Linear A

Linear A
Linear A inscription on a cup
Script type	Undeciphered (presumed syllabic and ideographic)
Time period	MM IB to LM IIIA 1800–1450 BC
Status	Extinct
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	'Minoan' (unknown)
Related scripts
Child systems	Linear B, Cypro-Minoan syllabary
Sister systems	Cretan hieroglyphs
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Lina (400), ​Linear A
Unicode
Unicode alias	Linear A
Unicode range	"U+10600–U+1077F" (PDF). "Final Accepted Script Proposal" (PDF).

Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 to 1450 BC to write the hypothesized Minoan language or languages. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It was succeeded by Linear B, which was used by the Mycenaeans to write an early form of Greek. It was discovered by archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in 1900. No texts in Linear A have yet been deciphered.

The term linear refers to the fact that the script was written using a stylus to cut lines into a tablet of clay, as opposed to cuneiform, which was written by using a stylus to press wedges into the clay.

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: Linear A, Linear B, Cypro-Minoan, and Cretan hieroglyphic. In the 1950s, Linear B was deciphered as Mycenaean Greek. Linear B shares many symbols with Linear A, and they may notate similar syllabic values, but neither those nor any other proposed readings lead to a language that scholars can read. The only part of the script that can be read with any certainty is the signs for numbers – which are, however, only known as numerical values; the words for those numbers remain unknown.

Script

Most hypotheses about the Linear A script and Minoan language start with Linear B.

Linear A has hundreds of signs, believed to represent syllabic, ideographic, and semantic values in a manner similar to Linear B. While many of those assumed to be syllabic signs are similar to ones in Linear B, approximately 80% of Linear A's logograms are unique; the difference in sound values between Linear A and Linear B signs ranges from 9% to 13%. It primarily appears in the left-to-right direction, but occasionally appears as a right-to-left or boustrophedon script.

Linear A signs may be divided into four categories:

1. numerals and metrical signs;
2. phonetic signs;
3. ligatures and composite signs;
4. ideograms.

Signary

Linear A: signary and numbering according to E. Bennett. Reading of signs is based on Linear B analogs.

*01-*20		*21-*30		*31-*53		*54-*74		*76-*122		*123-*306
	DA *01		QI *21		SA *31		WA *54		RA2 (RJA) *76		*123
	RO *02		*21f		*34		NU *55		KA *77		*131a
	PA *03		*21m		TI *37		PA3 *56		QE *78		*131b
	TE *04		MI? *22		E *38		JA *57		WO2? *79		*131c
	TO *05		*22f		PI *39		SU *58		MA *80		*164
	NA *06		*22m		WI *40		TA *59		KU *81		*171
	DI *07		MU *23		SI *41		RA *60		SWA? *82		*180
	A *08		MU *23m		KE *44		O *61		AU *85		*188
	SE *09		NE *24		DE *45		JU *65		*86		*191
	U *10		RU *26		JE *46		TA2 (TJA) *66		TWE *87		*301
	PO *11		RE *27		*47		KI *67		*100/ *102		*302
	ME *13		I *28		*49		TU *69		*118		*303
	QA2 *16		*28b		PU *50		KO *70		*120		*304
	ZA *17		PU2 *29		DU *51		MI *73		*120b		*305
	ZO *20		NI *30		RI *53		ZE *74		*122		*306

Numbers

Main article: Aegean numerals

Numbers 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 numerals

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
𐄇	𐄈	𐄉	𐄊	𐄋	𐄌	𐄍	𐄎	𐄏
10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90
𐄐	𐄑	𐄒	𐄓	𐄔	𐄕	𐄖	𐄗	𐄘
100	200	300	400	500	600	700	800	900
𐄙	𐄚	𐄛	𐄜	𐄝	𐄞	𐄟	𐄠	𐄡

Fractions

There is a lack of scholarly agreement on fractions.Corazza et al. (2020) proposed the following values, most of which had been previously proposed:

Proposed values of fraction glyphs

Abbreviation	Glyph	Value
J	𐝆	1⁄2
E	𐝃	1⁄4
B	𐝁	1⁄5
D	𐝂	1⁄6
F	𐝄	1⁄8
K	𐝇	1⁄10
H	𐝅	1⁄16?
L2	𐝉	1⁄20
A	𐝀	1⁄24?
L3	𐝊	1⁄30
L4	𐝋	1⁄40
L6	𐝌	1⁄60
W	𐝍	= BB? (2⁄5)
X	𐝎	= AA? (1⁄12)
Y	𐝏	?
Ω	𐝐	?

