Element contents
Writing in Bronze Age Crete
‘Minoan' Linear A
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2025
Summary
The Bronze Age Aegean and Cyprus were home to a plethora of scripts, including Cretan Hieroglyphic, Linear A and Linear B, Cypro-Minoan and Cypro-Syllabic. This Element is dedicated to the conventionally named 'Minoan' Linear A script, used on Crete and the Aegean islands during the Middle and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1800–1450 BCE). Linear A is still undeciphered, and the language it encodes ('Minoan') thus remains elusive. Notwithstanding, scholars have been able to extract a good amount of information from Linear A inscriptions and their contexts of use. Current ongoing research, integrating the materiality of script with linguistic analysis, offers a cutting-edge approach with promising results. This Element considers Linear A within an investigative framework as well as narrative, shedding light on a number of burning questions in the field, often the subject of intense academic debate.
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009520041Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 18 September 2025
References
Bendall, L. M. (2017). Where was da-wo? In Nosch, M.-L. and Enegren, H. Landenius, eds., Aegean Scripts: Proceedings of the 14th International Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies, Copenhagen, 2–5 September 2015, vol. 1. Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, pp. 301–45.Google Scholar
Bennett, E. L. Jr. (1963). Names for Linear B writing and for its signs. Kadmos 2(2), 98–123.10.1515/kadm.1963.2.2.98CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennet, J. (1992). ‘Collectors’ or ‘owners’? An examination of their possible functions within the palatial economy of LMIII Crete. In Olivier, J.-P., ed., Mykenaïka. Actes du IXe Colloque international sur les textes mycéniens et égéens, Centre de l’Antiquité Grecque et Romaine de la Fondation Hellénique des Recherches Scientifiques et École française d’Athènes. Paris: Diffusion de Boccard, pp. 65–101.Google Scholar
Bennet, J. (1999). The meaning of ‘Mycenaean’: Speculations on ethnicity in the Aegean Late Bronze Age. BICS, 43, 224.Google Scholar
Bennet, J. (2002). Millennial ambiguities. In Hamilakis, Y., ed., Labyrinth Revisited. Rethinking ‘Minoan’ Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 214–25.Google Scholar
Bennet, J. (2008). Now you see it; now you don’t! The disappearance of the Linear A script on Crete. In Baines, J., Bennet, J. and Houston, S., eds., The Disappearance of Writing Systems. Perspectives on Literacy and Communication. London: Equinox, pp. 1–29.Google Scholar
Bennet, J. (2018). Gelb and Gell in the Aegean: Thoughts on the relations between ‘writing’ and ‘art’. In Knodell, A. R. and Leppard, Th. P., eds., Regional Approaches to Society and Complexity: Studies in Honor of John F. Cherry. Sheffield: Equinox, pp. 59–74.Google Scholar
Best, J. G. P. (1972). Some Preliminary Remarks on the Decipherment of Linear A. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert.Google Scholar
Best, J. G. P. (1990). Traces of Luwian dialect in Cretan texts and toponym. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, 28, 225–37.Google Scholar
Best, J. G. P. (1993). The Linear A signary: Tokens of Luwian dialect in Bronze Age Crete. Minos, 27–8, 25–54.Google Scholar
Best, J. G. P. (1997). Linear A on Trojan spindlewhorls, Luvian-Based WANAX at Cnossus. In Schmeling, G. and Mikalson, J. D., eds., Qui miscuit utile dulci: Festschrift Essays for Paul Lachlan MacKendrick. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, pp. 51–68.Google Scholar
Best, J. G. P. (2001). The first inscription in Punic: Vowel differences in Linear A and B. Ugarit-Forschungen, 32, 27–35.Google Scholar
Chadwick, J. (1967). The Decipherment of Linear B… Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
CHIC = Olivier, J.-P. and Godart, L., eds. (1996). Corpus Hieroglyphicarum Inscriptionum Cretae. Paris: de Boccard.Google Scholar
Civitillo, M. (2016). La scrittura geroglifica minoica sui sigilli: Il messaggio della glittica protopalaziale. Pisa: Fabrizio Serra Editore.Google Scholar
Cline, E. H., ed. (2010). The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 3000–1000 BC). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
CMS I-XIII = Matz, F., Biesantz, H., Pini, I. and Muller, W., eds. (1964–2009). Corpus der minoischen und mykenischen Siegel, vols. I–XIII. Berlin and Mainz: Gebruder Mann and Philipp von Zabern.Google Scholar
Coulmas, F. (2003). Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, B. (2013). Syntax in Linear A: The word-order of the ‘libation formula’. Kadmos, 52(1), 35–52.10.1515/kadmos-2013-0003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, B. (2018). The Phaistos Disk: A new way of viewing the language behind the script. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 37(4), 373–410.10.1111/ojoa.12151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, B. (in press). Form without Meaning: Linguistic Investigations into the Undeciphered Aegean Scripts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, B. (forthcoming). Recent linguistics-based advances in the study of Linear A. In Salgarella, E. and Petrakis, V., eds., The Wor(l)ds of Linear A: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Documents and Inscriptions of a Cretan Bronze Age Script. Athens: University of Athens Press.Google Scholar
