E-qe-ta and e-mi-to on Linear B Tablet KN Am(2) 821: military officials and soldiers?

This paper reconsiders the evidence for the roles played by the Mycenaean officials called e-qe-ta (possibly /hekwetās/ “Followers”) on Linear B texts. They were officials of high rank, with tasks certainly in the military sphere and probably in the religious. Some scholars have also suggested that they were involved in craft productions directly controlled by the central administration, namely cloths and chariots. In this paper, this latter hypothesis is questioned. Among the Linear B tablets analyzed within this scope, particular attention is devoted to two tablets from Knossos. The first, As <4493.1>, is a personnel list called in the heading e-pi-ko-wo and assigned to an e-qe-ta. The term e-pi-ko-wo is difficult to interpret and it is discussed here because one of the Greek interpretations previously suggested is “allies, auxiliaries troops”. In the second tablet, Am(2) 821.1, two e-qe-ta are recorded e-ne-ka e-mi-to. This syntagma should correspond to alphabetical Greek emmisthōn eneka "because / on account of the hired". So far such "hired people" have been thought to be hired workers, i.e. artisans. Nevertheless, the present review shows that no reliable evidence does exist for the role of the e-qe-ta as supervisors of artisans. Therefore, on the ground of the certain military role of the e-qe-ta, it is here suggested that the e-mi-to/emmisthoi were people paid, or at least rewarded, to fight under the orders of the e-qe-ta. In other words, the emmisthoi might have been professional warriors, provided and controlled by the military officials called e-qe-ta.