Other fractions are composed by addition: the common 𐝕 JE and 𐝓 DD are 3⁄4 and 1⁄3 (2⁄6), 𐝒 BB = 2⁄5, EF = 3⁄8, etc. (and indeed B 1⁄5 looks like it might derive from KK 2⁄10). Corazza et al. (2020) propose that the hapax legomenon, glyph L 𐝈, 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 𐝓 DD and 𐝎 (presumably AA) are 1⁄3 and 1⁄12 of a lana, while 𐝇 K is 1⁄10 of the main unit for dry weight.

Corpus

Linear A incised on tablets found in Akrotiri, Santorini

Linear A tablet, Chania Archaeological Museum

Linear A has been unearthed chiefly on Crete, but also at other sites in Greece, as well as Turkey and Israel. The extant corpus, comprising some 1,427 specimens totalling 7,362 to 7,396 signs, if scaled to standard type, would fit easily on two sheets of paper. Linear A has been written on various media, such as stone offering tables and vessels, gold and silver hairpins, roundels, and ceramics. A number of the inscriptions, primarily on tables and vessels, contain a "libation formula" which has been much studied. A similar construct in Cretan Hieroglyphics, the "Archanes Formula", is the main proposed link to Linear A. The earliest inscriptions of Linear A come from Phaistos, in a layer dated at the end of the Middle Minoan II period: that is, no later than c. 1700 BC. Linear A texts have been found throughout the island of Crete and also on some Aegean islands (Kythera, Kea, Thera, Melos), in mainland Greece (Ayos Stephanos), on the west coast of Asia Minor (Miletus, Troy), and in the Levant (Tel Haror). A few seal stones bearing Linear A have been found.

Crete

The main discoveries of Linear A tablets, many fragmentary, have been at Hagia Triada, Zakros, and Khania on Crete:

Inscriptions have been discovered at the following locations on Crete:

• Apodoulou
• Archanes
• Arkalochori
• Armenoi
• Gournia
• Hagia Triada (147 tablets)
• Kardamoutsa
• Kato Simi
• Khania (98 tablets)
• Knossos
• Kophinas
• Larani
• Mallia
• Mochlos
• Mount Juktas
• Myrtos Pyrgos
• Nerokourou
• Palaikastro
• Petras
• Petsophas (1 libation table fragment)
• Phaistos
• Platanos
• Poros, Heraklion
• Prassa
• Pseira (2 Pithoi fragments)
• Psychro
• Pyrgos Tylissos
• Sitia
• Skhinias
• Skotino cave
• Traostalos
• Troulos
• Vrysinas
• Zakros (31 tablets)

Outside Crete

Linear A tablet from the palace of Zakros, Archeological Museum of Sitia

Until 1973, only one Linear A tablet had been found outside Crete (on Kea in the Cyclades). Since then, other locations have yielded inscriptions.

Most—if not all—inscriptions found outside Crete appear to have been made locally, as indicated by the composition of the substrate and other indications. Also, close analysis of the inscriptions found outside Crete indicates the use of a script that is somewhere between Linear A and Linear B, combining elements from both.

Other Greek islands

• Kea
• Kythera
• Melos
• Samothrace
• Thera (5 vases, 2 ostraka, and 3 clay tablet fragments)

Mainland Greece

• Mycenae
• Tiryns
• Hagios Stephanos, Laconia

Anatolian Mainland

• Miletus (1 vessel fragment)
• Troy (2 clay spindles)

A Linear A inscription was said to have been found in southeast Bulgaria. Another, somewhat more solid, find was at Tel Lachish. A Minoan graffito found at Tel Haror on a vessel fragment is either Linear A or Cretan hieroglyphs.