Decorte, R. P.-J. E. (2018a). The first ‘European’ writing: Redefining the Archanes script. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 37(4), 341–72.10.1111/ojoa.12152CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Decorte, R. P.-J. E. (2018b). The origins of Bronze Age Aegean writing: Linear A, Cretan Hieroglyphic and a new proposed pathway of script formation. In Ferrara, S. and Valério, M., eds., Paths into Script Formation in the Ancient Mediterranean. Rome: Edizioni Quasar di Severino Tognon, pp. 13–49.Google Scholar
de Fidio, P. (2024). The absolute values of the symbols for volume. In Killen, J. T., ed., The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek, vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 169–204.Google Scholar
Del Freo, M. (2005). Le scritture egee del II millennio: rassegna dei materiali epigrafici e considerazioni storiche. Rendiconti Lincei, 16(4), 633–8.Google Scholar
Del Freo, M. (2020). Wool working at Hagia Triada: The HT 24 tablet and the 45 noduli from the Quartiere Sudovest. In Davis, B. and Laffineur, R., eds., Νεώτερος: Studies in Bronze Age Aegean Art and Archaeology in Honor of Professor John G. Younger on the Occasion of His Retirement. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 55–63.Google Scholar
Del Freo, M. and Zurbach, J. (2011). La préparation d’un supplément au Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A. Observations à partir d’un travail en cours. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, 135(1), 73–97.10.3406/bch.2011.7827CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Freo, M. and Zurbach, J. 2025. Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A. Supplément 1. École française d’Athénes.Google Scholar
Dimopoulou, N., Olivier, J.-P. and Réthémiotakis, G. (1993). Une statuette en argile MR IIIA de Poros Irakliou avec inscription en linéaire A. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, 117, 501–21.Google Scholar
Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, N. (2005). The Archaeological Museum of Herakleion. Athens: EFG Eurobank Ergasias S. A. and John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation.Google Scholar
DMic = Aura Jorro, F. and Adrados, F. R., eds. (1985–93). Diccionario Micénico. Vol. 1 (1985), Vol. 2 (1993). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.Google Scholar
Donnelly, C. M. (2022). Cypro-Minoan and its potmarks and vessels inscriptions as challenges to Aegean Scripts corpora. In Steele, P. M. and Boyes, P. J., eds., Writing around the Ancient Mediterranean: Practices and Adaptations. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 49–73.10.2307/jj.3177144.8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driessen, J. (2000). The Scribes of the Room of the Chariot Tablets at Knossos: Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of a Linear B Deposit. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.Google Scholar
Driessen, J. and Langohr, C. (2007). Rallying round a ‘Minoan’ past: The legitimation of power at Knossos during the Late Bronze Age. In Galaty, M. L. and Parkinson, W. A., eds., Rethinking Mycenaean Palaces II, 2nd ed. Los Angeles: University of California, pp. 178–89.Google Scholar
Dryer, D. (2008). Order of subject, object and verb. In M. Haspelmath, M. S. Dryer, D. Gil and B. Comrie, World Atlas of Language Structures Online (https://wals.info/index), section 18.Google Scholar
Duhoux, Y. (1992). Variations morphosyntaxiques dans les textes votifs linéaires A. Cretan Studies, 3, 65–88.Google Scholar
Duhoux, Y. (1998). Pre-Hellenic language(s) of Crete. Journal of Indo-European Studies, 26, 1–39.Google Scholar
Duhoux, Y. (2020). Minoan Language or Languages? In Davis, B. and Laffineur, R., eds., Νεώτερος: Studies in Bronze Age Aegean Art and Archaeology in Honor of Professor John G. Younger on the Occasion of His Retirement. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 15–21.Google Scholar
Elvira Astoreca, N. (2021). Early Greek Alphabetic Writing: A Linguistic Approach. Oxford: Oxbow Books.10.2307/j.ctv1tfw038CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, A. J. (1921–35). The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos, 6 vols. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Evely, D. (2000). Minoan Crafts: Tools and Techniques. An Introduction. Part Two. Upsala: Åströms Förlag.Google Scholar
Facchetti, G. M. (2001). Qualche osservazione sulla lingua minoica. Kadmos, 40, 1–38.10.1515/kadm.2001.40.1.1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Facchetti, G. M. and Negri, M. (2003). Creta Minoica: Sulle tracce delle più antiche scritture d’Europa. Firenze: Olschki.Google Scholar
