KAPATIJA is the name of a priestess (i-je-re-ja) at the sanctuary of Sphakiana (Pa-ki-ja-na) near Pylos; her name probably should be normalized as Karpathia -- perhaps she came from the island of Karpathos.

She is mentioned in several of the Linear B tablets from Pylos as a land-holder and the manager of slaves; even more interesting is her title ka-wa-wi-po-ro, which should be normalized as "klawiphoros", or 'key-bearer'.

Kapatija

• is a prominent klawiphoros at Pakijana with land and grain holdings (PY Eb 338, Ed 317, Ep 704);
• she gives grain (PY Un 443);
• and she has a slave Pu-.-da-ka who also controls grain (PY Ep 535.9).

Another, or the same, klawiphoros at Pylos has slaves (PY Ae 110; Ep 539.9), and the klawiphoroi of various places have or control cloth (PY Un 6) and ka-ko na-wi-jo, some kind of bronze, either "temple bronze" or bronze transported by ship (i.e., in ingots).

The title "klawiphoros", or 'key-bearer' also comes down into Classical Greek as 'klaikophoros', where it describes a hero worshiped at Epidauros (IG 42 (1) 297) and the title of a priest at Messene IG 5 (1) 1447 and at Lagina (Paul Rehak and I have seen an inscription there)

It is possible that the 'key' which Karpathia bears, is a sealstone, emblem and tool of her office as some kind of administrator in the sanctuary. The identification was first suggested by Elizabeth Swain in a Linear B seminar taught by John Younger 1988, who first proposed it in print in the publication of the Austin conference "Aegean Sealings, Seals, and Administration" in January 1990 (Aegaeum 5, 1990, 240); a subsequent elaboration appeared in his article "Representations of Minoan-Mycenaean Jewelry," Aegaeum 8, 1992, p. 273 fn 44, where it was suggested that the several women wearing plumed caps and sealstones at their right wrist might be representations of these 'keybearers'.

In this regard, we should compare the position of the esteemed bondswoman Eurykleia in the Odyssey who keeps the key to the storerooms and who was primarily responsible for retrieving luxury goods from them for important figures like Telemachos and Athena; similarly, see Iliad VI 89 ff. and several lines later where Theano, priestess of Athena, opens the storerooms for robes.

"Kapatia" seems therefore a suitable name for Web resources in Aegean archaeology.

"Consult Kapatija", she unlocks secrets!