Linear B Tablets
Linear B Tablet found at Pylos
This tablet was found in Nestor Palace archives in Pylos Greece and is identified as coming from the Mycenaean civilization 13th century B.C. It is inscribed with Linear B, which was the script that was used from writing in Mycenaean Greek. Linear B was descended from Linear A an earlier script that was used on the island of Crete by the Minoan civilization. The Minoans used Hieroglyphics from 1625 B.C. to1500 B.C as aswell as Linear B, around 1375 Linear A was created. Linear B was found in all the major sites on mainland Greece like Thebes, Pylos and Mycenae. These scripts were used to document administrative records. The Minoans used Linear A in their palaces. The Minoan people traveled all over the Mediterranean. This put them into contact with many different people from all around the world from the Middle East to Northern Africa and of course the Greek mainland. It is believed that the Minoan people came into contact with the Mycenaean people and influenced their culture greatly. We can see this in Linear A and B.
The above disk is called the Phaistos disk (both sides of the disk shown). This disk was found at the Minoan palace of Phaistos on Crete, the writing is Linear A
The Minoan people used Linear A and when they came into contact with the Mycenaean people, the Mycenaean people tried to emulate it and in turn created Linear
B. It is very likely that the Minoan people were emulating another civilization’s written language when they created Linear A. This flow of ideas throughout the ancient world is very interesting and gives us an insight into the creation of languages throughout history.