Linear A and Linear B

Linear A and Linear B

Linear forms of writing used by Aegean civilizations during the 2nd millennium BC. Examples of Linear A, a syllabary (a writing system in which one character represents a whole syllable) written from left to right, date from 1850 BC to 1400 BC. The language written in Linear A remains unknown. Linear B, adapted from Linear A, was borrowed from the Minoan civilization by the Mycenaean Greeks, probably c. 1600 BC, and used to write the Mycenaean Greek dialect. Examples of Linear B script have been found on clay tablets and vases from c. 1400–1200 BC. These texts represent the oldest known form of Greek. Linear B was deciphered as Greek in 1952 by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick.