THE KNOSSOS OXEN DOSSIER THE USE OF OXEN IN MYCENAEAN CRETE. PARTI:GENERALBACKGROUND AND SCRIBE I07* 1. Introduction AL Lh e fifth internaL io nal Mycenological Co ll oquium in Sa la ma nca, Louis Godart wrote lhal his work with a set of P y los Lexls dea ling wilh the m a nagement of li vrst ock in Bro nze Age Messenia (Cn set : Cn 655 ; Cn 40 , Cn 45 , Cn 254, Cn 599, Cn 600 , Cn 643 , Cn 719 ; Cn 131 ) led him Lo write his fundamental article on the mixed li vestock series (Co) fro m Knossos 1. fn particul a r Goda rt was led fro m the two provin ces of a main land pa latia l te rri to ry to t he western a nd central regions of M:,cenaea n Crete by Lhe commo n eco no mic vocabulary o f these tablets (a-ko-rn, a-ke-re, a-ko-ra-ju, a-lw-r·a-jo) a nd the co mpa rable ad minisl raLive procedures t hat th is sha red vocabu la ry implied . Twe 11L y yea rs later l am tracin g the same route for similar reasons. Wha l is different is m y focus : n ot administra tive te rminology a nd econo mic procedures pel' se , but o ne specia l a nimal , domestic cattle, bas 2. In this paper I cont inue m y deta il ed study of refere nrrs to oxen in the Linear B texts in order lo unde rstand how t hey were m a naged a nd used in the (*) I use t he foll owing sta nda rd a bbrevi a tio ns : ASSA : Aegean Seals, Seatings and Adminislralion (Th . G. PALA DI A ed . = Aegaeum 5 (1990)): lvll\1£: W . A . MA C D ONA LD & G. RAPP , Jr., The .Wi1111 esola M essenia F::rp edilion (1972); f> erspeclives: Th. G. PAI. A I MA , «Perspectives on the Py los Oxen TablPls: Textua l (and Archaeologica l) Evid ence for t he Use a nd Management of Oxen in Late Rronze Age Messenia (a nd Crete)•> , S /udia Myrenaea (1988) , p. 85- 124; HCTK : .J. DRIESSEN , The I-l oom of /h e Chariot T ab/els al Knossos. ln/erdisciplinary Approach lo /h e S /wiy of a Linear n Deposit (Dissertatio n h: alholi eke UniversiLeil Le uven, 1989). (1) L. Go DART. ,, Les tableLtes de la Seri P Co de Cnossos,,. Ac/a :Hycenaea , p. 4 18--124. (2) In o r<l er lo prevent mi sundersta nd ing, I s ha ll continue my practice of re ferring in Engli sh lo t he a nima ls re presented by t he id eogra ms BOS, BOS '" , Ro s' as ox(en), male ox(e n) and fema le ox(e n) respectively. 16 1 THOMA S G. PALA I MA [HCH S uppl XX\' ra la lia l rronomi cs of d ifferent Myce nara 11 Lcrritori cs. In Lh is oren i11 g sect ion I sha ll d isc uss four in terrelaLed poinLs which a ff ect our in Le rpretaLion of the Knossos oxen documenLs : ge nera l background ; reaso ns for sLudy in g Lhcse texLs; iniLi al assumptions; and limil a Lio11 s of 1h r daLa. 1a. General background n eferences to oxen on main la nd texLs have rece ntly bee n expanded by the sudden double publi caLi on of t he Thebes sea lings 3 . These sca lin gs see m Lo be connec Lcd wit h Lh e rnovemenL (a nd subsequenL temporary mainLe nance) of li vest oc k from Euboea a nd 4 ouUy ing a reas of Roeotia Lo Lh e environs of Lh e citadel of Thebes • The two sea lin gs wh ich refer to oxen belong Lo large r seLs of sca lings (defin ed by sea l-impression : Wu 53 [':19~'"] 5 and sea l r ; Wu 76 [Bos'] a nd sea l C) that co ntain information approrriate to such orrrations Wu 53 .IX l_l(_)~"' supm siyillu m F [;1) -~ giH\'-<.> .y 1-n -.1 a .a. ~1 9'?"' corrcrlt'd from l.l9'?'· Wu 76 .a. IJOS1 wpru sigi/111,n C [fi] -~ 1 a-t'-n -qo .