The Υ/ζ distribution in Sidetic coin legends

The aim of this paper is to present strong evidence that confirms the different but related value of the Sidetic letters Υ and ζ in the light of the testimony of a singular Sidetic coin legend. We draw attention to certain variants of coin legends that may help to determine the proper value of both signs. The evidence also establishes that the Sidetic inventory distinguished between the five vowels a, e, i, o, u and the two semivowels j, w.

Eteocypriot in the Bronze Age? The Cypro- Minoan cylinder from Enkomi as an accounting document

The terracotta cylinder from Enkomi is the longest extant text in Cypro-Minoan 1, but its content is completely unknown. Scholars have held that it uses two different signs for word-dividers. However, it is here argued that one set of these signs is actually numerals, and that this is an accounting-document which uses single-sign abbreviations as on the classical Idalion tablet. Analysis of the resulting ‘entries’ on the cylinder yields sign-groups with terminations in -o-ti resembling those in the corpus of classical Eteocypriot texts; this similarity suggests linguistic continuity from the Bronze Age to the classical period.

Some reflections on morphology in the language of the Linear A libation formula

The well-known Minoan libation formula is the richest source of information about the grammar of the language(s) of Linear A that is currently available. The following article will proceed from the assumptions that the language has a Verb-Subject-Object (VSO] word order and a complex polysynthetic verb, and on the basis of these assumptions attempt to draw some conclusions about the morphology, both nominal and verbal, of the language in question. It will attempt to work through the logical possibilities for the elements of the libation formula, and draw conclusions about the most likely interpretations of the morphology of these elements. Such conclusions are necessarily tentative, and in some cases, due to the paucity of available data, it will not be possible to reach any conclusion. However, there will be suggestions for future research, should more information become available.

Scrittura e atti di scrittura: riflessioni su alcune novità editoriali

La nuova pubblicazione in Italia del libro di S. Ferrara, La grande invenzione. Storia del mondo in nove scritture diverse (Milano 2019), rappresenta uno dei piu recenti tentativi di affrontare il complesso fenomeno della nascita e dello sviluppo di sistemi scrittori nella storia secondo schemi innovativi. Con questo contributo l’Autore intende, partendo da un’analisi critica dell’opera in oggetto, aprire un dibattito sui modi e le prospettive di approccio al fenomeno scrittorio, puntualizzando, allo stesso tempo, i risultati raggiunti nell’ambito di una serie di ambiti della ricerca sui sistemi scrittorî piú conosciuti.

The onager kings of Anatolia: Hartapus, Gordis, Muška and the steppe strand in early Phrygian culture

The article discusses a complex of questions associated with the king Ḫartapus and early culture of the Phrygians. §§ 1-3 revise the evidence of the newly discovered HLuw. inscription TÜRKMEN-KARAHÖYÜK, arguing that the correct reading of king’s name in the first line is AQUILA+ra/i-tá-pu-sa = Ḫartapus, and (once again) that the king is not a conqueror, but a native king of Masa or Muška, who reigned in the late 2nd millennium BC. In §§ 4-5 it is suggested that HLuw. Ḫartapus conceals an early Phrygian name preserved in the toponym *Γαρδιβιον (*Γαρδυβιον) attested in the inscriptions of the Xenoi Tekmoreioi. §§ 6-11 argue that the name *Gardabos is connected with Sanskrit gardabhá- ‘donkey’, that it corresponds semantically to the west-Anatolian names Tarkasnawas and Tarkašnalliš, and that donkey ears of King Midas are a late ‘refraction’ of this fact. § 12 discusses the morphological structure of *Gardabos, revising the PIE suffix *-bho- and suggesting new cognates for Skr. gard- ‘shout’ (Armenian kard- and Baltic gerd-). §§ 13-14 discuss a probable steppe background of the ‘donkey-names’. In § 15 it is suggested that Phrygian name Gordis is based on the same root as *Gardabos, and some relevant Phrygian epigraphical evidence is presented. § 16 discusses a further probable Anatolian ‘donkey-name’, Mugallu and its likely cognate μύκαλος. §§ 17-18 touch upon the etymology of the ethnic names Masa and Muška, connecting them with the word for ‘mule’ preserved in the modern Balkan languages (Alb. mushk(ë) etc.), and, more speculatively, with the old Balkan word for ‘horse’ (*me(n)za-). § 19 argues that the ethnic name Φρύγες may have a similar original meaning, going back to another Balkan term for ‘donkey’, βρικός.

The beginning of the Carian inscription of Euromos C.Eu 2. A new reading and interpretation

This article presents a new reading and interpretation of the beginning of the Carian inscription of Euromos C.Eu 2. This new reading allows us to find a new example of the Carian word for priest, qmoλ. The beginning of the inscription is analysed as a dating formula by means of the name of an eponymous priest.

A Cypriot city-kingdom for sale. Looking for political implications in two Tamassian bilingual inscriptions

This new study of two bilingual inscriptions from Tamassos (ICS 265; ICS 215) provides information on the political status of this Cypriot city-state in the fourth century BC. In these years, Tamassos had remained independent, before king Pasikypros sold it to Pummayaton king of Kition (Duris, FGrH (BNJ) 76 F 4). Language and content of the bilingual texts are analysed and a few changes are made as compared to the previous editions. The inscriptions’ dating formulas with the name of king Milkyaton, king of Kition, provide evidence of the presence of Kitians in Tamassos already in the decades before the sale. Although Tamassos was landlocked and did not have a harbour, it may have entered into trade agreements with Kition in order to use its port to export copper productions. This may have laid the foundations for the future sale.