Linear B facts for kids

Tablet with writing in Linear B script

Linear B is a very old way of writing. It was used to write Mycenaean Greek. This makes it the oldest known form of the Ancient Greek language. A smart person named Michael Ventris proved this in the early 1950s. Linear B was used many centuries before the Greek alphabet came along.

This writing system came from an even older script called Linear A. We cannot read Linear A today. The oldest texts written in Linear B are from about 1450 BC. Most Linear B writings were found in old palace records. These records were found in places like Knossos, Cydonia, Pylos, Thebes, and Mycenae. The Linear B writing disappeared when the Mycenaean civilization ended.

What is Linear B?

Linear B uses about 87 main signs. Each of these signs stands for a syllable, which is a part of a word. For example, one sign might mean "ka" or "to."

Besides these syllable signs, there are many ideographic signs. These signs are like small pictures. They represent whole objects or things, like a cow or a jar of olive oil. These picture signs do not make sounds. They are never used to write out words in a sentence. They just show what an item is.

How Linear B Was Used

Linear B seems to have been used mostly for keeping records. It was like an ancient accounting system. People used it to list goods, track supplies, and manage palace resources.

Thousands of clay tablets with Linear B writing have been found. But only a small number of different writers have been identified. For example, in Pylos, only 45 different writers were found. In Knossos, there were 66. This suggests that only a special group of people used Linear B. These people were professional scribes. They worked for the palaces. When these palaces were destroyed, the writing system also disappeared.

Images for kids

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  Tablet KN Fp 13, discovered by Arthur Evans

See also

In Spanish: Lineal B para niños