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Sacrificial Feasting in the Linear B Docunments

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Sacrificial Feasting in the Linear B Docunments HESPERIA 73 (2004) SACRIFICIALFEASTING Pages 217-246 IN THE LINEAR B DOCUNMENTS ABSTRACT LinearB tabletsand sealingsfromThebes, Pylos, and Knossosmonitor prepa- rations for communal sacrifice and feasting held at palatial centers and in outlying districts. In this article I discuss the nature of the Linear B docu- ments and focus on the fullest archaeologicaland textual evidence, which comes from Pylos. Translationsof the key texts arepresented in an appendix. Individualsand groups of varying status were involved in provisioningcom- mensal ceremonies;prominent among the participantswere regionallyinter- linked nobility, the wanaks ("king")and the lawdgetais("leader of the lios"). Commensal ceremonieshelped establish a collective identity for inhabitants of palatialterritories. Two land-relatedorganizations, the da-mo (damos)and the worgioneionka-ma, representeddifferent social groups in such unifying ceremonies. STATE OF THE EVIDENCE There have been great advances in the study of Linear B documents over the past 25 years.' We have a much fuller picture now of feasting rituals within Mycenaean palatial territories.Mycenological advancescan be clas- sified as follows: 1) the comparative study of sphragistics (inscribed and uninscribed sealings and their uses);2 2) better understanding of My- cenaean technical terminology;3 and 3) detailed examination of relevant Linear B tablet series.4At the same time, Mycenologists have been aware of the need to interpret the inscribed evidence within the context of our increased understanding of palatial architecture and iconography,5 archival record processing,6 the material and artifactual record,' regional 1. I thankthe Hesperiareferees, Piteros,Olivier, and Melena 1990; net 1999, pp. 107-118; Nikoloudis andalso James C. Wright,for their Killen1992; Pini 1997. 2001. importantcritical suggestions and 3. Melena1983; Killen 1999a; 6. Palaima1995a, 2003b; Pluta references.On recentadvances in Palaima2000c. 1996-1997. the studyof LinearB, see Palaima 4. Killen1994, 1998; Godart 1999; 7. Wright 1995a; Shelmerdine1997; 2003a. Palaima2000b; Carter 2003. Sacconi 1999; Speciale 1999; Isaakidou 2. Palaima1987, 1996, 2000a; 5. McCallum1987; Davis and Ben- et al. 2002. American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org 218 THOMAS G. PALAIMA geography,8 social power structures,9 economy and resource manage- ment,10and anthropological and cross-cultural parallels.11As a result, we understand better than ever the significance of centrally organized com- mensal ceremonies for reinforcing Mycenaean social and political unity and stratification. The importance of sacrificialfeasting ritual in Late Mycenaean pala- tial society is clearly reflected in the care taken by individuals, whom we conventionally refer to as Mycenaean scribes, in overseeing the prepara- tions for sacrifice and feasting activities.12 The Linear B feasting data fall mainly into the following categories: first-stage recording of individual contributions of animals for eventual sacrifice and consumption at feast- ing ceremonies; targeted collection of foodstuffs from various components of the community who would then be symbolically unified and socially positioned by feasting; and inventorying of banqueting paraphernalia,fur- niture, and instruments of cult." My purpose here is to discuss the nature of the Linear B data for feast- ing from various Mycenaean palatial centers and to reconstruct the evi- dence from Pylos, the site best documented archaeologicallyand epigraphi- cally.This will make clear how important such unifying ceremonies were and the extent to which they affected individuals and localities, at all levels of the sociopolitical hierarchy,throughout Mycenaean palatial territories. The key primary texts of importance for discussing sacrificial ritual and feasting ceremony from Thebes, Pylos, and Knossos are presented in English translation in the appendix at the end of this article, many trans- lated together for the first time. I translate here those tablets whose con- tents are vital for a clear understanding of the textual evidence for sacrifi- cial feasting practices. The Pylos Ta tablets, whose many technicalities require major exegesis (see below), and, with one exception, the new tab- lets from Thebes are not included.14 The new evidence from Thebes has been subject to very dubious interpretationsin the editioprinceps.Until we reach a clearer consensus on what these texts contain and what their pur- poses were, and even how many full texts there are, it would be a disservice to incorporate their minimal evidence into discussions of any aspect of Mycenaean culture. One new Thebes tablet, however, has