Abstract

Eteocretans, literally ‘true Cretans’, is the ancient name given to a group of Cretan people speaking a non-Greek tongue. The six undisputed Eteocretan inscriptions (ca 650 (?) - 3rd or 2nd c. BCE) are written in the Greek alphabet but total 422 letters only. Moreover, we are able to isolate only a few of their ‘words’. This explains that their interpretation is difficult and that their linguistic relationship remains unknown despite several tentative identifications.