Cretan hieroglyphs - Wikipedia 28/04/2019 13:55

Cretan hieroglyphs
Cretan hieroglyphs are generally considered undeciphered hieroglyphs
found on artefacts of early Bronze Age Crete, during the Minoan era. It
Cretan hieroglyphs
predates Linear A by about a century, but the two writing systems
continued to be used in parallel for most of their history.[1]

Contents
Corpus
Signs
A green jasper seal with Cretan
Chronology
Fonts hieroglyphs. 1800 BC

Notes Type Undeciphered

Footnotes (presumed
ideographic, possibly
References with a syllabic
Further reading component)
External links Languages 'Minoan' (unknown)
Time MM I to MM III 2100–
period 1700 BC
Corpus
Status Extinct
In 1989, Jean-Pierre Olivier described the state of the Cretan hieroglyphs Parent Proto-writing
corpus as follows, systems
Cretan hieroglyphs
In short, our Corpus is composed of two distinct parts:
Sister Linear A
systems
1. Seals and sealings (c. 150 documents)
2. Other documents (mainly archival inscriptions)
inscribed on clay (c. 120 documents).
The seals and sealings represent about 307 distinct sign-
groups, consisting all together of ± 832 signs. The other
inscriptions represent about 274 distinct sign-groups,
consisting all together of ± 723 signs.[2]

More documents, such as those from the Petras deposit, have been published since then.

The known corpus has been edited in 1996 as CHIC (Olivier/Godard 1996), mainly excavated at four locations:

"Quartier Mu" at Malia (MM II)

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the hieroglyphic deposit at Malia palace (MM III)

the hieroglyphic deposit at Knossos (MM II or III)
the Petras deposit (MM IIB): a hieroglyphic archive excavated starting in 1995. Definitive edition was published in
2010.[3]
The corpus consists of:

clay documents with incised inscriptions (CHIC H: 1-122)

sealstone impressions (CHIC I: 123-179)
sealstones (CHIC S: 180-314)
the Malia altar stone
the Phaistos Disc
the Arkalochori Axe
seal fragment HM 992, showing a single symbol, identical to Phaistos Disk glyph 21.
The relation of the last three items with the script of the main corpus is uncertain.

Some Cretan Hieroglyphic (as well as Linear A) inscriptions were also found on the island of Samothrace in the
northeastern Aegean.[4]

It has been suggested that there was an evolution of the hieroglyphs into the linear scripts. Also, some relations to
Anatolian hieroglyphs have been suggested.

The overlaps between the Cretan script and other scripts, such as the hieroglyphic scripts of Cyprus and
the Hittite lands of Anatolia, may suggest ... that they all evolved from a common ancestor, a now-lost
script perhaps originating in Syria.[5]

Signs
Symbol inventories have been compiled by Evans (1909), Meijer (1982),
and Olivier/Godart (1996). The known corpus was edited in 1996 as CHIC
(Olivier/Godard 1996), listing a total of 314 items (documents).

The glyph inventory as presented by CHIC includes 96 syllabograms Cretan hieroglyphs (1900-1600 BC)
(representing sounds), ten of which double as logograms (representing on a clay bar from Malia or Knossos,
Crete. As exhibited at Heraklion
words or portions of words).
Archaeological Museum, Crete,
Greece. Dots represent numerals
There are also 23 logograms representing four levels of numerals (units,
tens, hundreds, thousands), numerical fractions, and two types of
punctuation.

Many symbols have apparent Linear A counterparts, so that it is tempting to insert Linear B sound values.

Chronology
The sequence and the geographical spread of Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A, and Linear B, the three overlapping, but
distinct, writing systems on Bronze Age Crete and the Greek mainland can be summarized as follows:[6]

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Writing Geographical area Time span[a]

system

Cretan c. 2100–1700
Crete (eastward from the Knossos-Phaistos axis)
Hieroglyphic BC[5][7]

Crete (except extreme southwest), Aegean islands (Kea, Kythera, Melos, c. 1800–1450
Linear A
Thera), and Greek mainland (Laconia) BC[8][9][10][11]

Linear B Crete (Knossos), and mainland (Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes, Tiryns) c. 1450–1200 BC

Fonts
Fonts Aegean and Cretan support Cretan hieroglyphs.

Notes
a. Beginning date refers to first attestations, the assumed origins of all scripts lie further back in the past.

