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2 results

  • 6 - Writing

  • Dora Vassilikou, The Archaeological Society at Athens
  • Translated by Doniert Evely, Colin MacDonald
  • Foreword by Yannis Galanakis, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    Mycenaean Civilization
    Published online:
    19 December 2025
    Print publication:
    15 January 2026, pp 474-487

  • Summary

    The first Linear B tablets were found by Evans in Knossos, many more by Blegen in Pylos in 1939 and progressively in all Mycenaean centres. Crete had three writing types Hieroglyphic, Linear A being more widespread, still undeciphered, and Linear B which descends from Linear A and appeared in mainland Greece around 1400 BC. After many endeavours, it has been deciphered in 1952 revealing a syllabic script for an early stage of Greek language. The debate of concordance between the Knossos and the Pylos tablets followed and is still alive. The inscribed clay tablets, simply dried, were baked by the fires that destroyed the palaces and thus preserved. They are administrative documents mostly inventory or tax statements teaching us a lot about Mycenaean life, palatial system, social hierarchy but no literature or history.

Mycenaean Civilization
  • Dora Vassilikou
  • Translated by Doniert Evely, Colin MacDonald
  • Foreword by Yannis Galanakis
  • Published online:
    19 December 2025
    Print publication:
    15 January 2026
  • The Bronze Age of Greece was unknown until the end of the 19th century, when Heinrich Schliemann's excavations stunned the world by bringing to light the glamour of Mycenaean elite society. This book, by one of Greece's most distinguished archaeologists, provides a complete introduction to Mycenaean life and archaeology. Through both chronological and thematic chapters, it examines the main Mycenaean centres, the palaces and kingship, the social structure, writing, religion and its political implications, and the contacts and relations of the Mycenaeans with neighbouring countries, especially Asia Minor, Egypt, the coast of Syria-Palestine and Italy. Attention is paid to the distinctive Mycenaean art, including monumental architecture, gold and silver metalwork and jewellery, and the book is supported by over 300 illustrations. Dora Vassilikou concludes by examining the simultaneous catastrophes that brought the Bronze Age of the Eastern Aegean to its end and opened up a new era.