Ferrara, S. (2015). The beginnings of writing on Crete: Theory and context. British School at Athens, 110, 27–49.10.1017/S0068245415000088CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrara, S., Montecchi, B. and Valério, M. (2021a). The making of a script: Cretan Hieroglyphic and the quest for its origins. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 386, 1–22.10.1086/716098CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrara, S., Montecchi, B. and Valério, M. (2021b). What is the ‘Archanes Formula’? Deconstructing and reconstructing the earliest attestation of writing in the Aegean. British School at Athens, 116, 43–62.10.1017/S0068245420000155CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finkelberg, M., Uchitel, A. and Ussishkin, D. (1996). A Linear A inscription from Tel Lachish (Lach ZA 1). Tel Aviv, 23, 195–207.10.1179/tav.1996.1996.2.195CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finlayson, S. (2013). Form follows function: Writing and its supports in the Aegean Bronze Age. In Piquette, K. E. and Whitehouse, R. D., eds., Writing as Material Practice: Substance, Surface and Medium. London: Ubiquity Press, pp. 123–42.Google Scholar
Finlayson, S. (2018). Little things in a big landscape: Thoughts on the mobility of sealings and sealing practices in First and Second Palace Period Crete. In Μιτσοτάκη, Κλαίρη and Τζεδάκη-Αποστολάκη, Λένα, eds., Πεπραγμένα ΙΒ΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου, Ηράκλειο, 21–25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016 / Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. Ηράκλειο: Εταιρία Κρητικών Ιστορικών Μελετών – Ιστορικό Μουσείο Κρήτης, pp. 1–10.Google Scholar
Finlayson, S. (2020). The House Seal: Examining seal use and sealing practices in Proto- and Neopalatial Crete in the light of Lévi-Strauss’ Model of House Societies. In Relaki, M. and Driessen, J., eds., Oikos. Archaeological approaches to House Societies in the Bronze Age Aegean. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain, pp. 185–200.Google Scholar
Flouda, G. (2013). Materiality of Minoan writing: Modes of display and perception. In Piquette, K. E. and Whitehouse, R. D., eds., Writing as Material Practice: Substance, Surface and Medium. London: Ubiquity Press, pp. 143–74.Google Scholar
Flouda, G. (2015). Materiality and script: Constructing a narrative on the Minoan inscribed axe from the Arkalochori Cave. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, New Series 1, 43–56.Google Scholar
Galanakis, Y. (2015). ‘Islanders vs. Mainlanders’, ‘The Mycenae Wars’, and other short stories: An archival visit to an old debate. In Davis, J. L. and Florou, V., eds., Carl W. Blegen: Personal and Archaeological Narratives. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, pp. 99–120.10.2307/j.ctvvndfv.9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galanakis, Y. (2022). Neither Minoan nor Mycenaean: The burial record of Knossos and the materialisation of a new social order, 1600–1400. In D’Agata, A. L., Girella, L., Papadopoulou, E. and Aquini, D. G., eds., One State, Many Worlds: Crete in the Late Minoan II–IIIA2 Early Period. Proceedings of the International Conference held at Chania, Μεγάλο Αρσενάλι, 21st–23rd November 2019. Rome: Edizioni Quasar, pp. 139–78.Google Scholar
Georgiev, V. (1963). Les deux langues des inscriptions crétoises en linéaire A. Linguistique Balkanique, 7(1), 1–104.Google Scholar
Georgiev, V. (1968a). L’état actuel du déchiffrement des textes en linéaire A. In Atti e Memorie del 1°Congresso Internazionale di Micenologia. Rome: Edizioni dell’Ateneo, pp. 355–82.Google Scholar
Georgiev, V. (1968b). Quand les Grecs sont-ils venus en Crète? In Pepragmena tu B’ Diethnus Kritoloyiku Sinedriu 2. Athens: Filoloyikos Sillogos ‘O Hrisostomos’, pp. 40–3.Google Scholar
Godart, L. (1984). Du Lineaire A au Lineaire B. In Aux origines de l’Hellénisme. La Crète et la Grèce. Hommage à Henri van Effenterre présenté par le Centre G. Glotz. Paris: Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, pp. 121–8.Google Scholar
GORILA = Godart, L. and Olivier, J.-P. (1976–85). Recueil des inscriptions en Linéaire A, 5 vols. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner.Google Scholar
Hallager, E. (1990). Roundels among sealings in Minoan administration: A comprehensive analysis of function. In Palaima, Th. G., ed., Aegean Seals, Sealings and Administration. Proceedings of the NEH-Dickson Conference of the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory of the Department of Classics, University of Texas at Austin, January 11–13, 1989. Liège: Université de Liège, pp. 121–48.Google Scholar
Hallager, E. (1996). The Minoan Roundel and Other Sealed Documents in the Neopalatial Linear A Administration, 2 vols. Liège: Université de Liège.Google Scholar
