Linear B: Word of the Day

[helens_daughter]

𐀷    𐀙   𐀏

wa  na  ka

 

The wa-na-ka, or wanax, was the title of a Mycenaean Greek king.  From the Pylos Linear B tablets, it seems that, depending on the context, the term meant either the earthly ruler, or a powerful male deity, perhaps Poseidon or Zeus.  It has also been suggested, and is quite likely, that the wanax served as a priest-king as well as chief administrator and war leader.

The Pylos tablets do not name the wanax directly, but a Pylian aristocrat named Enkhelyawon controlled vast holdings comparable with those of a wanax, and thus may have been the king of Pylos sometime around 1200 B.C.

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