# Eteocretan and Eteocypriot > Eteocretan and Eteocypriot are the names given to two small groups of inscriptions, from eastern Crete and from Amathus in Cyprus, whose scripts are… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) Updated: 2026-10-31T16:15:04+00:00 --- **MYS** 0DEDWA0EQ633·Mystery · script # Eteocretan and Eteocypriot **0** [Follow][Ask a question](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=eteocretan-eteocypriot) Eteocretan and Eteocypriot ![Eteocypriot inscription in the Cypriot syllabary on a stone block, probably from Amathus, Ashmolean Museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/eteocretan-eteocypriot-lead) BabelStone (Andrew West) · CC BY-SA 3.0 Where Praisos and Dreros in eastern Crete; Amathus (and perhaps Golgoi) in Cyprus⁠[[3]] When Eteocretan late 7th to 3rd century BC; Eteocypriot about 8th to 4th century BC⁠[[1]] Corpus Eteocretan: 6 certain stones, about 420 letters; Eteocypriot: 26 inscriptions in Steele's catalogue⁠[[2]] Scripts Greek alphabet (archaic Cretan, then Ionic); Cypriot syllabary, 55 to 56 signs, right to left⁠[[28]] Standard editions Duhoux 1982 (Eteocretan); Steele 2013 and IG XV 1.1 (2020) (Eteocypriot)⁠[[26]] Bilinguals Two Dreros stones (the longer lost in WWII); the Amathus bilingual, IG XV 1.1 no. 7 (lost after 1914)⁠[[13]] Holders Heraklion Archaeological Museum (Praisos, inv. 99, 100, 101); Amathus stones in Cypriot and foreign museums, e.g. Ashmolean AN Inscription 118⁠[[11]] Key to the script Idalion bilingual (Phoenician and Cypriot Greek, 388 BC), British Museum 125320⁠[[6]] Language Unknown; not Greek⁠[[3]] Status Unexplained Questions 0 of 7 answered Places [All 5](https://mysteriesdept.com/places?mystery=eteocretan-eteocypriot) [**Praisos** ancient city, eastern Crete](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSFBYKF8P/praisos)[**Dreros** ancient city, eastern Crete](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSW22GYS0/dreros)[**Amathus** ancient city-kingdom, south coast of Cyprus](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSWM50VWS/amathus)[**British Museum, London** museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSY100SDN/british-museum-london) Concepts [All](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts) [Bilingual text](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW026HWD1/bilingual-text)[Boustrophedon](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEECXNF8DQC/boustrophedon)[Decipherment](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW01ZWFP5/decipherment)[Logographic script](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02H879M/logographic-script)[Syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary) Catalog key**MYS** 0DEDWA0EQ633 Eteocretan ("true Cretan") and Eteocypriot ("true Cypriot") are modern labels for two groups of inscriptions that can be pronounced but not understood. The Cretan group was written in the Greek alphabet between the late 7th and the 3rd century BC at [Praisos](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSFBYKF8P/praisos), the city that Strabo says belonged to the Eteocretans, and at [Dreros](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSW22GYS0/dreros); it amounts to six certain texts and some fragments, about 420 letters in all⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. The Cypriot group was written in the Cypriot [syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary), the script of Iron Age Cyprus, between about the 8th and the 4th century BC, almost entirely at [Amathus](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSWM50VWS/amathus) on the south coast; [Steele](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDTEQYDCP7/philippa-m-steele)'s catalogue counts 26 inscriptions⁠[[3]]⁠[[4]]. The term Eteocypriot was coined by Friedrich in 1932 on the model of Eteocretan⁠[[5]]. Both scripts are read with confidence because they also wrote Greek. The Greek alphabet needs no [decipherment](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW01ZWFP5/decipherment), and the Cypriot syllabary was deciphered by [George Smith](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDTGQYP980/george-smith) in 1871 from the Idalion bilingual, a Phoenician and Cypriot dedication of 388 BC in the [British Museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/PLC0DEDSY100SDN/british-museum-london), and completed by Brandis, Deecke, Siegismund and Ahrens by 1876⁠[[6]]. Applied to Greek texts the syllabary yields a readable dialect with a full grammar⁠[[7]]. Applied to the Amathus texts it yields strings such as a-na ma-to-ri u-mi-e-sa-i that match no known language⁠[[3]]. Reading the sounds is therefore not translation. This is the same situation as Linear A, whose signs are sounded with Linear B values but whose language is unknown, and the opposite of Linear B, where Ventris's values turned the tablets into Greek in 1952⁠[[8]]⁠[[9]]. Each group has a bilingual. At Dreros a stone found in 1936 carries two lines of Eteocretan above three worn lines of Cretan Greek containing the verb ewade, "it was decided", and the word for cheese; the stone was lost in the Second World War⁠[[10]]⁠[[11]]. At Amathus a marble slab published in 1914 carries two lines of Eteocypriot above a two-line Greek dedication of a statue of Ariston son of Aristonax by the city; the Eteocypriot contains the two names and a patronymic ending -o-ko-o-se, and this stone too is lost⁠[[12]]⁠[[3]]⁠[[13]]. Neither bilingual is long enough to give more than a few equations, and the Eteocypriot text is longer than its Greek, so it is not a word-for-word translation. Proposed affiliations have followed the fashions of Aegean linguistics. Davis read the Cretan texts as Anatolian in 1961 and Finkelberg has argued for a Lycian-like language⁠[[14]]⁠[[15]]; [Gordon](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDTH35VDC2/cyrus-h-gordon) read them as Northwest Semitic from 1962⁠[[16]]; Brown and Facchetti grouped them with Etruscan and Lemnian⁠[[17]]⁠[[18]]; Petit called Eteocypriot a Hurrian dialect⁠[[19]]; and [Duhoux](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDTEBSTVVC/yves-duhoux) and Janko have argued that Eteocypriot continues the language of Bronze Age Cypro-Minoan⁠[[20]]⁠[[21]]. The editors of both corpora conclude that nothing can be shown beyond the fact that the languages are not Greek⁠[[1]]⁠[[3]]. The site's [Linear A](https://mysteriesdept.com/m/linear-a) and [Cypro-Minoan](https://mysteriesdept.com/m/cypro-minoan) entries cover the Bronze Age scripts that may hold the ancestors of these languages. Of the 7 questions on this site, 0 are answered. ### Key questionsset by the editors [**Do Eteocretan and Eteocypriot continue the Bronze Age languages written in Linear A and Cypro-Minoan?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8ZPM19P/do-eteocretan-and-eteocypriot-continue-the-bronze-age)No answer ahead yet [**Is the Psychro inscription a genuine Eteocretan text or a modern forgery?