16 Silvia Ferrara

Table 2.2 The Linear A syllabary, with signs uniquely attested in Linear A (a) and signs
shared with the Linear B syllabary (ab)
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab a a a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a a
ab ab a ab ab a a a a a a a
ab ab ab ab ab a a a a a a a

scanty data do nothing but underline further how any linguistic solution remains as
open as ever. This has not, of course, deterred a number of would-be decipherers
from proposing several candidate languages (East Semitic (Gordon 1966; see Hooker
1988, contra); Luvian (Brown 19923); Lycian (Finkelberg 19901)).
What we need for a breakthrough is, simply, more material. When Linear B was
deciphered, Ventris had roughly 6,000 tablets and more than 30,000 signs at his dis-
posal: Linear A signs are roughly a fourth. But the obstacle is not just numerical. We
need inscriptions of a different kind. Brief dedications and abbreviated inventories or
a series of disparate only-once-attested forms cannot offer verification for a recogniz-
able morphological structure and any linguistic interpretation must harmonize with
what would be expected in the general historical context of Minoan civilization:
to hypothesize, for instance, that the language behind Linear A could have Greek
elements (Nagy 1963) vigorously disagrees with the accepted chronological circum-
stances for the coming of the Greeks.

The Linear B Script

The graphic repertoire
Although there is considerable overlap in the sign repertoires of the two scripts, a
process of selective adaptation is observable in the derivation of the Linear B system
from Linear A. The Linear B script constitutes a different writing system, recording a
different language. Its working mechanisms are now fairly well understood, primarily
because we can read the script and recognize the language, but there are still some
problematic aspects.

Syllabograms
Some 30 syllabograms of the donor script were abandoned, and some 20 signs were
created ex novo (Olivier 1979). Such an adaptation is clearly born out of the necessity
 Mycenaean Texts 17

Table 2.3 The Linear B syllabograms

a e i o U a2 ai au
da de di do Du dwe dwo
ja je jo
ka ke ki ko ku
ma me mi mo mu
na ne ni no nu nwa
pa pe pi po pu pu2 pte
qa qe qi qo
ra re ri ro ru ra2 ra3 ro2
sa se si so su
ta te ti to tu ta2 twe two
wa we wi wo
za ze zo

Table 2.4 Unidentified syllabograms in the Linear B script

18 19 22 34 47 49 56 63 64 65 79 82 83 86 89

to record more accurately the phonemic structure of the new language, Greek,
prompting the creation of new syllables not represented in the Minoan language.
Ultimately the number of syllabograms in the two scripts is roughly equivalent, a fact
that testifies to a likely similar phonotactical structure, that is a main core of open-
syllables (CV) and simple vowel signs (V), with a minority of polysyllabic CCV and
complex signs (pte, nwa, dwe, etc. used instead of bisyllabic sequences: pe-te, nu-wa,
do-wo). The 73 Linear B syllabograms with known values are displayed in table 2.3.
There are more than a dozen further rare graphs whose phonetic values have not been
established (table 2.4), as their occurrences are rare, but they are likely to represent
complex syllables (Cw/jV or CCV).

Logograms
The adaptors of Linear B streamlined to a great extent the keystone of Linear A
accounting practice, namely its complex logographic repertoire of composite ligatured
signs. This can be explained by the fact that phonetic abbreviations (which is what
ligatured logograms ultimately are) in one language will not make sense in another
(Palaima 1988a). Moreover, the tablets in either script deal with different types of
commodities: no military equipment, spices, or metals are inventoried in the Linear A
records, whereas they abound as logograms in the Linear B ones (tables 2.57).
18 Silvia Ferrara

Table 2.5 Frequent Linear B logograms listing people and animals

People and animals
100 102 104 105 106 107 108 109

vir mul cerv equm equf ovism ovisf capm capf susm susf bosm bosf

man woman deer horse foal ram ewe he-goat she- boar sow ox cow
goat

Table 2.6 Frequent Linear B logograms listing commodities

Commodities by dry measure Commodities by liquid measure

120 121 122 123 125 130 131 133 135

arepa meri
wheat barley olive aroma cyp oil wine
(unguent) (honey)

Table 2.7 Frequent Linear B logograms listing commodities

Other commodities
140 141 145 159 167 200 201 202 204 233 240242 243

tripod jar/
bronze gold wool cloth ingot pan ti-ri- goblet pithos sword chariots wheel
po-de di-pa

Some objects represented by the logograms are self-explanatory because they are
graphically naturalistic (vessels, horses), others are identifiable only through the phe-
nomenon of double-writing. This is a feature peculiar only to Linear B wherein a full
phonetic spelling of an object is followed by the logogram representing it: for instance,
ka-ko bronze () can be followed by the logogram representing bronze, .
This practice was useful for quick consultation of the contents of the tablet. Logograms
can be indicated also by stringing two or three syllabic signs together, for instance the
logogram for honey , spelled in Linear B me-ri (normalized in Greek as /meli/) is
the superposition of the syllables me and .
 Mycenaean Texts 19

