Tablet · Phaistos
PH 6
- Site
- Phaistos
- Object
- Tablet
- Period
- MM IIB
- Scribe
- —
- Findspot
- —
- Edition
- GORILA I
Text4 lines
TranslationCandidate
The dwelling of the Mount of She-of-the-Bull—of Mount Ida—in righteousness.
Word by word5 words
- I-NA-WAʾi-nawāthe dwelling, abode (nominal core of the libation formula verb ʾata-i-nawa-ya; heading, set off by 𐄁)Candidate
- A-RIharrīmountain of (construct genitive; PS *har(r)-, h- carried by plain vowel sign)Candidate
- I-ZU-RI-NI-TAṯawrīnītaShe-of-the-Bull (feminine divine name; sister form A-RI-NI-TA 'She-of-the-Lion', HT25a/ZA8)Candidate
- A-RIharrīmountain of (repeated frame)Candidate
- I-DA-PA₃-I-SA-RIʾIdā bi-ʾišarīIda, in righteousness (toponym + b= prepositional phrase written as one word)Candidate
Commentary
Context: MM IIB clay tablet (3 × 5.4 cm) from the Phaistos palace—among the oldest Linear A tablets, and the only numeral-free multi-word syllabic text in the untranslated residue. A proto-libation-formula dedication: both thematic roots of the LM I peak-sanctuary formula (√n-w-y ‘dwelling’, √y-š-r ‘righteousness’) appear here roughly three centuries before the stone vessels. The heading spells nawā phonetically with plain NA, predating the *301 rebus convention (*301 = /na/ derives from this root). Kamares cave sanctuary, on Ida’s south face overlooking Phaistos, peaks in use MM IB–IIB—the tablet’s own generation.
A-RI is read harrī ‘mountain of’, over ʿalē ‘upon, for’ (the house dative is la-, and the A-RA/A-RI/A-RU case triple argues nominal inflection) and ʾarī ‘lion’ (circular with the A-RI-NI-TA derivation). Alternate rendering under ʿalē: ‘A dwelling—for She-of-the-Bull, for Ida—in righteousness.’ Open caveat: ṯawrīnīt-a keeps -TA where the construct chain expects genitive -TI; the gentilic family shows both surface forms (-TA HT25a/ZA8, -TI KHWc2005 kanaʿanītī), so divine names may stand diptotic/frozen. No word parses as a verb: the text is a nominal dedication throughout.
Epigraphic note
GORILA I 293: .1 I-NA-WA · A-RI, one line; .3 A-RI.