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Linear A - B - Decipherment

Both Linear B and Linear A were written during the 2nd millennium B.C. in Minoan Crete. Michael Ventris deciphered Linear B in 1952. This is the written syllabic language that spread from the Minoans to the Mycenaeans. Linear A has not yet been deciphered.

Decipherment of Linear B

Called Linear B by Evans, this script on clay tablets dated between 1450 and ca. 1375 B.C., when Knossos was destroyed.

Bibliography

A linear B-related bibliography divided into sections on Colloquia, Symposia and Festschriften, Bibliographies, Individual Works, and An Alphabet in the Aegean Bronze Age?

Linear A and the Phaistos Disk

Sergei V. Rjabchikov reads Linear A using the pronunciation of Linear B.

Linear A Tablet

A photograph of a Linear A tablet dating to about 1450 B.C., from Crete. The clay tablet was preserved by being baked in a fire.

Linear A

Ancient Scripts of the World look at Linear A. While Linear B seems to have come from Linear A, the underlying language of Linear A doesn't seem to relate to any other surviving language in Europe or Western Asia.

Linear B

From Scripts of the World site, an introduction with graphics of the written language of Linear B.

The Linear B Tablets and Mycenaean Organization

Linear B has 89 signs which representing both bare vowels and syllables. Tablets have been found on the Mycenaean mainland and in non-mainland areas ruled by Mycenaean kings. Tablets have been found firmly dated to the 13th century B.C.

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