Inscription
The pebble bears a short inscription of eight syllabic signs in Linear B, possibly reading a-so-na / qo-ro-qa / qa-jo. The reverse side shows a double-axe symbol. The inscription is identified by some to be in the Mycenean language, though this identification remains disputed. qo-ro-qa has been interpreted as a personal name with the common /-ōkʷs/ (-ωπς) suffix. It has been suggested that such an isolated example of Linear B script indicates at best an early stage of Mycenaean writing at the time of origin.
G. Owens suggests that the inscription is Minoan in origin rather than Mycenaean. In this scenario, a Minoan could have written the text for a Mycenaean. No evidence exists that the Mycenaean Greeks wrote before the Linear B archive of Knossos.
Read more about this topic: Kafkania Pebble
Famous quotes containing the word inscription:
““I love you” is the inscription on Pandora’s box.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Gratefully accepting the proffered honor, [to inscribe a new legal work to him] I give the leave, begging only that the inscription may be in modest terms, not representing me as a man of great learning, or a very extraordinary one in any respect.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The oft-repeated Roman story is written in still legible characters in every quarter of the Old World, and but today, perchance, a new coin is dug up whose inscription repeats and confirms their fame. Some “Judæa Capta,” with a woman mourning under a palm tree, with silent argument and demonstration confirms the pages of history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)