Chronology

See also: Chronology of Linear B

The earliest attestation of Linear A begins around 1800 BC (Middle Minoan IB). It became prominent around 1625 BC (Middle Minoan IIIB) and went out of use around 1450 BC (Late Minoan I). It was contemporary with and possibly derived from Cretan hieroglyphs, and may be an ancestor of Linear B. The sequence and the geographical spread of Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A, and Linear B, the three overlapping but distinct writing systems on Bronze Age Crete and the Greek mainland, can be summarized as follows:

Writing system	Geographical area	Time span
Cretan Hieroglyphic	Crete, Samothrace	c. 2100 – 1700 BC
Linear A	Crete, Aegean islands (Kea, Kythera, Melos, Thera), and Greek mainland (Laconia)	c. 1800 – 1450 BC
Linear B	Crete (Knossos), and mainland (Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes, Tiryns)	c. 1450 – 1200 BC

Discovery

See also: Discovery of Linear B

Archaeologist 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 that were used during the same period.

Several tablets inscribed in signs similar to Linear A were found in the Troad in northwestern Anatolia. While their status is disputed, they may be imports, as there is no evidence of Minoan presence in the Troad. Classification of these signs as a unique Trojan script (proposed by contemporary Russian linguist Nikolai Kazansky) is not accepted by other linguists.

Comparison of Linear A and Linear B

Minoan inscriptions, Linear A script

In 1945, E. Pugliese Carratelli first introduced the classification of Linear A and Linear B parallels. However, in 1961, W. C. Brice modified the Pugliese Carratelli system that was based on a wider range of Linear A sources, but Brice did not suggest Linear B equivalents to the Linear A signs. Louis Godart and Jean-Pierre Olivier in the 1985 Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A (GORILA), based on E.L Bennett's standard numeration of the signs of Linear B, introduced a joint numeration of the Linear A and B signs.

Phonetic

The majority of signs in the Linear A script appear to have graphical equivalents in the Linear B syllabary. Comparison of the Hagia Triada tablets HT 95 and HT 86 shows that they contain identical lists of words and some kind of phonetic alteration. Scholars who approached Linear A with the phonetic values of Linear B produced a series of identical words. The Linear B–Linear A parallels: ku-ku-da-ra, pa-i-to, ku-mi-na, di-de-ro →di-de-ru, qa-qa-ro→qa-qa-ru, a-ra-na-ro→a-ra-na-re. Though identical, some of these words, such as ka-pa, are used in much different ways.

Grammar (Parallel)

In 2023 Greek Schollar Kostas Dolkos in his attempt to read the text The gold pin nr. 9675 of the Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos in Crete and The gold ring from the Mavros Spilios Necropolis in Knossos, provided strong evidence of the existance of poetic rythm in the pin's text, written in dactylic hexameter. He published his study "Linear A - An attempt to interpret two engraved messages" making with this a significant contribution to the international scientiffic effort to decipher the Linear A code. At the same time, he offers data that can contribute to answering dated linguistic and ethnological questions regarding the civilizations and peoples of the Mediterranean during the Middle Bronze Age.

Some linguistic assertions that arose during the decryption proved far more important, as they formed the basis to form a rudimentary “Parallel Grammar”. A grammar that stems from the confirmed similarities but, mainly, from the also confirmed differences in the “orthography” of the two linear systems. The “Parallel Grammar” can support future attempts at interpreting Linear A texts and will certainly continue to be enriched by them.

Theories regarding the language

Linear A incised on a jug, also found in Akrotiri

It is difficult to evaluate a given analysis of Linear A as there is little point of reference for reading its inscriptions. The simplest approach to decipherment may be to presume that the values of Linear A match more or less the values given to the deciphered Linear B script, used for Mycenaean Greek. It has been suggested that Linear A encodes two languages.

Greek

In 1957, Bulgarian scholar Vladimir I. Georgiev published his Le déchiffrement des inscriptions crétoises en linéaire A ("The decipherment of Cretan inscriptions in Linear A") stating that Linear A contains Greek linguistic elements. Georgiev then published another work in 1963, titled Les deux langues des inscriptions crétoises en linéaire A ("The two languages of Cretan inscriptions in Linear A"), suggesting that the language of the Hagia Triada tablets was Greek but that the rest of the Linear A corpus was in Hittite-Luwian. In December 1963, Gregory Nagy of Harvard University developed a list of Linear A and Linear B terms based on the assumption "that signs of identical or similar shape in the two scripts will represent similar or identical phonetic values"; Nagy concluded that the language of Linear A bears "Greek-like" and Indo-European elements. Michael Ventris' decipherment of Linear B in 1952 suggests an old form of Greek: it is derived from Linear A. Therefore, we can assume that the signs related to the Linear A express the same value as the Linear B. In all Linear B values for related words give a large number of identical forms or identical root forms, but alternate with the final vowel, or almost identical forms among linear texts, mainly those of Hagia Triada.

