Volume I, Part II, comprises (together with Part I) the main text in the series
The Decipherment of Minoan Linear A. Volume I, Parts III-VI, are the
indices to the main text and
glossaries at the same time.
The author shows that the Holy Trinity of the main Hurrian Gods,
Tesub,
Ḫebat and their son
Sarruma is addressed in a sophisticated, poetic way, usually at the beginning of the so-called libation formulas, by means of descriptive epithets. They appear in a fixed order of importance. First Tesub's Linear A epithet
a-ta-i-jo-wa-ja 'Our Father', absolutive/vocative
attai=(j)=o/uwwa=(j)=as, consisting of
attai 'father' + transitional semi-vowel
-j- between 2 vowels + enclitic possessive pronoun 1
st person sing.
-o/uwwa- (my) + transitional semi-vowel
-j- between 2 vowels + the pluralizer
-as (our). Compare cuneiform Hurrian
dTe-e-es-su-pa-as ........
eb-ri-iw-wa-su-us at-ta-iw-wa-su-us (3
ergatives), 'Tesub .... Our Lord, Our Father' in the Tusratta letter (Mit. IV 118).
Then the epithet of
Tesub's wife
Ḫebat,
a-di-ki-ti/e(-te), analysis
asdi-
dagitti, 'The woman is a beauty / beautiful' > 'The (most) beautiful woman', appears (in haplography) in the libation formulas. The form is attested as
a-di-da-ki-ti (KN Zc 6.2) in
scriptio plena on the interior of a Middle-Minoan III cup at Knossos (
asdi = 'woman'). In Linear A and B
-s- preceding an occlusive is not expressed in consonant clusters.
Then the epithet of the young god
Sarrum(m)a appears as
a-sa-sa-ra-me, analysis
arsa-sarr=a=me, 'The young man/boy, he is like the King of Gods'. The Linear A variant
ja-sa-sa-ra-ma-na (KN Za 10a-b) can be analysed as
y(a)/y(e)-arsa-sarr=a=mann=a, 'as well as "The young boy (
arsa 'young man') is (
mann=(i)a) like the King of Gods" ',
(
sarr=a is the
essive of Hurrian
sarr=i 'King of Gods').
The contents of the prayers in the 'libation formulas' appear to be about the same subject as the meaning of many personal names, in which the
birth of healthy children, sometimes after the death of an older child, is always in the minds of the parents.
Linear A
u-na-ka-na-si, Hurrian
un=a-ḫ(ḫ)an=a=ssi 'come childhood, childbirth' is an essential term occurring in almost every formula. It may not be accidental that the name
Arkhanes is attested as
a]
-ka-ne (AK 3a.1+fr. AK.1b.1, join P.G. van Soesbergen) on a Linear A tablet found in the Minoan Villa of
Epano Arkhanes. Even more significant is the fact that the toponym can be analysed as Hurrian
ar=ḫane/i 'Give a child' and that the Villa of Arkhanes may well have been the starting point for supplicants and priests to go upto the Peak Sanctuary of Mount Ioukhtas to pray to
Tesub, Ḫebat and Sarru(m)ma. See for an extensive analysis
Chapter 11: 'Religious' Linear A inscPeter G. van Soesbergen (born in Amsterdam, 7th February 1945) studied Classics at the University of Amsterdam (Doctoral Examination cum laude). He pursued research on The archaeological context of Minoan Linear A for "The Netherlands Organization for Pure Research" (report of 400 pp.), published several articles and gave papers at international colloquia and congresses (Heraklion, Bucharest, Sheffield, Nottingham, Prague, Rome, Naples), a Mycenaean Seminar on "The historical significance of onomastic data from Linear A and B texts" (Institute of Classical Studies, University of London) and special papers on Linear A at Cambridge and Groningen. He pursued research as a Leverhulme European Visiting Fellow and Independent Research Worker at the University of Sheffield, where he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) on the thesis "The onomastics of the 'Minoan Linear A' and 'Linear B' documents and their historical significance". He taught Greek, Latin, Ancient History, Archaeology, Mycenology and Andrological examination. After his retirement he is still pursuing research.
