LINEAR B TEXTS AND
EARLY ORAL TRADITIONS
Mycenaean Era
1600-1200 BCE
The Mycenaeans flourished between 1600 BCE and 1200 BCE. They spoke an early form of Greek and wrote in a script known as Linear B. This script was not deciphered until the twentieth century, but when it was it opened a window into the bygone world of the Mycenaeans. It was their world that the Greeks looked back upon as the age of the heroes, when their mythological events took place. Though the Greeks did not preserve accurate knowledge of the Mycenaean world that preceded them (they thought, for example, that the Mycenaeans' palaces were the work of Cyclopes because no human could build such massive walls), the decipherment of Linear B proved that the Greeks were the heirs of the Myceneaeans, retaining deities such as Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon, and sacrificial practices that followed the same patterns for more than a thousand years.
The Linear B tablets proved Martin P. Nilsson's intuition (see below) that Greek mythology retained memories--distorted no doubt, but memories nonetheless--of the Bronze Age world. Linear B inscriptions are known primarily from two caches of tablets, one found in Pylos (indicated by Py below) and one located in Knossos, on Crete (indicated by Kn below). Some of these inscriptions have been linked to episodes from the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, primarily by Stefan Hiller; however, this theory is controversial, and many alternative explanations for each inscription have been proposed.
Below, I present the key Linear B inscriptions that appear to refer to the Argonauts, along with alternative explanations. Following this, I present Martin Nilsson's discussion of the Mycenaean origins of the Argonaut myth.
The Linear B tablets proved Martin P. Nilsson's intuition (see below) that Greek mythology retained memories--distorted no doubt, but memories nonetheless--of the Bronze Age world. Linear B inscriptions are known primarily from two caches of tablets, one found in Pylos (indicated by Py below) and one located in Knossos, on Crete (indicated by Kn below). Some of these inscriptions have been linked to episodes from the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, primarily by Stefan Hiller; however, this theory is controversial, and many alternative explanations for each inscription have been proposed.
Below, I present the key Linear B inscriptions that appear to refer to the Argonauts, along with alternative explanations. Following this, I present Martin Nilsson's discussion of the Mycenaean origins of the Argonaut myth.
LINEAR B INSCRIPTIONS
(With Pylos [Py] or Knossos [Kn] tablet numbers in parentheses)
I-WA-SO
(Py Cn 655)
In Linear B, final consonants are not included, and in Classical Greek the Mycenaean digamma (or w) drops out. Therefore, this text has been interpreted as the proper name Iwaso(n), or Jason. However, there are several competing interpretations that are equally or more plausible. It may refer to a place name on the border of Arcadia and Achaea, Iwaso(s), or Iasos, known from Homer (Odyssey 18.246): “Daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, if all the Achaeans throughout Iasian Argos could see thee, even more wooers would be feasting in your halls from to-morrow on, for thou excellest all women in comeliness and stature, and in the wise heart within thee” (trans. A. P. Murray, 1915). The term could also refer to a person or group from Iasos.
KO-KI-DA
(Kn Sd 4403)
This word has been interpreted as Colchidas, an ancient version of Colchis. However, the text of the tablet discusses chariot repairs, leading to the more plausible interpretation that the word refers to the proper name Kokida(s), a repairer of chariots.
A3-WA-JA
(Py En 74)
This word has been interpreted as Aiwaja, Circe’s island of Aeaea, but also as a woman's proper name, unrelated to Aeaea, or even as an ethnic or geographic expression.
A3-WA-TA
(KN Vc 7612)
This word has been interpreted as Aiwatas, or King Aeëtes. Others have considered the word to lack enough context due to the heavily damaged nature of the inscription to analyze correctly.
MO-QO-SO
(KN Dc 1381)
This word has been interpreted as Mopsus, the seer of the Argonauts. His name appears also in Hittite records from 1400 BCE as Mukšuš, which seems prima facie phonetically close to Moqoso(s); in Luwian-Hittite as Muksas around 700 BCE; and as Mps (Mopsu) in Phoenician inscriptions of the same date. However, as Robin Lane Fox has noted, Mo-qo-so is more likely to have been pronounced Makasa and to be unrelated to the Hittite Mopsus.
BRONZE AND DARK AGE ORAL TRADITIONS
(With Pylos [Py] or Knossos [Kn] tablet numbers in parentheses)
I-WA-SO
(Py Cn 655)
In Linear B, final consonants are not included, and in Classical Greek the Mycenaean digamma (or w) drops out. Therefore, this text has been interpreted as the proper name Iwaso(n), or Jason. However, there are several competing interpretations that are equally or more plausible. It may refer to a place name on the border of Arcadia and Achaea, Iwaso(s), or Iasos, known from Homer (Odyssey 18.246): “Daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope, if all the Achaeans throughout Iasian Argos could see thee, even more wooers would be feasting in your halls from to-morrow on, for thou excellest all women in comeliness and stature, and in the wise heart within thee” (trans. A. P. Murray, 1915). The term could also refer to a person or group from Iasos.
KO-KI-DA
(Kn Sd 4403)
This word has been interpreted as Colchidas, an ancient version of Colchis. However, the text of the tablet discusses chariot repairs, leading to the more plausible interpretation that the word refers to the proper name Kokida(s), a repairer of chariots.
A3-WA-JA
(Py En 74)
This word has been interpreted as Aiwaja, Circe’s island of Aeaea, but also as a woman's proper name, unrelated to Aeaea, or even as an ethnic or geographic expression.
