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Most Wabbits know I am a keen classicist in my spare time as it were. I studied Classics and Philosophy which we call 'the Greats' as a first Degree etc and later got into other stuff academically. The love and reverence of Classics, once acquired, is hard to 'shake off', you never stop examining the old accounts searching for how or why did this or that occur.. the 'what if?' conundrum too.
My mind was recently drawn back to the problem of Linear A and B by a recent BBC write up of Alice Kober who has remained too long in the BBC's estimation the unsung heroine in a somewhat unknown story which for most remains unknown but has great bearing upon the future development of the Classical Greek period particularly in regard to language. I am very happy to see Alice Kober's small but vital part in this story, which I first learned of some years ago while trying (in my madness) to decipher Linear A. So here's a rough account of the story and those who played parts to what we can generally extract today;
I realise this is a bit of a specialist interest but Etruscan is still not deciphered satisfactorily (we understand the grammar etc but not what the words mean) and waiting to be 'cracked' and as a Classicist I find it fascinating.
So linear b is the language used by the civilisation/culture of Crete and Thera (now Santorini) pre Greece of the myths and the Trojan war etc; the so called Mycenaean period of Agamemnon and Achilles and all the rest. If you consider the Greek myths all tell 'folk tales' of times remembered so Jason and Argonauts is about a sailor who made it into the Black Sea to prospect for gold as we would call it today; an ancient method of getting gold from a stream is to lay goat or sheep skins across the passage. Naturally once this passage was discovered Greek colonists went into the Caucuses and the Crimea and an attempt to block the Hellespont would be met with force - the 'Trojan War'. Even during the Peloponnesian War circa 1000yrs later than the Mycenaean myth period Athens was dependent on food imported via the Hellespont straits and the war only ended when the route was cut (largely due to Persian naval aid to Sparta). Again the Greek cities in Anatolia, Ephesus and Miletus and Pergamum could only be possible after the Trojan War. Jason could be said to said to have caused the Trojan War but more important than gold was later corn.
Anyway back to linear b... So this culture we can trace back to around 3,600 BC and first they used a type of hieroglyphs examples of which you can by google. These are believed to have been in popular use from around 1700 to 1500BC though they appear to have continued to be used by some (in Thera) until later. Basically nobody knows where they got this hieroglyphics from. They then mostly gave up writing in pictures and used what is called Linear A or Eteocretan (or 'true Cretan') which again you can see examples of with a quick web search. This used 'Greek' letters but not words or language form though some have suggested Dorian links. While the Greeks were entering the Mycenaean (c. 1600 BC – c. 1100 BC) period the 'southern culture' as it were adopted a new script which we call linear b.
The finding and destruction (of one in my personal view) of these sites and most of scripts came in the 1930s and later (still ongoing on Santorini/Thera) but (sadly) was done a British gentleman called Arthur Evans; anyone who has visited Knossos and seen his tragic attempts at recreating parts of the site will understand I hope. Initially he uncovered over 3,000 clay tablets with hieroglyphs and what he distinguished as the linear a and b scripts. These have later been added to by many more discovered inscriptions and although his archaeology was somewhat suspect his classification of the scripts is about correct. Evans was the man who linked Crete with the myth of King Minos and the Minotaur etc and thus we call the culture 'Minoan' and in this he is almost certainly correct in some ways. The Greek myths are memories of times past before history was a subject as such. The Cretan/Theran culture pre dates even Mycenaean Greece so the myths of sending a tribute which in the myths become virgin Ladies can more realistically be seen as a large trading disadvantage as we know that Thera in particular was the centre of a large levantine and Egyptian trading route. That they practiced bull jumping - literally jumping over a bull as a right of passage - is now almost universally accepted. Bull worship or sport involving bulls seems to have connections with the Levant also - remember Moses's reaction to the idol of the bull that the people had made whilst he was receiving the Ten Commandments and in Egypt you have the Apis bull - god who it may be supposed the Israelites without the guidance of Moses held in some affection. If I may suggest a more likely 'real' version of events of the Moses myth I would suggest that when Moses returned from his solitary sojourn and communion with God he found the people indulging in games involving bulls, whether it be jumping or fighting. This he naturally wished to stamp out having received Divine guidance;"No more messing about peeps! We're on a mission from God!".
