Rewriting History : The decipherment of Linear A and a history of Egypto-Cretan relations
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
- An interview with author Mark Cook to discuss his 2022 published book on the decipherment of Linear A. Copyright © 2023 Mark Cook
NEW videos on the mechanics of Linear A:
Part 1 - • The Mechanics of Linea...
Part 2 (including translation of a tablet in full) - • The Mechanics of Linea...
Publication details: www.worldcat.o...
Download Chapter Two: www.academia.e...
Book review: www.archaeolog...
Very interesting! Thank you!
Hi John. You are welcome! Its a fascinating topic. I am conscious that there is not too much of the nitty gritty of Linear A and how it works in this first video, so do please check out "The Mechanics of Linear A" (Parts 1 and 2) via my channel. All the best, Mark
Excellent. As this Syllabic shorthand of Hieroglyphs reached Crete from Ab Erets (PruNefer), so the Alphabetic shorthand of Hieroglyphs reached the Acheans through the Phoenicians.
Hi Frank.
Thanks for your interest.
I would probably slightly amend what you say, if I may, as hieroglyphs can be syllabic, logographic, and alphabetic, and when a word was abbreviated in Linear A to a symbol representing a hieroglyph, the hieroglyph could be any of these (and I would say you can't really "pronounce" shorthand, as such). Linear A isn't syllabic in the same sense that Linear B is.
But, you are entirely correct to draw the comparison to both Linear A and the later Greek alphabet as both having their origins with hieroglyphs (the latter via the Proto Sinaitic, and Phoenician alphabets). This is actually a point I make in my book. All roads lead to Egypt, it seems!
Thanks again, and all the best
Mark
I would not find it too surprising that the language might be Egyptian. Prior to the Late Bronze Age Collapse Egyptian was probably the lingua franca in Mediterranean tragedy and subsequently replaced with Greek.
There are a lot of things in Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations that make them seem like Egyptian colonies or at least heavily influenced by Egyptian technology.
The records show that the language/ script used for the correspondence between the various rulers within the eras in discussion, was a type of cuneiform. The possibility of the development of shorthand form of this for administrative or commercial purposes may be difficult. A blend of Egyptian pictographs, plus an indigenous script for commercial purposes? Note that the script on the Phaistos Disk bears little relationship. It might be interesting to speculate what the main rural produce might have been, such as olives, wheat, onions, greens,fish such as tuna. Please advise the publisher of your book?
Thanks for you comment.
The Armana Letters - the correspondence of the Egyptian "foreign office" were indeed clay tablets mostly written in Akkadian (in cuneiform), but they record Egypt - foreign diplomatic correspondence. The Linear A tablets (from Crete) record accounting information written by Egyptians for use by Egyptians (on Crete), so they would only ever be written in Egyptian.
I would actually say that before the advent of modern (electronic) recording technology, all societies, including ancient ones, probably had need of a method of shorthand. Consider Pitmans shorthand, for example, that was invented in the 19th Century (and there were others before that, in use across a number of geographies).
To digress, slightly, the Egyptians haven't really been seen as users of clay tablets, but taking your example of the 377 Amarna Letters, which date to the New Kingdom period (18th Dynasty, 14th Century BC), and, now, the 324 Linear A tablets (from Crete, but being contemporary with (earliest) late Middle Kingdom Egypt up to (the vast majority) New Kingdom Egypt, 15th Century BC), and considering also the 530 clay tablets found at the Dakhleh Oasis in southern Egypt dating from the Old Kingdom period (2200 BC - 2000 BC) written in hieratic, and the 4 clay tablets also found found at the Dakhleh Oasis dating to the Greaco-Roman period (3rd - 4th Century AD) which were written in Greek, the frequency and commonality of usage of clay tablets by the Egyptians, in fact, really does need to be reassessed.
Further details on the publishing of my book are in the link beneath the video and I hope to provide a further update soon.
Finally, the Phaistos Disk. It is, I think, most likely written in Cretan hieroglyphs, and thus most likely to be Eteocretan - but neither of those points are relevant for my book (as you say, it has little - I would say no - relationship to Linear A).
Thanks again, Mark
@@MarkCook-LinearA thanks for your interesting comments, Mark. I hope that further discoveries in Crete and or Egypt will further your research. The Egyptian governorship of Crete is an exciting Avenue supported by the gold artefact ( I had not heard of this before) my main interest is the era where political dominance on Crete and the impact of the Thera eruption occurred. Akrotiri was visited some twenty years ago when access was less constrained. Loved your interpretation of the trade map on the villa wall. Let's hope another settlement waits to be discovered on Thera/ Santorini.
I hate to be a party pooper but this sounds more like a hypothesis than a decipherment. It’s terrific evidence that Linear A may be derived from the Egyptian scripts, but saying that the Minoans and their language were Egyptian seems unsubstantiated by the evidence. It’s undeniable that the Minoans and Egyptians interacted with one another quite a bit, but to declare that they were synonymous seems unfounded with such little evidence.
To be clear, I am absolutely NOT saying that "the Minoans and their language were Egyptian" and I am really not quite sure how you inferred that from the video. Remember, before Linear B was used, there were two scripts used concurrently on the island of Crete: Linear A (1800-1450 BC, they say); and Cretan hieroglyphs (2100-1700 BC). I am saying Linear A is middle Egyptian written in shorthand using modified and simplified hieroglyphs because - as I say in the video - the Egyptians were on Crete, first most likely in a trading capacity, enjoying significant influence but not control, then secondly there was a period when the Crete became part of the Egyptian Empire (mostly during the reign of Thutmose III). Linear A was (most likely, by process of elimination if nothing else!) Eteocretan - so, "Minoan". As I say in my video, the Minoan Empire (peopled by the Minoans) encompassed Crete and certain of the Aegean Islands (Santorini). As I say in my video, it was this area that became part of the Egyptian Empire (the nature of Egypt's involvement changing at this point, such that the Egyptian expatriate traders on the island overnight become colonists), and the Minoans therefore becoming the Egyptians subjects. But they were still Minoan.
So, no party pooped. Just consider the whole of my argument as it is presented, please.
interesting subject, but anyone who is watching a talk like this is interested. so there is no need for a detailed summation. get to the good stuff.
Hi Ron. I'm glad you found it interesting! In terms of the level I pitched it at, I suppose I was trying to cater for everyone. The confident, knowledgeable, and proficient can always scroll forward if they want to!