Wool-spinning, bronze-working and the peculiarities of Mycenaean ta-ra-si-ja

Barbara Montecchi Pasiphae. Rivista di filologia e antichità egee VI (2012): 185-194.

Από την εισαγωγή (στα Αγγλικά)

It is by now well-established that the hypothesis that the Mycenaean term ta-ra-si-ja /tala(n)-sia/ indicates a production directly organized by the central administration for the supply of a certain quantity of raw materials weighed (wool and bronze) to be processed into finished products which would then be returned to the Palace. The term is attested in Pylos, Knossos and Mycenae, in reference to the textile production (KN Lc 535.A, 536.A, Le 642.1, X 8211; MY Oe 110.1; PY La 1393.1), the bronze-working (in the Jn series of Pylos, except Jn 829 and 881+829) and the production of chariot wheels (KN So(2) 4442.b). It does not appear in Thebes, but the wool distribution of the Of series seems to reflect a system of textile production based on household and shrine units, supplied and controlled in a similar way to those employed in the ta-ra-si-ja in the kingdoms of Knossos, Pylos and Mycenae. The central administration also ran an important production of perfumes, which provided for the supply of raw materials to the craftsmen, but the term ta-ra-si-ja never appears in these records. Hence J. Killen deduced the existence of a production system which, although managed and supplied by the Palace, would have been opposed to that of the ta-ra-si-ja and defined it “non-ta-ra-si-ja production”. This conclusion is, in my view, questionable.

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