DO-SO-MO, Fascicula Mycenologica Polona 6 Fred C. WOUDHUIZEN (Heiloo, The Netherlands) ‘A Mycenaean Royal Trader ‘Abstract: In this note it will be argued that the Mycenaean title da-mo-ko-ro originates from ‘Akkadian ‘amkard- and likewise means “trader”. It is sometimes claimed that there is no evidence of Mycenaean traders in the Linear B records. Such a claim disregards the testimony of a well-known Linear B tablet from the palace of Pylos, Ta 711, of which the first line reads as follows: o-wi-de puz-ke-qi-ri o-te wa-na-ka te-ke au-ke-wa da-mo-ko-ro AO wide Puz-ke-qi-ri hote wanax théke Aukewan damokoron “Thus Pu,-Ke-qi-ri made inspection, on the occasion when the king appointed ‘Aukewas as trader” According to Ventris & Chadwick, the final entry da-mo-ko-ro is a titulary expression—also attested for another tablet from Pylos (PY On 01) and two from Knossos (KN L 642 and X 7922)-, suggested with a question mark to be in line with ko-re-te and ga-si-re-u “basileus”. From their transliteration of this title as damokoros, it appears that Ventris & Chadwick take the form in question asa compound of the indication of a village community déimos, which develops into later Greek démos “people”.! This interpretatio Graeca, however, is entirely unfounded as da-mo-ko-ro actually constitutes the Mycenaean Greek rendering of the Akkadian titular expression famkdru- “trader”? The latter Akkadism is also attested for just about synchronous Cypro-Minoan texts from Cyprus, where it occurs in N sg. as ta-mi-ka in the text of a clay cylinder seal from Enkomi and D sg. ta-me-ki in that of a clay cylinder seal from Kalavassos—forms which, contrary to their Mycenaean * Ventris & Chadwick 1973: 335; Bartonék 2003: 441-2. Note that the alternative interpretation of da-mo-ko-ro as the personal name Damoklos, as suggested by Ruijgh & Houwink ten Cate 1962: 280, is ruled out by the fact that our functionary is already specified by the personal name Aukewas. * Von Soden AH, s.v. tamkaru(m).144 Fred C. Woudhuizen equivalent, disregard the root-final consonant -r- in their declination. Now, most interesting from an historical point of view is that our Pylian text clearly indicates that the trader in question is appointed by the wanaks “king” himself, and hence must be considered a palatial functionary. From the given Cypro-Minoan parallels, it may safely be deduced that the samkaru- denotes a trader involved in international or long distance trade. This leads us to the conclusion that international trade was directly organized by the palace in the Mycenaean period. Bibliography Bartonék A. (2003), Handbuch des mykenischen Griechisch, Heidelberg. Ruijgh, C. J., Houwink ten C., Philo HJ. (1962), Review of L. R. Palmer, ‘Mycenaeans and Minoans, Aegean Prehistory in the Light of the Linear B Tablets, Faber & Faber, London 1961, {in:] “Mnemosyne” 15 (Ser. IV), pp. 277- 2990. Soden, Wolfram von (1965-1981), Akkadisches Handwérterbuch, vol. 1-3, Wiesbaden. Venitris, M., Chadwick J. (1973), Documents in Mycenaean Greek, Cambridge (2nd ed.). Woudhuizen F. (1992), The Language of the Sea Peoples, Amsterdam. Fred Woudhuizen Het Hoekstuk 69 NL-1852 KX HEILOO ‘The Netherlands E-mail: woudhuizen@ yahoo.com 5 Woudhuizen 1992: 92-3 (discussion of the earliest attestation of the tile in form of ta-a-mi-ka in tablet Enkomi 1955 from c. 1525-1425 BC); 104 (Enkomi cylinder seal); 140 (Kalavassos cylinder seal).