Extracting conclusions or arguments from a simple morphology can hardly be considered methodologically satisfactory. Yves Duhoux in the "Linear A as Greek" discussion at AEGEANET in March 1998:

I would like to remind you of some basic facts related to the Greekness of Linear A's language: (1) The word for "total" is different in Linear A and in Linear B: LB to - so(- de); LA > B ku-ro. (2) The Linear B language is significantly less "prefixing" than Linear A. (3) Votive Linear A texts, where we are pretty sure to have variant forms of the same "word", show morphological (I mean: grammatical) features totally different from Linear B. The conclusion must be that even if one can find some casual resemblances between words in both languages (remember this MUST statistically happen: e.g. English and Persian use the same word "bad" to express the meaning of BAD, although it is proven that both words have no genetic relation at all), they are probably structurally different.

In 2023 Greek scholar Kostas Dolkos in his work "Linear A - An attempt to interpret two engraved messages" recognizes and documents linguistically two excellent samples of Proto-Greek, as it was spoken in Crete during the 18th century BC. He discovered poetic rythm on one text more specificaly dactylic hexameter. A fact that made his first assumptions more solid.

The language behind the syllabograms of the pin is undoubtedly floowing, concise, flexible. Its written form, however, is dramatically simplified and vague.

One has to wonder: Wouldn’t that bother the common linguistic sense of the Greeks using it? Of course it would. Perhaps tolerance was stronger than the dysphoria for two reasons. First, because Linear A had probably not been widely spread and used, but only limited to the upper classes. Second, the possible use of Linear A as a common written code by more than one linguistic community probably provided significant countervailing benefits to the communication and the daily trades between Cretan residents from dierent ethnic groups. Something that would be potentially ruined by adjusting the common code to the needs of every minority’s language. This version leads to the thought that the Linear A code must have been shaped based on the characteristics of the language of a somehow “dominant” racial and linguistic community. This dominant linguistic community can likely be no other than the Minoans of Knossos and the language spoken by the people that resided, worked and lived in the most powerful. Financial, political and administrative center of the island, when the Mycenaeans setlled there as conquerors, around 1400 BC.

If this hypothesis is true, the decryption of more Linear A texts is very likely to sporadically reveal minority languages related to ethnic groups and peoples that have been part of the Cretan ethnological mosaic throughout time. Furthermore, it is definitely a foregone conclusion that the Linear A code will be more or less unwelcoming and rigid for all these languages, except for the dominant.

Linear A's unsuitability to express the Greek language would have been evident to the Mycenaeans when they conquered Knossos. They would have obviously tasked Minoan writers with recording the contents of their warehouses, or to draw up their own management documents in Linear A, that they were already using. The known incompatibility was probably enough reason for the appearance of Linear B, which, moreover, was now intended to be used exclusively by Greeks.

 

Anatolian languages

Since the late 1950s, some scholars have suggested that the Linear A language could be an Anatolian language.

Luwian

Luwian Hieroglyphs

Palmer (1958) put forward a theory, based on Linear B phonetic values, suggesting that Linear A language could be related closely to Luwian. The theory, however, failed to gain universal support for the following reasons:

• There is no remarkable resemblance between Minoan and Hitto-Luwian morphology.
• None of the existing theories of the origin of Hitto-Luwian peoples and their migration to Anatolia (either from the Balkans or from the Caucasus) are related to Crete.
• There was a lack of direct contact between Hitto-Luwians and Minoan Crete; the latter was never mentioned in Hitto-Luwian inscriptions. Small states located along the western coast of ancient Asia Minor were natural barriers between Hitto-Luwians and Minoan Crete.
• There were major differences in material culture between the Hitto-Luwian and Minoan civilizations.

There are recent works focused on the Luwian connection, not in terms of the Minoan language being Anatolian, but rather in terms of possible borrowings from Luwian, including the origin of the writing system itself. Richard Janke has suggested that "Hittite and Luwian cognates often reappear in Linear A".

