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36 T.G. PALAIMA §12.1.1 Fig. 12.1. Hieroglyphic signs carved into stone seal (SM I, 153) and Linear A signs carved into stone libation table Iouktas Za 2 section a (after GORILA, vol. 5, 18) On the stone seals, which are so small (1.0-1.5 cm. in diameter or 1.5 ≈ 0.5 cm. in their rectangular faces) that even to handle the entire whole seals in the process of studying their images challenges the dexterity of modern scholars, 8 the Cretan Hieroglyphic signs are executed precisely by superbly trained artists. Many such signs have lifelike three-dimensional naturalistic forms (Fig. 12.1). Some of the signs carved into the surfaces of stone libation vessels in the Linear A script dedicated at peak sanctuaries have the same artistic appearance and for the same reason: the signs were carved into the stone surfaces by true artists and were meant to have a pleasing, decorative appearance (Fig. 12.1). When the signs are drawn instead of carved, whether into soft metal or into moist clay, they lose their three-dimensional representational aspects. Nonetheless the forms of signs done on clay tablets as line-drawings vary in what we might call aesthetic quality from elaborate and ‘artistic’ to simplified and functional. The last main category is signs painted, for the most part very large in size (8-15 centimetres high), on the surfaces of clay vases. These painted signs 8 KRZYSZKOWSKA 2005, 81-99.
§12.1.1 SCRIBES, SCRIBAL HANDS AND PALAEOGRAPHY 37 Fig. 12.2. Signs painted on stirrup jar Z 839 from Thebes (after RAISON 1968, 108-109) (Fig. 12.2) as a whole have much more elaborated forms than the signs that are drawn by scribes on the clay tablets. The curves of the signs painted on vases are fluid and component elements that are not absolutely essential to the recognition of particular signs are often preserved — as they are often not in the more mechanical, utilitarian and repetitive writing on clay tablets — or perhaps even reintroduced, as a reflection of the artistic instincts of the individuals doing writing of this kind. This remarkable diversity in the manner of writing explains why it was necessary in the early stages of studying the Aegean scripts to devote considerable time and attention to analyzing the sign systems and to comparing the forms of their signs. 9 The fact that inscriptions in all three classes of writing, but especially in Linear B, were written into soft clay with a stylus 10 facilitated the process of studying the sign forms. In most cases, it was possible, after careful examination, to reconstruct the order in which elements of simple or complex signs were written (more on this kind of study §12.1.1.2 below). This procedure naturally raised questions, within each of these three scripts, about whether individual examples of signs of similar shape were (a) variant forms of the same sign, executed by different persons (or even by the same person at different times under different conditions); (b) completely different signs with different values; or (c) intentional modifications of basic forms that had some kind of phonetic or semantic significance, e.g., ü vs. u in German, or ñ vs. n in Spanish. Thus aspects of what we might call uniscriptual writing stylistics (or script-internal palaeography, e.g., Fig. 12.3) came into play. Furthermore, since the three scripts were clearly somehow related to one another and spanned nearly nine centuries total in their use (ca 2100 BC to ca 9 For a history of the study of sign forms and an analysis of the different forms of signs produced by different media, see PALAIMA 1988. 10 RUIPÉREZ – MELENA 1990, 70.
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