Hallager, E. (2010). Development of sealing practices in the Neopalatial Period. In Müller, W., ed., Die Bedeutung der minoischen und mykenischen Glyptik: VI. Internationales Siegel-Symposium aus Anlass des 50 jährigen Bestehens des CMS, Marburg, 9.–12. Oktober 2008. Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, pp. 205–12.Google Scholar
Hallager, E. (2021). The Minoan roundel: Its function, seals and inscriptions. Pasiphae, 15, 189–97.Google Scholar
Hallager, E. and Hallager, B. P., eds. (2016). The Greek-Swedish Excavations at the Agia Aikaterini Square, Kastelli, Khania, 1970–1987, 2001, 2005 and 2008: Results of the Excavations under the Direction of Yannis Tzedakis and Carl-Gustaf Styrenius. Stockholm: Svenska Institutet i Athen.Google Scholar
Halstead, P. (1995). Late Bronze Age grain crops and Linear B ideograms *65, *120, and *121. British School at Athens 90, 229–34.Google Scholar
Hamilakis, Y. (2002). What future for the Minoan past? Re-thinking Minoan archaeology. In Hamilakis, Y., ed., Labyrinth Revisited: Rethinking ‘Minoan’ Archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 2–28.Google Scholar
Houston, S. D., ed., (2004). The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Judson, A. P. (2017). The decipherment: People, process, challenges. In Christophilopoulou, A., Galanakis, Y. and Grime, J., eds., Codebreakers & Groundbreakers. Cambridge: Charlesworth Press, pp. 15–29.Google Scholar
Judson, A. P. (2020). Scribes as editors: Tracking changes in the Linear B documents. American Journal of Archaeology, 124(4), 523–49.10.3764/aja.124.4.0523CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanta, A., Nakassis, D., Th. G., Palaima and Perna, M. (2024). An archaeological and epigraphical overview of some inscriptions found in the Cult Center of the city of Knossos (Anetaki plot). In Bennet, J., Meissner, T. and Karnava, A., eds., KO-RO-NO-WE-SA. Proceedings of the 15th International Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies September 2021. Rethymnon: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Crete, pp. 27–43.Google Scholar
Karadimas, N. and Momigliano, N. (2004). On the term ‘Minoan’ before Evans’s work in Crete (1894). Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, 46, 243–58.Google Scholar
Karetsou, A., Godart, L. and Olivier, J.-P. (1985). Inscriptions en linéaire A du sanctuaire de sommet minoen du mont Iouktas. Kadmos, 24(2), 89–147.10.1515/kadm.1985.24.1.89CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karnava, A. (2016). On sacred vocabulary and religious dedications: The Minoan ‘libation’ formula. In Alram-Stern, E., Blakolmer, F., Deger-Jalkotzy, S., Laffineur, R. and Weilhartner, J., eds., Metaphysis: Ritual, Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 15th International Aegean Conference, Vienna, Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology, Aegean and Anatolia Department, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna, 22–25 April 2014. Leuven and Liège: Peeters, pp. 345–55.Google Scholar
Karnava, A. (2018). Seals, Sealings and Seal Impressions from Akrotiri in Thera, CMS Beiheft 10. Heidelberg: CMS Heidelberg/Propylaeum Heidelberg University Library.Google Scholar
Killen, J. T. (2004). Wheat, barley, flour, olives and figs on Linear B tablets. In Halstead, P. and Barrett, J. C., eds., Food, Cuisine and Society in Prehistoric Greece. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 155–73.Google Scholar
Killen, J. T., ed. (2024a). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Killen, J. T. (2024b). Agricultural produce. In Killen, J. T., ed., The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek, Volume 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 533–64.Google Scholar
Kopaka, C. 1989. Une nouvelle inscription en linéaire A de Zakros. Kadmos, 28(1), 7–13.10.1515/kadm.1989.28.1-2.7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyriakidis, E. (2011). The smell of big cheese: Perfume production and the differing spheres of influence of high scribes H1 and H2 at Pylos. Pasiphae, 5, 127–39.Google Scholar
Krzyszkowska, O. (2005). Aegean Seals: An Introduction. London: Institute of Classical Studies.Google Scholar
Lion, B. (2009). Les femmes scribes de Sippar. Topoi. Orient-Occident, Supplément 10, 289–303.Google Scholar
Macdonald, C. F. and Knappett, C. (2007). Knossos: Protopalatial Deposits in Early Magazine A and the South-West Houses. London: The British School at Athens.Google Scholar
McArthur, J. K. (1993). Place-Names in the Knossos Tablets. Identification and Location. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.Google Scholar
Meissner, T. and Salgarella, E. (2024). The relationship between Cretan Hieroglyphic and the other Cretan Scripts. In Civitillo, M., Ferrara, S. and Meissner, T., eds., Cretan Hieroglyphic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 134–64.Google Scholar
Melena, J. L. (2014a). Mycenaean writing. In Duhoux, Y. and Davies, A. Morpurgo, eds., A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and Their World, Volume 3. Louvain-la-Neuve and Walpole, MA: Peeters, pp. 1–186.Google Scholar
