University College london Department of Mtcient History A thesis submitted in accordance with ...

239 Pages·2008·10.78 MB·English

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Summary
The present research was conducted. with the aim of better under-
standing of Linear B texts through the help of the Near Eastern parallels.
The method chosen was the comparison between individual texts and
groups of texts and not between the "models" reconstructed for this
or that society. Several restrictions for such a comparison were
set up. The comparison itself was limited to the problems of manpower
(lists of personnel, ration lists, land-surveys). The best parallels
for Mycenaean records of work-teams (male and femal were found among
the Sumerian documents from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur,
for the quotas of conscripts from specific villages - in Ugarit, and
for the texts dealing with the land tenure and the organisation of
the cultic personnel - among the Hittite cuneiform texts and Luwian
hieroglyphic Kululu lead strips.
The attempt was made to reconstruct the structure of the productive
population in Mycenaean Greece and to find its place among other societies
of the Ancient World.
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LIST 01' ABBREVIATIONS
A Oriental Institute, University of Chicago (museum
numbers)
AB As syrlo lo gis che Bibliotek
XXV J. B. Nies, Ur Dynasty Tablets, Leipzig, 1920
AC L'antiguit classicue, Bruxefles
AfO Archiv fr Orientfbrsehun, Berlin
AHw W. von Sohden, Akkadisches Handwrterbuch, Wiesbaden,
1965-81
AJA American Journal of Archaeo:lo Ey, Princeton
AJSL American Journal of Semitic Lanzuages and Literatures,
Chicago
Anato lica Anatolica (Institut historique et archogique
neerlandais a Istanbul), Leiden
An. Or. Analecta Orientalia, Roma
A0 Antiquits orientales, Muse de Louvre (museum
numbers)
AOS American Oriental Series
Ar. Or. Archly 0rient1n, Journal of the Czecs1ovak
Oriental Institute, Prague
A R. D. Blggs, Inscriptions from Tell Ab Sa1bThh,
Chicago, 1974
Ashm. Ashmolean Museum (museum number
ASJ Acta Sumero]ica, Hiroshima
II T. Gomi, Neo-Sumerian Administrative Tablets
in the British Museum, I

III II II
Assur Assur, Monographic Journal of the Near East,
Malibu (California)
AT D. 3. Wiseman, The Alalakh Tablats, Loaa±n, 1953
Athenaeum Athenaeum, Studi periodici di literature e storia
deli $ anti ehit, I'avia
Atti Ronia Atti e memorie del 10 nresso internazionale
di miceno]o gla, Boma, 1968
AWL 3. Bauer, Altsuinerische Wirtschaftstexte aus
Lagah (Studia Pohi), Roma, 1972
- IV -
Bulletin de correspondance heUnigue,
BCH
Paris
The Baby]nian Expedition of the University
BE
of Pennsylvania
III D. W. Myhrman, Sumerian Administrative
Documents Dated in the Reigns of the Second
Dynasty of Ur from the Temple Archives
of Nippur, Philadelphia, 1910
Belleten, Revue publie par la Socit
Belleten
d'histoire turque, Ankara

Babylnian Ins criptions of the Collection
BIN
of J. B. Nies
VIII G. G. Hacknian, Sumerian and Akkadian
Administrative Texts from Predynastic
Times to the End of the Akkad Dynasty,
New Haven, 1958
British Museum (museum nunibers)
BM
Bulletin de la Socit de linguistique,
BSL
Paris
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
BSOAS
African Studies, London
The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental
CAD
Institute tf Chica, Chicago, 1964-84
R. Cagnat, Inscriptiones traecae ad Res
Ca gnat
Ronianas Pertinentie, Paris, 1911
Cambridge co floquluni Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium
on Mycenaean Studies (ed. L. R. Palmer,
J. Chadwick) Cambridge, 1966
The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental
Institute of the University of Chica,
(ed. H. G. Gterbook, H. A. Hoffner)
Chicago, 1980 -83
Colloquium inycenaeum (ed. E. Riach, H.
CM
Mi11este1n), Neuchatel/Geneva, 1979
Cotnpte rendu de Rencontre assyriokgique
craAI
internationale XVIII (ed. D. 0. Edzard)
Munchen, 1972
- v--
•- ,
CSA Cahiers do la Societe asiatique
CT Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British
Museum
I, III, V L. W. King, 1898
VII H H 1899
Ix,x " 1900
L E. Soilberger, 1972