Lycian

In an article from 2001, Margalit Finkelberg, Professor of Classics emerita at Tel Aviv University, suggested a "high degree of correspondence between the phonological and morphological system of Minoan and that of Lycian" and proposed that "the language of Linear A is either the direct ancestor of Lycian or a closely related idiom."

Semitic languages

Cyrus H. Gordon, having earlier pointed out that some Linear A words had Semitic roots, first proposed in 1966–1969 that the texts contained Semitic vocabulary that was based on the lexical items such as kull-, meaning 'all'. Gordon uses morphological evidence to suggest that u- serves as a prefix in Linear A like Semitic copula u-. However, Gordon's copula u- is based on an incomplete word, and even if some of Gordon's identifications were true, a complete case for a Semitic language has not yet been built.

Phoenician

In 2001, the journal Ugarit-Forschungen published the article "The First Inscription in Punic—Vowel Differences in Linear A and B" by Jan Best, claiming to demonstrate how and why Linear A notates an archaic form of Phoenician. This was a continuation of attempts by Cyrus Gordon in finding connections between Minoan and West Semitic languages.

Indo-Iranian

Another recent interpretation, based on the frequencies of the syllabic signs and on complete palaeographic comparative studies, suggests that the Minoan Linear A language belongs to the Indo-Iranian family of Indo-European languages. Studies by Hubert La Marle include a presentation of the morphology of the language, avoid the complete identification of phonetic values between Linear A and B, and also avoid comparing Linear A with Cretan hieroglyphs. La Marle uses the frequency counts to identify the type of syllables written in Linear A, and takes into account the problem of loanwords in the vocabulary.

However, La Marle's interpretation of Linear A has been subject to some criticism; it was rejected by John Younger of the University of Kansas who showed that La Marle had invented at will erroneous and arbitrary new transcriptions, based on resemblances with many different script systems (as Phoenician, Hieroglyphic Egyptian, Hieroglyphic Hittite, Ethiopian, Cypro-Minoan, etc.), ignoring established evidence and internal analysis, while for some words La Marle proposes religious meanings inventing names of gods and rites. La Marle made a rebuttal in "An answer to John G. Younger's remarks on Linear A" in 2010.

Tyrrhenian

Italian scholar Giulio M. Facchetti attempted to link Linear A to the Tyrrhenian language family comprising Etruscan, Rhaetic, and Lemnian. This family is reasoned to be a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean substratum of the 2nd millennium BC, sometimes referred to as Pre-Greek. Facchetti proposed some possible similarities between the Etruscan language and ancient Lemnian, and other Aegean languages like Minoan.

Michael Ventris, who (with John Chadwick) successfully deciphered Linear B, also believed in a link between Minoan and Etruscan. The same perspective is supported by S. Yatsemirsky in Russia and Raymond A. Brown.

Other languages

Monti put forward a Hurrian-Urartian hypothesis based on morphematic elements. More recently he has changed to the view that "a direct kinship between this language and Hurro-Urartian (or any other ergative language) must be ruled out". An Indo-European hypothesis was proposed by Witczak and Zawiasa based on an analysis of the combinatory data, mostly in libation formulas. A decipherment based on Proto-Indo-European has also been proposed. Alexander Akulov and Peter Schrijver proposed that the language of Linear A is a quite close relative of the Hattic language.

Attempts at decipherment of single words

Some researchers suggest that a few words or word elements may be recognized, without (yet) enabling any conclusion about relationship with other languages. In general, they use analogy with Linear B in order to propose phonetic values of the syllabic sounds. John Younger, in particular, thinks that place names usually appear in certain positions in the texts, and notes that the proposed phonetic values sometimes correspond to known place names as given in Linear B texts (and to modern Greek names). Likewise, in Linear A, MA+RU is suggested to mean wool, and to correspond both to a Linear B pictogram with this meaning, and to the classical Greek word μαλλός with the same meaning (in that case a loan word from Minoan).

Unicode

Main article: Linear A (Unicode block)

The Linear A alphabet (U+10600–U+1077F) was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.