A3-WA-TA
(KN Vc 7612)
This word has been interpreted as Aiwatas, or King Aeëtes. Others have considered the word to lack enough context due to the heavily damaged nature of the inscription to analyze correctly.
MO-QO-SO
(KN Dc 1381)
This word has been interpreted as Mopsus, the seer of the Argonauts. His name appears also in Hittite records from 1400 BCE as Mukšuš, which seems prima facie phonetically close to Moqoso(s); in Luwian-Hittite as Muksas around 700 BCE; and as Mps (Mopsu) in Phoenician inscriptions of the same date. However, as Robin Lane Fox has noted, Mo-qo-so is more likely to have been pronounced Makasa and to be unrelated to the Hittite Mopsus.
BRONZE AND DARK AGE ORAL TRADITIONS
In 1932, Martin Nilsson proposed that Greek mythology had Mycenaean origins based on the strong correlation between the prominence of locations in Greek mythology and their importance in the Mycenaean era. For example, Mycenae, Pylos, Iolcus, and other Mycenaean centers were loci of Greek myth cycles despite being far less prominent in Classical times than cities such as Athens and Sparta, whose own myth cycles were relatively late. In The Mycenaean Origins of Greek Mythology, Nilsson discussed the Mycenaean origins of the Argonaut cycle.
It is asserted that Nilsson’s book’s copyright was not renewed and is therefore in the public domain; however, I have not been able to confirm this. I will summarize major points and provide a few important fair use quotations (in gold boldface) to illustrate this important theory.
It is asserted that Nilsson’s book’s copyright was not renewed and is therefore in the public domain; however, I have not been able to confirm this. I will summarize major points and provide a few important fair use quotations (in gold boldface) to illustrate this important theory.
Nilsson's discussion of the Argonauts begins with the recognition that Iolkos (Iolcus) in Thessaly, modern Volos, was the northernmost Mycenaean city in the Bronze Age.
Mycenaean sherds and minor finds are reported from all Thessaly, just as they are from other provinces of Greece, but only scattered minor and unimportant finds have come from parts of the province other than from the neighborhood of Iolcus. There the remains are so numerous and important as to prove that Iolcus was an important center in the Mycenaean age.
Nilsson then describes the artifacts and structures that had been found around Volos and the nearby settlement of Dimini. These included the remains of a Mycenaean palace, Mycenaean tholos tombs, and extensive caches of artifacts, ranging from potsherds to gold objects. See here for description.
It appears that the Mycenaean civilization had an important center in Iolcus and, as we observed above, this corresponds to the localization of the famous cycle of the Argonauts in that place. After this survey of the Mycenaean remains in Thessaly we come back to the fact that the Argonauts are said to be Minyans. [...]
Nilsson then discusses Philipp Karl Buttmann's 1829 conclusion that the Minyans were actually an ethnic/geographic group inhabiting northern Boeotia and southern Thessaly, and the genealogies of Jason proposing him a descendant of Minyas' daughter were little more than a post hoc explanation of the traditional term for a vanished group.
The myth itself corroborates this connection, for the goal of the expedition is the fetching of the golden fleece, the fleece is inseparable from the cult of Zeus Laphystius, and the original home of this cult is Mount Laphystion, south of Orchomenus. It follows that the cycle, that of the Athamantidae and the Argonauts, is connected with both northern Boeotia and southern Thessaly, and this is comprehensible if we accept Buttmann's conclusion that the Minyans inhabited not only northern Boeotia but also the seaboard toward the north, including southern Thessaly.
This conclusion is corroborated by cults and place names common to Boeotia and southern Thessaly. In addition to the cult of Zeus Laphystius, which was our starting point, that of Athena Itonia may be especially mentioned. Among place names the Phthiotic Thebes was mentioned above. There is a Coronea not only in Boeotia but in Thessaly also, situated on the northern slopes of Mount Othrys. Another Orchomenus in Thessaly is mentioned by several authors, and lastly, a Thessalian town Minya is known by an inscription. This is too much to be accidental and testifies to ethnical interrelations between the districts.
Source: Martin P. Nilsson, The Mycenaean Origins of Greek Mythology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1932), 136-140.
Nilsson then discusses Philipp Karl Buttmann's 1829 conclusion that the Minyans were actually an ethnic/geographic group inhabiting northern Boeotia and southern Thessaly, and the genealogies of Jason proposing him a descendant of Minyas' daughter were little more than a post hoc explanation of the traditional term for a vanished group.
The myth itself corroborates this connection, for the goal of the expedition is the fetching of the golden fleece, the fleece is inseparable from the cult of Zeus Laphystius, and the original home of this cult is Mount Laphystion, south of Orchomenus. It follows that the cycle, that of the Athamantidae and the Argonauts, is connected with both northern Boeotia and southern Thessaly, and this is comprehensible if we accept Buttmann's conclusion that the Minyans inhabited not only northern Boeotia but also the seaboard toward the north, including southern Thessaly.
This conclusion is corroborated by cults and place names common to Boeotia and southern Thessaly. In addition to the cult of Zeus Laphystius, which was our starting point, that of Athena Itonia may be especially mentioned. Among place names the Phthiotic Thebes was mentioned above. There is a Coronea not only in Boeotia but in Thessaly also, situated on the northern slopes of Mount Othrys. Another Orchomenus in Thessaly is mentioned by several authors, and lastly, a Thessalian town Minya is known by an inscription. This is too much to be accidental and testifies to ethnical interrelations between the districts.
Source: Martin P. Nilsson, The Mycenaean Origins of Greek Mythology (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1932), 136-140.