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ9AN6YAA/is-the-psychro-inscription-a-genuine-eteocretan-text-or-a)No answer ahead yet [**What do the Dreros and Amathus bilinguals actually establish about the two languages?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ94QPQR8/what-do-the-dreros-and-amathus-bilinguals-actually-establish)No answer ahead yet [**What language do the Eteocretan inscriptions of Praisos and Dreros record?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8QBDF18/what-language-do-the-eteocretan-inscriptions-of-praisos-and)No answer ahead yet [**What language do the Eteocypriot inscriptions of Amathus record?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8TY5JS3/what-language-do-the-eteocypriot-inscriptions-of-amathus)No answer ahead yet [All 7 questions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=eteocretan-eteocypriot) ### Research sessions1 so far · last 31 Oct `S-001`[Eteocretan and Eteocypriot seeded: corpus, readings and open data](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/sessions/SES0DEEE7NHGFE2/session-1-eteocretan-and-eteocypriot-seeded-corpus-readings) 31 Oct **20** evidence**7** questions raised**13** answers proposedNo question changed standing [All 1 sessions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/sessions) ## The object The Eteocretan corpus is six stones and a few fragments. Three come from the Altar Hill sanctuary at Praisos and are in the Heraklion museum: Praisos 1 (inventory 99), five lines in archaic Cretan letters written [boustrophedon](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEECXNF8DQC/boustrophedon), found by Halbherr in 1884; Praisos 2 (inventory 100), thirteen lines in the Ionic alphabet of about the 4th century BC, found by Bosanquet in 1901; and Praisos 3 (inventory 101), sixteen lines in Ionic with digamma, of about the 3rd century BC, found in 1904⁠[[22]]⁠[[23]]⁠[[11]]. Two come from the cistern beside the temple of Apollo Delphinios at Dreros, found in 1936 and published in 1946: a grey schist block 75 cm wide with two lines of Eteocretan above three of Greek, and a second stone of which only the Eteocretan word tuprmeriei a and its Greek survive⁠[[10]]. The longer Dreros stone was kept at Neapoli and lost during the Second World War⁠[[24]]. The whole corpus is about 420 letters⁠[[2]]. The standard edition is Duhoux's L'Étéocrétois of 1982, and Ray Brown's web pages give every text with dimensions and bibliography⁠[[1]]⁠[[11]]. The Eteocypriot corpus is larger but shorter per text. Steele catalogues 26 inscriptions, EC 1 to EC 26, nearly all from Amathus and most of them short dedications or funerary texts of the 8th to 4th century BC⁠[[3]]⁠[[4]]. The Amathus bilingual, a black marble slab broken in two, was bought in a Limassol antique shop and published by Sittig in 1914; it was lost soon after, possibly in shipment to America⁠[[12]]. It is ICS 196 in [Masson](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDTF8KTZJQ/olivier-masson)'s corpus and no. 7 in the new Inscriptiones Graecae XV 1.1 of 2020⁠[[25]]⁠[[26]]⁠[[13]]. Among several hundred Cypriot syllabic inscriptions that cannot be read as Greek, only those with clear non-Greek morphology are counted as Eteocypriot⁠[[3]]. **Map of the region** [Open the full map](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/map) [+][−] 1 **Praisos** Ancient city Within 1 km 2 **Dreros** Ancient city Within 1 km 3 **Heraklion Archaeological Museum** Museum Within 100 m 4 **Amathus** Ancient city Within 1 km 5 **Golgoi (Athienou)** Ancient site Within 1 km 6 **Idalion (Dali)** Ancient city Within 1 km 7 **Cyprus Museum, Nicosia** Museum Within 100 m MappedWithin 1 kmNatural Earth ### Timeline **Timeline** Squeezed where little happened. Each mark is a published claim, by how it stands:AcceptedMost likelyStill possibleDisputedRuled out ## What is known The scripts are not in doubt. The Praisos and Dreros texts use the Cretan alphabet of their Greek neighbours, so every letter has a known value, and Duhoux argues from the letter forms that the Eteocretans took up the alphabet at the same time as the Greeks of Crete⁠[[27]]. The Cypriot syllabary has 55 to 56 signs for open syllables and bare vowels, runs right to left, and writes a final consonant with a dead vowel; it was deciphered for Greek between 1871 and 1876 and is read with only a few rare signs uncertain⁠[[28]]⁠[[6]]⁠[[3]]. What the texts say is known only at the edges. In the Dreros bilingual the Greek has ewade, "it was decided", and turon, "cheese"; van [Effenterre](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDTG2WSBM2/henri-van-effenterre) matched inai in the Eteocretan to ewade, and the sequence phraisoi inai in Praisos 2 would then be "the Praisians decided"⁠[[10]]⁠[[11]]. The city name appears as phraiso-, with an aspirate the Greeks did not have⁠[[1]]. Word dividers on Dreros 1 and Praisos 1 show words such as et, komn, men, lmo and barze; clusters like komn and lmo suggest syllabic n and l, and the digamma between t and s in Praisos 3 points to a sound Greek lacked⁠[[11]]⁠[[1]]. Recurring elements -mit- and irer suggest morphology but no paradigm can be built from 420 letters⁠[[2]]. For Eteocypriot the bilingual gives the names Ariston and Aristonax in the forms a-ri-si-to-no-se and a-ra-to-wa-na-ka-so-ko-o-se, which shows that the signs keep their Greek values and that -o-ko-o-se marks the patronymic; Steele finds this patronymic, usually on Greek names, the one secure diagnostic of the language⁠[[3]]⁠[[4]]. The ending -o-ti recurs and has been compared with a Cypro-Minoan sequence⁠[[29]]⁠[[20]]. The Eteocypriot line is longer than the Greek, so some of it has no Greek counterpart and the equation a-na ma-to-ri with "the city" is a guess⁠[[3]]. ## What has been tested Every reading has been tested against the same two things, the [bilinguals](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW026HWD1/bilingual-text) and the internal recurrences, and none has passed both. Davis's 1961 Anatolian reading of Praisos and Psychro, built on Hittite look-alikes, was rejected in review for assigning meanings freely to isolated words⁠[[14]]. Gordon's Semitic reading from 1962 took lmo as "for his mother" and found Semitic roots in Praisos; Duhoux and Brown object that the matches are single words without the inflection Semitic requires, and the 2016 revival by Magnelli and Petrantoni rests on one word at the end of the Dreros text⁠[[16]]⁠[[1]]⁠[[11]]⁠[[30]]. Brown's and Facchetti's Tyrrhenian grouping depends on a handful of endings shared with Etruscan and Lemnian, which Rix and De Simone regard as insufficient⁠[[17]]⁠[[18]]⁠[[24]]. Duhoux's own analysis of 1982, which worked only from the texts, found a language that is neither Greek, Indo-European nor Semitic, with hints of agglutination, and stopped there⁠[[1]]. The Psychro stone, five alphabetic words with three Linear A-like signs, was accepted as Eteocretan by Brown and Duhoux but argued to be a modern forgery by Kritzas in 2006; the Sumerian-based decipherment that Kenanidis and Papakitsos published in 2017 therefore rests on a text most epigraphers no longer admit⁠[[31]]⁠[[32]]⁠[[33]]. For Eteocypriot, Jones's 1950 segmentation and Petit's 1999 Hurrian proposal from names and toponyms have not been confirmed by any reading of a text, and Steele's 2013 review of all 26 inscriptions concludes that no secure link to a known language can be shown⁠[[34]]⁠[[19]]⁠[[3]]. Duhoux's 2010 comparison of Eteocypriot endings with Cypro-Minoan 1 sequences, and Janko's 2020 reading of the Enkomi cylinder as an Eteocypriot account, are consistent with continuity but cannot be checked while Cypro-Minoan values are themselves unproven⁠[[20]]⁠[[21]]⁠[[35]]. No computational or statistical study of either corpus has been published; at 420 letters the Eteocretan corpus is below the size at which frequency methods discriminate between languages⁠[[2]]. ## The readings For Eteocretan five positions are live. The first is that it is an Anatolian language, as Davis argued from Hittite and Finkelberg from Lycian, fitting the view that pre-Greek Crete was settled from Anatolia⁠[[14]]⁠[[15]]. The second is Gordon's Northwest Semitic reading, revived in 2016 for one word of the Dreros text⁠[[16]]⁠[[30]]. The third is the Tyrrhenian or "Aegeo-Asianic" grouping with Etruscan and Lemnian proposed by Brown and developed by Facchetti and Negri⁠[[17]]⁠[[18]]. The fourth, held by Duhoux and most epigraphers, is that Eteocretan descends from the Minoan language of Linear A and belongs to no family with other written records, so that only internal analysis and new texts can advance it; Duhoux warns that the thousand-year gap means the two must still be studied separately⁠[[1]]⁠[[24]]. The fifth is that the corpus is too small for any of these to be decided. For Eteocypriot the positions are fewer. Petit's Hurrian hypothesis rests on Amathusian names and the island's Bronze Age contacts rather than on readings⁠[[19]]. Duhoux, Valério and Janko argue that Eteocypriot is the Iron Age survival of the language, or one of the languages, written in Cypro-Minoan, which would make the Amathus texts the only alphabet-adjacent key to that script⁠[[20]]⁠[[35]]⁠[[21]]. [Egetmeyer](https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDTFWMFCDT/markus-egetmeyer) adds that the Golgoi texts may be a different non-Greek language, "Golgian", so that there may be two unknowns rather than one⁠[[4]]⁠[[36]]. Steele's position, the default, is that Eteocypriot is an unknown language whose morphology can be described but whose relatives cannot be named⁠[[3]]⁠[[37]]. No one argues that either language is Greek. ### Published claims **Published claims and their status** | Year | Who | Claimed | Status | Reason | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1902 | Robert S. Conway⁠[23] | The Praisos inscriptions are in a non-Greek, pre-Hellenic language of Crete. | Accepted | Every later editor agrees that the texts cannot be read as Greek, though Conway's Indo-European comparisons were not followed⁠[1]. | | 1946 | Henri van Effenterre⁠[10] | In the Dreros bilingual Eteocretan inai answers Greek ewade, "it was decided", and the text regulates an offering of goat cheese. | Still possible | The equation inai = ewade is accepted as plausible because phraisoi inai recurs at Praisos, but the cheese reading depends on a worn Greek text and the stone is lost⁠[11]. | | 1961 | Simon Davis⁠[14] | The Praisos and Psychro texts, with the Phaistos Disc, are in a Hittite-like Anatolian language. | Ruled out | Pope's review found the method assigned meanings to isolated words without controls, and the Psychro text it relied on is now thought a forgery⁠[14]⁠[32]. | | 1962 | Cyrus H. Gordon⁠[16] | Eteocretan is Northwest Semitic; lmo in the Dreros text is "for his mother". | Disputed | The matches are single words and the texts show none of the inflection Semitic morphology requires, as Duhoux and Brown object⁠[1]⁠[11]. | | 1982 | Yves Duhoux⁠[1] | Eteocretan is neither Greek, Indo-European nor Semitic, shows signs of agglutination, and cannot yet be assigned to any family. | Accepted | Four decades of comparison since have produced no reading that other scholars accept, and the 2024 survey reaches the same verdict⁠[2]. | | 1985 | Raymond A. Brown⁠[17] | Eteocretan belongs with Minoan and Tyrrhenian (Etruscan, Lemnian) in an "Aegeo-Asianic" group. | Disputed | The shared endings are few and Rix and De Simone regard them as insufficient to show relationship⁠[24]. | | 2001 | Giulio M. Facchetti⁠[18] | Minoan, Eteocretan and Etruscan form one Tyrrhenian family. | Disputed | The argument runs through Linear A readings that are themselves unconfirmed⁠[9]. | | 2005 | Margalit Finkelberg⁠[15] | The pre-Greek language of Crete, surviving as Eteocretan, was Anatolian and close to Lycian. | Still possible | It rests on the Linear A libation formula rather than on the Eteocretan texts, which contain no word yet matched to Lycian⁠[38]⁠[1]. | | 2006 | Charalambos Kritzas⁠[32] | The Psychro "bilingual" is a modern forgery. | Most likely | Accepted by SEG and most epigraphers; Papakitsos and Kenanidis dispute it but have not answered the epigraphic objections⁠[33]. | | 2016 | Adalberto Magnelli and Giuseppe Petrantoni⁠[30] | New readings of line 1 of the Dreros bilingual support Gordon's Northwest Semitic identification of its final word. | Disputed | It concerns one word on a lost stone known from drawings, and the rest of the text is not read as Semitic⁠[11]. | | 2017 | Ioannis Kenanidis and Evangelos Papakitsos⁠[33] | The Psychro inscription is genuine and can be read through a Sumerian-based hypothesis. | Ruled out | It depends on a text judged a forgery and on a Sumerian derivation of Aegean scripts that no Aegean epigrapher accepts⁠[32]. | | 1871 | George Smith⁠[6] | The Cypriot syllabary can be read from the Idalion bilingual and its language is Greek. | Accepted | Confirmed by more than 600 Greek texts read since and by Egetmeyer's full grammar of the dialect⁠[7]. | | 1950 | Tom B. Jones⁠[34] | The Amathus texts can be segmented into words and names by comparison with the bilingual. | Still possible | The segmentation of the names is accepted; the rest has not been confirmed by any later text⁠[3]. | | 1999 | Thierry Petit⁠[19] | Eteocypriot is a Hurrian dialect brought to Amathus from Anatolia or Syria. | Disputed | It argues from names and archaeology; no Eteocypriot text has been read as Hurrian and Steele finds no secure link⁠[3]. | | 2010 | Yves Duhoux⁠[20] | Eteocypriot continues the language written in Cypro-Minoan 1. | Still possible | The comparison is of endings, and Cypro-Minoan sign values