Lascaux 23 - origin of Europa

origin of Europa

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Linear A tablet Hagia Triada 95 as deciphered by Walther Hinz in the wake of Cyrus H. Gordon (who was punished with an icy silence when he proposed that the language of Linear A is Northwest Semitic at a symposium in London 1973) and Robert Stieglitz and Jan Best, is highly informative, although being 'just' an enumeration of cereals: on one side a list of cereals for the priests of Adu (Haddu Baal, later on identified as Zeus), and the other side of cereals for the priestesses of Dadumatha, she loved by the master (Adu Haddu Baal). Most interesting for me is the place name Mi-Nu-The given as head of a bull for Mi, a visual pun of a bull leaper on feet hands feet for Nu, and an abstract tree of life for The ...

The name Dadumatha was first read as da-du-ma-ta. Cyrus H. Gordon recognized Ugaritic dd 'loved' in da-du. 'Loved by matha' ? Made no sense. Ugaritic has d-d-m-sh for the goddess, and Yigael Yadin found her name in the form of d-d-y-m-sh on a Hebrew seal from Tell Djemmeh (1960). Hence the final syllable was pronounced tha, as in English (ta and tha are given by the same sign, and Hinz remarks that Linear A and B were botched scripts). We have then ma-tha, she 'loved by matha'. Matha is known from Sinai inscriptions (published by Hinz in a journal). Semitic matha means 'chief, lord, master'. Dadumatha was 'loved by the master' a-du Haddu Baal (later on young god, Minoan Zeus). The language of Linear A tablet Hagia Triada 95 is Northwest Semitic, as 'predicted' by Gordon.

The word mi-nu-te means 'wheat from mu-nu-ti-um Ugaritic mnt' better known as Ebla in Syria (some sixty kilometers south of Aleppo), by then a fertile river oasis.

Follows my development.

I read mi-nu-te as 'wheat from Ebla' and Mi-Nu-The as New Ebla in the West, kingdom of Minos, the kings called Minos residing at Knossos. Minnith in Ezekiel 27:17 - "wheat of Minnith" - mentioned by Hinz can't have been Ebla but was a further New Ebla, this time in the South, on the fertile altiplano of Jordania.

The Minoans came from Ebla. Mi-Nu-The is given much the same way in Hieroglyphic Minoan, Linear A and Linear B

Mi head of a bull

Nu visual pun a bull leaper, a young man or a girl on feet hands feet

The a stylized tree of life

Mi-Nu-The on another Linear A tablet from Hagia Triada minos.jpg

Enter Magdalenian

MUC for bull, became Mi

NOS for mind, became Nu (Greek nous)

SAI for life, became The

MUC NOS SAI Mi No S Minos

MUC NOS SAI C NOS S Knossos

Baal rose as golden calf = morning sun from the tree of life, while the Stone Age bull was the moon (Marie E.P. König). The bull leaper standing on his or her feet (before the bull) hands (on the bull) and feet again (behind the bull) symbolizes astronomy, the art of calculating cycles of celestial bodies. And the tree of life says that astronomy was vital for the seafaring Minoans (as it had been for navigating the Syrian desert).

A lunisolar calendar is encoded in the myth of Minotaur in the labyrinth (Linear B da-pu-ri-to) of Knossos. A minotaur, half bull half man, was already known in Ebla.

New idea: Ebla might perhaps go back to AC BLA, expanse of land with water AC black BLA (inverse of white ALB), naming the fertile river oasis for its 'black earth', parallel to misr 'black' that names Egypt as land of the fertile river oasis. Ebla must have been equally fertile as the Nile Valley.

How sad what happens in Syria now!

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Ebla was inhabited from 4000 BC till 700 AD, and Crete already in Neolithic times. The Early Bronze Age of Ebla began in 2700 BC, the Early Minoan period somewhat before 2600 BC. Ebla was engaged in long-distance trading. I guess they had an outpost in Crete, which grew and grew, and was much enlarged when Sargon of Akkad (or Naram-Sin) destroyed the palace of Ebla in the 23rd century BC, followed by marauding Amurrites.

Ebla was immensely rich. The kingdom might have extended as far as Damascus. Ebla in the form of mu-nu-ti-um appears on a cuneiform document from 2200 BC. Ugaritic has mnt. And New Ebla in the West would have been called Mi-Nu-The, kingdom of Minos, name and title of every Minoan king, rendered much in the same way in Hieroglyphic Minoan, Linear A and B - as head of a bull for Mi, visual pun of a bull leaper on feet hands feet for Nu, and a strongly stylized tree of life for The. The persistence of this ensemble of signs over a long period of time speaks for its importance.

Apparently the Minoans abandoned cuneiforms and invented a hieroglyphic script which was later on developed into Linear A. Minoan Crete, laboratory of early writing.