Melena, J. L. (2014b). Filling gaps in the basic Mycenaean syllabary. In Bernabé, A. and Luján, E. R., eds., Donum Mycenologicum: Mycenaean Studies in Honour of Francisco Aura Jorro. Louvain-la-Neuve and Walpole, MA: Peeters, pp. 75–85.Google Scholar
Militello, P. (1989). Gli scribi di Haghia Triada. Alcune osservazioni. La Parola del Passato, 44, 126–47.Google Scholar
Montecchi, B. (2010). A classification proposal of Linear A tablets from Haghia Triada in classes and series. Kadmos, 29, 11–38.Google Scholar
Montecchi, B. (2017). Classification, use, and function of hanging nodules in the Neopalatial administrative practices (Minoan Crete). Archäologischer Anzeiger, 2017(1), 1–18.Google Scholar
Montecchi, B. (2018). Mobility to, from and within Neopalatial Crete: The evidence from the sealings. In Μιτσοτάκη, Κλαίρη and Τζεδάκη-Αποστολάκη, Λένα, eds., Πεπραγμένα ΙΒ΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου, Ηράκλειο, 21–25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016 / Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies. Ηράκλειο: Εταιρία Κρητικών Ιστορικών Μελετών – Ιστορικό Μουσείο Κρήτης, pp. 1–12.Google Scholar
Montecchi, B. (2019). Contare a Haghia Triada: Le tavolette in lineare A, i documenti sigillati e il sistema economico-amministrativo nel TM IB. Rome: CNR Edizioni.Google Scholar
Monti, O. (2002). Observations sur la langue du Linéaire A. Kadmos, 41, 117–20.10.1515/kadm.2002.41.s1.117CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monti, O. (2005). Considérations sur quelques termes des textes votifs linéaires A. Kadmos, 44, 19–22.10.1515/KADM.2005.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monti, O. (2015). Linéaire B da-wo et la datation de la tablette KN F(2) 852+. Kadmos, 54(1–2), 23–30.10.1515/kadmos-2015-0002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monti, O. (2019). Linéaire B da-wo: indiquait-il Kommos ou Haghia Triada? Kadmos, 58(1–2), 93–110.10.1515/kadmos-2019-0005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, Ch. (2017). Minoan and Mycenaean figurines. In Insoll, T., ed., The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Figurines. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 659–79.Google Scholar
Nagy, G. (1963). Greek-like elements in Linear A. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 4, 181–211.Google Scholar
Nagy, G. (1965). Observations on the sign-grouping and vocabulary of Linear A. American Journal of Archaeology, 69, 295–330.10.2307/502181CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakassis, D. and Pluta, K. (2003). Linear A and multidimensional scaling. In Foster, K. P. and Laffineur, R., eds., Metron: Measuring the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 9th International Aegean Conference / 9e Rencontre égéenne internationale, New Haven, Yale University, 18–21 April 2002. Belgium: Université de Liège, Histoire de l’art et archéologie de la Grèce antique; University of Texas at Austin, Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory, pp. 335–42 (with Plates LXVI–LXVII).Google Scholar
Neumann, G. (1996). A Linear A inscription from Miletus (MIL Zb 1). Kadmos, 35, 87–99.Google Scholar
Oren, E. D. (1996). Minoan Graffito from Tel Haror (Negev, Israel). Cretan Studies, 5, 91–118.Google Scholar
Owens, G. (2000). Pre-Hellenic language(s) of Crete: Debate and discussion. Journal of Indo-European Studies, 28(1–2), 237–53.Google Scholar
Packard, D. W. (1968). Contextual and statistical analysis of Linear A. In Atti e Memorie del 1°Congresso Internazionale di Micenologia. Rome: Edizioni dell’Ateneo, pp. 389–94.Google Scholar
Packard, D. W. (1971). Computer techniques in the study of the Minoan Linear Script A. Kadmos, 10(1), 52–9.10.1515/kadm.1971.10.1.52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Th., Palaima G. (1987). Comments on Mycenaean literacy. In Killen, J. T., Melena, J. L. and Olivier, J-P, eds., Studies in Mycenaean and Classical Greek Presented to John Chadwick. Minos 20–22. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 499–510.Google Scholar
Th., Palaima (1994). Seal-Users and Script-Users/Nodules and Tablets at LM IB Hagia Triada. In Ferioli, P., Fiandra, E., Fissore, G. G. and Frangipane, M., eds., Archives before Writing: Proceedings of the International Colloquium Oriolo Romano, October 23–25, 1991. Rome: Centro Internazionale di Ricerche Archeologiche Antropologiche e Storiche, pp. 307–30.Google Scholar
Th., Palaima (2003). The inscribed bronze ‘kessel’ from Shaft Grave IV and Cretan heirlooms of the bronze artist named ‘Aigeus’ vel sim. in the Mycenaean Palatial Period. In Duhoux, Y., ed., Briciaka: A Tribute to W. C. Brice. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, pp. 187–201.Google Scholar
Th., Palaima (2011). Scribes, scribal hands and palaeography. In Duhoux, Y. and Davies, A. Morpurgo, eds., A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and Their World, Volume 2. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 33–136.Google Scholar
