Note 262 — Chapter IX · THE HEROIC AGE OF GREECE.

Into the linguistic affinities of these various peoples we need not enter here. It will be sufficient to notice that the Thracian and Phrygian languages are commonly believed to have belonged to the eastern division of the Indo-European group. Certainly this is the case with the language of the Armenians, who according to Herodotus (VII 73) were an offshoot (ἄποικοι) of the Phrygians. The evidence of the Phrygian inscriptions themselves is unfortunately somewhat ambiguous. To the same eastern division belonged the ancient Illyrian languages, if the present dialects of Albania are descended from them. On the other hand the languages of the indigenous peoples throughout Asia Minor and the Aegean area are commonly believed to have been non-Indo-European. Yet Prof. Conway (British School at Athens, Ann. VIII, p. 141 ff.) holds that the inscriptions of Praisos belonged to a language of this group. If this should turn out to be the case with the earlier Cretan inscriptions current views as to the early history of the Indo-European languages would require considerable modification.