The supreme weather god of the Hurrians was Teshup or Teshpak, the one of the Semites Baal in the form of Haddu, mentioned as a-du on the Linear A tablet Hagia Triada 95. Baal as Haddu was implored for rain. Who was Dadumatha, she loved by the master a-du Haddu Baal?

She might have been the supreme Minoan goddess Britomartis, implored for rain by the inscription on the altar stone of Mallia, deciphered by Derk Ohlenroth: May the goddess let it rain.

So the cereals for Haddu and Dadumatha listed up on HT95 should mollify him and her. Otherwise they might cause a drought, and Britomartis turn into Lousia the Angry One, while Demeter-Elaia from Phigalia turned into Black Demeter-Melaina who caused a famine, commemorated as Demeter Eryns by Pausanias, Demeter as one of the Furies.

Derk Ohlenroth deciphered not only the Phaistos Disc and altar stone inscription of Mallia but also the short inscription on a bronze double axe from the cult cave Arkalochori in Central Crete: I belong to the goddess Lousia. Three signs correspond to Phaistos Disc hieroglyphs, while one side of the disc is devoted to Demeter-Elaia and her daughter Nyx who gave oracles.

All hangs together, centered in agriculture, from a time when people could not just go a few blocks down to a supermarket and get everything they needed.

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Pondering the etymology of labyrinth given as da-pu-ri-to in Linear B led me to a Sumerian myth of creation in a Babylonian version. The first people were immortal and procreated. Ever more and more of them populated the earth and made such a racket that Enlil could no longer sleep. The gods decided to eliminate the human race. Enlil created a horrible monster called Labbu, a giant snake. Labbu devoured most humans, and was such an awful beast that it was feared by all gods. One of them succeeded in killing it, whereupon its blood flew for several years. The mother-goddess was outraged because of the almost complete extinction of humanity. Finally a compromise was reached. The surviving humans were allowed to live on, but became mortal, so they would no longer over-populate the world.

Labbu might account for laby- dapu-. Now for -rinth -rito. The closest match is Greek rhytaer 'archer; guard, protector'. Dragons lived in caves. Many big caves are labyrinths of gangways. A labyrinth might originally have been such a cave guarded by an imaginary dragon - a mini-Labbu, as it were – whose evil breath might have been a sulfuric gas emerging from a cleft in the rock. Consider also Hebrew laba for lava.

Another man-eating monster inhabited the labyrinth of Knossos, Minotaur.

Actually, the myth of Minotaur encodes a lunisolar calendar, and the labyrinth symbolizes the complicated astronomical calculations carried out in offices of the labyrinthic palace of Knossos.

Maybe also the Babylonian myth of Labbu was concerned about time. As long as people were immortal, time was of no importance. But then Labbu ended their lives. And the final compromise: we are given a limited lifetime.

Let us make the best of it.

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Daidalos (DAI for protected area) built a labyrinth for the bull-man Minotaur (TOR for bull in motion). Every ninth year the monster demanded seven virgins and seven young men. Theseus killed him and freed the victims. Together they found a way out of the labyrinth following Ariadne's thread.

This myth encodes a complex and ingenious lunisolar calendar.

Minotaur of the double nature embodies two periods of time, 9 and 235 lunations or synodic months; king Minos 9 years; each of the seven virgins and seven young men 19 days; and Theseus 19 years; while Ariadne's thread were additive number sequences.

9 lunations of Minotaur counted in the 30 29 30 mode yield 266 days

19 days for each of the seven vigins and seven young men are again 266 days

– metaphorically speaking they give their lives for the monster

9 years of king Minos are seven regular years of 365 days plus two leap

years of 366 days, in all 3,287 days, or 173 periods of 19 days – the king

offered the young ones to Minotaur every 9th year

19 years of Theseus are 235 lunations – thus he overcame the 235 lunations

of Minotaur

One of Ariadne's threads was a special number sequence correlating lunations (l) and years (y)

l/y 37/3 99/8 136/11 235/19 371/30

37/3 was used by the Celts (two years of 12 lunations plus one leap year of 13 lunations). 99/8 underlies the Lascaux calendar, and the dingir calendar of Sumer which also includes Venus. 235/19 is present in the calendar of Knossos, and 371/30 in the calendar of Mallia.

The Minoans believed in a giant subterranean bull causing earthquakes. Lord Evans experienced a Cretan earthquake, heard the 'bull' bellow, and found the metaphor adequate. Natural catastrophes were ascribed to monsters of many guises, Labbu of Babylon a sea monster, serpent, dragon, lion, all in one. What are now curious myths had once been philosophy. Even science in the case of the calendar of Minotaur.

