The earliest form of Minoan writing was a pictorial script however it’s most famous forms of writing are the later Linear A and Linear B scripts. Linear A was the earliest form, developed in the Minoan period whereas Linear B is later dating to Crete’s Minoan-Mycenaean era.
Both scripts are found on a number of Cretan artefacts from religious objects to records. They were even used in artist’s signatures. Spread across to the Greek mainland via trade, they show the influence of Minoan culture.
Linear A Script
Dating from 1450BC, Linear A survives mainly on rectangular clay tablets and on some religious objects such as offering tables. The largest single collection of evidence comes from the palace of Ayia Triada where 150 small clay tablets were found, recording lists of stored goods from various people or places.
Linear A is thought to be written in the Minoan language. It has not yet been translated because so few of the texts survive; they cannot be compared with each other to allow for successful deciphering. Despite this, many experts believe they can recognise Semitic or indo European elements in the script.
Linear A script may not have been translated but experts believe they know how the language worked.
Linear A Writing and Records
Linear A was a pictorial form of writing. It consisted of 100 symbols, each one representing a different phonetic syllable. Different combinations of different symbols would create word from sounds. At least twelve of the symbols are thought to have represented a whole word or sound on their own.
Numbers were represented as decimals. Vertical lines equalled units, dots tens, small circles hundreds and radial circles thousands.
Linear B Script
Later than Linear A, Linear B script was discovered at Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans. It was preserved on clay tablets that would have been originally unfired. In this form, they would not normally have survived. However, the fire that destroyed Knossos fired the tablets and preserved them. The Knossos collection of Linear B tablets represents the largest known deposit of this particular script in the Greek world. In all, 5500 tablets have been found at 6 palace sites across the Greek world, 4000 at Knossos.
The tablets were studied widely after 1951 when the discovery of Linear B on the Greek mainland made full comparative study and deciphering possible.
Linear B script was in use on Crete in the Minoan and later Mycenaean periods, from 1450-1200BC. The language it represents is thought to be an early form of Greek. Linear B is a phonetic writing. It is also formed of 100 symbols, some of which it shares with its precursor, Linear A
Linear B Writing and Records
Linear B writing survives mainly as records and accounts. Theses include rectangular clay tablets recording transactions and calculations, and clay ‘palm leaf’ tablets which were elongated tablets lists. The script is also found painted onto vases. In this form, it is thought to denote the items owner or the place and artist of origin.
Linear B tablets have been found to record many different things. These include:
- Personal records
- Records of domestic animals such as sheep
- Records of crops such as corn
- The distribution of food and olive oil
- The distribution of religious offerings
- The registering and distribution of manufactured items such as metalwork, fabric, vases and weapons and chariots.
Linear A and Linear B Writing in the Ancient Greek World
Both forms of writing have been found elsewhere in the Ancient Greek world. Linear A has been found on the Greek mainland at sites such as Milos, Thera and Naxos where it spread due to Minoan trade. It is also found in Cyprus where it survived, developing into Cypro-Minoan script.
Most surviving evidence for Linear B writing is on Crete but at least 1250 pieces of evidence have been found at sites such as Thebes, Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns and Chania, with some inscriptions on vases from Eleusis.
Sources
Minoan Crete: From Myth to History (1999) by Andonis Vasilakis. Adam Editions: Athens
Illustrated Dictionary of Archaeology
 |
