Linear B Tablets

Heraklion Museum- Knossos

These are Linear B tablets. Linear B is the language that emerged in Greece coming out of its Dark Ages. Unlike Linear A, which precedes it, we are able to read it. Being able to read Linear B has been key in understanding Greek culture and how sophisticated it really was. For example, linear B was used to draft housing deeds, kept track of taxes, and write contracts regarding ownership of land and slaves.

It speaks to the sophistication of our modern linguistic skills that we are able to read these tablets and from them infer a lot about the Greek culture. I personally can't read linear B, but I was able to learn the pronunciations of the characters of the modern greek alphabet while I was in Greece. I got to a point where I could sound out words somewhat correctly after a few tries. Greek is a difficult language to learn, because their alphabet is so different from the one we use. I want to continue to practice my Greek, because I want to go back when I have a basic grasp of the language. I think it would be fulfilling and exciting to converse with the Greeks in their own language!