The Loom Of Language

1 Ur 14—SIONI INSCIUPUON IROM PAPIIOS (EioniH CLNIURY BC)

'1 he language, is a Greek dialect Ihe script is Cypnotic (Fig 13) To represent
the compound consonants oi Greek words, the practice was to use two
syllables with the two appropriate consonants and the same vowel value,
e g the equivalent for the name btaukrate* in which we have sr and kr
was sa ta \i ha \a ft st1 I he dilliculties and ambiguities arising from
the use ot a syllable script as the written medium of an Aryan language come
out in the iirst six lines

sc KIP i

//• r o/at

Mt ya

(YPR1OIK SYLLABARY

a-to-ro

i-tii-ka-i

e-:>e~lo~ka-n-]a

la-pa-io-ne zo-va-ra-

mi-ka-la-te-o pi-lo-ta

a-za~ra-vo-ne zo-vo-ro

Andro in (good) fortune 1 he reckoning of the torches was the business
ol /ovai 5 Megilotheos and Philodamos, that of what had been gatheied
by collection the business of Zovoios f ,