TABLET Mycenaean LINEAR B Knossos Crete study replica

CRETAN LINEAR B TABLET

Study Replica

Red ochre stone composite tablet, 90 x 70 mm (3.5 x 2.75 inch) 15 mm thickness (approx half inch) with description.

Rare reproduction of one of the Linear B tablets discovered in 1900 by archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in the ruins of Crete's Palace of Knossos.

Linear B is considered the earliest form of Greek writing, apparently adapted from the Semitic script used by the widely-travelled Phoenician Traders. Its earlier form under the Minoans is known as Linear A, whereas Linear B dates to the Mycenaean occupation after 1450 BC. It was not deciphered until 1952 after a large archive was unearthed in the remains of the Mycenaean palace at Pylos in 1939.

Linear B is a syllabic script which expanded into approximately ninety syllabic signs, ideograms and numerals. Bureaucrats at the Knossos Palace used the tablets as administrative documents, lists, inventories and tax records, hence the counting strokes evident on many of them. Stored in official archives, the tablets were arranged by subject inside baskets with clay labels listing the contents. They provide a wealth of information about palace hierarchy, social classes and the manufacture and distribution of goods.

In Mesopotamian style, the text was inscribed onto damp clay with a sharp stylus and sun-dried. When the Mycenaean palaces were sacked and destroyed by fire in 1200 BC, the clay archives were thoroughly baked and preserved until the present day.

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