clear and un- equivocal relevance to feasting, and I translate and discuss it below.15 8. Shelmerdine1981; Sergent 1994; festivals"that at least some of the oil 1989, pp. 190-191) and perhapsin Ho- Bennet 1998b; Davis and Bennet 1999. recordedas headed out from the palace mer, is not germaneto sacrificialfeast- 9. Rehak 1995; Palaima1995b; stores at Pylos to targetedsanctuaries ing. It is also discussedthoroughly by Wright 1995b; Ruijgh 1999; Shelmer- and deities would have been consumed Carlos VariasGarcia in a forthcoming dine 1999a. in feasting rituals. paper,and is thereforeomitted here. 10. Killen 1985; Morris 1986; Oli- 14. I take for granted that readers 15. See below, p. 240, tabletTH vier 1996-1997; Lupack 1999, 2002; may look at the standardtranslations Uo 121. The interpretationof many Halstead 1999, 2002; Palaima2001. and interpretationsof texts, including other of the new Thebes texts as re- 11. Killen 1994, pp. 70-73; 1999b. the Ta series,now 30 to 50 years old, cording ritual offerings of grain and 12. Palaima2003b, pp. 174-177, 188. found in Palmer 1963 and Ventrisand olives to the Earth Mother, Perse- 13. Other texts may also be related Chadwick 1973. The meagertextual phone, Zeus of the Fall Harvest, and less explicitlyto feasting.For example, evidence for the provisioningof ban- theriomorphicdeities is highly suspect Bendall (2002, p. 8) reasonablyargues quets from the site of Mycenae,which on linguistic and exegeticalgrounds. from the "generalconsistency of asso- may referto "vegetarianfeasting" of See my full reviews (Palaima2002a, ciations between Fr [oil] tablets and women as attested in the historical 2003d). recordsrelating to banquetsand Thesmophoria (Detienne and Vernant FEASTING IN THE LINEAR B DOCUMENTS 219 PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION The keys to our current understanding of the textual data are the inter- pretationof an intentionalcollection of sealingsfrom Thebes relatedto the contribution of single animals to a centralized communal sacrifice and feast;16 the correct identification of the meaning of the term o-pa and related terminology for service obligation;" and the continuing refine- ment of the interpretation of the Ta series at Pylos, which deals with fur- niture, vessels, fire and cooking implements, and tools of sacrifice for a majorfeasting ceremony.'1 The LinearB tablet evidenceis notoriously uneven in its representation of palatial interests from region to region. The sphereof ritualand ceremonialactivity is no exception.We are de- pendent on the hazards of destruction and discovery.For any site, we have but a random selection of records from days, weeks, or months within an annualadministrative cycle.19 We thereforehave only a partialview of what must have been fuller documentary oversight of the economic ac- tivities that were sufficiently complex and important to warrant inclusion in the internal mnemonic records written in Linear B. The records them- selves were kept for subsequent reference by tablet-writers or other pala- tial officials.20 Gaps in our knowledgeare glaring and can best be illustratedby ex- ampleswhere our ignorance is almostcomplete. One casewill suffice.The Mycenaeantexts providebetter documentation for extra-urbansanctuar- ies and centersof ritualthan we havebeen able to reconstructfrom field surveyor archaeologicalexcavation.21 A singletablet such as PylosTn 316, which recordsceremonial "gift-giving" of sacredheirloom22 ritual vessels by the palatialcenter at some time duringa specificmonth of the sacred calendar,23specifies at least six well-definedareas where the divinepres- 16. Piteros, Olivier,and Melena ence of major(e.g., Potnia, Zeus, Hera) and minor (Posidaeia, 1990. Iphimedeia, Diwia) deities and even heroesor the the 17. Killen 1999a. daimones(e.g., "Thrice-Hero," "House-Master")could be felt and These areasinclude the 18. Killen 1998; Speciale 1999; worshipped. Sacconi 1999; Palaima2000b; Carter general districtpa-ki-ja-ne and five specific sanctuariesdedicated re- 2003. spectivelyto Poseidon(po-si-da-i-jo); the deityknown as pe-re-*82 (pe-re- 19. Bennet (2001, p. 30, fig. 1) pro- *82-jo);Iphimedeia (i-pe-me-de-ja-<jo>); the femininecounterpart of Zeus vides a good diagramof Mycenaean namedDiwia and Zeus None of these sanctuaries of (di-u-ja-jo); (di-wi-jo). cycles administration. has been locatedon the 20. Palaima1995a, 2001. yet ground. We 21. Wright 1994; Hiller 1981. onlyknow about religious structures or institutionslocated within 22. On the probabilitythat the gold such sanctuariesfrom indirect references within a few tablets.Pylos tab- kylikes and chalices on Tn 316 are heir- let Jn 829, translated in the appendix below, 24famously records prospec- looms, see Vandenabeeleand Olivier tive contributions of recycled "temple"bronze from the 16
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