"scribbling itch," which wantonly defaces the monuments of past and present times. "Limited as is the number of stones that we have to draw from, it will be found that certain symbols are continually recurring, as certain letters or syllables or words would recur in any form of writing. Thus the human eye appears four times and on as many different stones, the 'broad arrow' seven times, and another uncertain instrument eleven times. The choice of symbols is evidently restricted by some practical consideration, and while some objects are of frequent occurrence, others equally obvious are conspicuous by their absence. But an engraver filling the space on the seals for merely decorative purposes would not thus have been trammelled in his selection." (_Jo. Hellenic Studies_, p. 300.) Some of the symbols are abbreviated, _e.g._ the head indicating the whole animal, or a flower the whole plant, thus showing an approach to the ideographic stage of writing. In further example of this there is the expression of ideas and emotions in graphic form, as in the various positions of the arms and hands, and so forth. The symbols also frequently occur in groups of from two to seven, indicating that a syllabic value was given to them, and certain fixed principles of arrangement appear to govern the place of certain signs. Altogether, the conclusion seems warranted that the symbols are not haphazard, but purposive, although, until the materials for judgment have largely increased, the purposes are not easy to particularise. Generally, like all other writing, their object was to tell something, perchance, as already shown (p. 51), information about the avocations of their owners, thus ranking as primitive "merchants' marks." [Illustration: Fig. 55.--Vase with incised Characters (Crete)] [Illustration: Fig. 56.--Incised Characters on Cup (Crete)] [Illustration: Fig. 57.--Characters on Vase (Crete)] [Illustration: Fig. 58.--Signs on Bronze Axe (Delphi)] [Illustration: Fig. 59.--Signs on Blocks of Mycenæan Buildings (Knôsos)] [Illustration: Fig. 60.--Symbols on Three-sided Cornelian (Crete)] [Illustration: Fig. 61.--Symbols on Four-sided Stone (Crete)] [Illustration: Fig. 62.--Symbols on Four-sided Stones, with larger faces (Central Crete)] [Illustration: Fig. 63.--Symbol on Single-faced Cornelian (Eastern Crete)] [Illustration: Fig. 64.--Symbol on Stone of ordinary Mycenæan type (Athens)] The stones thus bearing symbols of a system of writing in use within the limits of the Mycenæan world in pre-Phœnician times are arranged in five groups by Mr. Evans: (1) three-sided or prism-shaped (fig. 60); (2) four-sided equilateral (fig. 61); (3) four-sided with larger faces (fig. 62); (4) with one engraved side, the upper part being ornamented with a convoluted relief (fig. 63); (5) stones of ordinary Mycenæan type (fig. 64).