Th., Palaima (2020). Problems in Minoan and Mycenaean writing style and practice: The strange case of *33 ra3 on Pylos tablet Aa 61. In Davis, B. and Laffineur, R., eds., Νεώτερος. Studies in Bronze Age Aegean Art and Archaeology in Honor of Professor John G. Younger on the Occasion of His Retirement. Leuven and Liège: Peeters, pp. 3–14.Google Scholar
Palmer, L. R. (1968). Linear A and the Anatolian languages. In Atti e Memorie del 1°Congresso Internazionale di Micenologia. Rome: Pubblicazioni dell’Ateneo, 339–54.Google Scholar
Palmer, R. (1992). Wheat and barley in Mycenaean society. In Olivier, J.-P., ed., Mykenaïka: Actes du IXe Colloque international sur les textes mycéniens et égéens, Centre de l’Antiquité Grecque et Romaine de la Fondation Hellénique des Recherches Scientifiques et École française d’Athènes. Paris: Diffusion de Boccard, pp. 475–97.Google Scholar
Palmer, R. (2008). How to begin? An introduction to Linear B conventions and resources. In Duhoux, Y. and Davies, A. Morpurgo, eds., A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and Their World, Volume 1. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 25–68.Google Scholar
Peatfield, A. and Morris, Ch. (2020). Peak sanctuary figurines: Materialising issues of ritual personhood within community/house identity. In Relaki, M. and Driessen, J., eds., Oikos. Archaeological Approaches to House Societies in the Bronze Age Aegean. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain, pp. 173–83.Google Scholar
Perseus Digital Library (Tufts University): Open-access at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/.Google Scholar
Petrakis, V. (2012). Reverse phonetisation? From syllabogram to sematogram in Aegean scripts. In Carlier, P., de Lamberterie, C., Egetmeyer, M., Guilleux, N., Rougemont, F. and Zurbach, J., eds., Études mycéniennes 2010: Actes du XIIIe colloque international sur les textes égéens, Sèvres, Paris, Nanterre, 20–23 septembre 2010. Pisa: Fabrizio Serra Editore, pp. 523–36.Google Scholar
Petrakis, V. (2014). Some notes on the place of ku-do-ni-ja in Late Minoan III political geography. DO-SO-MO, 10, 55–80.Google Scholar
Petrakis, V. (2017). Figures of speech? Observations on the non-phonographic component in the Linear B writing system. In Nosch, M.-L. and Landenius Enegren, H., eds., Aegean Scripts: Proceedings of the 14th International Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies, Copenhagen, 2–5 September 2015. Rome: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Edizioni, pp. 127–67.Google Scholar
Piquette, K. E. and Whitehouse, R. D. (2013). Introduction: Developing an approach to writing as material practice. In Piquette, K. E. and Whitehouse, R. D., eds., Writing as Material Practice: Substance, Surface and Medium. London: Ubiquity Press, pp. 1–13.10.5334/baiCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pope, M. (2008). The decipherment of Linear B. In Duhoux, Y. and Morpurgo Davies, A., eds., A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Texts and Their World, Volume 1. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 1–23.Google Scholar
Protonotariou-Deilaki, E. (1990). Burial customs and funerary rites in the Prehistoric Argolid. In Hägg, R. and Nordquist, G. C., eds., Celebrations of Death and Divinity in the Bronze Age Argolid: Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 11–13 June, 1988. Stockholm: Paul Åströms Förlag, pp. 69–83.Google Scholar
Raison, J. and Pope, M. (1994). Corpus transnuméré du linéaire A, 2nd ed. Louvain-la-Neuve: Peeters.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. (1998). Word of Minos: The Minoan contribution to Mycenaean Greek and the linguistic geography of the Bronze Age Aegean. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 8(2), 239–64.10.1017/S0959774300001852CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, M. (in press). Non-administrative Linear A writing practices: The case of stone vessels (c. 1800–1450 BC). In Donnelly, C. M., ed., Too Much Writing, Too Few Scribes: Extra-scribal Writing in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean (1650–1100 BCE). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Sakellaraki, E., Del Freo, M., Olivier, J.-P. and Zurbach, J. (2018). Une épingle minoenne en argent avec inscription en linéaire A de la tombe à tholos B d’Arkhanès. Kadmos, 57(1), 21–32.10.1515/kadmos-2018-0003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakellarakis, Y. and Sapouna-Sakellaraki, E., eds. (1997). Archanes. Minoan Crete in a New Light. 2 vols. Athens: Ammos.Google Scholar
Salgarella, E. (2019). Drawing lines: The palaeography of Linear A and Linear B. Kadmos, 58(2), 61–92.10.1515/kadmos-2019-0004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salgarella, E. (2020). Aegean Linear Script(s): Rethinking the Relationship between Linear A and Linear B. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108783477CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salgarella, E. (2021). Imagining Cretan scripts: The influence of visual motifs on the creation of script-signs in Bronze Age Crete. British School at Athens, 116, 63–94.10.1017/S0068245421000034CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salgarella, E. (2022a). Linear A. In The Oxford Classical Dictionary (digital edition, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Salgarella, E. (2022b). Mix and match: A combinatory re-classification of Linear A signs. TALANTA, 54, 31–52.Google Scholar