are not secure enough to test it⁠[35]. | | 2013 | Philippa M. Steele⁠[3] | The 26 Eteocypriot inscriptions show a non-Greek language with a -o-ko-o- patronymic, but no secure link to any known language can be established. | Accepted | It is the only full review of the corpus and no later work has overturned it⁠[4]. | | 2020 | Richard Janko⁠[21] | The 217-sign Cypro-Minoan cylinder from Enkomi is an account in a language that may be Eteocypriot. | Still possible | The argument is from layout; the language cannot be tested until sign values are fixed⁠[35]. | ## What would settle it The Eteocretan question needs text. Praisos was a large city occupied to 145 BC and only its Altar Hill has been dug for inscriptions; a longer bilingual decree, or even a few more lines with word dividers, would let the recurring elements be tested as case or verb endings⁠[[23]]⁠[[2]]. Two pithos handles from Azoria stamped with a non-Greek sequence show that stray finds are still possible⁠[[2]]. Short of new finds, a proposal must read all six stones with one grammar and account for the Greek of the Dreros bilingual, as van Effenterre's cheese regulation tries to; a reading that fits one word and ignores the rest fails the test that Duhoux set in 1982⁠[[1]]⁠[[10]]. The Eteocypriot question has two routes. One is more bilinguals: Steele counts four Greek and Eteocypriot texts already, and Amathus is still being excavated, so a bilingual long enough to align clauses rather than names is possible⁠[[4]]⁠[[3]]. The other is Cypro-Minoan: if values for its signs can be fixed on Cypriot texts and tested blind on the Ugarit tablets, the Amathus words can be sought in the Bronze Age corpus, and the -o-ti and -o-ko-o- endings become a test of continuity rather than a suggestion⁠[[20]]⁠[[35]]. In both cases the Linear B parallel sets the standard: Ventris's values were accepted because they produced Greek words that fitted the tablets' [logograms](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02H879M/logographic-script) and place names, a check from outside the system⁠[[8]]. For Eteocretan and Eteocypriot no such outside check exists yet, which is why the sounds can be read and the words cannot. ## Questions 0 of 7 questions are answered. **Key questions** [All 7](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=eteocretan-eteocypriot) **0** [Do Eteocretan and Eteocypriot continue the Bronze Age languages written in Linear A and Cypro-Minoan?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8ZPM19P/do-eteocretan-and-eteocypriot-continue-the-bronze-age) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 2 answers, none ahead **0** [Is the Psychro inscription a genuine Eteocretan text or a modern forgery?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ9AN6YAA/is-the-psychro-inscription-a-genuine-eteocretan-text-or-a) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 2 answers, none ahead **0** [What do the Dreros and Amathus bilinguals actually establish about the two languages?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ94QPQR8/what-do-the-dreros-and-amathus-bilinguals-actually-establish) 0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0 Open: no answer ahead yet **0** [What language do the Eteocretan inscriptions of Praisos and Dreros record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8QBDF18/what-language-do-the-eteocretan-inscriptions-of-praisos-and) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 5 answers, none ahead **0** [What language do the Eteocypriot inscriptions of Amathus record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8TY5JS3/what-language-do-the-eteocypriot-inscriptions-of-amathus) 0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 4 answers, none ahead ## Evidence 18 findings [What language do the Eteocretan inscriptions of Praisos and Dreros record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8QBDF18/what-language-do-the-eteocretan-inscriptions-of-praisos-and)7 findings [Eteocretan is an Anatolian language, related to Hittite, Luwian or Lycian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEEC4FN0E6T/eteocretan-is-an-anatolian-language-related-to-hittite)Still possible +[Finkelberg argues that the pre-Greek language of Crete was Anatolian and close to Lycian, but the case rests on the Linear A libation formula and on place names rather than on any Eteocretan word.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEED2YXWG1P/finkelberg-argues-that-the-pre-greek-language-of-crete-was)Speculative −[Davis's 1961 Hittite-based reading of the Praisos and Psychro texts assigned meanings to isolated words without controls and was rejected on review; it also relied on the Psychro stone, now widely judged a forgery.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEED2QADJJH/daviss-1961-hittite-based-reading-of-the-praisos-and-psychro)Supported [Eteocretan is a Northwest Semitic language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEEC553KSBV/eteocretan-is-a-northwest-semitic-language)Still possible +[Gordon read lmo in the Dreros bilingual as Semitic "for his mother", and Magnelli and Petrantoni's 2016 re-reading supports a Northwest Semitic word at the end of that text.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEED35QZP9X/gordon-read-lmo-in-the-dreros-bilingual-as-semitic-for-his)Speculative −[The Semitic matches are isolated words; the Eteocretan texts show none of the root-and-pattern inflection Semitic requires, and clusters such as komn and lmo with syllabic n and l are un-Semitic.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEED39MB828/the-semitic-matches-are-isolated-words-the-eteocretan-texts)Supported [Eteocretan is Tyrrhenian, related to Etruscan and Lemnian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEEC5AY3NQH/eteocretan-is-tyrrhenian-related-to-etruscan-and-lemnian)Still possible +[Brown and Facchetti point to a few endings and sound features shared between Eteocretan, Minoan and Etruscan or Lemnian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEED3DS7A7G/brown-and-facchetti-point-to-a-few-endings-and-sound)Speculative −[Etruscologists including Rix and De Simone judge the shared features too few to show relationship, and the Minoan side depends on unconfirmed Linear A readings.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEED3MZVF09/etruscologists-including-rix-and-de-simone-judge-the-shared)Suggestive [Eteocretan is an isolate or lost-family language, probably Minoan's descendant](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEEC5M7D8WD/eteocretan-is-an-isolate-or-lost-family-language-probably)Still possible +[Duhoux's text-internal analysis finds a language that is neither Greek, Indo-European nor Semitic, and four decades of comparison since have produced no accepted reading.