The earliest form of Minoan writing was pictorial. However, two linear scripts known as Linear A and B eventually replaced these images. Of the two, Linear A was the earliest form, developed during the Minoan period. Linear B followed it during Crete’s Minoan-Mycenaean era.
Archaeologists have found both these scripts on a number of Cretan artifacts, ranging from religious objects to official records. The scripts appear to have been used by artists as signatures. Both forms of writing appear across the Aegean as far as the Greek mainland, spread by the far-reaching influence of Cretan trade. In this way, Linear A and B show the impact of Minoan culture on the early Greek World.
Linear A Script
Linear A script was the prevalent form of writing on Crete between 1850 to 1400BC. The script survives mainly on rectangular clay tablets and on religious objects such as offering tables.
Linear A was a pictorial form of writing. It consisted of 100 symbols, each one representing a different phonetic syllable. Various combinations of different symbols would create words from sounds. At least twelve of the symbols are thought to have served as a whole word or sound on their own. Decimal symbols served as numbers. Vertical lines equaled units, dots tens, small circles hundreds and radial circles thousands.
Written from left to right, the script seems to have developed from earlier hieroglyphic forms of writing, with the original pictograms much simplified into strokes or lines-hence the term ‘linear.’
The most extensive single collection of evidence of Linear A comes from the palace of Ayia Triada in southern Crete. Here, archaeologists found 150 small clay tablets, recording lists of stored goods from various people or places.
Experts believe Linear A may have been written in the Minoan language. However, it has not yet been translated. This is because too few of the texts survive to allow comparison for successful deciphering. Despite this, many experts believe they can recognize Semitic or Indo-European elements in the script. This similarity has helped them form some idea of how the language of Linear A worked.
Linear B Script
Linear B script, postdated, its predecessor Linear A, being in use on Crete in the Minoan and later Mycenaean periods, from 1600BC. Sir Arthur Evans first discovered the script at Knossos. Linear B is phonetic writing, formed of 90 symbols, some of which it shares with its precursor, Linear A
The Knossos collection of Linear B tablets represents the largest known deposit of this particular script in the Greek world. In all, archaeologists discovered 5500 tablets across six palace sites across the Greek world, 4000 at Knossos.
Their discovery was something of a fluke. For the Linear B script was written on unfired clay tablets. These tablets would not usually have survived in the archaeological record due to their tenuous nature. However, the fire that destroyed Knossos inadvertently fired and so preserved the tablets.
In 1952, Michael Ventris finally deciphered Linear B. Scholars then began to study the tablets. The understanding of the writing was aided by the discovery of Linear B on the Greek mainland, making a full comparative study possible.
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 on vases, probably representing an ownership mark- or even the signature of the object’s creator.
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. Experts have found Linear A on the Greek mainland at sites such as Milos, Thera, and Naxos where it spread due to Minoan trade. They have also identified it on 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.
On the Greek mainland, experts believe Linear B represents an early form of Greek- demonstrating the spread and influence of Minoan culture on the developing Greek world.
Sources
Minoan Crete: From Myth to History, Andonis Vasilakis. Adam Editions: Athens, 1999
Illustrated Dictionary of Archaeology
Linear A and Linear B, Encyclopedia Brittanica, June 18, 2007
Bronze Age Writing on Crete: Hieroglyphs, Linear A, and Linear B, Vol.3, no.3 of Athena Review(p.21), 2003
Linear B, Ancient Scripts.com
Cracking the Code: The Decipherment of Linear B 60 Years On, University of Cambridge, October 13, 2012