Salgarella, E. (2023). Reconstructing a prehistoric writing system. In Condorelli, M. and Rutkowska, H., eds., The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Orthography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 395–416.10.1017/9781108766463.020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salgarella, E. (in press). Material matters: The impact of materiality on the structure of the Linear A script of Bronze Age Crete. In Donnelly, C., ed., Too Much Writing, Too Few Scribes: Extra-scribal Writing in the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean (1650–1100 BCE). Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Salgarella, E. and Castellan, S. (2021). SigLA: The Signs of Linear A. A palaeographical database. In Haralambous, Y., ed., Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century – 2020. Part II, pp. 945–62. Brest: Fluxus Editions.Google Scholar
Schoep, I. (1995). Context and chronology of Linear A administrative documents. Aegean Archaeology, 2, 29–65.Google Scholar
Schoep, I. (1996). Minoan administration on Crete: An interdisciplinary approach to documents in Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic. Unpublished PhD thesis, Catholic University of Leuven.Google Scholar
Schoep, I. (2001). The role of the Linear A tablets in Minoan administration. Ktèma, 26, 55–62.Google Scholar
Schoep, I. (2002). The Administration of Neopalatial Crete. A Critical Assessment of the Linear A Tablets and Their Role in the Administrative Process. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.Google Scholar
Schoep, I. (2004). The socio-economic context of seal use and administration at Knossos. In Cadogan, G., Hatzaki, E. and Vasilakis, A., eds., Knossos: Palace, City, State: Proceedings of the Conference in Herakleion Organised by the British School at Athens and the 23rd Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Herakleion, in November 2000, for the Centenary of Sir Arthur Evans’s Excavations at Knossos. London: The British School at Athens, pp. 25–6.Google Scholar
Schoep, I. (2018). Building the labyrinth: Arthur Evans and the construction of Minoan Civilization. American Journal of Archaeology, 122(1), 5–32.10.3764/aja.122.1.0005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoep, I. (2020). The development of writing on Crete in EM III–MM IIB (ca. 2200–1750/00 B.C.). In Davis, B. and Laffineur, R., eds., Νεώτερος: Studies in Bronze Age Aegean Art and Archaeology in Honor of Professor John G. Younger on the Occasion of His Retirement. Leuven and Liège: Peeters, pp. 43–53.Google Scholar
Schoep, I. (forthcoming). The impact of the Minoan chronological framework on the study of Minoan and Mycenaean writing and sealing practices. In Salgarella, E. and Petrakis, V., eds., The Wor(l)ds of Linear A: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Documents and Inscriptions of a Cretan Bronze Age Script. Athens: University of Athens Press.Google Scholar
Schrijver, P. (2018). Talking Neolithic: The case for Hatto-Sumerian and its relationship to Sumerian. In Kroonen, G., Mallory, J. P. and Comrie, B., eds., Talking Neolithic: Proceedings of a workshop on Indo-European held at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, December 2–3, 2013. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man, pp. 336–74.Google Scholar
Shelmerdine, C. W., ed. (2008). The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CCOL9780521814447CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SigLA = Salgarella, E. and Castellan, C. (2020). SigLA. The Signs of Linear A: A Palaeographical Database (open access at www.inscribercproject.com/SigLA/index.html and http://sigla.phis.me).Google Scholar
Steele, P. M. (2023). Exploring Writing Systems and Practices in the Bronze Age Aegean. Oxford: Oxbow Books.10.2307/jj.9941114CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steele, P. M. and Meissner, T. (2017). From Linear B to Linear A: The problem of the backward projection of sound values. In Steele, P. M.., ed., Understanding Relations between Scripts: The Aegean Writing Systems. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 93–110.10.2307/j.ctvh1dr51.11CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylour, W. D. and Janko, R. (2008). Ayios Stephanos: Excavations at a Bronze Age and Medieval Settlement in Southern Laconia. London: British School at Athens.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. (2012). In defence of ideograms. In Carlier, P., de Lamberterie, C., Egetmeyer, M., Guilleux, N., Rougemont, F. and Zurbach, J., eds., Études mycéniennes 2010: Actes du XIIIe colloque international sur les textes égéens, Sèvres, Paris, Nanterre, 20–23 septembre 2010. Pisa: Fabrizio Serra Editore, pp. 545–61.Google Scholar