Evans tried to decipher the scripts in 'Scripta Minoa' where he equated it with the much older Phoenician language. Well it turned out he was wrong with that. The hieroglyphic language used by this culture has never been traced in it's origin nor deciphered. Some have suggest Linear A elements within the hieroglyphics script but personally I don't see it conclusively. Linear A has also never been properly deciphered but only Linear B can we read with vague understanding of what they were saying (and most of that is boring such as "2 jars of oil to x"). We today still relate in language terms Linear A with proto Canaanite/Phoenician though this is not proved conclusively and of course this chimes well with theories of ancient bull 'worship' or games in the region that would suggest a link as does the earlier hieroglyphic script. Linear B though we can speak of as clearly proto classical Greek - we can decipher it. It was deciphered by a British architect called Michael Ventris but only after Alice Kober had made the first break through - or guess as these things are. She noted that the ends of words changed - without knowing what the words meant - and that therefore the word declined as in Latin or Greek. Ventris had first thought Linear B to be related to Etruscan but after hearing of Kober's findings eventually managed to crack it. Linear B which is a form of proto Greek examples of which have found on mainland Greece so it is in some ways the first 'European script' derived from both Semetic and European elements. I was very happy to see therefore the BBC highlight the great contribution of Alice Kober recently; BBC News - Alice Kober: Unsung heroine who helped decode Linear B
So what does it all tell us? Well the myths have basis - some have suggested that Thera/Sanotorini was the basis of the Atlantis myth (Bettany Hughes ideas by the BBC you can see here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7bVIq0jNfg). I think she makes a good case in a way so was Linear B the language of Atlantis? My problem with Miss Hughes theory is the 'beyond the Pillars of Hercules' (in our terms the Straits of Gibraltar) is Plato's location so should I assume he was reporting 'mistaken hearsay' on that then what else must I question? To get on to what can surmised... It is clear that the 'first Cretans' who we refer to as Minoans were NOT Greek but of Semetic origin whether Phoenician or other. Phoenician makes most sense to some as this was the time of Dido/Elissa/r who in legend founded Carthage where they practiced human sacrifice as there is evidence they did in Crete. The culture that grew up around these Semetic colonies on the 'Greek' islands appears to have been primarily commercial from what has been translated and they certainly indulged in some form of sport/right of passage/worship - all of which essentially mean the same thing - involving bulls, the bull being largely a symbol of male fertility in ancient cultures and continuing today from Georgia in the Caucuses to Spain and her ex colonies in the 'new world'. This culture of the islands was certainly resented by some of the mainland Greeks as is evidenced by the myths of having to send tribute etc so it was prospering greater than the mainland with which it had some trade. Gradually trade increased between the initially Semetic colonists or 'Eteocretans' as Homer called them and they mingled with the Greeks giving rise to Linear B primarily due to trade as a language of common exchange. Parts of their script were kept but the grammar changed. Sadly most of these enterprising people - most likely all Therans - perished when the volcano went off and some evidence suggests they were subsequently invaded by Anatolians. The language they used probably firstly to trade with mainland Greeks later became Classical Greek from which all cyrillic languages are derived; a not inconsiderable legacy.
I know it's 'specialist' but it's history and real and things we would not understand without the Alice Kober's of this world; the amateur but dedicated specialists who are 'wierdos' to we lesser mortals.
My mind was recently drawn back to the problem of Linear A and B by a recent BBC write up of Alice Kober who has remained too long in the BBC's estimation the unsung heroine in a somewhat unknown story which for most remains unknown but has great bearing upon the future development of the Classical Greek period particularly in regard to language. I am very happy to see Alice Kober's small but vital part in this story, which I first learned of some years ago while trying (in my madness) to decipher Linear A. So here's a rough account of the story and those who played parts to what we can generally extract today;
I realise this is a bit of a specialist interest but Etruscan is still not deciphered satisfactorily (we understand the grammar etc but not what the words mean) and waiting to be 'cracked' and as a Classicist I find it fascinating.
So linear b is the language used by the civilisation/culture of Crete and Thera (now Santorini) pre Greece of the myths and the Trojan war etc; the so called Mycenaean period of Agamemnon and Achilles and all the rest. If you consider the Greek myths all tell 'folk tales' of times remembered so Jason and Argonauts is about a sailor who made it into the Black Sea to prospect for gold as we would call it today; an ancient method of getting gold from a stream is to lay goat or sheep skins across the passage. Naturally once this passage was discovered Greek colonists went into the Caucuses and the Crimea and an attempt to block the Hellespont would be met with force - the 'Trojan War'. Even during the Peloponnesian War circa 1000yrs later than the Mycenaean myth period Athens was dependent on food imported via the Hellespont straits and the war only ended when the route was cut (largely due to Persian naval aid to Sparta). Again the Greek cities in Anatolia, Ephesus and Miletus and Pergamum could only be possible after the Trojan War. Jason could be said to said to have caused the Trojan War but more important than gold was later corn.
Anyway back to linear b... So this culture we can trace back to around 3,600 BC and first they used a type of hieroglyphs examples of which you can by google. These are believed to have been in popular use from around 1700 to 1500BC though they appear to have continued to be used by some (in Thera) until later. Basically nobody knows where they got this hieroglyphics from. They then mostly gave up writing in pictures and used what is called Linear A or Eteocretan (or 'true Cretan') which again you can see examples of with a quick web search. This used 'Greek' letters but not words or language form though some have suggested Dorian links. While the Greeks were entering the Mycenaean (c. 1600 BC – c. 1100 BC) period the 'southern culture' as it were adopted a new script which we call linear b.