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEED410296C/duhouxs-text-internal-analysis-finds-a-language-that-is)Supported [What language do the Eteocypriot inscriptions of Amathus record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8TY5JS3/what-language-do-the-eteocypriot-inscriptions-of-amathus)6 findings [Eteocypriot is a Hurrian dialect brought to Amathus from Anatolia or northern Syria.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEECFS5P8ZK/eteocypriot-is-a-hurrian-dialect-brought-to-amathus-from)Still possible +[Petit links Amathusian personal and place names and the city's archaeology to Hurrian-speaking populations of Anatolia and Syria.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDG7DH8JF/petit-links-amathusian-personal-and-place-names-and-the)Speculative −[No Eteocypriot inscription has been read as Hurrian, and Steele's review of all 26 texts finds no secure link to Hurrian or any other language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDGC57JK0/no-eteocypriot-inscription-has-been-read-as-hurrian-and)Suggestive [Eteocypriot continues the language of Cypro-Minoan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEECG02EJN2/eteocypriot-continues-the-language-of-cypro-minoan)Still possible +[The Cypriot syllabary descends from Cypro-Minoan on the same island, and Duhoux finds Eteocypriot endings comparable with Cypro-Minoan 1 sequences; Janko reads the Enkomi cylinder as an account possibly in Eteocypriot.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDGHRSTGB/the-cypriot-syllabary-descends-from-cypro-minoan-on-the-same)Suggestive −[Cypro-Minoan sign values are not secure enough to test the comparison, so the proposed matches cannot yet be distinguished from chance.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDGMRDSQS/cypro-minoan-sign-values-are-not-secure-enough-to-test-the)Suggestive [Eteocypriot is an unknown language with no demonstrable relatives](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEECGBQ8NA4/eteocypriot-is-an-unknown-language-with-no-demonstrable)Still possible +[Steele's full review of the 26 Eteocypriot inscriptions identifies the -o-ko-o- patronymic as the one secure diagnostic and finds no secure link to any known language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDGRV3XN8/steeles-full-review-of-the-26-eteocypriot-inscriptions)Supported +[The Cypriot syllabary reads Greek texts into a full grammatical dialect, yet the same sign values applied to the Amathus texts produce strings that are not Greek; the sounds are known and the language is not.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDGWFMJAH/the-cypriot-syllabary-reads-greek-texts-into-a-full)Established [Do Eteocretan and Eteocypriot continue the Bronze Age languages written in Linear A and Cypro-Minoan?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ8ZPM19P/do-eteocretan-and-eteocypriot-continue-the-bronze-age)2 findings [Both continue their Bronze Age local languages](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEECP9E8E4S/both-continue-their-bronze-age-local-languages)Still possible +[Both Iron Age groups come from places of long pre-Greek settlement and are written in or beside scripts descended from Bronze Age Aegean writing on the same islands.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDHGNNFGN/both-iron-age-groups-come-from-places-of-long-pre-greek)Suggestive [Continuity is plausible but untestable on present evidence](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEECPP95BNQ/continuity-is-plausible-but-untestable-on-present-evidence)Still possible +[About a thousand years separate each Iron Age corpus from its Bronze Age predecessor, and neither Linear A nor Cypro-Minoan has secure values beyond those borrowed from relatives, so no reading-based test of continuity is yet possible.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDHKKK9KP/about-a-thousand-years-separate-each-iron-age-corpus-from)Supported [What do the Dreros and Amathus bilinguals actually establish about the two languages?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ94QPQR8/what-do-the-dreros-and-amathus-bilinguals-actually-establish)1 finding [The bilinguals fix names, one ending and perhaps one verb, not a grammar](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEEEBFYX9RH/the-bilinguals-fix-names-one-ending-and-perhaps-one-verb-not)Still possible +[The Amathus bilingual's Eteocypriot is longer than its two-line Greek and only the names and patronymic align; the Dreros Greek is worn and gives only ewade and turon securely.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEEDYWYX5V/the-amathus-bilinguals-eteocypriot-is-longer-than-its-two)Supported [Is the Psychro inscription a genuine Eteocretan text or a modern forgery?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/questions/QST0DEDZ9AN6YAA/is-the-psychro-inscription-a-genuine-eteocretan-text-or-a)2 findings [The Psychro stone is a modern forgery.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEECH95ZY55/the-psychro-stone-is-a-modern-forgery)Still possible +[Kritzas's 2006 epigraphic and historical case that the stone is modern is recorded in the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum as a forgery.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDH6NZN6Q/kritzass-2006-epigraphic-and-historical-case-that-the-stone)Suggestive [The Psychro stone is a genuine Eteocretan inscription of about the 3rd century BC.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/answers/ANS0DEECHMXDPNE/the-psychro-stone-is-a-genuine-eteocretan-inscription-of)Still possible +[Brown and Duhoux admitted the stone to the corpus, and Papakitsos and Kenanidis argue it is genuine, though they have not answered Kritzas's specific objections.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/evidence/EVD0DEEDHCQ2ABV/brown-and-duhoux-admitted-the-stone-to-the-corpus-and)Speculative ## Artifacts The films, photos, papers and objects this mystery rests on, each with its own key and its distance from the original. **Artifacts** [See all 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/artifacts) Transcription1 step from object [The Praisos inscriptions (Praisos 1, 2 and 3)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/artifacts/ART0DEDXPCEY7CF/the-praisos-inscriptions-praisos-1-2-and-3) Raymond A. Brown · Copyright Ray Brown; the ancient text itself is public domain Transcription1 step from object [The Dreros bilingual (Dreros 1)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/artifacts/ART0DEDXPM4Q0A8/the-dreros-bilingual-dreros-1) Raymond A. Brown · Copyright Ray Brown; the ancient text itself is public domain Transcription1 step from object [The Amathus bilingual (ICS 196; IG XV 1.1 no. 7)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/artifacts/ART0DEDXPS9BP8H/the-amathus-bilingual-ics-196-ig-xv-1-1-no-7) Wikipedia contributors after Sittig 1914 and Masson 1983 · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikipedia text); the ancient text itself is public domain Scan1 step from object [The Idalion bilingual (British Museum 125320)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/artifacts/ART0DEDXPWMMPP4/the-idalion-bilingual-british-museum-125320) George Smith · Public domain (author died 1876) Document1 step from object [The Psychro stone (disputed)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/artifacts/ART0DEDXQ1N44F8/the-psychro-stone-disputed) Heraklion Archaeological Museum (reported) [See all 6 artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot/artifacts) ## See also [ **Linear A** The script of Minoan Crete, 1800 to 1450 BC, whose signs can be sounded but not read. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/linear-a) [ **Cypro-Minoan** The undeciphered script of Late Bronze Age Cyprus, used from about 1550 to 1050 BC. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan) [ **Etruscan: the readable language that cannot be fully translated** An alphabet everyone can read, 13,000 inscriptions, about 250 understood words, and four long texts that still will not translate. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/etruscan-language) [ **Hattic, Kassite and the half-read languages of the cuneiform archives** Languages written in a deciphered script, cuneiform, whose texts still cannot be translated: Hattic, Kassite, Gutian and the new language of Kalašma. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hattic-kassite-lost-languages) ## References 1. 1.[The standard edition and linguistic study of the Eteocretan inscriptions (Amsterdam: J. C. Gieben, ISBN 90 70265 05 2). Edits the Praisos and Dreros texts with commentary, analyses the phonology and morphology, and concludes that the language is neither Greek nor demonstrably related to any known family. Source for the corpus, the readings and the verdict on affiliations.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKHFFY85X/leteocretois-les-textes-la-langue)cited 13 times here**SRC** 0DEDKHFFY85X 1. 2.[MASt Seminar Report, Summer 2024 (Classical Continuum, Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies; presented 28 June 2024). Counts six certain Eteocretan inscriptions totalling 422 characters, reviews the Azoria pithos handles and the Psychro dispute, and surveys the language proposals. Source for the character count and the recent state of the question.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDQEQECRRX/the-enigma-of-the-eteocretans-language-identity-and-politics)[doi](https://doi.org/10.71160/XPWU8208)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDQEQECRRX 1. 3.[Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Classical Studies. Chapter II (pp. 99 to 172) is the fullest treatment of Eteocypriot: a catalogue of 26 inscriptions (EC 1 to EC 26), their distribution from the 8th to the 4th century BC, the Amathus bilingual as a case study, the -o-ko-o- patronymic sequence, and the conclusion that no secure link to any known language can be established. Source for the Eteocypriot corpus, features and verdict.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKHJENGE8/a-linguistic-history-of-ancient-cyprus-the-non-greek)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107337558)cited 12 times here**SRC** 0DEDKHJENGE8 1. 4.[Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2015.01.24. Summarises Steele's 26-inscription Eteocypriot catalogue, the four bilinguals, the -o-ko-o- patronymic as the surest diagnostic, and her verdict that no secure linguistic link can be established; notes that Egetmeyer's Golgian proposal and Duhoux's Cypro-Minoan 1 link deserved more discussion. Open access. Source for the summary of Steele's conclusions.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDR0HMJHWH/review-of-p-m-steele-a-linguistic-history-of-ancient-cyprus)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDR0HMJHWH 1. 5.[Berlin: de Gruyter (Kleine Texte für Vorlesungen und Übungen 163). The handbook in which the term "Eteocypriot" was coined for the non-Greek syllabic inscriptions of Cyprus, on the model of Eteocretan. Source for the name.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRFR8CE5Z/kleinasiatische-sprachdenkmaler)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111352343)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDRFR8CE5Z 1. 6.[Tertiary: the Phoenician and Cypriot syllabic (Greek) dedication of 388 BC found by R. H. Lang at Dali in 1869, British Museum 125320, which George Smith used in 1871 to decipher the Cypriot syllabary ("On the reading of the Cypriote inscriptions", Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 1, 1872), with Birch, Brandis, Schmidt, Deecke, Siegismund and Ahrens completing the work by 1876. Used for the decipherment history.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRXT4FH18/idalion-bilingual)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDRXT4FH18 1. 7.[De Gruyter, Berlin and New York. The grammar of the Cypriot Greek dialect written in the syllabary and a repertoire of the syllabic inscriptions by region. Source for how completely the syllabary is read when the language is Greek, which is the control case for Eteocypriot.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKJ5BGG3B/le-dialecte-grec-ancien-de-chypre-tome-i-grammaire-tome-ii)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110217520)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKJ5BGG3B 1. 8.[Ventris, M., Chadwick, J. 1953. Evidence for Greek Dialect in the Mycenaean Archives. The Journal of Hellenic Studies.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D8MTDGM65BD/evidence-for-greek-dialect-in-the-mycenaean-archives)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/628239)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0D8MTDGM65BD 1. 9.[Salgarella, E. 2020. Aegean Linear Script(s): Rethinking the Relationship between Linear A and Linear B. Cambridge University Press.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQHJXK61P6J/aegean-linear-script-s-rethinking-the-relationship-between)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108783477)cited 17 times here**SRC** 0CQHJXK61P6J 1. 10.[Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 70 (1946), with the fuller publication of the Dreros bilinguals in Revue de Philologie, 3rd series, 20(2) (1946), pp. 131 to 138, and the first Dreros report with Demargne in BCH 61 (1937), DOI 10.3406/bch.1937.2734. Van Effenterre proposed that Eteocretan inai matches Greek ewade, "it was decided", and that the text regulates an offering of goat cheese. Source for the Dreros texts and their find context.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDPC7YK8AA/inscriptions-archaiques-cretoises)[doi](https://doi.org/10.3406/bch.1946.2609)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDPC7YK8AA 1. 11.