Although Cypriot Syllabic was mostly used to write in Greek, it was sometimes used to write in an unknown indigenous language now conventionally called “Eteocypriot.” Many have wondered whether Eteocypriot could be a descendant of the language behind the earlier Cypro-Minoan script. In Chapter 11, Cypro-Minoan is analyzed against Linear A and Eteocypriot in an effort to determine whether any of them encode the same language. As a control, Cypriot Syllabic is analyzed against Linear B in the same way, with the results demonstrating an overwhelming probability that both scripts encode the same language (which we know they do, as both scripts are deciphered: they both encode Greek). Cypriot Syllabic is also analyzed against Linear A and Eteocypriot, demonstrating an overwhelming probability that none of them encode the same language—that is, that Linear A (for a fourth time) does NOT encode Greek, and neither does Eteocypriot. The analysis of Cypro-Minoan against Linear A and Eteocypriot, however, demonstrates a similarly overwhelming probability that (a) though Cypro-Minoan and Linear A clearly encode different languages, (b) Cypro-Minoan and Eteocypriot do encode the same language.

This book—an extensive and daring linguistic investigation into the languages underlying the undeciphered Bronze Age Aegean scripts—is unlike any other book that has ever been written on these scripts. The author tackles not just one of them, but all of them: Linear A, Cretan Hieroglyphic, the script on the Phaistos Disk, Cypro-Minoan, and Eteocypriot. The arguments and analyses are meticulously designed and highly credible. Best of all, the book is written in wonderfully clear English that virtually anyone can understand, and there is a substantial glossary of linguistic terms at the back of the book for readers to consult. The author formulates no fewer than fifty separate hypotheses about the nature of the languages underlying these scripts, and as identification of the language behind an undeciphered script is the most important key to its decipherment, this book constitutes a significant advance along the road to the decipherment of all five of these scripts. This book will be of the greatest interest not just to linguists, philologists, archaeologists, and ancient historians who specialize in these scripts, but also to all novices and aficionados of decipherment.

Chapter 5 deals with Linear A syntax (word order) and orthography (spelling). The chapter begins by comparing several examples of the so-called “offering formula,” a standardized string of words—most likely a dedicatory sentence—found on many ritual vessels, but a sentence that differs in subtle ways from vessel to vessel. I use the differences between the various examples of the “offering formula” to discern which words are most likely to be the subject, verb, and object of the sentence. This exercise indicates a high likelihood that the Minoan language is a verb-initial language (i.e., one in which the verb ordinarily comes first in the sentence), which in turn enables us to draw additional important conclusions about the Minoan language based on the way in which most verb-initial languages behave. The chapter ends with some observations about the apparent way in which the Minoans spelled words in Linear A, leading to the interesting conclusion that the spelling-rules they used in Central and Eastern Crete most closely align with the spelling-rules used in Linear B and Cypriot Syllabic, respectively, a conclusion that is backed up by archaeological evidence.

Appendix A pulls together into one place all fifty hypotheses formulated in this book regarding the undeciphered Aegean scripts.

When they became acquainted with Crete, the Mycenaeans were influenced by the Minoans, not only in artistic matters but also in the whole system of organization of their socio-economic life and most importantly in the field of religion; but a thorough examination shows that the ancestral religion of the Mycenaeans differs from the Minoan one, even if at first sight there are similarities. The Mycenaean religion is polytheistic; the nameless Cretan Great goddess is worshipped but also a number of male gods (though without any iconography), named Zeus, Poseidon or Hermes; syncretism was its central characteristic. In later times, as the Cretan spiritual dominance waned, typically Minoan symbols lost their prime symbolic power to the benefit of Mycenaean conceptions. Official and popular religion, the function of open-air and built sanctuaries, the symbols, rituals and Linear B tablets are subjects constantly debated, and yet the essence of Mycenaean religion, the related ideas and concepts escape us.

IIn the LH I period a social organization appears and a wealthy ruling class emerges. The foundation of the ‘palace’ structure is laid and the ‘ideology of power’ as well. The period is mainly known from tombs, the shaft graves excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in Mycenae being the most celebrated. The finds produced by the two Grave circles of Mycenae, remarkable for their variety and wealth, give plentiful information about the burial customs, the identity of the deceased and the art of the period. Stonework for precious vases, metalwork in gold, electrum or silver show sophisticated techniques – repoussé, inlaying, cloisonné – in the fashioning of cups, rhyta, weapons with decorated hilts. Outstanding are the Silver Siege Rhyton, the daggers with elaborate inlaid blades and the funerary masks, a special offering; also the distantly coming amber used in jewellery. Faience items bear Minoan influence, as do the seals and signet rings, a special category.

The first Linear B tablets were found by Evans in Knossos, many more by Blegen in Pylos in 1939 and progressively in all Mycenaean centres. Crete had three writing types Hieroglyphic, Linear A being more widespread, still undeciphered, and Linear B which descends from Linear A and appeared in mainland Greece around 1400 BC. After many endeavours, it has been deciphered in 1952 revealing a syllabic script for an early stage of Greek language. The debate of concordance between the Knossos and the Pylos tablets followed and is still alive. The inscribed clay tablets, simply dried, were baked by the fires that destroyed the palaces and thus preserved. They are administrative documents mostly inventory or tax statements teaching us a lot about Mycenaean life, palatial system, social hierarchy but no literature or history.

During the Bronze Age a high civilization developed in Greece and the Aegean consisting of three units: the Minoan civilization in Crete, the Cycladic in the islands and in Mainland Greece Hellenic civilization, whose last period is the Mycenaean era. Each of these areas had its own cultural expression but many commonalities which suggest continuous contact and interaction. Unknown until the end of the 19th century, the Mycenaean civilization came to light after the paramount excavation of Heinrich Schliemann in Mycenae and the discovery of the royal cemetery with splendid treasures buried along with the dead princes. Important discoveries followed in Greece, as in Knossos by Sir Arthur Evans, and the Mediterranean. The Mycenaean script was deciphered in 1952. Early Helladic, with Lerna in the Peloponnese as the most important site, was a period of contacts; unity broke in the end of the 3rd millennium by population movements and newcomers. Middle Helladic, characterized by new pottery styles and tumuli burials, is leading to the Late Helladic and new art expression strongly influenced by Minoan culture, a much-debated subject. Starting from the Argolid, the Mycenaean culture progressively covered the whole Greek space, Laconia and Messenia being early developed areas.