Tomas, H. (2008). Comparing Linear A and Linear B administrative systems: The case of the roundel and the elongated tablet. In Sacconi, A., Freo, M. Del, Godart, L. and Negri, M., eds., Colloquium Romanum: Atti del XII colloquio internazionale di micenologia, Roma, 20–25 febbraio 2006, Volume 2. Pisa: Fabrizio Serra Editore, pp. 767–74.Google Scholar
Tomas, H. (2010). Linear A versus Linear B administrative systems in the sphere of religious matters. In Boehm, I. and Müller-Celka, S., eds., Espace civil, espace religieux en Égée durant la période mycénienne: Approches épigraphique, linguistique et archéologique. Actes des journées d’archéologie et de philologie mycéniennes tenues à la Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée. Lyon: Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, pp. 121–33.Google Scholar
Tomas, H. (2011a). Linear A tablet ≠ Linear B tablet. In Ανδρεαδάκη-Βλαζάκη, Μ and Παπαδοπούλου, Ε, eds., Πεπραγμένα Ι΄ Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου, Χανιά, 1–8 Οκτωβρίου 2006, Volume Α1. Χανιά: Φιλολογικός Σύλλογος «Ο Χρυσόστομος», pp. 331–43.Google Scholar
Tomas, H. (2011b). Linear A scribes and their writing styles. Biblioteca di Pasiphae, 5, 35–58.Google Scholar
Tomas, H. (2012). The transition from the Linear A to the Linear B sealing system. In Regulski, I., Duistermaat, K. and Verkinderen, P., eds., Seals and Sealing Practices in the Near East: Developments in Administration and Magic from Prehistory to the Islamic Period. Proceedings of an International Workshop at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo on December 2–3, 2009. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 33–49.Google Scholar
Tsikritsis, M. (2000). Statistiki sygkritikis epexergasias metaxy Grammikis A kai Grammikis B grafis. In Karetsou, A., Theocharis, D. and Kalokairinos, A., eds., Pepragmena H’ Diethnous Kritologikou Synedriou, Irakleio, 9–14 Septemvriou 1996, Vol. A3: Proïstoriki kai Archaia Elliniki Periodos. Irakleio: Etairia Kritikon Istorikon Meleton, pp. 325–58.Google Scholar
Tsipopoulou, M. and Hallager, E. (1996). Inscriptions with hieroglyphs and Linear A from Petras, Siteia. Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, 37, 7–46.Google Scholar
Valério, M. (2007). ‘Diktaian Master’: A Minoan predecessor of Diktaian Zeus in Linear A? Kadmos, 46, 3–14.Google Scholar
van Soesbergen, P. G. (2017). Minoan Linear A: Hurrians and Hurrian in Minoan Crete. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Peter G. Van Soesbergen.Google Scholar
Warren, P. and Hankey, V. (1989). Bronze Age Chronology. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press.Google Scholar
Weilhartner, J., ed. (in press). The Cambridge Companion to Aegean Scripts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weingarten, J. (1986). Some unusual Minoan clay nodules. Kadmos, 25, 1–21.10.1515/kadmos-1986-0102CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weingarten, J. (1990). More unusual Minoan clay nodules: Addendum II. Kadmos, 29(1), 16–23.10.1515/kadm.1990.29.1.16CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weingarten, J. (2017). When one equals one: The Minoan roundel. In Jasink, A. M., Weingarten, J. and Ferrara, S., eds., Non-Scribal Communication Media in the Bronze Age Aegean and Surrounding Areas: The Semantics of a-Literate and Proto-Literate Media. Firenze: Firenze University Press, 99–108.Google Scholar
Younger, J. G. (2003). Calculating vessel volumes. In Foster, K. P. and Laffineur, R., eds., Metron: Measuring the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 9th International Aegean Conference, Yale University, 18–21 April 2002. Belgium: Université de Liège, and University of Texas at Austin, Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory, pp. 491–2.Google Scholar
Younger, J. G. (2024). Linear A Texts and Inscriptions in Phonetic Transcription. University of Kansas (former website, individual papers currently available as downloadable PDF files on Younger’s Academia.edu webpage: http://kansas.academia.edu/JYounger).Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
The PDF of this Element
complies with version 2.1 of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), covering newer accessibility requirements and improved
user experiences and achieves the intermediate
(AA)
level of WCAG compliance, covering a wider range of accessibility requirements.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Structural and Technical Features
ARIA roles provided
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.
An Online Resources for this Element is available here.
A complete list of links to all the inscriptions cited (as published in GORILA online) is supplied in a downloadable supplementary file. They are also included in the Adobe Reader PDF.
A complete list of links to all the inscriptions cited (as published in GORILA online) is supplied in a downloadable supplementary file. They are also included in the Adobe Reader PDF.