DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0052
SCRIPTA MINOA
I.
THE LINEAR SCRIPT OF CLASS B
Class A
superseded
by B in Re-
modelled
Palace.
Great
deposits of
tablets of
this class
at time of
final cata-
strophe.
This class
as yet con-
fined to
Knossos.
Relations
between
A and B.
a certain
extent
parallel.
At Knossos we see the inscriptions of the Linear Class A entirely superseded
in the Remodelled Palace by another closely allied system of linear writing here
classified as B. To this class belong the great bulk of the deposits of clay tablets
found in the rooms and magazines of the building, and they represent the form of
script in use at the time of its final catastrophe, about the close of the fifteenth or the
early part of the fourteenth century b. c. As to the higher limit of the use of this form
of writing at Knossos we have no direct evidence, but some of the larger deposits
of clay archives must have been naturally of gradual accumulation. It is possible,
therefore, that it was already in existence in the earlier half of the fifteenth century
before our era; indeed, it may well have overlapped the continued usage of the rival
form of linear script at Hagia Triada and elsewhere.
It is a remarkable fact that the documents of Class B, though far more
numerously presented than the other, have as yet only been found on the site
of Knossos, either in the Palace itself or its dependencies, including the Magazine
of the Arsenal and the ' Little Palace * or ' House of the Fetish Shrine' on the hillside
to the West.
What, then, is the meaning of this wholesale appearance in the ' House of Minos'
of a new system of writing ? What are the relations between these two forms of
linear script?
A detailed comparison of the signs and inscriptions of these two groups and
of both of them with those of the hieroglyphic class must be reserved for the second
Volume of this work. Here it may be sufficient to say that the obvious conclusion that
the linear class of Script B, which at Knossos supersedes the other, is simply a later
outgrowth of Class A, does not sufficiently explain the phenomena with which we have
to deal. It is true that the general fades of these later Knossian documents is more
advanced. The records are often much fuller and the tablets larger; there is a smaller
selection of characters and a less complicated system of compound signs. At the same
time, the conclusion that Class B was merely evolved out of the other is precluded
by the fact that several of the signs belonging to it are not found in Class A, and
that some of those which are shared by both 'signaries' appear in a more primitive
form upon tablets belonging to Class B.
The two systems, which contain a large proportion of common elements, must
on the whole, therefore, be regarded as parallel to one another, and it is probable,
as already suggested, that the usage of Class B in the Remodelled Palace of Knossos
to a certain extent coincided in time with the continued use of Class A at Phaestos
and Hagia Triada. The occurrence in both of similar sign-groups seems at any
rate to prove that the language itself of those who used the one or the other Script
was essentially the same. It looks, then, as if the introduction of Class B at Knossos
I.
THE LINEAR SCRIPT OF CLASS B
Class A
superseded
by B in Re-
modelled
Palace.
Great
deposits of
tablets of
this class
at time of
final cata-
strophe.
This class
as yet con-
fined to
Knossos.
Relations
between
A and B.
a certain
extent
parallel.
At Knossos we see the inscriptions of the Linear Class A entirely superseded
in the Remodelled Palace by another closely allied system of linear writing here
classified as B. To this class belong the great bulk of the deposits of clay tablets
found in the rooms and magazines of the building, and they represent the form of
script in use at the time of its final catastrophe, about the close of the fifteenth or the
early part of the fourteenth century b. c. As to the higher limit of the use of this form
of writing at Knossos we have no direct evidence, but some of the larger deposits
of clay archives must have been naturally of gradual accumulation. It is possible,
therefore, that it was already in existence in the earlier half of the fifteenth century
before our era; indeed, it may well have overlapped the continued usage of the rival
form of linear script at Hagia Triada and elsewhere.
It is a remarkable fact that the documents of Class B, though far more
numerously presented than the other, have as yet only been found on the site
of Knossos, either in the Palace itself or its dependencies, including the Magazine
of the Arsenal and the ' Little Palace * or ' House of the Fetish Shrine' on the hillside
to the West.
What, then, is the meaning of this wholesale appearance in the ' House of Minos'
of a new system of writing ? What are the relations between these two forms of
linear script?
A detailed comparison of the signs and inscriptions of these two groups and
of both of them with those of the hieroglyphic class must be reserved for the second
Volume of this work. Here it may be sufficient to say that the obvious conclusion that
the linear class of Script B, which at Knossos supersedes the other, is simply a later
outgrowth of Class A, does not sufficiently explain the phenomena with which we have
to deal. It is true that the general fades of these later Knossian documents is more
advanced. The records are often much fuller and the tablets larger; there is a smaller
selection of characters and a less complicated system of compound signs. At the same
time, the conclusion that Class B was merely evolved out of the other is precluded
by the fact that several of the signs belonging to it are not found in Class A, and
that some of those which are shared by both 'signaries' appear in a more primitive
form upon tablets belonging to Class B.
The two systems, which contain a large proportion of common elements, must
on the whole, therefore, be regarded as parallel to one another, and it is probable,
as already suggested, that the usage of Class B in the Remodelled Palace of Knossos
to a certain extent coincided in time with the continued use of Class A at Phaestos
and Hagia Triada. The occurrence in both of similar sign-groups seems at any
rate to prove that the language itself of those who used the one or the other Script
was essentially the same. It looks, then, as if the introduction of Class B at Knossos