Letters of Cadmus

Carpenter, Rhys

doi:10.2307/289704

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…First of all, it implies that the Linear B script was written on palm leaves. As mentioned above, this idea has been put forward before, but it has not found 85 See also, for example, the remark of Carpenter (1935) 8: 'Since the locality is right, the environment is right, why should we not accept the Greek folk memory tradition as a true tradition and, taking the Herodotean phrase, call this Helladic writing "Cadmean letters"?' Similarly, Phillips (1957) 272-75 suggested that the story of Palamedes as inventor or introducer of writing must refer to Aegean writing systems and not the alphabet.…”

Section: Preliminary Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…65 A similar suggestion has been made by Corcella (1986) with respect to the Pelasgic letters, see below, section XI. 66 See, for example, Carpenter (1935) and Mylonas (1966) 204, who sees the connection in the fact that the letters were painted in red, and Ahl (1967), who links phoinikeia grammata to palm-leaf writing (see also below, section VI). 67 Ní Mheallaigh (2012) 182.…”

Section: Lydians and Ioniansmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Deconstructing the Phoenician myth: ‘Cadmus and the palm-leaf tablets’ revisited

Waal

2022

J. Hell. Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

According to Herodotus, the expression phoinikeia grammata means ‘Phoenician letters’ and refers to the Phoenician origins of the Greek alphabet. This account has found general acceptance, but it is not the only interpretation possible and other theories circulated in antiquity. The adjective φοῖνιξ does not only mean ‘Phoenician’; it can also refer to a palm tree or the colour red. This article argues that the expression phoinikeia grammata did not originally refer to the alphabet, but to Linear B writing on palm leaves, as already suggested by Frederick Ahl. It is shown that the account of Herodotus is the result of a ‘learned reinterpretation’, triggered by the ambiguity of the word φοῖνιξ. The new understanding of phoinikeia grammata proposeds here has some important consequences: it implies that Linear B, as has long been suspected, was primarily written on palm leaves (hence ‘palm-leaf writing’) and that in classical antiquity there was at least a limited historical awareness of the existence of pre-alphabetic writing systems in the Aegean. This paper adduces additional evidence to substantiate these claims. Lastly, a case will be made that Herodotus’ incorrect reinterpretation has led to the ‘Phoenicianization’ of Cadmus, who was originally a Greek hero.

show abstract

Section: Preliminary Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lydians and Ioniansmentioning

confidence: 99%