Linear A is a writing system used by the Minoans of Crete between 1800 BC and 1450 BC. It was the main writing system for palace and religious records in the Minoan civilization. Linear A was later changed into Linear B, which the Mycenaeans used to write an early form of Greek. Since it was found again in 1900, no one has been able to fully understand the language written in Linear A. The script was named "Linear" by archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans because its symbols were made of simple lines carved into clay, unlike the more picture-like symbols in Cretan hieroglyphs, which were also used at the same time but remain undeciphered.
Linear A is part of a group of scripts that developed separately from Egyptian and Mesopotamian writing systems. During the second millennium BC, this group included four major types: Linear A, Linear B, Cypro-Minoan, and Cretan hieroglyphic. In the 1950s, Linear B was deciphered, and its language was found to be Mycenaean Greek. Linear A and Linear B share many symbols and similar symbols, and their syllabic symbols are believed to represent similar sounds. However, no proposed translations have allowed scholars to fully understand the language of Linear A.
Script
Linear A includes more than 300 symbols, some of which are used in different areas or only once. A group of 90 symbols appears often in many places and times across the script's history.
As a logosyllabic writing system, Linear A uses symbols that represent syllables, whole words or ideas, and some symbols are combined to create more complex ones. These complex symbols often act like pictures that show meaning, and most are used only once in the known examples. The symbols are grouped into four types:
- symbols that represent syllables
- symbols made by combining other symbols
- symbols that represent ideas or whole words
- symbols for numbers and measurements
Linear A was usually written from left to right, but some documents were written from right to left or in a back-and-forth pattern.
Some symbols are used to write more complex syllables. In some cases, the exact pronunciation of these symbols is unknown, even for a similar writing system called Linear B. Subscript numbers are used to note this uncertainty.
A list includes some common symbols that clearly represent ideas or whole words. Most of these symbols are also found in Linear B. The meanings of other symbols are still debated. Some symbols are used both as idea symbols and syllable symbols. When they are used as syllable symbols, their sounds are listed in a table with numbers before the Bennett numbers.
Numerals
These numbers use a decimal system: units are shown as vertical lines, tens as horizontal lines, hundreds as circles, and thousands as circles with rays. Special symbols are used to show fractions and weights. Certain signs that match numerals are called klasmatograms and are used to represent fractions.
Whole numbers can be read, and math operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are simple, similar to Roman numerals.
Scholars do not agree on the meanings of some klasmatograms used in Linear A fractions. In 2021, Corazza et al. suggested the following values, many of which had been proposed earlier:
Other fractions are made by adding symbols. For example, JE and DD represent 3⁄4 and 1⁄3 (2⁄6), BB is 2⁄5, EF is 3⁄8, and so on. Some symbols, like B 1⁄5, may come from KK 2⁄10. The symbols L, Y, and Ω appear only once and are called hapax legomena. It has been suggested that the symbol L may not be genuine.
Some of these values are found in Linear B. Although Linear B used a different numbering system, some Linear A fractions were used as measurement units in Linear B. For example, Linear B DD and (probably AA) represent 1⁄3 and 1⁄12 of a lana, while K represents 1⁄10 of the main unit for dry weight.
Corpus
Linear A has been found mainly on the island of Crete, but also at other places in Greece, Turkey, and Israel. The existing collection includes about 1,427 items with a total of 7,362 to 7,396 symbols. These symbols have been written on different materials, such as stone offering tables, vessels, gold and silver hairpins, round objects, and pottery. The earliest examples of Linear A writing come from Phaistos, dating to the end of the Middle Minoan II period, which is no later than around 1700 BC. Linear A symbols have been found across Crete and on some Aegean islands (Kythera, Kea, Thera, Melos, Samothrace), in mainland Greece (Ayios Stephanos) in Laconia, on the west coast of Asia Minor (Miletus, Troy), and in the Levant (Tel Haror, Tel Lachish).
A detailed collection of Linear A inscriptions, sometimes called GORILA (from Godart Olivier Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A), was created by Louis Godart and Jean-Pierre Olivier between 1976 and 1985. In 2011, work began on an update to this collection. In 2020, a project named SigLA started to make all known Linear A inscriptions available online in one place.
Most Linear A tablets, many of which are broken, were found on Crete during the Neopalatial Period. At that time, Crete was divided into several independent regions, each with its own city. These tablets have been found at Hagia Triada (147 tablets), Petras (2 tablets), Phaistos (26 tablets), Knossos (6 tablets), Archanes (7 tablets), Myrtos Pyrgos (2 tablets), Palaikastro (2 tablets), Zakros (31 tablets), Tylissos (2 tablets), Malia (6 tablets), Gournia (1 tablet), and Khania (99 tablets). One tablet was found on Kea in the Cyclades. Three tablet pieces were found on Santorini (Thera). A few Cretan Hieroglyphs tablets, which have few symbols, were also found on Crete at Malia and Kato Symi.
Seals and clay sealings were used to mark ownership, similar to how they were used in ancient Egypt and the Near East. Many sealings have been found, mostly on Crete during the Late Minoan IB period. The main sources of sealed documents include Haghia Triada (1103), Zakros (560), Khania (210), Knossos (125), Phaistos (35), Malia (6), and Tylissos (5). It is unclear what tools were used to make the sealings, as only a few Linear A inscribed "seal stones" have been found. In other areas, cylinder seals and stamp seals were used for this purpose.
Archaeologists divide sealed documents into four groups:
– Roundels: clay disks with sealing on the edges.
– Hanging nodules: sealed clay lumps attached to string.
– Parcel nodules: clay lumps with sealing on the back.
– Noduli: clay lumps similar to hanging nodules but not attached to string.
