Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 BC to 1450 BC. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It was adapted into Linear B, which was used by the Mycenaeans to write an early form of Greek. Since its modern rediscovery in 1900, no texts in the script have yet been deciphered. Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans named the script "Linear" because its characters consisted simply of lines inscribed in clay, in contrast to the more pictographic characters in Cretan hieroglyphs – likewise undeciphered – that were used during the same period.
Linear A belongs to a group of scripts that evolved independently of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian systems. During the second millennium BC, there were four major branches of this group: Linear A, Linear B, Cypro-Minoan, and Cretan hieroglyphic. In the 1950s, Linear B was deciphered and its underlying language was found to be Mycenaean Greek. Linear A shares many glyphs and alloglyphs with Linear B, and the syllabic glyphs are thought to notate similar syllabic values, but none of the proposed readings lead to a language that scholars can understand.
Script Linear A consists of over 300 signs including regional variants and ones which occur only once. Among these, a core group of 90 occur with some frequency throughout the script's geographic and chronological extent.
As a logosyllabic writing system, Linear A includes signs which stand for syllables as well as others standing for words or concepts, and signs could be combined via ligature to form complex ones. Complex signs usually behave as ideograms and most are hapax legomena, meaning that they occur only once in the surviving corpus. Linear A signs are divided into four categories: syllabic signs ligatures and composite signs ideograms numerals and metrical signs
Linear A was usually written left-to-right, but a handful of documents were written right-to-left or boustrophedon.
Signary + Linear A: signary and numbering according to Emmett BennettBennett, E. L. Jr., "Mycenaean Studies Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium for Mycenaean Studies held at 'Wingspread', 4—8 September 1961", ed. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1964 *01–*20 *21–*30 *31–*53 *54–*74 *76–*122 *123–*306 *01 *21 *31 *54 *76 *123 *02 *21 *34 *55 *77 *131a *03 *21 *37 *56 *78 *131b *04 *22 *38 *57 *79 *131c *05 *22 *39 *58 *80 *164 *06 *22 *40 *59 *81 *171 *07 *23 *41 *60 *82 *180 *08 *23 *44 *61 *85 *188 *09 *24 *45 *65 *86 *191 *10 *26 *46 *66 *87 *301 *11 *27 *47 *67 *100/*102 *302 *13 *28 *49 *69 *118 *303 *16 *28b *50 *70 *120 *304 *17 *29 *51 *73 *120b *305 *20 *30 *53 *74 *122 *306
Special signs Furthermore, the following ‘supplementary’ syllabograms for more complex syllables can be identified (where in some cases the exact pronunciation is or used to be unknown even for Linear B, hence the use of subscript numbers): Special signsCharacter𐘒𐙄 𐘩 𐘰𐘜 𐘽 𐘷 𐙆 Transcriptionpi2aunwapa2pu2ra2 (rya)ta2 (tya)tweBennett's number*22*85*48*56*29*76*66*87
Ideograms The following list contains some frequent ideograms/logograms whose meaning is known and uncontroversial and almost all of which are preserved in Linear B.Younger, John. Linear A. 11. Ideograms/Logograms. Archived from the original The meaning of many others is debated. Note that some of the ideograms are also used as syllabograms; in such cases, the sound value is indicated in the table before the Bennett number. GlyphCode pointBennettConventional Latin namemeaningPeople and animals𐙇U+10647*100/102VIR
vir person, man𐘏U+1060FQI
*21OVIS
ovissheep𐘐U+10610*21FOVISfewe𐘑U+10611*21MOVISmram𐘒U+10612PI2
*22CAP
capragoat𐘓U+10613*22FCAPfshe-goat𐘔U+10614*22MCAPmhe-goat𐙄U+10644AU
*85SUS
sūspig𐘕U+10615MU
*23BOS
bōsbovine𐘖U+10616*23MBOSmox/bullDry products𐙉U+10649*120GRA
grānumwheat𐙊U+1064A*120BGRA
grānumwheat𐙋U+1064B*122OLIV
