Glossary Society, writing and trade
Linear B
The syllabic script of the Mycenaean palaces, used to write an early form of Greek on clay tablets and deciphered by Michael Ventris in 1952.
Linear B was adapted from Linear A and used by Mycenaean palace scribes at Knossos, Pylos, Mycenae and Thebes, mainly for inventories of goods, people and livestock. Its decipherment proved that the Mycenaeans spoke Greek. It went out of use with the collapse of the palaces around 1200 BCE.
No Linear B text has been found on Cyprus, but the script matters for the island: the Greek later written in the Cypriot Syllabary belongs to the Arcado-Cypriot dialect group, which is close to the Greek of the tablets. Linear B also shows what a deciphered Aegean script looks like, the standard against which the still undeciphered Cypro-Minoan is measured. See the Mycenaeans and Cyprus.
Full entry: The Mycenaeans and Cyprus
Related terms
- Linear A
The undeciphered script of Minoan Crete, used from about 1800 to 1450 BCE, to which the Cypro-Minoan script of Cyprus is most closely related.
- Arcado-Cypriot
The group of ancient Greek dialects shared by Arcadia in the Peloponnese and by Cyprus, and the form of Greek written in the Cypriot Syllabary.
- Syllabary
A writing system whose signs each stand for a whole syllable, such as ka, pe or to.