Linear A[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+1060x

𐘀

𐘁

𐘂

𐘃

𐘄

𐘅

𐘆

𐘇

𐘈

𐘉

𐘊

𐘋

𐘌

𐘍

𐘎

𐘏

U+1061x

𐘐

𐘑

𐘒

𐘓

𐘔

𐘕

𐘖

𐘗

𐘘

𐘙

𐘚

𐘛

𐘜

𐘝

𐘞

𐘟

U+1062x

𐘠

𐘡

𐘢

𐘣

𐘤

𐘥

𐘦

𐘧

𐘨

𐘩

𐘪

𐘫

𐘬

𐘭

𐘮

𐘯

U+1063x

𐘰

𐘱

𐘲

𐘳

𐘴

𐘵

𐘶

𐘷

𐘸

𐘹

𐘺

𐘻

𐘼

𐘽

𐘾

𐘿

U+1064x

𐙀

𐙁

𐙂

𐙃

𐙄

𐙅

𐙆

𐙇

𐙈

𐙉

𐙊

𐙋

𐙌

𐙍

𐙎

𐙏

U+1065x

𐙐

𐙑

𐙒

𐙓

𐙔

𐙕

𐙖

𐙗

𐙘

𐙙

𐙚

𐙛

𐙜

𐙝

𐙞

𐙟

U+1066x

𐙠

𐙡

𐙢

𐙣

𐙤

𐙥

𐙦

𐙧

𐙨

𐙩

𐙪

𐙫

𐙬

𐙭

𐙮

𐙯

U+1067x

𐙰

𐙱

𐙲

𐙳

𐙴

𐙵

𐙶

𐙷

𐙸

𐙹

𐙺

𐙻

𐙼

𐙽

𐙾

𐙿

U+1068x

𐚀

𐚁

𐚂

𐚃

𐚄

𐚅

𐚆

𐚇

𐚈

𐚉

𐚊

𐚋

𐚌

𐚍

𐚎

𐚏

U+1069x

𐚐

𐚑

𐚒

𐚓

𐚔

𐚕

𐚖

𐚗

𐚘

𐚙

𐚚

𐚛

𐚜

𐚝

𐚞

𐚟

U+106Ax

𐚠

𐚡

𐚢

𐚣

𐚤

𐚥

𐚦

𐚧

𐚨

𐚩

𐚪

𐚫

𐚬

𐚭

𐚮

𐚯

U+106Bx

𐚰

𐚱

𐚲

𐚳

𐚴

𐚵

𐚶

𐚷

𐚸

𐚹

𐚺

𐚻

𐚼

𐚽

𐚾

𐚿

U+106Cx

𐛀

𐛁

𐛂

𐛃

𐛄

𐛅

𐛆

𐛇

𐛈

𐛉

𐛊

𐛋

𐛌

𐛍

𐛎

𐛏

U+106Dx

𐛐

𐛑

𐛒

𐛓

𐛔

𐛕

𐛖

𐛗

𐛘

𐛙

𐛚

𐛛

𐛜

𐛝

𐛞

𐛟

U+106Ex

𐛠

𐛡

𐛢

𐛣

𐛤

𐛥

𐛦

𐛧

𐛨

𐛩

𐛪

𐛫

𐛬

𐛭

𐛮

𐛯

U+106Fx

𐛰

𐛱

𐛲

𐛳

𐛴

𐛵

𐛶

𐛷

𐛸

𐛹

𐛺

𐛻

𐛼

𐛽

𐛾

𐛿

U+1070x

𐜀

𐜁

𐜂

𐜃

𐜄

𐜅

𐜆

𐜇

𐜈

𐜉

𐜊

𐜋

𐜌

𐜍

𐜎

𐜏

U+1071x

𐜐

𐜑

𐜒

𐜓

𐜔

𐜕

𐜖

𐜗

𐜘

𐜙

𐜚

𐜛

𐜜

𐜝

𐜞

𐜟

U+1072x

𐜠

𐜡

𐜢

𐜣

𐜤

𐜥

𐜦

𐜧

𐜨

𐜩

𐜪

𐜫

𐜬

𐜭

𐜮

𐜯

U+1073x

𐜰

𐜱

𐜲

𐜳

𐜴

𐜵

𐜶

U+1074x

𐝀

𐝁

𐝂

𐝃

𐝄

𐝅

𐝆

𐝇

𐝈

𐝉

𐝊

𐝋

𐝌

𐝍

𐝎

𐝏

U+1075x

𐝐

𐝑

𐝒

𐝓

𐝔

𐝕

U+1076x

𐝠

𐝡

𐝢

𐝣

𐝤

𐝥

𐝦

𐝧

U+1077x

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

• Aegean numbers
• Cypro-Minoan syllabary
• Phaistos Disc
• Arkalochori Axe
• Dispilio Tablet

