Linear Scripts

Linear Scripts forms of Minoan writing. The earliest Minoan writing consisted of pictographs, called Cretan hieroglyphs, which date from about 2000 BC The first linear script, Linear A, dates from about 1700 BC and was also partly pictorial in nature. It appears on clay tablets written between 1750 BC and 1400 BC and has been classified as a West Semitic script. Linear A was replaced by Linear B, a new script, about 1450 BC Since Linear B also appeared on the Greek mainland, many scholars believed it to be an early form of Greek. This hypothesis was verified in 1952 when Linear B was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris, a British architect. The content of the Minoan texts that have been unearthed is predominantly economic and religious.

Bibliography: See D. W. Packard, Minoan Linear A (1974); J. Chadwick, Decipherment of Linear B (1970) and, with others, Corpus of Mycenaean Inscriptions from Knossos (4 vol., 1987-99).

linear script Early form of writing, found on clay tablets in Crete and Greece. Linear A was in extensive use during the middle period of the Minoan civilization (c.2100–c.1550 bc). Linear B was an adaptation of Linear A, used by the Mycenaean civilization of mainland Greece to write their early form of Greek. Linear B was used from c.1450 bc to the end of the Mycenaean period (c.1120 bc). In 1952, Michael Ventris deciphered Linear B; Linear A still defies analysis.

linear Linear A the earlier of two related forms of writing discovered at Knossos in Crete between 1894 and 1901, found on tablets and vases dating from c.1700 to 1450 bc and still largely unintelligible.
Linear B a form of Bronze Age writing discovered on tablets in Crete, dating from c.1400 to 1200 bc. In 1952 it was shown by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick to be a syllabic script composed of linear signs, derived from Linear A and older Minoan scripts, representing a form of Mycenaean Greek.