Linear B

American  

noun

1. an ancient system of writing representing a very early form of Greek, deciphered by Michael Ventris chiefly from clay tablets found at Knossos on Crete and at Pylos.

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Linear B British  

noun

1. an ancient system of writing, apparently a modified form of Linear A, found on clay tablets and jars of the second millennium _bc The earliest excavated examples, dating from about 1400, came from Knossos, in Crete, but all the later finds are at Pylos and Mycenae on the Greek mainland, dating from the 14th–12th centuries. The script is generally accepted as being an early representation of Mycenaean Greek

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Etymology

Origin of Linear B

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

She also introduced the company to John Bennet, the director of the British School at Athens, who translated English phrases into Linear B.

From New York Times

Linear B tablets used to document palace transactions during the Mycenaean Period – inscriptions known as the earliest preserved form of written Greek – were decoded for guidelines.

From The Guardian

Still, there is some evidence that the oral tradition behind the Homeric epics traces as far back as Linear B, the first Greek writing system.

From New York Times

The exhibition contrasts the wartime codebreakers with their contemporaries who were working on deciphering Linear B inscriptions in Mycenaean Greek, the oldest writing system in Europe.

From The Guardian

Codebreakers and Groundbreakers: From breaking the Enigma Codes to the Decipherment of Linear B opens on 24 October and runs until 4 February.

From BBC