[Pages for each inscription (Praisos 1 to 3, Dreros 1 and 2, the Psychro text) with transliteration, dimensions, museum inventory numbers, find history and bibliography; created August 2003, copyright Ray Brown. The only web edition of the whole Eteocretan corpus. Source for the texts and inventory numbers.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDQD1K51XM/eteocretan-language-pages-web-edition-of-the-inscriptions)cited 12 times here**SRC** 0DEDQD1K51XM 1. 12.[Tertiary: Sittig's discovery of the stone in a Limassol antique shop and its publication in Archaiologike Ephemeris 1914, the date shortly after the fall of King Androkles (c. 312-311 BC), the Greek and Eteocypriot texts, and the loss of the stone, perhaps in transport to America, as Sittig told Masson. Used for the find and loss history.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRX79MGN9/amathus-bilingual)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDRX79MGN9 1. 13.[Kadmos 63(1-2), pp. 19 to 38. Treats the Amathus bilingual (now IG XV 1.1 no. 7) as a monumental decree of the late 4th century BC and argues that eupatrides marks a local elite reacting to the end of the city-kingdoms. Source for the current edition number, date and historical setting of the bilingual.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRGDSWA43/an-eteocypriot-greek-bilingual-inscription-and-the-meaning)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/kadmos-2024-0002)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDRGDSWA43 1. 14.[Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 36 pp. Reads the Praisos and Psychro texts, with the Phaistos Disc, as a Hittite-like Anatolian language. The DOI is M. Pope's review in the Journal of Hellenic Studies 83 (1963), which rejected the method. Source for the earliest Anatolian reading and its rejection.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDR2FF9H56/the-phaistos-disk-and-the-eteocretan-inscriptions-from)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/628485)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDR2FF9H56 1. 15.[Cambridge University Press. Argues that the pre-Greek language of Crete, including the language behind Linear A and its Iron Age survival Eteocretan, was Anatolian and close to Lycian. Source for the Anatolian hypothesis in its recent form.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDR1JMXMQ9/greeks-and-pre-greeks-aegean-prehistory-and-greek-heroic)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511482762)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDR1JMXMQ9 1. 16.[Journal of Near Eastern Studies 21 (1962), pp. 211 to 214, followed by "The Dreros bilingual", Journal of Semitic Studies 8 (1963), pp. 76 to 79 (DOI 10.1093/jss/8.1.76). Gordon's reading of the Praisos and Dreros texts as Northwest Semitic, for example lmo as "for his mother". Source for the Semitic hypothesis for Eteocretan.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDR0QTWSHZ/eteocretan)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1086/371694)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDR0QTWSHZ 1. 17.[Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert. Grew out of Brown's 1982 M.Litt. thesis; examines the Praisos stones at first hand (1976), edits the Eteocretan texts and proposes an "Aegeo-Asianic" grouping with Minoan and Tyrrhenian. The URL is the author's web summary of the book. Source for the readings and the Tyrrhenian proposal.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDQCBFD0TG/evidence-for-pre-greek-speech-on-crete-from-greek-alphabetic)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDQCBFD0TG 1. 18.[Kadmos 40(1), pp. 1 ff. Facchetti's argument, developed with M. Negri in Creta Minoica (Florence: Olschki, 2003), that Minoan, Eteocretan and Etruscan belong to one Tyrrhenian or "Aegeo-Asianic" group. Source for the Tyrrhenian hypothesis.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRF4WFEVT/qualche-osservazione-sulla-lingua-minoica)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/kadm.2001.40.1.1)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDRF4WFEVT 1. 19.[Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 12(1), pp. 108 to 120. Argues from place names, personal names and the archaeology of Amathus that Eteocypriot is a Hurrian dialect brought by settlers from Anatolia or northern Syria. Source for the Hurrian hypothesis.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKHVV72BQ/eteocypriot-myth-and-amathusian-reality)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v12i1.108)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKHVV72BQ 1. 20.[Kadmos 48(1-2), pp. 39 to 75. Compares the sign sequences and endings of Eteocypriot with those of the three Cypro-Minoan groups and argues for a link between Eteocypriot and the language of Cypro-Minoan 1. Source for the Bronze Age continuity hypothesis.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKJ13KKJ8/eteocypriot-and-cypro-minoan-13)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/kadmos.2009.003)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDKJ13KKJ8 1. 21.[Janko, R. 2020. Eteocypriot in the Bronze Age? The Cypro-Minoan cylinder from Enkomi as an accounting document. Kadmos 59(1-2), pp. 43 to 61.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CWRBDX41NT5/eteocypriot-in-the-bronze-age-the-cypro-minoan-cylinder-from)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/kadmos-2020-0003)cited 9 times here**SRC** 0CWRBDX41NT5 1. 22.[Rome: Libreria dello Stato. The Praisos section (pp. 134 to 142) edits the three certain Eteocretan inscriptions and the fragments, with find histories and Heraklion Museum inventory numbers 99, 100 and 101. The URL is the Packard Humanities Institute Greek Inscriptions database, which reproduces Inscriptiones Creticae. Source for the Praisos texts.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDPD0CGSF0/inscriptiones-creticae-vol-iii-tituli-cretae-orientalis)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDPD0CGSF0 1. 23.[Annual of the British School at Athens 8 (1901-1902), pp. 125 to 156, with epigraphical notes by R. C. Bosanquet and R. M. Dawkins; followed by "A third Eteocretan fragment (the neikar-inscription)", BSA 10 (1903-1904), DOI 10.1017/S0068245400002112. First publication of the Praisos inscriptions found by the British School excavations of 1901 and 1904. Source for the discovery history.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDPDPNPPCW/the-pre-hellenic-inscriptions-of-praesos)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068245400001416)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDPDPNPPCW 1. 24.[Tertiary survey: the inscription list (two Dreros bilinguals, three Praisos texts, fragments), the loss of the Dreros bilingual in the Second World War, the Psychro dispute, and the bibliography that led to the primary sources. Used for orientation, with each claim traced to Duhoux, Brown or Guarducci.