LINEAR B AN INTRODUCTION J.T. Hooker Lecturer in Greek, University College London Published by Bristol Classical Press Genera] Editor: John H. BettsCONTENTS Acknowledgments Preliminary note List of abbreviations Part One The Aegean Bronze Age Writing in the Aegean Bronze Age The decipherment of the Linear B script The Linear B inscriptions The language of the linear B texts atone Part Two 1: Knossos sword tablets: the Ra set 2: Sheep and wool tablets from Pylos and Knossos: PY Cn and KN D Knossos cloth and wool tablets: the L series Groups of women: the Pylos A series The assessment and distribution of bronze: PY Jn : The o-ka set: Pylos An tablets : Inventories: Pylos Ta tablets : Land tablets: E texts from Pylos and Tiryns : Religious texts from Knossos, Pylos, and Thebes : Wheel and chariot tablets: the Knossos S$ series Spice tablets: the Mycenae Ge set Assessments of various commodities: M and N tablets from Pylos and Knossos 13: Inscribed jars, sealings, and labels Part Three Index Index Index Linear B words Greek words : Linear B inseriptions discussed Plates§§ 7-9 1 2. WRITING IN THE AEGEAN BRONZE AGE The purpose of writing among the Minoans § 7 The Minoans were the inventors of writing in the Aegean. Not only did they initiate the art, but throughout the Bronze Age they were responsible for its principal developments and innova- tions. In time, the Minoan scripts were taken over by other peo- ples, such as the Cypriots and the Mycenaeans, who used them for their own purposes. The question, to what extent the Minoans were indebted to any foreign system in the creation of their scripts, cannot yet be answered satisfactorily: it seems certain, however, that some of the earliest signs used in Minoan writing were derived from Egypt. § 8 Two fundamental questions need to be answered. What did the Aegean peoples use writing for? What stages in the history of writing are represented by their scripts? The probable answer to the first question is that the invention of writing in Crete was cal- led forth not by a desire to communicate but by economic necessity. It seems that the Minoans, and after them the Mycenaeans, had two main objects in writing: to confirm ownership and to make records. Only the inscriptions found on some Minoan cult-objects, especially the so-called libation-tables, fall a little outside these categor- ies. There is, as yet, no direct evidence that the Minoans or the Mycenaeans ever wrote any literary or historical text, or even sent a letter from one city to another; but the analogy of contemporary cultures makes it highly probable that they did in fact use writing for these purposes. From first to last, and especially in the Late Bronze Age, Minoan-Mycenaean writing was confined to very few centres; and it may be suspected that the number of people who were able to read or write the scripts was at all times very small. The three stages of Minoan writing § 9 The successive stages of Minoan writing were elucidated by Evans in 1909 on the evidence of his discoveries at Knossos: The written documents from the Palace of Knossos and its im- mediate dependencies now amount to nearly two thousand. The overwhelming majority of these clay documents, including the first discovered, presented an advanced type of linear script — referred to in the present work as Class B — which