~2 voca l .y 0-p,1 * 171 :30 Two of t he fi ve sea lin gs impressed by sea l F describe sus + S I as a-lw-ra-jo. All of Lh e fiv e sca li ngs impressed by seal C (including Wu 76) and one of Lh e two sca lin gs im pressed by sea l J li nk Lhe animals (CAP', CA P"' , uos', sus') wit h *177 (mosL likely some (:1) V. AR AVANTINOS, ,, The Mycenat•an l nsrribed SPa lings fro m Thebes: P rob lem s of ConlPnl a nd function,,, ASSA. p. 14~)- 174 , pl. :\:\111-:\:XI V ; Chr. P 1rnnos . .J.-P . 01.1v 1En & .J. L. MELENA . ,, Lf's in scriptions en li neai re H d es nodu les de Th/.hes (H)82) : la fouille , les documents, Jes possibilites d 'inl t>rp relalio n ,, , BC ff 104 (1990). p . 103- 184. S ince I.h e RC /I versio n is more widely accessihlP and follows Llw format o f a n editio princeps by presenting proper transcriptio ns a long wit h photographs a nd/or drawings, I re fPr ma inl y t.o it.s readings a nd a na lysis of the tex t.s, un less noted by (A). R eaders should hew~1re I.hat Lhe I.ext numbers assigned lo Lh e sea lings by t he (A) a nd BC/I editions diffe r from Wu 81 onwa rd , since Lhe RC/I edit.ors d PI.Pded veslig ia on TII M 9944 , which (A) cons ide red agraphon. Consequenll y [A) Wu 81-98 = RC/-/ Wu 82-99. Th te desig11-,Li ons or sea l designs likewise a re not. coord inaled , i.e., Lhe HC /1 lelters do no t. correspond to the (A) numbers : e.g., BC // seal F = [A) sea l ',)' It is regn· lta ble Lhal, such pol ent.ial so urces o r co nfusion could nol have hPe n avoided by drawing upon t he cooperative spirit wh ich has preva il ed in My cenaean studies from (;if o nwa rd , particula rl y beca use I.h e Lii hular presenta tion o f the inscriptions in (A] is extremely useful. (·1) HC// 104 ( 1990). p. 153- 155 , 18:3- 184 wilh re ferences. (5) The r1eadi ng of m a le ox he re , a lthough dot.Led, is reinforced hy conlext. a nd by I.h e non-existence or a ny pla usible a lternative interpret.at.ion of the inscription on f;l("e .rx . THE K NOSSOS OXE!\ DOSSIF.R 46:'i t ype of fodder recorded in quanlilies o f 30-36 unils) 6 a nd/or t he transactiona l Lerm o-pa. Scalings from olhei· scLs contain expli cit reli gious vocabul a ry (Wu 44 [i-j e-r-a ] sea l A; Wu 86 a nd Wu 87 [i-je-ro] sea l U). O n Lhe basis of compa randa (mainly PY Un 2 a nd Un 138), Lhc BCH edito rs have advanced t he t heory tha t this co ll eclion of 56 inscribed sea lings records t he con t ri bu tio ns o f single a n i m a Is from vari ous locations and unde r va rious terms o f o bligatio n for a re li gious ceremony (inc luding sacrifi ce of Lh c animals) at 7 t he palatial cente r of Thebes • Jf Lhis interpretatio n is correct, Lh e new Thebes references would be consist ent w ith the clea r reli gious a nd sacrifi cia l associations of oxen i11 Mycenaea n iconography a nd in a II e ig ht P y los tablets t hat refe r Lo t he a nima Is d irecLl y 8 . Secula r uses of oxen o n Lh e mainland a re suggested only by re ferences to oxherds. TI Ef 2 links qo-u-ko-ro wiLh la ndholding (DA 1 a nd GR A 6 o n Ef 2 and the Lcrm k e- ke- m e[ o n 9 Ef 3 from Lh e same seri es and archaeologica l conLext) . At Py los, fi ve tablets of t he Ea series link qo-u-ko-r-o w ith ki-li-me-na la nd a nd qo-qo-la with ke-ke-m e-na la nd IO_ The unfortunaLcl~1 fragmentary document An 830 [+I 907 regist ers four large groups o f qo-u ­ ko-ro (al lcasL 204 tota l) in a reas of grazing lowla nds in both provinces of Mcssenia. Ea rlier sections of Lhi s tablet refer Lo la ndholdings : ke-k e- m e- n o a nd DA 30 a nd 50. A grea ter hinL o f Lh e use of oxen for la bor is furnished by PY table ts An 18, An 852 and perhaps Nn 831 u . On An 18, 90 qo-u-ko-ro are li sted at t he siLc of Li-no wh il e previous sect io ns of the tablet record indiv idual lo-ko-do-mo a nd le-ko-lo-na-pe.