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Inscription on Nestors’ Cup (730 BCE) is not Greek but is Alphabetic Akkadian
- Author(s):
- David Olmsted (see profile)
- Date:
- 2022
- Group(s):
- Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean archaeology, Alphabetic Akkadian, Classical Philology and Linguistics, Etruscan archaeology, Pagan Studies
- Subject(s):
- Classical antiquities, Religions, History, Ancient, Homer
- Item Type:
- Online publication
- Tag(s):
- nestor, Pottery, Ancient Alphabetic inscriptions, Greek and Roman archaeology, Greek and Roman epigraphy, Alphabetic Greek, Ancient religion, Ancient languages
- Permanent URL:
- https://doi.org/10.17613/25z7-j772
- Abstract:
- The text on Nestor’s Cup (750-700 BCE) is not Greek as many claim but is actually Alphabetic Akkadian. Its three-line text is a debate about the cause of a drought. The first line blames the life network goddess Ayu and her eagle vultures while the second line blames emotion magic with its owls (like the Athenian owl). Alphabetic Akkadian was the common writen language for trade and temple used throughout the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age down to the rise of Latin and Greek. Commercial level trade, as evidenced by recent archaeology, is only possible with a common written language. The claim that the text was Greek originated with the early pioneer linguists who wanted to see Homer in everything and who made the letter identifications fit the Greek words they wanted to see. Unfortunately, that claim has never been corrected because the field of ancient linguistics lacks translation standards. The result has been the propagation of the myth that this is one of the oldest Greek texts. Deities mentioned are Alu, Hu, Ayu, and Yahu.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 11 months ago
- License:
- Attribution-ShareAlike
olmsted-2022-nestors-cup.pdf