Cm E. Laroch, Catalogue des textes hittites, 2 ed.
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CUOS Columbia University Oriental Studies
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1906
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DP A.de la Fu-e, Documents prsargonigue, Paris, 19)8-
192J
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B
FGH F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechlschen Histariker,
Berlin/Leiden, 1923-54
G].o tta Glotta, Zeitschrift f?r gihische und lateinische
Spreche, ttingen
His to na Historia, Zeitschrift ftir alto Geschlchte, Wiesbaden
HLC G. A. Barton, Haverford Library Collection of Cunei-
form Tablets or Documents from the Temple Archives
of Telloh, 1-111, Philadelphia/London, 1905-14
HSS Harvard Semitic Series
IV M. I. Hussey, Sumerian Tablets in the Harvard
Semitic Museum II, Cambridge (Mass.), 1915
HT Hittite Texts in the Cuneiform Character in the
British Museum, London, 1920
IBo T Istanbul Arkeoloiji Mzeleninde Bulunan Boaz1y
Tableterinden Metinler,
I H. Bozkurt, M. çi, H. G. Gterbock, 1944
- VI -
IC Inscriptiones Creticae, I-IV, ed. M. Guarducci, Rome.,
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XII ed. F. Huller de Gaertringen, Berlin, 1895
IM Die Inschriften von Magnesia am Maender, ed. 0. Kern,
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'Os Institute of Oriental Studies, Cambridge 1(museum numbers)
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Jes Journal of Cuneiform Studies, New Haven
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II " " Sumerian Economic Texts from the Utnma Archive,
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XXXI J. Sturm, H. Otten, 1939
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LS Lands chenkungeurkuriden
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MCS Manchester CuneiIbrm Studies, Manchester
MDP Mnoirs de la D1gation en Perse, Paris
II V. Scheil, 1900
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MPM M. Lejeune, Meinoires de philologie mycenienne,
I Paris, 1958
II Rome, 1971
III Rome, 1972
MS Mycenaean Studies (ed. E. L. Bennett), Madison, 1964
MSS Mnchener Studien zur Sprachw1sserichaft, Mnchen
MVAG Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatisch-gyptisch Gesellschaft,
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il
MVN Materiali per v cabularic n sumerico, Roina
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II H. Sauren, Wirtschaftsurkunden des Muse d'artes
et dthislx,ire in Genf, 1974
IV L. Cagni, La cxlleczione del Pontificio Istituto
B1b1io -Roina,
G. Pettinab,, La colleczlone della Collegiata
dei SS. Pietro e Orso-Aosta, 1976
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V E. Soilberger, The Pinches Manuscript, 1978
VI, VII G. Pettinato, S. A. Piochioni, Testi econoinici
di Laga del museo di Istanbul, I-Il, 1977-78
XII T. Gomi, Wirtschaftstexte der Ur Ill-Zeit aus
dein british Museum, 1982
NAT D. I. Owen, Ne -Sumerian Archival Texts Primarily
from Nippur in the University Museum, Oriental Institute
and the Iraq Museum, Winona Lake, 1982
Nebraska N. W. Forde, Nebraska Cuneiform Texts f the Sumerian
Ur III Dynasty, Lawrence, 1976
Nik. M. B. HTKOflJ,CKX, JIoKyMeHTZ xo3RcTBeRHo4
oTqeTMocTI jpeBHeime 3flOM Xane co6paH
H. fl. jiIxaqeBa, i-Il, C116/M. 1908-15
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uruppak au Muse d'Istanbul, Paris, 1957
NY H. Sauren, Lee tablettes cuniforines de 1poue
d'Ur des oDUections de la New York Public Library,
Louvain-la-Neuve, 1978
Or. Orientalia, Roin
4 A. Deiniel, Die Veruiessun der Felder bel den uinerern
urn 3000 v. Chr., 1924
34/35 " Die Lohnlisten aus der Zeit Urukaginas
und seines Vorangers, 1928
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RA Revue dtassyriolgie et d'arch6ologie orientale,
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REG Revue des 'etudes recgues, Paris
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RF Rivista di filoigia e di istruzione classica,
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RHA Revue hittite et asianigue, Organe de la Socit
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RIAA L. Speleers, Recueil des inscriptions de 1'Asie
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RP Revue de philologie, Paris

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TM Tell Mardikh (excavation number
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au Muse de Stamthul, Paris, 1935
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IX D. Loding, 1976
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Roina, 1972
UT C. Gordon, UEaritic Textinok, Rome, 1965
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XIII H. H. Figulla, Leipzig, 1914
WF A. Deimel, Wiftscbaftstexte aus Fara, Leipzig, 1924
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YOS Yale Oriental Series
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ZA Zeitschrift fr Assyrio]ogie und verwandte Gebiete, Leipzig!
Berlin
iva antika, Skopje
BeCTHWIC 1fcTOpw, MocKBa
B3U
P11'AI4MK 3BCTW5! rocyapcTBeHHo* Aicajievww CTopI!w MaTepa3IBHo
KynLTypu XMHI H. SI. Mappa, MocKBa
C3 C0BeTcKaR aTHorpaw5!, MocicEa
I PRINCIPLES OF COMPARISON
1. The reasons for comparison
Ever since the discovery that the Linear B texts were written
in Greek, they have been studied for this very reason by Greek scholars.
No student of Greek can however resist the impression that a huge
gap separates Mycanaean written documents from the classical literary
tradition: to begin with the material used for writing, the curious
and inadequate system of the script and above all the subject of the
texts themselves - all are completely unfamiliar to him. I suspect
that the underlying reasons for some of the early rejections of the
decepherment were the feelings of frustration its results created. Indeed,
the Mycenaean "documentary evidence" looks dull and uninformative
in comparison with the impressive monuments of Greek classical literature,
1
as has been emphasised by Levin
Unfortunately, thirty years of Mycenological research have
produced as a convincing answer to hostile critics, neither a universally
accepted picture of Mycenaean society, nor yet an unambiguous interpretation
of almost any important Linear B document. The Mycenologists should
not be blamed for this situation since the restrictions imposed by
the material itself are severe: the Linear B corpus is too small to
provide material for a fully independent elucidation of the meaning
of each word from the context, while the writing system Is too inadequate
for Greek phonology to secure the identification of each word with
its Greek equivalent. Even more Important are the limitations imposed
by the nature of the texts: the first surviving documents of a similar
type were written In Greece only about 2,00) years later, during the
Byzantine period2, while the chronologically closest Greek texts and
main pool of etymologies are Homeric epics. Obviously, the context
and the vocabulary of the heroic epos differs so much from the Mycenaean
inventories that even if etymologies could be safely established,
the meaning of many words would remain obscure.