Pithoid jar · Knossos
KN Zb 40
- Site
- Knossos
- Object
- Pithoid jar
- Period
- LM II
- Scribe
- —
- Findspot
- Unexplored Mansion
- Edition
- GORILA IV
Text2 lines
Translation
I weep—and here.
Word by word2 words
Commentary
Two complete three-sign groups are incised on separate lines of a pithoid jar. Findspot: Unexplored Mansion, Knossos; LM II destruction deposit, jar typologically LM I, inscription probably LM IB (Popham 1976, Kadmos 15; Owens 1998–99, Talanta 30–31, 147–48). The Mansion’s upper floor held a domestic shrine with a goddess figurine (Owens). Both lexical identifications and the composite translation remain speculative.
Epigraphic note
Two complete three-sign groups are incised on separate lines: A-PA-KI / U-NA-A. A-PA-KI is tentatively read /ʾabakki/ ‘I weep’, after the independently attested Akkadian G-present spelling a-bak-ki. U-NA-A is compared speculatively with Ugaritic hnh ‘hither’ (perhaps hn plus terminative -h; Tropper §81.11a). On that analysis the final A may write the vowel after an unrepresented /h/, rather than vowel length. The complete translation remains speculative.