References

Works cited

• Brown, Raymond A. (1985). Evidence for pre-Greek speech on Crete from Greek alphabetic sources. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert. ISBN 978-9-02-560876-7.
• Chadwick, John (1967). The Decipherment of Linear B. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-39830-5.
• Cook, Mark. (2022). Rewriting History: The decipherment of Linear A and a history of Egypto-Cretan relations in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. Sydney. ISBN 978-0-646-86541-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507993-7.
• Dietrich, Manfried; Loretz, Oswald (2001). In Memoriam: Cyrus H. Gordon. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-934628-00-7.
• Facchetti, Giulio M.; Negri, Mario (2003). Creta Minoica: Sulle tracce delle più antiche scritture d'Europa (in Italian). Firenze: L.S. Olschki. ISBN 978-88-222-5291-3.
• Finkelberg, Margalit (1998). "Bronze Age Writing: Contacts between East and West" (PDF). In Cline, E.H.; Harris-Cline, D. (eds.). The Aegean and the Orient in the Second Millennium. Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Symposium, Cincinnati, 18–20 April 1997. Liège 1998. Aegeum. Vol. 18. pp. 265–272. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016.
• Georgiev, Vladimir I. (1963). "Les deux langues des inscriptions crétoises en linéaire A". Linguistique Balkanique (in French). 7 (1): 1–104.
• Nagy, Gregory (1 December 1963). "Greek-Like Elements in Linear A". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies. 4 (4). Harvard University Press: 181–211. ISSN 2159-3159.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Olivier, J.P. (1986). "Cretan Writing in the Second Millennium B.C." World Archaeology. 17 (3): 377–389. doi:10.1080/00438243.1986.9979977. ISSN 0043-8243.
• Owens, Gareth (1999). "The Structure of the Minoan Language" (PDF). Journal of Indo-European Studies. 27 (1–2): 15–56. ISSN 0092-2323. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
• Owens, Gareth Alun (2007). "Η Δομή της Μινωικής Γλώσσας" [The Structure of the Minoan Language] (PDF) (in Greek). Heraklion: TEI of Crete –Daidalika. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
• Packard, David W. (1974). Minoan Linear A. Berkeley / Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-02580-6.
• Palaima, Thomas G. (1997) [1989]. "Cypro-Minoan Scripts: Problems of Historical Context". In Duhoux, Yves; Palaima, Thomas G.; Bennet, John (eds.). Problems in Decipherment. Louvain-La-Neuve: Peeters. pp. 121–188. ISBN 978-90-6831-177-8.
• Palmer, Leonard Robert (1958). "Luvian and Linear A". Transactions of the Philological Society. 57 (1): 75–100. doi:10.1111/j.1467-968X.1958.tb01273.x. ISSN 0079-1636.
• Robinson, Andrew (2009). Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-9-40-215757-4.
• Schoep, Ilse (1999). "Tablets and Territories? Reconstructing Late Minoan IB Political Geography through Undeciphered Documents". American Journal of Archaeology. 103 (2): 201–221. doi:10.2307/506745. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 506745. S2CID 155632843.
• van Soesbergen, Peter (2016). "Part 1, Text". Hurrians and Hurrian in Minoan Crete. Minoan Linear A. Vol. I. Amsterdam: Brave New Books. ISBN 978-0-19-956778-2.
• Yatsemirsky, Sergei A. (2011). Opyt sravnitel'nogo opisaniya minoyskogo, etrusskogo i rodstvennyh im yazykov [Tentative Comparative Description of Minoan, Etruscan and Related Languages] (in Russian). Moscow: Yazyki slavyanskoy kul'tury. ISBN 978-5-9551-0479-9.