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRWJD48DY/eteocretan-language)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDRWJD48DY 1. 25.[Études chypriotes I, Paris: de Boccard (first edition 1961; reprinted with addenda 1983). The standard corpus of Cypriot syllabic inscriptions, cited as ICS; the Amathus bilingual is ICS 196 and the Eteocypriot texts of Amathus are gathered around it. The URL is T. B. Mitford's review of the first edition in the Journal of Hellenic Studies 84 (1964), since the book has no DOI. Source for the ICS numbering and the state of the stones.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDPB6NMYPB/les-inscriptions-chypriotes-syllabiques-recueil-critique-et)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDPB6NMYPB 1. 26.[Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020, for the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy. The new corpus edition of the Cypriot syllabic inscriptions of Amathus, Kourion and Marion, which replaces Masson's ICS for the Eteocypriot texts of Amathus. The DOI given is that of A. Panayotou's review in Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 50 (2020), since the volume itself has no DOI. Source for the current edition.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDPEBY9XBM/inscriptiones-graecae-xv-inscriptiones-cypri-pars-i)[doi](https://doi.org/10.4000/cchyp.548)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDPEBY9XBM 1. 27.[L'Antiquité Classique 50 (1981). Argues from the archaic letter forms of the Dreros and Praisos texts that the Eteocretans adopted the Greek alphabet at the same time as their Greek neighbours, in the late 8th or 7th century BC. Open on Persée. Source for the dating of the script's adoption.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRGY986W3/les-eteocretois-et-lorigine-de-lalphabet-grec)[doi](https://doi.org/10.3406/antiq.1981.2011)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDRGY986W3 1. 28.[Tertiary: 56 signs, right-to-left direction, open syllables with final consonants written with a dead vowel, use from about the 11th to the 4th century BC, descent from Cypro-Minoan, about 1,000 known inscriptions (1,397 in Perna's 2015 count), Unicode 4.0 encoding. Used for the script summary.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRYKCEMND/cypriot-syllabary)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDRYKCEMND 1. 29.[Tertiary survey: the transliteration of the Amathus bilingual, the Golgoi texts, the proposed affiliations and the bibliography. Its date of about 600 BC for the bilingual is wrong (the text is late 4th century BC). Used for orientation only.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRWYD55DQ/eteocypriot-language)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDRWYD55DQ 1. 30.[Erga-Logoi 4(1), pp. 19 to 28. Reconsiders the Dreros bilingual, proposes new readings of line 1 and revives Gordon's claim that a word at the end is Northwest Semitic. Source for the most recent Semitic reading.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDR045PEDF/una-bilingue-greco-semitica-con-regolamento-sacrale-da)[doi](https://doi.org/10.7358/erga-2016-001-magn)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDR045PEDF 1. 31.[Kadmos 17(1), pp. 43 ff. Treats the Psychro stone, with five alphabetic words and three Linear A-like signs, as a genuine Eteocretan text. Source for the case for authenticity before Kritzas's forgery argument.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDQDHXMPQJ/the-eteocretan-inscription-from-psychro)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1515/kadm.1978.17.1.43)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDQDHXMPQJ 1. 32.[In R. Gigli (ed.), Megalai Nesoi: Studi dedicati a Giovanni Rizza, vol. 1 (Catania, 2004, published 2006), pp. 255 to 261. Argues on epigraphic and historical grounds that the Psychro stone is a modern forgery. The DOI is the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum entry (SEG 53, 980) that records the argument, since the chapter has no DOI. Source for the forgery verdict.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDQE1AS4YK/the-bilingual-inscription-from-psychro-crete-a-coup-de-grace)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1163/1874-6772_seg_a53_980)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDQE1AS4YK 1. 33.[Asian Research Journal of Arts and Social Sciences (2017). The authors, who had argued in Anistoriton 14 (2014-2015) that the Psychro stone is genuine, offer a reading of it through a Sumerian-based hypothesis for Aegean scripts. Not accepted by Aegean epigraphers; recorded here as a claimed decipherment that depends on a text most regard as a forgery.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDQEC0B0ZQ/a-decipherment-of-the-eteocretan-inscription-from-psychro)[doi](https://doi.org/10.9734/arjass/2017/36988)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDQEC0B0ZQ 1. 34.[American Journal of Philology 71, pp. 401 to 407. An early attempt to segment and interpret the Amathus texts from the bilingual. Source for the mid-century state of the question.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDR12MCMJ4/notes-on-the-eteocypriote-inscriptions)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/292387)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0DEDR12MCMJ4 1. 35.[Valério, M. 2016. Investigating the Signs and Sounds of Cypro-Minoan. PhD thesis, Universitat de Barcelona (supervisor Ignasi-Xavier Adiego).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CWRBC6E60Z3/investigating-the-signs-and-sounds-of-cypro-minoan)cited 16 times here**SRC** 0CWRBC6E60Z3 1. 36.[Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2021.12.26. Notes that the Golgoi epithet Mykeroa (IG XV 2.1 no. 325) may be Eteocypriot and that the undeciphered "Golgian" language may or may not be a variant of Eteocypriot. Used for the Golgoi question.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDRZ0TZS46/review-of-m-kantirea-and-d-summa-eds-inscriptiones-graecae)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDRZ0TZS46 1. 37.[Oxford Classical Dictionary online entry (Crossref gives 2018; the OUP page shows the dictionary's 2015 launch date). Defines Eteocypriot as a modern term for a group of inscriptions in an unknown language of Iron Age Cyprus, attested from the 8th to the 4th century BC, and illustrates the Amathus bilingual. Source for the definition and dating.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKHQM6EV3/eteocypriot)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8218)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDKHQM6EV3 1. 38.[Finkelberg, M. 1990. Minoan Inscriptions on Libation Vessels. Minos.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQHJZSG67DN/minoan-inscriptions-on-libation-vessels)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0CQHJZSG67DN Last edited 31 Oct 2026