olīvaolives𐘝U+1061DNI
*30FIC
fīcusfigs𐙗U+10657*303CYPcyperus𐘮U+1062EWA
*54TELA
tēlaclothLiquids𐙖U+10095*302OLE
ŏlĕumoil𐙍U+1064D*131AVIN
vīnumwine𐙎U+1064E*131BVIN
vīnumwine𐙏U+1064F*131CVIN
vīnumwineVessels𐚠U+106A0*400-VASVAS
vās–𐚡U+106A1*401-VASVAS
vās–𐚢U+106A2*402-VASVAS
vās–𐚣U+106A3*403-VASVAS
vās–𐚤U+106A4*404-VASVAS
vās–𐚥U+106A5*405-VASVAS
vās–𐚦U+106A6*406-VASVAS
vās–𐚧U+106A7*407-VASVAS
vās–𐚨U+106A8*408-VASVAS
vās–𐚩U+106A9*409-VASVAS
vās–𐚪U+106AA*410-VASVAS
vās–𐚫U+106AB*411-VASVAS
vās–𐚬U+106AC*412-VASVAS
vās–𐚭U+106AD*413-VASVAS
vās–𐚮U+106AE*414-VASVAS
vās–𐚯U+106AF*415-VASVAS
vās–𐚰U+106B0*416-VASVAS
vās–𐚱U+106B1*417-VASVAS
vās–𐚲U+106B2*418-VASVAS
vās–Other𐙔U+10654*191GAL
galeahelmet
Numerals
These numerals follow a decimal system: units are represented by vertical dashes, tens by horizontal dashes, hundreds by circles, and thousands by circles with rays. There are special symbols to indicate fractions and weights. Specific signs that coincide with numerals are regarded as fractions; these sign combinations are known as klasmatograms.
Integers can be read and the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are quite straightforward, similarly to Roman numerals.
+ Aegean numerals123456789102030405060708090100200300400500600700800900
Fractions There is a lack of scholarly agreement about signs, generally called klasmatograms, for Linear A fractions.Giulio Facchetti, "Linear A metrograms", Kadmos, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 142–148, 1994 In 2021 Corazza et al. proposed the following values, most of which had been previously suggested:
+Proposed values of fraction glyphs Symbol Glyph Value J E B D F K H ? L2 A ? L3 L4 L6 W = BB? () X = AA? () Y ? Ω ?
Other fractions are composed by addition: the common JE and DD are and (), BB = , EF = , etc. (and indeed B looks as though it may derive from KK ). L, Y, and Ω are hapax legomena (only occur once) and it has been proposed that glyph L is spurious.
Several of these values are supported by Linear B. Although Linear B used a different numbering system, several of the Linear A fractions were adopted as fractional units of measurement. For example, Linear B DD and (presumably AA) are and of a lana, while K is of the main unit for dry weight.
Corpus
The Linear A corpus consists of roughly 1400 inscriptions, amounting to 7400 sign tokens. An additional 1100 objects have been found with apparent Linear A inscriptions, but are not counted as part of the corpus because they are too poorly preserved to be readable. The readable corpus is notably smaller than those for other ancient writing systems such as cuneiform or the later Linear B, a fact that has hindered decipherment attempts. As observed by archaeologist John Younger, the entire Linear A corpus takes up only 1.84 pages of letter paper when typeset in 12 point font and 1-inch margins.
Linear A has been found chiefly on Crete and the Aegean islands, but some also at some mainland Greek sites such as Mycenae and Argos and at Miletus in Western Anatolia. Inscriptions found at Troy and Tel Haror may be Linear A, but are too fragmentary for definitive classification. Roughly half of the known inscriptions were found at the site of Hagia Triada in southern Crete, which has yielded 1269 Linear A objects with Linear A writing. An additional 595 come from the eastern Cretan site of Zakros, 313 from Khania, 65 from Phaistos, 32 from Knossos, 23 from Palaikastro, with all other sites yielding less than 20.
Linear A texts often come from administrative contexts such as Minoan palaces, though the script was also widely used for other functions such as inscriptions on ritual objects. Linear A was written on various media, such as clay tablets, stone offering tables and vessels, gold and silver hairpins, roundels, and pottery.Brent Davis, Minoan Stone Vessels with Linear A Inscriptions. AEGAEUM, 36. Leuven; Liège: Peeters, 2014. xxiv, 421.