Further reading

• Best, Jan G. P. (1972). Some Preliminary Remarks on the Decipherment of Linear A. Amsterdam: Hakkert.
• Davis, S. (March 1959). "New Light on Linear A". Greece & Rome. 6 (1): 20–30. doi:10.1017/S0017383500013231. ISSN 1477-4550. JSTOR 641970. S2CID 162763789.
• Facchetti, Giulio M. (2003). "ON SOME RECENT ATTEMPTS TO IDENTIFY LINEAR A MINOAN LANGUAGE". Minos (37–38): 89–94. ISSN 0544-3733.
• Gordon, Cyrus H. (1958). "Minoan Linear A". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 17 (4): 245–255. doi:10.1086/371479. ISSN 0022-2968. JSTOR 542386. S2CID 161866359.
• Ferrara, Silvia; Valério, Miguel; Montecchi, Barbara (2022). "The Relationship between Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A: a palaeographic and structural approach" (PDF). Pasiphae – Journal of Aegean Philology and Antiquity. 26 (16): 81–109. doi:10.19272/202233301006. ISSN 2037-738X.
• Judson, A. P. (2020). The Undeciphered Signs of Linear B. Interpretation and Scribal Practices. Cambridge.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Marangozis, John (2007). An introduction to Minoan Linear A. LINCOM Europa, ISBN 3-89586-386-6
• Montecchi, Barbara (January 2010). "A Classification Proposal of Linear A Tablets from Haghia Triada in Classes and Series". Kadmos. 49 (1): 11–38. doi:10.1515/KADMOS.2010.002. ISSN 0022-7498. S2CID 124902710.
• Montecchi, Barbara, "Rebus compositions in Linear A?", Kadmos, vol. 61, no. 1-2, pp. 97-106, 2022
• Nagy, Gregory (October 1965). "Observations on the Sign-Grouping and Vocabulary of Linear A". American Journal of Archaeology. 69 (4): 295–330. doi:10.2307/502181. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 502181. S2CID 191385596.
• Notti, Erika (2010). "The Theran Epigraphic Corpus of Linear A : Geographical and Chronological Implications". Pasiphae (4): 93–96. doi:10.1400/168368. ISSN 2037-738X.
• Notti, Erika, "Writing in Late Bronze Age Thera. Further Observations on the Theran Corpus of Linear A", Pasiphae, vol. 000, no. 015, 2021 ISSN: 2037-738X
• Palmer, Ruth (1995). "Linear A Commodities: A Comparison of Resources" (PDF). Aegeum. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
• Revesz, Peter (2017). "Establishing the West-Ugric Language Family with Minoan, Hattic and Hungarian by a Decipherment of Linear A" (PDF). WSEAS Transactions on Information Science and Applications. 14: 306–335.
• Salgarella, Ester (2020). Aegean Linear Script(s): Rethinking the Relationship between Linear A and Linear B. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108479387.
• Salgarella, Ester (2022). "Linear A". Oxford Classical Dictionary. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8927 (inactive 1 August 2023). ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2023 (link)
• Salgarella, Ester, "Drawing lines: The palaeography of Linear A and Linear B", Kadmos, vol. 58, no. 1–2, pp. 61–92, 2019 doi:10.1515/kadmos-2019-0004
• Schoep, Ilse (2002). "The Administration of Neopalatial Crete. A Critical Assessment of the Linear A Tablets and their Role in the Administrative Process". Minos (Supplementary Volume no. 17). Salamanca: 1–230. ISSN 0544-3733. OCLC 52610144.
• Thomas, Helena (2003). Understanding the transition from Linear A to Linear B script (D. Phil. thesis). University of Oxford. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Supervisor: Professor John Bennet. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 311–338).
• Woodard, Roger D. (1997). Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510520-9. (Review Archived 19 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine)

External links

• Cracking the Cretan code Ester Salgarella AEON 2022
• The mathematical values of Linear A fraction signs – Science Daily – September 8, 2020
• Linear A Texts in Phonetic Transcription by John Younger (Last Update: 10 July 2020).
• Interactive database of Linear A inscriptions Description
• DAIDALIKA – Scripts and Languages of Minoan and Mycenaean Crete Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• Omniglot: Writing Systems & Languages of the World
• Mnamon: Antiche Scritture del Mediterraneo (Antique Writings of the Mediterranean)
• GORILA Volume 1
• Linear A Explorer
• Linear A Research by Hubert La Marle
• Interpretation of the Linear A Scripts by Gia Kvashilava