A group of Minoan objects, often found in religious places, are called libation tables. These come in full-sized and small versions, usually made of stone. Because they were found at religious sites like Mount Juktas, they are often thought to have religious purposes, though this is not certain. About 1,000 libation tables have been found on Crete at 27 different places, with 41 of them having Linear A inscriptions. These inscriptions follow a standard "libation formula," a pattern also seen on some other objects, mainly vessels.
The "libation formula" has been studied extensively. A similar pattern in Cretan Hieroglyphs, called the "Archanes Formula," is the main link proposed between these systems.
Most Linear A symbols have been found on tablets, sealed documents, libation tables, and other ritual items. However, some very short Linear A inscriptions have been discovered in the Minoan region, mainly as potmarks and mason’s marks. A challenge is that it can be hard to tell if a single symbol or pair of symbols is Linear A, Linear B, or Cretan Hieroglyphs because they share some signs. Examples include vessel pieces found at Traostalos with three signs, four vase pieces at Thera with signs, and an ostrakon with one sign. A vessel fragment was found at Miletus. Two pithoi with broken inscriptions were found at Pseira. Graffiti has been found at places like Hagia Triada. A small clay ball with three Linear A signs was found at Mikro Vouni on Samothrace. A small stone tab with two signs was found in Ayios Stephanos, Laconia. A silver hairpin and a gold ring, both with long Linear A inscriptions, were found at Mavro Spelio in Knossos. At Armenoi, a stone amulet with two Linear A symbols was found in a tholos grave from the Linear Minoan IB period.
A Linear A inscription was reported to have been found in southeast Bulgaria. Another, more certain discovery, was made at Tel Lachish. A Minoan graffito on a vessel fragment found at Tel Haror may be Linear A or Cretan Hieroglyphs. Several tablets with signs similar to Linear A were found at Troy in northwestern Anatolia. While their status is debated, they may be imports, as there is no evidence of Minoan presence in the Troad. Classifying these signs as a unique Trojan script, proposed by some scholars, is not widely accepted. Two Linear A inscribed clay spindle whorls were also found at Troy.
A rescue excavation in the modern village of Knossos uncovered what is described as the longest known Linear A inscription. The object is a "sceptre" made of elephant ivory with a handle and a ring. The ivory is inscribed with Linear A characters and other images. The excavators described it as the "first Linear A economic document coming from a cult building." The object was found in fragments that had to be joined, and some parts are damaged due to time.
Chronology
The earliest known use of Linear A dates back to around 1800 BC during the Protopalatial period. It became important around 1625 BC and was no longer used by about 1450 BC during the Neopalatial period. Linear A was used at the same time as and may have developed from Cretan hieroglyphs. It might also be a predecessor to Linear B. The Cypro-Minoan syllabary, which was used by Cyprus and its trading partners in the Mediterranean region, was also in use during this time. The order and spread of Cretan hieroglyphs, Linear A, and Linear B—the three writing systems used in Bronze Age Crete and the Greek mainland—can be described as follows:
Decipherment
Linear A has not been completely understood. However, researchers believe they know the approximate sounds of most symbols and can guess the meanings of some writings.
A major challenge is the small number of surviving texts. Only about 1,400 Linear A writings remain, compared to 6,000 for Linear B. This small number makes it hard to find patterns. Also, many Linear A writings are broken or hard to read. Signs can be hard to tell apart, and some look like variations of handwriting. Many texts are short and repeat the same words, such as lists of place names or personal names followed by symbols and numbers. These texts rarely include full sentences or show how words are structured grammatically.
Another challenge is the lack of clues from other languages. No writings in two languages have been found, which would help like the Rosetta Stone did for Egyptian hieroglyphs. The language of Linear A is unknown, and it might not have been the same language throughout its use. The few grammar clues from surviving texts suggest it is not closely related to any known language.
For most Linear A symbols, researchers guess their sounds based on similar symbols in Linear B. These guesses are widely accepted but not proven. This method does not fully translate the writing, as many words still have unclear meanings.
This method relies on the idea that similar symbols in related writing systems often have similar sounds. This idea is not always correct, but scholars believe it works for Linear A and Linear B. For example, symbols in Linear B and another script called the Cypriot syllabary share similar sounds, suggesting Linear A symbols had similar sounds too.
Many names and place names in Linear B also appear in Linear A, which would make sense if the symbols had similar sounds. For example, a Linear A place name might match a Linear B name like "Phaistos." Some names in Linear A also appear in Linear B with Greek endings, showing shared sounds.
Sometimes, Linear A words have variations that could be explained by similar sounds in Linear B. For example, a word might change only in its first symbol, which could mean the symbols had a specific sound relationship. This idea is similar to a method used to study Linear B.
However, some scholars think Linear A and Linear B might have differences in pronunciation. For example, the Minoan language (linked to Linear A) might not have had certain sounds like /o/ or labialised velars. It might also have used a different sound for "d."
The table below shows symbols that are syllabograms (representing sounds) and their guessed sounds based on Linear B.
While many Linear A symbols are similar to Linear B, about 80% of its logograms (symbols representing words) are unique. The differences in sounds between Linear A and Linear B range from 9% to 13%.
Linear A does not represent any known language. The term "Minoan language" is used as a placeholder, but it is not certain all texts are in the same language. Minoan seems to use many prefixes and suffixes. It may have had three vowels: /i/, /u/, and /a/, but not /o/ or /e/. Based on patterns in Linear A texts, it might have used the word order "Verb-Subject-Object."
Scholars have noticed possible similarities between Minoan and languages like Luwian or Phoenician. However, it is unclear if these are real connections or results of contact between languages.
Unicode
The Linear A alphabet (U+10600–U+1077F) was included in the Unicode Standard when version 7.0 was released in June 2014. As of the latest Unicode version, 15.1, it is still included.