The first comprehensive compendium of Linear A inscriptions sometimes referred to as GORILA (from Godart Olivier Recueil des inscriptions en lineaire A) was produced by Louis Godart and Jean-Pierre Olivier in multiple volumes between 1976 and 1985.Godart, L. and Olivier, J.-P., "Recueil des inscriptions en lineaire A, vol. 1: Tablettes editees avant 1970", Paris, 1976Godart, L. and Olivier, J.-P., "Recueil des inscriptions en lineaire A, vol. 2: Nodules, scelles et rondelles edites avant 1970", Paris, 1979Godart, L. and Olivier, J.-P., "Recueil des inscriptions en lineaire A, vol. 3: Tablettes, nodules et rondelles edites en 1975 et 1976", Paris, 1976Godart, L. and Olivier, J.-P., "Recueil des inscriptions en lineaire A, vol. 4: Autres documents", Paris, 1982Godart, L. and Olivier, J.-P., "Recueil des inscriptions en lineaire A, vol. 5: Addenda, corrigenda, concordances, index et planches des signes", Paris, 1985 In 2011 work began on a supplement to that compendium. Del Freo M. and Zurbach J., "La préparation d’un supplément au Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A. Observations à partir d’un travail en cours", BCH 135.1, pp. 73–97, 2011 In 2020 a project was begun, called SigLA, to put all the known Linear A inscriptions online at a single site. Ester Salgarella and Simon Castellan, "SigLA The Signs of Linear A: a palæographical database", August 20, 2020
Tablets
Almost all Linear A tablets, most in a fragmentary condition, have been found on the island of Crete, dated to the Neopalatial Period. At that time Crete was divided by mountains and other geographic features into a number of polities, each with its own urban center.E Kyriakidis, "Undeciphered tablets and undeciphered territories: A comparison of late minoan IB archives", Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, no. 49, pp. 118–29, 2003, These tablets have been found at Hagia Triada (147 tablets), Petras (2 tablets), Phaistos (26 tablets), Knossos (6 tablets), Archanes (7 tablets), Myrtos Pyrgos (2 tablets), Palaikastro (2 tablets), Zakros (31 tablets), Tylissos (2 tablets), Malia (6 tablets), Gournia (1 tablet), and Khania (99 tablets).Gallimore, S., and K.T. Glowacki. “Stratigraphic Excavations within the Gournia Palace 2011-2014.” [Abstract]. Archaeological Institute of America 119th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America Volume 41 (2017), 345. Boston: Archaeological Institute of AmericaAnna Morpurgo-Davies, Gerald Cadogan, "A second Linear A tablet from Pyrgos" Kadmos, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 7–9, 1977 One Linear A tablet was found on Kea in the Cyclades.. Three tablet fragments were found on the island of Santorini (Thera).Bennett, Simon M. and Owens, Gareth A., "The Dating of the Linear A Inscriptions from Thera", Kadmos, vol. 38, no. 1–2, pp. 12–18, 1999 The handful of known Cretan Hieroglyphs tablets (with relatively few signs) were also found on Crete at Malia and Kato Symi.A. Lembessi, P. Muhly, and J.-P. Olivier, "An Inscription in the Hieroglyphic Script from the Syme Sanctuary, Crete (Sy Hf 01)" Kadmos, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 63–77, 1995
Sealed documents Seals and clay sealings served the same role of inventory control and ownership as in the ancient Near East and Egypt. Large numbers of sealings have been found, primarily on Crete and in the Late Minoan IB period. The primary sources of sealed documents come from Haghia Triada (1103), Zakros (560), Khania (210), Knossos (125), Phaistos (35), Malia (6), and Tylissos (5).Weingarten, Judith, "Seal-use at LM IΒ Ayia Triada: a Minoan elite in action I. Administrative considerations", Kadmos 26.1, pp. 1–43, 1987Massimo Perna, "The Roundels of Haghia Triada", Kadmos, 33, pp. 93–141 1994 It is not clear what was commonly used to impress the sealing as only a few Linear A inscribed "seal stones" have been found. In other regions cylinder seals and stamp seals fulfilled this role.
Sealed documents are divided by archaeologists into four classes: