. and Edmunds, M. G. (2006). ‘Decoding the ancient Greek
astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism’, Nature 444, 587-591.
246

Hellenic Origin of Europe

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Hellenic Origin of Europe

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ἙΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ HELLENIC

Formation of the Greeks 4600–2600 BC

Sourse of the image on the front cover:

Design of the front cover by N. A. N.

ΓΙΟΥΡΙ ΛΕΟΝΙΝΤΟΒΙΤΣ ΜΟΣΕΓΚΗΣ Ουκρανία

From Proto-Indo-European to Common Paleo-Balkan p. 8

Several unknown Paleo-Balkan languages and substrates, adstrates, loans in Greek

Cucuteni-Trypillia – Troy – Mainland Greece p. 42

Pre-Greek Aegean: Tyrsenian p. 61

Cretan Hieroglyphics: the script for kings and goddesses p. 80

Hieroglyphs beside hieroglyphics p. 92

High precision astronomical chronology of Eneolithic-Bronze Greece p. 147

Greek world in the Bronze Age: Long-distance contacts p. 169

Cretan theocracy: an interdisciplinary model p. 196

Astronomy and calendar p. 206

In search of Minoan star catalogue p. 220

Neolithic roots of Minoan sky map p. 238

The Phaistos Disc: an astronomer’s instrument? p. 241

FROM PROTO-INDO-EUROPEAN TO COMMON PALEO-BALKAN

Archaeology, archaeogenetics, physical anthropology

Proto-Indo-European Vinča (or even Pre/Proto-Sesklo which might also be ‘Proto-Indo-Hurro-

Primary diversification of the Proto-Indo-European language may correspond

> Boian > Gumelniţa

> Lengyel > (a part of)

Secondary diversification of non-Hittite-Tocharian Indo-European languages may

Main Y haplogroup of Indo-European elite was R1a of northern origin, a close

Acc. to S. A. Starostin’s ‘re-calibrated glottochronology’, the divergence of

Sea Peoples were mainly of Paleo-Balkan origin

Archaeological and archaeogenetic evidence give a possibility to reconstruct a

Pre-Romanian: substrates and loans

Proto-Sami (I1) and Pre-Romanian/Albanian (I2):

Pelasgians and their language

V. I. Georgiev interprets Pelasgian as the satem component of Greek and the

Unknown ‘Dithyrambic’ Greek dialect may be reconstructed: the Greek names of

Paleo-Balkan elements in Burushaski

Indo-European-like elements in Burushaski may be interpreted in several vays:

Homer (Od. 19.172–177) mentioned Eteocretans, alongside Cydonians, Pelasgians,

The Psychro inscription

Phrygian-like elements in Linear A?

Phrygian-like elements in Linear A might reflect archaic Greek-Macedonian-Phrygian dialectal

In addition to Phrygian interpretation of Eteocretan inscriptions, several phonetic

In addition to well-known interpretations of Cypro-Minoan as Hurrian

Cretan royal dialect?

Many ‘pre-Greek’ words might be 1) irregular Greek/Paleo-Balkan and 2) loans of

Two types of ‘pre-Greek’ words: ‘non-regular’ Greek/Paleo-Balkan elements and loans

Ancient Greek theonyms: substrates vs loans

Native Greek terms of viniculture

Polynesians in pre-historical Greece or enigmatic coincindance

‘Proto-Linear A’ of Troy II–V (2600–1900 BCE) is preceded by ‘pre-Linear A’ of Cucuteni A-B

Proto-Greeks/Paleo-Balkanians and their writing

Cucuteni-Trypillia source of Minoan culture is a very old idea which traced to

истории древнегреческого общества: Доисторический эгейский мир (Москва 1958), с. 252

Earliest Aegean states: Pelasgian Early Helladic II,

In terms of chronological development, indications of a more complex social and political

Troy II ‘signs resembling letters’ (from Schliemann’s Ilion I):

Troy IV signs from Ilion 2:

Two possible Linear A inscriptions (including aforementioned one) were

Schliemann, Ilion, Bd. 2220

The first inscription is also published in A. G. Sayce’s supplement to Ilion 2, and

Aegean-related Trialeti, Gutians, and the first Armenian dynasty

Traditional idea of ‘Coming of the Greeks’ contradicts with, firstly, Herodotus’

The EH II activity in building (including fortified settlements such as Manika)

Cambridge University Press, p. 49; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helladic_period

a) CAT LEG-FOOT–ne-we-ja = kat πούς-ne-we-ja = katte ΠοτνιεϜιας, ‘king, of the