The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...
The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...
The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...
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first part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> name <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> goddess from Samothrace, her<br />
cult was exported to <strong>the</strong> north-Aegean region in <strong>the</strong> Middle<br />
Minoan II or III period. 714 If we realize, <strong>the</strong>n, that for <strong>the</strong><br />
Luwian population <strong>of</strong> Crete <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> address for this<br />
foremost Cretan goddess was Kapupi, a local dialectal<br />
variant <strong>of</strong> Luwian Kupapa, 715 it seems not farfetched to<br />
assume that <strong>the</strong> Kybela (= Phrygian form <strong>of</strong> Luwian Kupapa)<br />
cult at <strong>the</strong> Trojan mount Ida was introduced from<br />
Crete in this particular period. If so, our connection <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
double-axe with <strong>the</strong> “Idaian Mo<strong>the</strong>r” is substantially enhanced.<br />
<strong>The</strong> question remains to be answered to which linguistic<br />
layer on Crete Linear A i-da-ma-te “Idaian Mo<strong>the</strong>r”<br />
should be ascribed. To this aim, it is important to determine<br />
<strong>the</strong> date <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> inscribed double-axes. This can be<br />
achieved by <strong>the</strong>ir association with pottery from <strong>the</strong> same<br />
cave, which according to Pierce Blegen runs on from Early<br />
Minoan to Late Minoan IA or perhaps even Late Minoan<br />
IB and Late Minoan II. 716 If <strong>the</strong> latest possible date applies,<br />
<strong>the</strong> two Linear A legends may well be assumed to<br />
have been produced in consigment <strong>of</strong> a Greek customer,<br />
because, as we have seen in section 8, <strong>the</strong> Mycenaean<br />
Greeks have earned <strong>the</strong>mselves a foothold in Crete after<br />
<strong>the</strong> desastrous Santorini-eruption at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> Late Minoan<br />
IB (c. 1450 BC). If, however, <strong>the</strong> double-axes belong<br />
to an earlier period, an attribution to <strong>the</strong> Pelasgian layer or<br />
group in Cretan society, which we have just seen to be responsible<br />
for <strong>the</strong> divine name Demeter, seems preferable.<br />
At any rate, to suggest that for <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> divine<br />
name “Idaian Mo<strong>the</strong>r” in two Linear A inscriptions this<br />
script in its entirety notates an Indo-European language <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> Greek or Thraco-Phrygian type bears testimony <strong>of</strong> a<br />
grave methodological error and a reductio ad absurdum <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> complexities <strong>of</strong> Cretan society during <strong>the</strong> Middle and<br />
Late Bronze Age. 717<br />
714 Olivier & Godart 1996: 192, # 135-7.<br />
715 Woudhuizen 1992a: 4-5; see also appendix III.<br />
716 Vandenabeele 1985: 5 “and <strong>the</strong> decoration <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> double axes<br />
belongs to <strong>the</strong> type which furnished <strong>the</strong> inspiration for <strong>the</strong> second<br />
period <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Palace Style pottery ca. 1450-1400 BC”.<br />
717 Owens 1996: 174-5; Owens 1999: 34; 49 (claims that Minoan<br />
[in casu Linear A] is <strong>the</strong> oldest example <strong>of</strong> Indo-European);<br />
Owens 2000: 249.<br />
145<br />
Additional note 2: Poseidon “consort<br />
<strong>of</strong> Da”<br />
In his stimulating monograph on <strong>the</strong> Greek deity Poseidon,<br />
Fritz Schachermeyr followed <strong>the</strong> linguistic analysis <strong>of</strong> this<br />
divine name by Paul Kretschmer as a compound <strong>of</strong> Greek<br />
potis or posis “consort” <strong>of</strong> PIE nature (cf. Latin potis, Sanskrit<br />
pátih) with a form <strong>of</strong> address <strong>of</strong> mo<strong>the</strong>r earth, Da,<br />
hence leading to <strong>the</strong> interpretation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> entire form as<br />
“consort <strong>of</strong> Da”. 718 Now, <strong>the</strong> second element da-, which is<br />
also present in <strong>the</strong> divine name Damatr or Dmtr (< da-<br />
+ PIE *méh2tr), may well come into consideration as <strong>the</strong><br />
Pelasgian indication <strong>of</strong> “earth”, related to Greek ga or g<br />
and originating from <strong>the</strong> common proto-form *gda- as attested<br />
for <strong>the</strong> Phrygian place name Gdanmaa, 719 Demeter<br />
being <strong>the</strong> earth-mo<strong>the</strong>r par excellence. If so, <strong>the</strong> divine<br />
name Poseidon, just like Demeter, is likely to be attributed<br />
with Pelasgian antecedents.<br />
<strong>The</strong> latter inference gains weight by <strong>the</strong> fact that according<br />
to literary tradition Poseidon, toge<strong>the</strong>r with Demeter,<br />
was venerated in Arkadian <strong>The</strong>lpusa and some o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
locations in horse shape720 – a feature which Schachermeyr<br />
plausibly explains as ultimately rooted in <strong>the</strong> time <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> introduction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> horse in Greece, 721 which, as we<br />
have seen in section 7, took place in two distinct phases<br />
during <strong>the</strong> Early Helladic III (horse-like animal) and Middle<br />
Helladic (true horse) periods. Interesting to note in this<br />
connection is that <strong>the</strong> prominent position <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> horse in<br />
Middle Helladic times clearly appears from <strong>the</strong> horse burial<br />
associated with a royal tumulus at Marathon. 722 Contrary<br />
to Schachermeyr, however, and in line with a<br />
suggestion by Joost Crouwel, I think it is unlikely that this<br />
prominent position <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> horse in Middle Helladic times is<br />
solely based on its function as food provider (milk and<br />
718 Schachermeyr 1950: 13-4; cf. Gamkrelidze & Ivanov 1995:<br />
26, etc.<br />
719 Haas 1966: 215 (ascribes this name to Pisidian influence, but<br />
unlikely so as Pisidian belongs to <strong>the</strong> Luwian language group).<br />
720 Pausanias, Guide to Greece 8, 25, 5 f.<br />
721 Schachermeyr 1950: 64; 143.<br />
722 Marinaotos 1973: Pls. 13-4; Papadimitriou 2001: figs. 44-7.<br />
Doubts have been raised about <strong>the</strong> Middle Helladic date <strong>of</strong> this<br />
horse burial, and it is considered by some an intrusive element<br />
from <strong>the</strong> Turkish period, but it should be noted in this context that<br />
single horse burial is paralleled for <strong>the</strong> Middle Bronze Age at Lapithos<br />
in Cyprus, see Gjerstad 1926 : 81 (Politiko tomb 3) and cf.<br />
Herscher 1978 : 793.