Footnotes
1. Yule 1981, 170-1
2. Jean-Pierre Olivier, The Relationship between Inscriptions on Hieroglyphic Seals and those Written on Archival
Documents (PDF file). (http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/aegeum/Aegaeum5(pdf)/Olivier.pdf) in Palaima,
Thomas G, ed., Aegean seals, sealings and administration. Université de Liège, Histoire de l'art et archéologie de
la Grèce antique, 1990
3. Metaxia Tsipopoulou & Erik Hallager, The Hieroglyphic Archive at Petras, Siteia (with contributions by Cesare
D’Annibale & Dimitra Mylona). Download PDF file 60 MB (http://www.petras-excavations.gr/sites/petras-excavatio
ns.gr/files/M.Tsipopoulou-E.Hallager%202010.pdf) Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens, volume 9. The
Danish Institute at Athens. Athens, 2010 ISBN 978-87-7934-293-4
4. Margalit Finkelberg, Bronze Age Writing: Contacts between East and West. (http://www2.ulg.ac.be/archgrec/IMG/
aegeum/aegaeum18(pdf)/31%20Finkelberg.pdf) In E. H. Cline and D. Harris-Cline (eds.). The Aegean and the
Orient in the Second Millennium. Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Symposium, Cincinnati, 18–20 April 1997.
Liège 1998. Aegeum 18 (1998) 265-272.
5. Rodney Castleden, Minoans. (https://books.google.com/books?id=g8eIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA100) Routledge, 2002
ISBN 1134880642 p.100
6. Olivier, J.-P. (1986). "Cretan Writing in the Second Millennium B.C.". World Archaeology. 17 (3): 377–389 (377f.).
doi:10.1080/00438243.1986.9979977 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00438243.1986.9979977).
7. Andrew Robinson (27 August 2009). Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=zcXH52jICOEC&pg=PT55). OUP Oxford. pp. 55–. ISBN 978-0-19-157916-5.
8. "The Danube Script and Other Ancient Writing Systems:A Typology of Distinctive Features" (https://www.scribd.co
m/doc/138393335/The-Danube-Script-and-Other-Ancient-Writing-Systems-A-Typology-of-Distinctive-Features).
Harald Haarmann. 2008.
9. Literacy and History: The Greeks (https://books.google.com/books?id=K2zOhNL5skcC&pg=PA2). R.I.C.
Publications. 2007. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-1-74126-506-4.
10. Khosrow Jahandarie (1999). Spoken and Written Discourse: A Multi-disciplinary Perspective (https://books.google
.com/books?id=0R52Nzw_0c4C&pg=PA200). Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 200–. ISBN 978-1-56750-427-9.
11. Paul Wheatley. The Origins and Character of the Ancient Chinese City, Volume 2: The Chinese City in

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11. Paul Wheatley. The Origins and Character of the Ancient Chinese City, Volume 2: The Chinese City in
Comparative Perspective (https://books.google.com/books?id=Lb7jyuLpd0YC&pg=PA381). Transaction
Publishers. pp. 381–. ISBN 978-0-202-36769-9.

References
Olivier, J.-P. (1986), "Cretan Writing in the Second Millennium B.C.", World Archaeology, 17 (3): 377–389,
doi:10.1080/00438243.1986.9979977 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00438243.1986.9979977)
Yule, Paul (1981), Early Cretan Seals: A Study of Chronology. Marburger Studien zur Vor und Frühgeschichte (htt
p://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/yule1981/) (4), ISBN 3-8053-0490-0

Further reading
W. C. Brice, Notes on the Cretan Hieroglyphic Script: I. The Corpus. II. The Clay Bar from Malia, H20, Kadmos 29
(1990) 1-10.
W. C. Brice, Cretan Hieroglyphs & Linear A, Kadmos 29 (1990) 171-2.
W. C. Brice, Notes on the Cretan Hieroglyphic Script: III. The Inscriptions from Mallia Quarteir Mu. IV. The Clay
Bar from Knossos, P116, Kadmos 30 (1991) 93-104.
W. C. Brice, Notes on the Cretan Hieroglyphic Script, Kadmos 31 (1992), 21-24.
M. Civitillo, LA SCRITTURA GEROGLIFICA MINOICA SUI SIGILLI. Il messaggio della glittica protopalaziale,
Biblioteca di Pasiphae XII, Pisa-Roma 2016.
G. M. Facchetti La questione della scrittura «geroglifica cretese» dopo la recente edizione del corpus dei testi.
Pasiphae: Rivista di filologia e antichita egee. 2007.
A. Karnava. The Cretan hieroglyphic script of the second millennium BC: description, analysis, function and
decipherment perspectives (http://difusion.ulb.ac.be/vufind/Record/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/211862/H
oldings). Unpublished dissertation, Bruxelles, 1999, vol. 1-2.
J.-P. Olivier, L. Godard, in collaboration with J.-C. Poursat, Corpus Hieroglyphicarum Inscriptionum Cretae (http://
cefael.efa.gr/detail.php?nocache=49f5g0j2g2p7&site_id=1&actionID=page&prevpos=1&serie_id=EtCret&volume
_number=31&issue_number=0&cefael=03c32504ed2f8146755ee543818167f0&max_image_size=439&x=10&y=
8&sp=3) (CHIC), Études Crétoises 31, De Boccard, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-86958-082-7.
G. A. Owens, The Common Origin of Cretan Hieroglyphs and Linear A, Kadmos 35:2 (1996), 105-110.
G. A. Owens, An Introduction to «Cretan Hieroglyphs»: A Study of «Cretan Hieroglyphic» Inscriptions in English
Museums (excluding the Ashmolean Museum Oxford), Cretan Studies VIII (2002), 179-184.
Revesz, Peter Z. "A computer-aided translation of the Cretan Hieroglyph script" (http://www.iaras.org/iaras/filedow
nloads/ijsp/2016/003-0017.pdf) (PDF). International Journal of Signal Processing (Vol. 1, (2016)): 127–133.
I. Schoep, A New Cretan Hieroglyphic Inscription from Malia (MA/V Yb 03), Kadmos 34 (1995), 78-80.
J. G. Younger, The Cretan Hieroglyphic Script: A Review Article, Minos 31-32 (1996–1997) 379-400.
P. Yule, Early Cretan Seals: A Study of Chronology. (http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/yule1981/) Marburger
Studien zur Vor und Frühgeschichte 4 (Mainz 1981), ISBN 3-8053-0490-0

External links
The Cretan Hieroglyphic Texts (http://people.ku.edu/~jyounger/Hiero/)

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