The finding and destruction (of one in my personal view) of these sites and most of scripts came in the 1930s and later (still ongoing on Santorini/Thera) but (sadly) was done a British gentleman called Arthur Evans; anyone who has visited Knossos and seen his tragic attempts at recreating parts of the site will understand I hope. Initially he uncovered over 3,000 clay tablets with hieroglyphs and what he distinguished as the linear a and b scripts. These have later been added to by many more discovered inscriptions and although his archaeology was somewhat suspect his classification of the scripts is about correct. Evans was the man who linked Crete with the myth of King Minos and the Minotaur etc and thus we call the culture 'Minoan' and in this he is almost certainly correct in some ways. The Greek myths are memories of times past before history was a subject as such. The Cretan/Theran culture pre dates even Mycenaean Greece so the myths of sending a tribute which in the myths become virgin Ladies can more realistically be seen as a large trading disadvantage as we know that Thera in particular was the centre of a large levantine and Egyptian trading route. That they practiced bull jumping - literally jumping over a bull as a right of passage - is now almost universally accepted. Bull worship or sport involving bulls seems to have connections with the Levant also - remember Moses's reaction to the idol of the bull that the people had made whilst he was receiving the Ten Commandments and in Egypt you have the Apis bull - god who it may be supposed the Israelites without the guidance of Moses held in some affection. If I may suggest a more likely 'real' version of events of the Moses myth I would suggest that when Moses returned from his solitary sojourn and communion with God he found the people indulging in games involving bulls, whether it be jumping or fighting. This he naturally wished to stamp out having received Divine guidance;"No more messing about peeps! We're on a mission from God!".
Evans tried to decipher the scripts in 'Scripta Minoa' where he equated it with the much older Phoenician language. Well it turned out he was wrong with that. The hieroglyphic language used by this culture has never been traced in it's origin nor deciphered. Some have suggest Linear A elements within the hieroglyphics script but personally I don't see it conclusively. Linear A has also never been properly deciphered but only Linear B can we read with vague understanding of what they were saying (and most of that is boring such as "2 jars of oil to x"). We today still relate in language terms Linear A with proto Canaanite/Phoenician though this is not proved conclusively and of course this chimes well with theories of ancient bull 'worship' or games in the region that would suggest a link as does the earlier hieroglyphic script. Linear B though we can speak of as clearly proto classical Greek - we can decipher it. It was deciphered by a British architect called Michael Ventris but only after Alice Kober had made the first break through - or guess as these things are. She noted that the ends of words changed - without knowing what the words meant - and that therefore the word declined as in Latin or Greek. Ventris had first thought Linear B to be related to Etruscan but after hearing of Kober's findings eventually managed to crack it. Linear B which is a form of proto Greek examples of which have found on mainland Greece so it is in some ways the first 'European script' derived from both Semetic and European elements. I was very happy to see therefore the BBC highlight the great contribution of Alice Kober recently; BBC News - Alice Kober: Unsung heroine who helped decode Linear B
So what does it all tell us? Well the myths have basis - some have suggested that Thera/Sanotorini was the basis of the Atlantis myth (Bettany Hughes ideas by the BBC you can see here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7bVIq0jNfg). I think she makes a good case in a way so was Linear B the language of Atlantis? My problem with Miss Hughes theory is the 'beyond the Pillars of Hercules' (in our terms the Straits of Gibraltar) is Plato's location so should I assume he was reporting 'mistaken hearsay' on that then what else must I question? To get on to what can surmised... It is clear that the 'first Cretans' who we refer to as Minoans were NOT Greek but of Semetic origin whether Phoenician or other. Phoenician makes most sense to some as this was the time of Dido/Elissa/r who in legend founded Carthage where they practiced human sacrifice as there is evidence they did in Crete. The culture that grew up around these Semetic colonies on the 'Greek' islands appears to have been primarily commercial from what has been translated and they certainly indulged in some form of sport/right of passage/worship - all of which essentially mean the same thing - involving bulls, the bull being largely a symbol of male fertility in ancient cultures and continuing today from Georgia in the Caucuses to Spain and her ex colonies in the 'new world'. This culture of the islands was certainly resented by some of the mainland Greeks as is evidenced by the myths of having to send tribute etc so it was prospering greater than the mainland with which it had some trade. Gradually trade increased between the initially Semetic colonists or 'Eteocretans' as Homer called them and they mingled with the Greeks giving rise to Linear B primarily due to trade as a language of common exchange. Parts of their script were kept but the grammar changed. Sadly most of these enterprising people - most likely all Therans - perished when the volcano went off and some evidence suggests they were subsequently invaded by Anatolians. The language they used probably firstly to trade with mainland Greeks later became Classical Greek from which all cyrillic languages are derived; a not inconsiderable legacy.
I know it's 'specialist' but it's history and real and things we would not understand without the Alice Kober's of this world; the amateur but dedicated specialists who are 'wierdos' to we lesser mortals.
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