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The lunisolar calendar of Mallia is encoded in the round stone kernos in a corner of the royal court. Along the rim are 33 smaller cup marks plus a bigger one. Count 11 days for each smaller bowl, and 2 or 3 more days for the larger bowl, thus you get a regular year of 365 and an occasional leap year of 366 days.

A Mallia week had 11 days and a month 33 days.

Count 19 lunations or synodic months in the 30 29 30 mode and you get 561 days, or 51 Mallia weeks of 11 days, or 17 Mallia months of 33 days.

Remember Ariadne's thread correlating lunations and years

37/7 99/8 136/11 235/19 371/30

235/19 was used for the Knossos calendar. Now let us look at 371/30 meaning that 371 lunations correspond to 30 years. Let us check this out.

Count 15 and 17 lunations in the 30 29 30 mode and you'll obtain 443 and 502 days respectively. Then carry out the following additions

17 15 17 15 17 or 17 32 49 64 81 lunations

502 443 502 443 502 443 502 or 502 945 1477 1890 2392 days

81 64 64 64 49 49 sum 371 lunations

2392 1890 1890 1890 1447 1447 sum 10956 days

371 lunations are 10,956 days (not even four hours less, mistake per lunation about half a minute).

Now for days in 30 years. Draw up another additive number sequence

365/1 (plus 1461/4) 1826/5 3287/9 ... 9131/25

3,287 days for 19 years were used for the calendar of Minotaur. Let us add 1,826 and 9,131 days for 5 and 25 days. Together we have 10,957 days (not even seven hours more, mistake less than thirteen minutes per year). A close match to the 10,956 days for 371 lunations.

371 lunations correspond to 10,956 days or 996 Mallia weeks or 332 Mallia months. Add one leap day and you have 10,957 days for 30 years.

The Mallia calendar worked for a nice round number of 30 years.

Maybe the kernos represents a calendar sanctuary in form of a ceremonial garden? connected with a mythical story about vegetation?

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A famous and very beautiful fresco from the palace of Knossos europa1.jpg shows a proud bull before a night blue background (rests of the original color) and three human figures demonstrating the stages of bull leaping. A girl takes him by the horns, a young man turns a somersault over him, and a second girl who landed safely behind him raises her arms for keeping balance, in the joy that she succeeded, and ready to catch the young man when he comes down. All three figures and the bull are shown in full action while hovering in the sky.

The Minoan sport of bull leaping symbolized Minoan astronomy, the art of calculating celestial cycles. Look at the girl before the bull and draw a horizontal line at her eye level --- the line will appear as horizon, and the perfect arc of the upper curve of the bull' neck as full moon rising above the horizon europa2.jpg

Magdalenian OC means right eye, inverse CO means attentive mind, ORI means horizon, the permutation OIR means to watch the moon rise above the horizon, AIR means to raise the arms in joy. These words and meanings (mined in 2005/06) are a perfect match for the girls in the fresco

OIR OC CO she watches the moon rise over the horizon OIR

with open eyes OC and focused mind CO

AIR OC CO she raises her arms in joy AIR

with open eyes OC and focused mind CO

Minoan bull leaping was also a symbol of the human condition. AD TOR OC CO, toward AD the bull in motion TOR with open eyes OC and focused mind CO – facing the bull, taking him by the horns, coping with fate ... AD TOR OC CO Mycenaean atoroqo Greek anthropos 'human being'.

OC CO oqo opos opsis – a phonetic shift allowing the asummption

OIR OC OC Europa

AIR OC CO Europa

Greek Europa means 'Far Looking One' or 'Wide Looking One'. Astronomers watching the moon and observing the sky look far and wide.

The origin of Europa would then have been Minoan astronomy that came from Ebla in Syria.

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end of Mediterranean Bronze Age

Where did the Luvians come from? Let me propose a hypothesis based on place names.

POL LAS Wilusa (W)Ilios Ilion (Homeric Troy)

POL means a fortified settlement (Greek polis Latin villa French ville), and LAS a hill, or a mountain in what I call 'attention perspective': a hill heightened by an awe and fear inspiring cyclopic wall. Homer's Polyphem – a famous cyclops who resembled more a wooded mountain top than a man who eats bread – symbolizes Troy, his one eye the acropolis overlooking the wide river plain, his body downtown Troy VIIa that provided protected shelter for 5,000 – 10,000 people.

TYR PAS Taruwisa Troy

TYR means to overcome in the double sense of rule and give, and PAS everywhere (in a plain), here, south and north of me, east and west of me. Troy dominated a crossing point of important trade ways (S-N and E-W), and was protected from above by TYR SsEYR Sseus Zeus who ruled everywhere PAS. According to Homer, Zeus and Athene had once been on the Trojan side.

