Mycenaean is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, spoken on the Greek mainland and on Crete in the 16th to 11th centuries BC, before the Dorian invasion. It is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script invented on Crete before the 14th century BC. Most instances of these inscriptions are on clay tablets found in Knossos and in Pylos. The language is named after Mycenae, the first of the palaces to be excavated. This article is an overview of the history of Greek. ... Greek (, IPA - Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest in the Indo-European family if the Anatolian languages are excluded. ... Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... The Proto-Greek language is the common ancestor of the Greek dialects, including the Mycenean language, the classical Greek dialects Attic-Ionic, Aeolic, Doric and North-Western Greek, and ultimately the Koine and Modern Greek. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Aeolic Greek is a linguistic term used to describe a set of rather archaic Greek sub-dialects, spoken mainly in Boeotia (a region in Central Greece), in Lesbos (an island close to Asia Minor) and in other Greek colonies. ... Arcadocypriot was an ancient Greek dialect spoken in Arcadia and Cyprus between ca. ... Attic Greek is the ancient dialect of the Greek language that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. ... Ionic Greek was a sub-dialect of the Attic-Ionic dialectal group of Ancient Greek (see Greek dialects). ... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Homeric Greek is the dialect of Ancient Greek that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. ... Koine Greek () is an ancient Greek dialect which marks the third stage in the history of the Greek language. ... Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική) is a linguistic term that describes the third period in the history of the Greek language. ... Modern Greek (Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Modern Greek (Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Cappadocian (SIL: CPG; ISO 639-2: ine), also known as Cappadocian Greek or Asia Minor Greek is a Greek-Turkish mixed language, formerly spoken in Cappadocia (Central Turkey). ... Modern Greek (Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is a Modern Greek dialect which is spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region in southern Italy and Sicily, and it is otherwise known as the Grecanic language. ... Katharevousa (Greek Καθαρεύουσα, IPA: ) is a form of the Greek language, created during the early 19th century by Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). ... Pontic Greek is a Greek language which was originally spoken on the shores of the Black Sea (Pontus). Pontics linguistic lineage stems from Attic Greek, and contains influences from Byzantine Greek, Turkish influence and some Persian and Caucasian borrowings. ... Tsakonian (also Tsakonic) (Standard Greek Τσακωνική Διάλεκτος — Tsakonic language — is a dialect of, or language closely related to, Standard Modern Greek, spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese, Greece. ... Yevanic, otherwise known as Yevanika, Romaniote and Judeo-Greek, was the language of the Romaniotes, the group of Greek Jews whose existence in Greece is documented since the 4th century BCE. Its linguistic lineage stems from Attic Greek and the Hellenistic Koine (Κοινή Ελληνική) and includes Hebrew elements as well. ... Greek (, IPA - Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest in the Indo-European family if the Anatolian languages are excluded. ... Crete (Greek Κρήτη Kriti; called Candia in the Venetian period) is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. ... The Mycenean Period covers the latter part of the Bronze Age on the Greek mainland. ... This article or section should be merged with Dorian The Dorian invasion is one of the theories advanced to explain the decline of the Mycenaean civilization in ancient Greece. ... Linear B script sample Linear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean, an early form of Greek. ... // Overview Events 1344 BCE – 1322 BCE -- Beginning of Hittite empire Rise of the Urnfield culture Significant persons Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt Tutankhamun, Pharaoh of Egypt Suppiliulima, king of the Hittites Moses Inventions, discoveries, introductions Template:DecadesAndYearsBCE Category: ‪14th century BCE‬ ... Knossos Knossos (; pronounced (NAH-sos); alternative spellings Knossus, Cnossus, Gnossus, Greek Κνωσός (see also List of traditional Greek place names)Mycenaean Greek ko-no-so, Minoan ku-ni-su? is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete, probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan culture. ... Pylos (Greek Πύλος), formerly Navarino, is the name of a bay and a town on the west coast of the Peloponnese, in the district of Messenia in southern Greece. ... Mycenae (ancient Greek: , IPA, , in modern Greek: Μυκήνες, , U.S. English: ; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. ...

The tablets remained long undeciphered, and every conceivable language was suggested for them, until Michael Ventris deciphered the script in 1952 and uncontestably proved the language to be an early form of Greek. [[1]] Michael George Francis Ventris (July 12, 1922–September 6, 1956) was an English architect and classical scholar, who along with John Chadwick was responsible for the decipherment of Linear B. Michael Ventris was educated in Switzerland and at Stowe School, housed in a magnificent 18th century country house. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The texts on the tablets are mostly lists and inventories. No prose narrative survives, much less myth or poetry. Still, much may be glimpsed from these records about the people who produced them, and about the Mycenaean period at the eve of the so-called Greek Dark Ages. The Mycenean Period covers the latter part of the Bronze Age on the Greek mainland. ... The Greek Dark Ages (ca. ...

