6.9: Social and Symbolic Implications

Because clay tablets found in archival contexts constitute by far the largest group of artefacts carrying script, most interest in Aegean Bronze Age writing has concentrated on its use as a bureaucratic tool. The invention of writing on Crete towards the end of the 2^nd millennium bc has been regarded as a result of or even necessitated by the transition from small-scale to the more complex palatial societies. The fact that writing first occurs on seals rather than on other types of objects can be seen as first and foremost a consequence of developments in the administrative system but it can be proposed that the use and display of writing was also intertwined with social and symbolic meanings. In the rest of the chapter I shall try to evaluate the non-utilitarian functions of writing in the Bronze Age Aegean.

As stated above, the earliest form of writing is the Archanes script which is found on seals made of bone or stone. The invention of the Archanes script predates the establishment of the palaces and centralised administration. Only about 10 signs in all are represented in the Archane script, and it might therefore be questioned whether it can reasonably be regarded as writing in a strict sense of the word. It could be argued that the signs represent rather some form of complex iconography and had a more decorative function (cf. Krzyszkowska 2005: 70–71; Shear 1998). However, in addition to the fact that several of the signs occur more than once, similarity with signs in Linear A would seem to indicate that they represent the sounds of words and that the inscriptions record meaningful text (cf. Schoep 2006: n. 74). Most seals with the Archanes script were found at Archanes in central Crete, but some have been found elsewhere and it is possible that the earliest form of Aegean writing may have been more widespread than is indicated by the available evidence.

That seals were used sphragistically for administrative purposes in Prepalatial Crete seems certain. Even though clay sealings which can be dated to this period are not many, the fact that they do exist can be regarded as incontrovertible evidence that seals were actually used to seal something and were not or not exclusively used for personal adornment or as amulets (Krzyszkowska 2005: 77–78; Pini 1990: 34–37; Schoep 1999). There is therefore no reason to doubt that the seals with early writing were also used for sealing purposes. The fact that Minoan writing first occurs on seals can plausibly be seen as an extension or elaboration of the administrative system that was already in existence. There is a continuity of use into the Palatial period in that seals inscribed with Cretan Hieroglyphic occur after the Archanes script has been superseded.

In addition to their administrative use, it is likely that seals functioned as badges of authority and were important status symbols from the Prepalatial period onwards. In the Palatial period this is most clearly indicated by the use of colourful, valuable and imported materials. The fact that seals are often perforated probably indicates that they were intended to be worn visibly as ornaments. In the Prepalatial period, when bone and mostly soft and locally available stone types were used, an association with the expression of individual prestige is, as proposed by Alexios Karytinos, perhaps indicated by the many different and in some cases elaborate shapes of the seals (Karytinos 1998: 79; cf. Krzyszkowska 2005: 21; Schoep 2006: 50). In the Prepalatial period Archanes seems to have been an important and wealthy centre (Sakellarakis and Sapouna-Sakellaraki 1991). The evidence comes primarily from the cemetery at Phourni, where several monumental burial structures were uncovered. The earliest dates to the middle of the 3^rd millennium bc. These burials undoubtedly represent the emergence of an increasingly hierarchical society, and the grave goods attest to the wealth, far-flung connections, and prestige of those buried there. It would seem not implausible that writing was first invented at Archanes. The finds in Burial Building 6, where four of the seals with writing were found, were particularly rich and included jewellery, amulets made of bone, ivory, and gold, seals made of ivory and steatite in a variety of shapes and with different types of scenes, both figural and geometric, an Egyptian faience scarab, clay figurines, bronze tools, stone vases and many clay vessels (Sakellarakis and Sapouna-Sakellaraki 1991: 98–104; 1997: 202–205). It is certainly significant that in its earliest occurrence Aegean Bronze Age writing is found associated with prestige items in rich burials which attest to the wealth and social standing of their owners (cf. Karytinos 1998; Schoep 2006: 46–47). This can furthermore be seen in the context of the social importance of funerary ritual to the display of power and status in this period (Branigan 1970: 130–138; Murphy 1998: 36–39).

Also noteworthy is an apparent link between the earliest writing on Crete and religious expression. The signs in the Archanes script include representations of a double axe, a jug, a bucranium, a branch, a sistrum, objects that almost certainly had religious connotations (Nikolaidou 1999; Sakellarakis and Sapouna-Sakellaraki 1997: 351–356). It would seem significant that the earliest form of Aegean writing was based on signs which were imbued with religious meaning. Some of these signs also continue into the later Cretan writing systems. The signs found on some of the seals have been compared to the inscriptions in Linear A on stone vessels from cultic contexts. This could indicate that the inscriptions in Archanes script record religious texts (Sakellarakis and Sapouna-Sakellaraki 1997: 329; Schoep 1999: 266, 273, n. 4). If that is the case, it is possible that the text was intended to enhance the function of the seal by providing additional religious protection when it was used to seal something. It is also possible that the seals with inscriptions were used mainly or exclusively for religious purposes. The seals themselves may furthermore have functioned as a sign of religious status or authority of some kind, and may have served to identify the owners as high-standing religious functionaries.

There has been some debate concerning the reasons for the invention or initial use of writing, whether a utilitarian or a symbolic function should be seen as primary (see e.g. Cornell 1991; Postgate et al. 1995; Stoddart and Whitely 1988; Thomas 1992). When it comes to Crete in the Bronze Age, it can be suggested that the distinction between a utilitarian function, on the one hand, and a ritual or ceremonial function, on the other, represents a false dichotomy. Religious ideology was most likely an integral part of the economy and the administrative system in the Prepalatial as well as in the Palatial periods, and there may not have existed any meaningful distinction between religious significance and administrative sphragistic use. It is arguable that the ideological and religious meanings associated with early Minoan script as seen at Archanes were part of the background against which the development of Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A and the uses of writing in the palatial administration should be seen.

The clay tablets with Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic represent an administrative development that can be associated with the establishment of palatial rule on Crete. The largest number of tablets has been found in palatial archives. However, a number of tablets with Linear A come from other contexts on Crete and in a few cases also from outside the island, testifying to the relatively widespread currency of this script. How, when, and if the information recorded on the clay tablets, which were kept in the palace archives, was later consulted is difficult to reconstruct. Despite the fact that clay tablets were clearly meant to be preserved for some length of time, it is often assumed that they represent temporary records, and that the information on them was later transferred to more permanent archival documents, for which papyrus or some other material which has not been preserved would have been used (Hallager 1996: 32; Olivier 1986: 386–387; Schoep 2006: 55). The fact that many of the Linear A tablets have been recycled is seen as evidence for the view that the clay tablets were temporary records (Schoep 2002: 79). Although clay as a material was readily available, the production of tablets of a standard type can be considered a fairly elaborate process that must have involved a number of people in the palace administration, including scribes who had specialist skills and may have worked full-time. From that perspective it is hard to understand why clay tablets would have been chosen as a medium for temporary documents.

It can, however, be suggested that whatever their function in the administrative processing of information the clay documents were also symbolic objects which played a role in expressing the power of the ruling elite. The possession of information is an effective instrument of political power, and this would have been clearly expressed through the bulky materiality of the clay tablets, regardless of whether they were ever consulted at a later date. It is also possible that the act of recording the goods that came into the palaces on clay tablets may in itself have been intended most of all to impress visitors with the control of the palatial elites over resources, labour and people. The ability to use a common material such as clay to transform speech into material form may also have been seen as a reflection of divine power. The fact that in many instances the information which is written down is minimal could suggest that the contents of the text were in some sense of secondary importance. The palace archives may not then have been intended as repositories of information that could be consulted by officials when necessary, but more as a display of the capability of the palace administration to collect and store information. If that was the case, it would not have been necessary to preserve the information on the tablets for long periods and they could be reused as needed.

The inscribed stone offering tables which have been found in cultic contexts constitute clear evidence for an association between writing and ritual (see also Flouda, this volume). Several of the inscriptions consist of the same recurring sign groups, usually transcribed as A-SA-SA-RA. It would seem likely that this represents a dedicatory formula. The purpose of the inscription, which is found only on very few of the stone vessels found in sanctuaries, may have been to increase the value of the object and to provide a permanent record of the wealth and piety of the dedicator (Schoep 1994: 20; 2006: 57; Whittaker 2005: 30). The display of writing could in that case be said to have functioned as a means of commemoration and authentication. The fact that these inscriptions occur on objects that are made of a durable material further suggests that the permanence given to the act of dedication by being recorded in writing and the indestructible nature of the material of which the objects are made were believed to reinforce each other.

It can be argued that the fact that writing occurs on double axes made of metal reflect the same idea. A few double axes made of bronze have been incised with one or two signs in Linear A (Figure 2). Although it is clear in some cases that they had been used as tools, it is possible that the inscription marks them as votive offerings that had been deposited in a sanctuary. Unfortunately, their find contexts are generally uninformative and several have no known provenance. The double axes made of gold that were found at Archalochori, on the other hand, were miniatures made of thin foil and could not have had any practical function. They can be classified as votive replicas. It may be relevant in this connection that in addition to durability and immutability, gold as a material is characterised by its bright and glowing colour. Evidence from different cultural contexts show that the quality of luminosity is universally or near-universally perceived to be associated with the materialisation of the supernatural (Keates 2002; Parisinou 2005). It is arguable that the use of gold for votive objects was intended to express an association with divinity, which was reinforced by the inscriptions. Along these lines, it could be proposed that examples of writing on gold and silver jewellery, which were presumably worn by members of the elite, were intended to demonstrate not only social status but also religious authority.

As discussed above, the question of whether wood was used as a support for writing in the Aegean Bronze Age continues to remain open, as there is no decisive archaeological or textual evidence from the Bronze Age Aegean itself. It is therefore not easy to speculate about possible social or symbolic meanings. In the Iliad there is, however, a single mention of a writing tablet, which may be of relevance in this connection. In the passage in question, king Proitos of Argos is described as sending the prince Bellerophon, whom he wishes to get rid of, to his kinsman in Lydia with a letter asking that the bearer be killed (Iliad VI.168–169). The letter is described as being written on a double tablet which could be folded together. It is not stated explicitly that it was made of wood, but had it been thought of as made of some other material this would no doubt have been included in the description. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the poem’s audience was meant to imagine a wooden writing-board. While the Iliad was not composed and written down before the 8^th century, Greek epic poetry has its roots in the Bronze Age. It is therefore possible that the occurrence of a writing-board as a crucial element of this story reflects the material culture of the Bronze Age. The recovery of several writing-boards from the Ulu Burun wreck raises considerably the odds in favour of the possibility that the story of Bellerophon reflects the use of wooden writing-boards in the Mycenaean period for communication over geographical distance (cf. Shear 1998: 189).

The more or less complete wooden writing-board from the Ulu Burun wreck was found in a pithos, which also contained the substantial remains of pomegranates, probably indicating that the jar had been filled with the fruit, several ballast stones, a bronze chisel and a bronze razor (Bass et al. 1989: 10–11). This has been taken to indicate that it contained information concerned the ship’s cargo (Perna 2007: 226). However, the Ulu Burun writing-board was clearly an object of some value and on that account it seems unlikely that it and the two other writing-boards of which fragments were found in the wreck had been used for keeping track of the merchandise (Payton 1991: 106). It could be speculated that they rather represent diplomatic correspondence (cf. MacGinnis 2002: 221; Symington 1991: 119–120 on the use of writing-boards for letters in the Near East in the Bronze Age). If that was the case, the boards themselves may have played a role in elite gift exchange. Although perhaps not outstandingly valuable objects, the wooden writing-boards from the Ulu Burun wreck would have been striking artefacts with their ivory hinges and brightly coloured writing surfaces. As modern top level gift exchange demonstrates, the gifts themselves need not always be characterised by expense or exclusivity (e.g. President Obama’s gift of an iPod to Queen Elizabeth II, see also Sparks’ discussion of gift exchange, this volume). In the Iliad, the fact that King Proitos writes his message on a writing-board rather than on a rolled or folded and sealed piece of papyrus is possibly a reflection of the use of writ- ing-boards as gifts between rulers in the Mycenaean period (cf. Shear 1998; see also Crielaard 1995: 213–124).