Tables 2.8 and 2.9 Linear B numerals and metrology

Numerical Units of measurement
Notations
Dry measure Liquid measure Weight
1
T V Z S V Z L M N Z Q
2

10
1/10 1/6 1/4 1/3 1/6 1/4 1 1/30 1/4 1/12 1/6
100

1,000

10,000

Numerical system
The decimal system of numerical notations in Linear A was adopted without much
alteration (table 2.8), with the minor differences that the sign for 10 in Linear A can
be interchangeably represented by a dot or a horizontal line, and the sign for 10,000
is not attested. The most radical change in the logographic repertoire, however, is the
fractional system: in Linear A, quantities were calculated in terms of successive numer-
ical fractions of a single whole unit (aliquot system), while the Linear B system
re-employed these numerical fraction signs for subsidiary, fixed sub-unit measures for
weight, solid, and liquid units (table 2.9). Thus, for instance, a weight for metal
would be expressed by successive units of decreasing size bearing a fixed proportion-
ate value: 1 22 2 6, not much differently from the imperial weight system
(ounces, pounds, tons). The highest unit (L) graphically represents a pair of scales
(table 2.9), possibly referring to the talent (c. 30 kg), divided in turn into 60 minas,
so the second unit (graphically redoubled) would represent a double mina (Chadwick
1990). For the absolute values of all the other symbols, see Documents 2: 5760.

Orthography
Some characteristics observable in the syllabic structure of the script are worth men-
tioning. Mycenaean (like Classical) Greek presents a variety of complex syllables, with
frequent consonantal clusters and word-final consonants. The open-syllable (CV)
structure of the Linear B core signary does not record these in plene spelling, and
therefore makes the incomplete representation of consonantal clusters primarily
responsible for the cumbersome, and often uncertain, interpretation of the texts. This
is best witnessed in the deficient rendering of syllable-final liquids (/l/ and /r/),
nasals (/n/ and /m/) and sibilant (/s/): for instance, the sequence pa-te can be both
read as /pater/ father (with final consonant omitted), or /pantes/ all (with
syllable-final /n/ and word-final /s/ omitted). See also ka-ko for /khal-kos/ bronze
(with syllable-final /l/ and word-final /s/ omitted). Consonantal clusters that include,
20 Silvia Ferrara

instead, plosives (velars, dentals, labials) preceding another consonant (cf. /Kno-sos/
Knossos, /khru-sos/ gold, /tektones/ carpenters) are broken into two syllables
where the initial one borrows the vowel of the succeeding syllable (ko-no-so, ku-ru-so,
te-ko-to-ne). This very regular convention is extended to clusters of three consonants
(/Leuktron/ is, for instance, recorded as re-u-ko-to-ro).
Matters are further complicated by the individual function of the voiceless
plosive consonant series (/k/, /p/, /t/) to record voiced (/g/, /b/) and aspirated
(/kh/, /ph/, /th/) plosive consonants (the only exception being the attested voiced
dental /d/).
Several other spelling conventions are deployed (for a full account, Documents 2) that
complicate the linguistic interpretation, leading to the claim that the script clumsily strait-
jackets Mycenaean Greek into a system structurally inadequate for recording it. It must
be borne in mind, however, that Linear B was not specifically devised to suit the phono-
logical characteristics of the Mycenaean language, but was the product of an adaptation
from a donor script, whose precise phonological characteristics are unknown.

The Mycenaean Documents

The nature of the evidence
In all likelihood, Linear B was devised solely as a means of keeping records of the eco-
nomic activities and concerns of the Mycenaean palaces. Rather simplistically, we could
claim that all Aegean scripts are mere palatial instruments or scribal devices fashioned to
monitor palatially focused economic systems. However, Linear B cannot be accounted
for in the slightly wider uses of writing that were typical of Linear A: no religious inscrip-
tions, no dedications on precious objects, no inscribed graffiti, no traces of the script
having been employed in areas where we know the Mycenaeans had a strong cultural or
trade presence (Cyprus, Rhodes, the Cycladic islands). Linear B seems to be function-
ing, uniquely, as an extension of the collective memory of the palace administrators
(Chadwick 1990). This use of writing is indeed astonishingly limited: the textual evi-
dence we have in Linear B pales in comparison with the versatility and thematic range
that we find in the abundance of legal documents or diplomatic correspondence, or of
formally literary texts (religious or poetic) in the contemporary archives of the Near East
(Ugarit, Nuzi, Alalakh), and even monumental inscriptions (Luvian hieroglyphs).
While we cannot discount the possibility that, for instance, a Mycenaean poetic
tradition existed (see chs 24 and 27), or that the Homeric poems may have had their
thematic as well as formal origin in the Mycenaean period (Bennet 1997), there is no
reason to suppose that poetry, or literature of any sort, had already been committed
to writing. This is not because the script was intrinsically unsuited to more complex
and articulate purposes than drawing up lists of commodities and personnel, but
because literacy was delegated to a small class of palatial administrators and scribes
who chose to use the script uniquely for a bureaucratic, economic purpose. The reflec-
tion of Mycenaean literacy we glimpse is, therefore, if not altogether limited, at least
extremely specialized.