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Asherah, Ugaritic y-, -m)!”. 453
As a final eample, it deserves our attention that even
the typical Semitic dative by the prefix l is attested for
Linear A in form of a-re as occurring in the phrase
a-ta-nu-t de-ka a-re ma-re-na ti-ti-ku
“I, Titikos, have given this to our guild-master”
on a pithos from Epano Zakro, usually assigned to the the
end of Late Minoan IB (c. 1450 BC). 454
However, the fact that Linear A records a west-
Semitic language is not the end of our inquiry into the languages
of Crete. We still need to discuss the hieroglyphic
script. This is found from the beginning of the Old Palace
phase in the Early Minoan III/Middle Minoan IA transitional
period (c. 2000 BC) onwards both in the regions of
Knossos and Malia in the north and the Mesara plain in the
south. 455 Hieroglyphic archives are attested for the palaces
of Knossos and Malia in the Middle Minoan II (c. 1800-
1700 BC) period, when the script is even exported to
Samothrace in the north-Aegean. 456 Most of the seals with
an hieroglyphic legend consist of chance finds, and are
therefore not archaeologically datable. But from the fact
that some of the hieroglyphic signs are taken over by the
Cyprians at the time they devised the Cypro-Minoan script
(= c. 1525-1425 BC), it can be deduced that the use of the
script continued into the Late Minoan I period (c. 1550-
1450 BC). 457 Finally, the double-axe of Arkalokhori and
the famous discus of Phaistos, which bear hieroglyphic inscriptions
of unusual length, can positively be assigned to
the period of Late Minoan II to Late Minoan IIIA1/2 (c.
1450-1350 BC). 458 After this period, the tradition of writ-
453 Best 1981a; Best 1981b: 17-20; Best & Woudhuizen 1988: 26;
Best & Woudhuizen 1989: 25; cf. Hiller 1985: 125-7.
454 Best 1982-3a; for yet another Linear A inscription with a-re,
see the gold ring from Mavro Spelio (= Best 1982-3b: 22-5).
455 Grumach 1968: 9; cf. Poursat in Olivier & Godart 1996: 31
who dates from Middle Minoan IA onwards.
456 Poursat in Olivier & Godart 1996: 29-30.
457 Woudhuizen 2001b: 610.
458 Best & Woudhuizen 1989: 137-8; Woudhuizen 1992c: 201;
Achterberg, Best, Enzler, Rietveld & Woudhuizen 2004, section 3.
As the double-axe from Arkalokhori is dedicated by a ruler of the
hinterland of Phaistos from the time of the father of the sender of
the letter on the Phaistos disc, it antedates the latter by one genera-
102
ing in hieroglyphs, like that of Linear A, is discontinued –
having succumbed to the Mycenaean koin.
Among the earliest hieroglyphic seals, there is a small
group with the so-called libation formula – one example
stemming from the Mesara plain – , which is connected
with the later Linear A formula discussed above and consists
of hieroglyphic forerunners of Linear A signs from its
final section, reading with the Linear A values a-sa-sa-rame
“Oh Assara!”. On the basis of the presence of a corresponding
form of the Ugaritic emphatic particle -m, the
language of this text may be identified as Semitic. 459 For
our understanding of the hieroglyphic inscriptions more in
general, however, it is important to realize that the signary
is basically related to that of Luwian hieroglyphic from
primarily southern Asia Minor and North Syria, which is
already attested from the beginning of the Middle Bronze
Age (c. 2000 BC) onwards. 460 On Crete, the signs of Luwian
hieroglyphic origin were supplemented by loans from
Egyptian hieroglyphic, like the bee- and “trowel”-signs, 461
and, from Middle Minoan II (c. 1800-1700) onwards, by
hieroglyphically drawn signs from Linear A. 462 This being
the case, we should rather apply the term “Luwianizing”
for this class of Cretan documents. At any rate, if we fill in
the Luwian values for their Cretan counterparts, we are
confronted with three categories of evidence on the seals
with what I have called profane formulas: (1) titles, (2)
names of places and countries, and (3) personal names.
Confining ourselves to the evidence with a bearing on the
Mesara, two seals are of importance to our purposes. In the
first place # 271 from Malia, which dates to the earliest
phase of the script (no signs from Linear A!) and reads:
1. SASA UTNA/, 2. /sà-®ur-wa/ 3. la+PÁRANA TARKU-
MUWA
“seal (with respect to) the land (of) Skheria, king
Tarkumuwas”.
As Skheria can be identified as the ancient name of
Hagia Triada, the seal, although found in Malia, nonethe-
tion.
459 Best & Woudhuizen 1988: 25-6; Woudhuizen 2001b: 608-9.
460 Best & Woudhuizen 1988: 30-89; Best & Woudhuizen 1989:
65-137; Woudhuizen 1990-1; Woudhuizen 1992c: pl. 26; Woudhuizen
2004a : 112-20; 129-43; Woudhuizen forthc. 1.
461 Woudhuizen 1997; Woudhuizen 2002b.
462 Woudhuizen 1992c: pl. 24; Woudhuizen forthc. 1.