Download - Aegean Scripts
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Writing in the West
Bronze Age Aegean scripts, Cypriot scripts, and the evolution of the
Greek alphabet
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Historical background
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Minoans in Crete
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Palace of Knossos
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Minoan writing system
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Mycenaeans in mainland Greece
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Fortified centers
Mycenae Pylos
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Mycenaean writing
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Decipherment of Linear B
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Sir Arthur Evans
Began excavating at Knossos in 1900
Discovered 3000 clay tablets
Published first volume after WWI, but most inscriptions remained unpublished
Coined Linear A and Linear B
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Discovery of the Pylos archive
1939
SW mainland Greece
Archive room discovered with the first trench
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First steps in decipherment
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Early steps in decipherment
Establishment of the signary
Problems with handwriting one sign or two?
Direction of writing: tablets began at left edge and finished before right edge
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Alice Kober
Compiled over 180,000 attestations of signs
Created frequency list of signs
Initial, medial, or final position
Let us face the facts: an unknown language, in an unknown script, cannot be deciphered.
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Kobers triplets
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Michael Ventris
Architect by training
Bucking the trend Cypriot script was used for Greek, deciphered in the 1870s
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Tentative decipherment
Ko-no-so Knossos
A-mi-ni-so Amnisos
to-so and to-sa Greek tosos and tos, so much/many ???
Greek words began appearing; collaboration with John Chadwick
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Decipherment passes the test!
Dark blue: ti-ri-po-de Light blue: ti-ri-po Green: di-pa me-zo-e qe-to-ro-we (goblet, large four-
handled) Yellow: di-pa me-zo-e ti-ri-we-e (goblet, large three-
handled)
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Aegean Scripts
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Cretan Hieroglyphs
First used ca. 1800 BCE
Mallia and Knossos
Seals and clay bars
Undeciphered
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Phaistos disk
6.5 in diameter
242 signs arranged into 61 groups
Runs right to left overlapping signs
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Arkalochori axe
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Linear A
Ayia Triadha primarily
First used ca. 1700 BCE
1427 documents with ~7400 signs
Writing is sloppier than Linear B
Unknown language
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Linear A
Written left to right
Three vowels: A, I, U
Written on clay tablets, stone offering tables, hair pins, pots
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Linear B archives
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Linear B syllabograms
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Linear B spelling
89 syllabic signs
Five vowels are represented (A, E, I, O, U)
Two diphthongs are represented (AI and AU)
All other diphthongs require two syllables
qa-si-re-u = basileus, (ruler)
MANY ambiguities in Mycenaean writing
pe can be Greek , , , , ,
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Linear B ideograms
~160 ideograms Usually written in Latin CUR (currus) chariot OVIS sheep
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Sample tablet
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Mycenaean religion
Di-wo Zeus
Di-wo-nu-so Dionysos
A-re Ares
A-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ia Athena Potnia
Po-se-da-o Poseidon
Po-re-na those brought Human sacrifice?? PY Tn 316
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Writing in ancient Cyprus
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Cypriot writing systems
Cypro-Minoan
1450-900 BCE
Undeciphered
Cypriot Syllabary
800-250 BCE
Deciphered
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Cypro-Minoan 1
204 texts
Clay balls, cylinder seals, copper ingots, votive stands, ivory objects, bowls
72 syllabograms
1079 signs in texts
1450 - 900 BCE
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Cypro-Minoan 2
3 clay tablets from Enkomi
61 syllabograms
2000 signs in texts
1200-1100 BCE
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Cypro-Minoan 3
8 clay tablets from Ugarit in Syria
50 syllabograms
253 signs in texts
1250-1100 BCE
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Cypro-Minoan: How many languages?
CM 1 and CM 2 probably represent two different languages
CM 3 differs markedly from CM 2 but may represent the same language as CM 1
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Cypro-Syllabic / Cypriot Syllabary
Used 800-250 BCE
55 syllabic signs
Inscriptions are written in Greek and Cypriot
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Decipherment of Cypro-Syllabic
Cypriot and Phoenician bilingual
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Idalion tablet
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Phoenician at Idalion
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Cypro-Syllabic at Idalion
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Evolution of the Greek alphabet
From aleph to alpha
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Herodotus
These Phoenicians who came with Cadmusbrought with them to Hellas, among many other kinds of learning, the alphabet, which had been unknown before this, I think, to the Greeks. As time went on the sound and the form of the letters were changed.
At this time the Greeks who were settled around them were for the
most part Ionians, and after being taught the letters by the Phoenicians, they used them with a few changes of form. In so doing, they gave to these characters the name of Phoenician, as was quite fair seeing that the Phoenicians had brought them into Greece.
The Ionians have also from ancient times called sheets of papyrus skins, since they formerly used the skins of sheep and goats due to the lack of papyrus. Even to this day there are many foreigners who write on such skins.
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From Phoenician to Greek
Adoption of the 22 letters of the Phoenician alphabet
5 of the consonants were converted into vowels
Addition of four new letters
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Dating of the transmission
Phoenician was consistently written R to L after 1050 BCE
Problem: No Greek inscriptions for another 300 years!
Adopted ca. 850 BCE? Many possibilities:
Mixing of merchants in Cyprus
Phoenicians sailing to the Aegean
Greeks sailing to the Levant
Adoption of the alphabet from groups in Turkey
Use of alphabet in Euboea first
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Dipylon inscription ca. 750 BCE
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Nestors Cup ca. 750 BCE
[] [] [] [] [] [ ] [] .
Nestors cup I am, good to drink from. Whoever drinks from this cup, him straightaway the desire of beautiful-crowned Aphrodite will seize.
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Epichoric alphabets
Each regional power had its own version of the alphabet
Greek inscriptions written L to R, R to L, boustrophedon
Alphabet finally standardized ca. 400 BCE