KOD DhAG AS Hattusas (Hattushas)

KOD means tent, hut; several Sanskrit derivatives name strongholds. DhAG means able, here a massive stronghold able to hold up all enemies (except an inner usurpator who caused the fall of the mighty Hittite empire). And AS means upward, up above. Together a really strong fortress on top of a hill or mountain.

POL LAS named Athene as Pallas Athene.

Inverse LAS POL might have named the Luvian language, luwili

POL LAS Wilusa LAS POL luwili ?

POL Wil- LAS -lusa LAS lu- POL -wili

a language spoken by people residing in a palace on top of a hill or mountain around 1600 BC ? how about Erzurum at the base of the Palandöken daglari

POL LAS DhAG Palandök- ??

Also the Hatti people or Hittites came a long way, from somewhere in the East and/or North. Their last station before Hattusas (Hattushas) had been Nesa Kültepe Kanish Kayseri.

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Manfred Korfmann, late excavator of Troy, was convinced that the Trojans had been Luvians.

The antagonist of Troy was Ahhiyawa (Akhiyawa or Achijawa) Achaia, identified as the Peloponnese with Mycene. Its name could go back to AChI AD DA, swelling river AChI plus the generic river formula AD DA for water flowing toward AD the sea while coming from DA hills or mountains. This would go along with AChI )EI or AChI LEi Achilles, comparing the fiercest Greek warrior to a river tsunami, swelling water attacking with the vehemence of a lion.

Arzawa has been located in Lydia, western Anatolia, and was previously called Luwija, land of the Luvians. The origin of the name Arzawa might have been ARC AD DA, again the polished river formula AD DA -awa, this time combined with a bear ARC (originally a cave bear, then Greek arktos for bear). German has bärenstark 'strong like a bear', and reissen 'rip, tear' for both a predatory animal killing a prey, eine Beute reissen, and a torrential river, ein reissender Fluss. If this etymology holds, also the Luvians had been fierce warriors.

Now the question is: where did the Luvians come from? did they cross the Dardanelles? or did they come a long way from the East? maybe passing Erzurum and the Dalandöken daglari? moving and spreading in a wide arc around Hittite territory? finally reaching and overtaking Troy? or just blending in?

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Achilles had been attacked by the waves of the river Scamander, a river called Xanthos by the gods. Greek xanthos named all hues of copper ore, yellow brown reddish, hence the river attacking Achilles was the Trojan army, soldiers clad in copper and bronze armaments. And this confirms AChI )EI or AChI LEI Achilles, comparing the fierce warrior to a river tsunami striking with the vehemence of a lion – Achilles met his equal.

Eponymous Tiryns, hero of the Phaistos Disc, Lord Laertes in Homer’s Odyssey, was the mythological father of Odysseus whose name might go back to AD DA SAI, again the generic river formula AD DA but now followed by SAI for life, together life along rivers, or life as river I the sense of the title of a French film: La vie est une longue fleuve tranquille, life is a long and tranquil river. But not always! A river can swell and flood a plain. Odysseus – 'if there ever was such a man’ (Homer) – got angry, Greek odyssomai ‘be angry’.

What was the reason of his anger? The Mycenaean tin came from Central Asia and was bound to pass the Dardanelles where the Trojans laid hands on the precious cargo - abducting Helen of the white arms, Homeric personification of tin, her husband xanthos Menelaos the symbol of copper, and their daughter lovely Hermione who resembled golden Aphrodite the symbol of bronze, alloy of copper and tin, of a golden shine when freshly cast. Abducting beautiful Helen means confiscating tin destined for Mycenae which led to a series of incidents that culminated in the Trojan War.

Polyphem is the Homeric symbol of Troy VIIa, his one eye the acropolis overlooking the river plain, his body downtown Troy, his cave the harbor in the Besik bay, his goats and sheep foreign ships, and their milk high fees foreign sailors had to pay for waiting in the harbor until a favorable wind came up.

The Greek ships were horses, resting in the mouthing area of the Simois and Scamander, mosquito infested swamps explaining the malaria episode in the Iliad.

The war dragged on. Then wily Odysseus had an idea. He let a seemingly abandoned ship drift along the Aegean shore and pass the Besik bay. The guards of the harbor hauled it in - whereupon hidden Achaean soldier leapt out and took the guards by surprise. The castel, some three kilometers away, was alarmed. The Trojan army sped to the harbor. Meanwhile Achaean archers hiding near the stronghold shot fire arrows over the cyclopic wall and burned down the acropolis – blinding Polyphem, as it were.

Poseidon and Apollo got so angry that they made the Simois and Scarmander swell and sweep away all vestiges of the Greek camps, as related in the middle of the Iliad, end of book 12.

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