From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
Subject: Re: origin of the Greek gods
Organization: LLNL
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 23:13:20 GMT

In article <32520@jeeves.Teknowledge.COM> aterry@Teknowledge.COM (Allan Terry) writes:
>Is the Roman adoption of Greek myth under Roman names (e.g., Athena/Minerva)
>evidence that there was a common mythology predating both classic
>civilizations?

	Another possibility: syncretism of vaguely similar deities.
Herodotus does a lot of that in his books, speaking of the Egyptian,
Babylonian, and Persian versions of Zeus, instead of calling them
Amon-Ra, Marduk, and Ahura Mazda, for example.

I gather that Mycenaean writing was mostly by and for
>accountants.

	That's essentially correct. Just about all of what has
survived is various bookkeeping records. Example:

	At Pylos, the priestess's servants on account of the sacred
gold: 14 women.

	Naturally, this brings up a whole host of questions. Which
priestess? Which "sacred" gold? Was it gold kept in a temple? What
were the 14 women supposed to be doing? And more possible questions.

Is there any literary or other evidence for familiar gods and
>myths, in earlier form, back to Mycenaean times?

	The only literary evidence is those Mycenaean Linear B
tablets. They record deity names in only one context, as recipients of
offerings. Not only familiar ones, like A-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja (Athena,
literally something like "the Mistress of Athana"), A-ti-mi-to and
A-ti-mi-te (Artemis), Po-se-da- (Poseidon), Di-ka-ta-jo Di-we
("Diktean Zeus"), and others, but a lot of other deities like Potnia
("the Mistress" or "Lady"), Tris-heros ("Three Times a Hero") and
Iphimedeia, and obscure ones like Ma-na-sa, Pi-pi-tu-na,
A-ju-ma-na-ke, and A-ro-do-ro-o. However, the tablets don't tell us
anything else about them.

	The Mycenaeans were Greeks, and they were originally outsiders
who had overrun the indigenous peoples, like the Minoans of Crete and
nearby islands. There is abundant evidence of Mycenaean-Minoan
continuity, including such things as female fashions (bare breasts
with long, fancy skirts).

	Though Greek is an Indo-European language, of the major Greek
deities, only Zeus has clear Indo-European cognates. Greek Zeus Pater
("Father Zeus"), Roman Jovis Pater (>Juppiter), Vedic Dyaus Pitar, and
Germanic Tiu/Tyr correspond to reconstructed *dye:us p@te:r, which
translates into "Father Sky".

	Many of the other deities' names do not have convincing IE
derivations, and they are probably indigenous in origin. For instance,
Hera and Athena are associated with birds and snakes, and we indeed
find Minoan female deities (or their female worshippers) associated
with birds and snakes. Artemis is a Mistress of Animals, and we indeed
find a Minoan Mistress of Animals depicted. There is also a Minoan
Master of Animals, but depictions of him are rarer. No depictions of
Minoan celestial patriarchs have been found, interestingly enough.

	The Minoans had a script, Linear A, which, however has not
been deciphered, although assigning some Linear A signs the phonetic
values of similar-looking Linear B signs does yield some recognizable
words, mostly proper names in lists in the Linear B tablets. More
interestingly, there is evidence that the Linear A script was used
more widely than the Linear B one, since there are Linear A
inscriptions found on various other objects, like libation tables.
What might they say? If the contents of later inscriptions are any
guide, possibly something like "For the Mistress of Mt. Ida and Her
Son".

	But the only thing clear about the Linear A language is that
it is probably not Greek. I've seen halfway-convincing translations
into presumed relatives of Luwian and Semitic, for example. My pet
hypothesis is that Minoan will turn out to be related to the North
Caucasian languages, as Diakonov and Starostin have suggested for
Hurrian-Urartian and Etruscan.

	Further correspondences? Marija Gimbutas has proposed
connections with Neolithic European symbolism in some of her most
recent books; any opinions?

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