Phonology and orthography

Map of Bronze Age Greece as described in Homer's Iliad

Main article: Linear B

The Mycenaean language is preserved in Linear B writing, which consists of about 200 syllabic signs and logograms. Since Linear B was derived from Linear A, the script of an undeciphered Minoan language probably unrelated to Greek, it does not reflect fully the phonetics of Mycenaean: consonant clusters must be dissolved orthographically, and r and l are not disambiguated, nor is there a disambiguation for the Greek phonological categories of voiced/unvoiced (excepting dentals d, t) and aspirated/unaspirated; syllable-final l, m, n, r, s are omitted. Map of Homeric Greece, coastal outline based on Map of Greece, from CIA World Factbook GIF. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Map of Homeric Greece, coastal outline based on Map of Greece, from CIA World Factbook GIF. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... The Homère Caetani bust at the Louvre, a 2nd century Roman copy of a 2nd century BC Greek original. ... The Iliad (Ancient Greek Ιλιάς, Ilias) is, along with the Odyssey, one of the two major Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer, a supposedly blind Ionian poet. ... Linear B script sample Linear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean, an early form of Greek. ... Linear B script sample Linear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean, an early form of Greek. ... Linear A etched on tablets found in Akrotiri, Santorini. ... The Eteocretan (i. ...

The script differentiates five vowel qualities, a, e, i, o, u, the semi-vowels w and j (also transcribed as y), three sonorants, m, n, r and seven occlusives, d, k, p, q (the usual transcription for all labiovelars), s, t, z (which includes [kʲ], [gʲ] and [dʲ], sounds which later became Greek ζ). A labiovelar sound is one produced with the lips and velum simultaneously. ... Zeta (upper case Ζ, lower case ζ) is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. ...

Thus *khrusos, "gold" was spelled with the syllabic signs ku-ru-so 𐀓𐀬𐀰, *gwous, "cow" with the signs qo-u 𐀦𐀄, and *khalkos "bronze" as ka-ko 𐀏𐀒.

The Mycenaean form of Greek preserves a number of archaic features of its Indo-European language heritage, such as the labiovelar consonants that underwent context-dependent sound changes by the time alphabetic Greek writing began a few hundred years later. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... A labiovelar sound is one produced with the lips and velum simultaneously. ...

Corpus

Main article: Linear B#Corpus

The corpus of Mycenaean-era Greek writing consists of some 6000 tablets and potsherds in Linear B, from LMII to LHIIIB. No Linear B monuments nor non-Linear B transliterations have yet been found. Linear B script sample Linear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean, an early form of Greek. ...

If it is genuine, the Kafkania pebble, dated to the 17th century BC, would be the oldest known Mycenean inscription, and hence the earliest preserved testimony of the Greek language. both sides of the pebble The Kafkania pebble was found in Kafkania, some 7 km north of Olympia, in 1994. ... // Overview Events 1700 – 1500 BC -- Hurrian conquests. ...

References

• Chadwick, John (1958). The Decipherment of Linear B. Second edition (1990). Cambridge UP. ISBN 0521398304.
• Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge UP. ISBN 0521290376.
• Ventris, Michael, "Evidence for Greek dialect in the Mycenaean archives", in Journal of Hellenic Studies, LXXVII (1953), pp 84ff.
• Ventris, Michael and Chadwick, John (1956). Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Second edition (1974). Cambridge UP. ISBN 0521085586.
• Bartoněk, Antonin (2003). Handbuch des mykenischen Griechisch. Universitätsverlag C. Winter. ISBN 3825314359.

The headquarters of the Cambridge University Press, in Trumpington Street, Cambridge. ... The headquarters of the Cambridge University Press, in Trumpington Street, Cambridge. ... [[1]] Michael George Francis Ventris (July 12, 1922–September 6, 1956) was an English architect and classical scholar, who along with John Chadwick was responsible for the decipherment of Linear B. Michael Ventris was educated in Switzerland and at Stowe School, housed in a magnificent 18th century country house. ... [[1]] Michael George Francis Ventris (July 12, 1922–September 6, 1956) was an English architect and classical scholar, who along with John Chadwick was responsible for the decipherment of Linear B. Michael Ventris was educated in Switzerland and at Stowe School, housed in a magnificent 18th century country house. ... The headquarters of the Cambridge University Press, in Trumpington Street, Cambridge. ...

External links

• Jeremy B. Rutter, "Bibliography: The Linear B Tablets and Mycenaean Social, Political, and Economic Organization"
• The writing of the Mycenaeans (contains an image of the Kafkania pebble)
• Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP)