Early Writing Systems (Continued)

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

The Ancient Mediterranean

A Basic Chronology Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

1. Early Mesopotamian Civilizations

Sumer and the Sumerians - writing appears about 3500 BCE Akkadian empire (c. 2350 BCE) First Assyrian empire (c. 2150 BCE) First Babylonian empire (c. 1830 BCE) Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

1. Early Greek Civilizations

The Minoan Civilization (1900-1450 BCE) Crete ! The Mycenaean Civilization (1450-1200 BCE) Mainland Greece, especially the Peloponnesus Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

The Ancient Mediterranean

Maps

M Danuvius a R s r O o g I

in u R

e MOESIAs FE r A IN D SUPERIOR MOESI

US AEM H NS MO

Hebrus

I A BOSPHORUS R A C A x H io T I s RHODOPE L MONS PROPONTIS L ONI IA Y CED A YN MA Thasos ITH R B

I C CHALCATHOS U MONS MYSIA

M OLYMPUS Lemnos A P MONS HELLESPONTUS S R I I O N A M I N Lesbos A E D E P U O mos I er Corcyra R S L H AEGAEUM I U s M THESSALIA S

S u

O Scyrus

o l N Euboea L

e Y IONIUM MARE D

h r S Chios IO IA e A c NI d MARE Leucas CA ET BOE A n R A A OL a N IA OT ae Ithaca AN IA M IA Samos A Andros CA A CHAEA TT Ikaria RI IC A Cephallenia A A R Aegina Delos Zacynthus C A D I A L Paros Y C IA PELOPONNESUSL Naxos Cos AC E MYRTOUM D A MARE E Melos Thera Rhodos M O N Cythera CRETICUM Karpathos MARE

CRETA

INTERNUM MARE

This material originated on the Interactive Ancient Mediterranean Web site (http://iam.classics.unc.edu) It has been copied, reused or redistributed under the terms of IAM's fair use policy. Copyright 1998, Interactive Ancient Mediterranean. Greece – mountains, goats

Clst 181SK Ancient Greece and the Origins of Western Culture

2. Early Writing Systems (continued)

Cuneiform, early Linear Scripts A crude typology of writing systems or signaries! !

1. Logogram (signs=!words, hundreds or thousands of signs) 2. Syllabary (signs=syllables, about 70-90 signs) 3. Alphabet (signs=phonemes, about 20-30 signs) ! But note that many writing systems are hybrids: cuneiform, for example is a logosyllabary, a syllabary augmented with about 600 logographic signs Speech and Writing Systems: The problem with phonemes

Phoneme (from Apple Dictionary) ! A phoneme is a basic unit of a language's phonology, which is combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words or morphemes. The phoneme can be described as "The smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a change of meaning". In this way the difference in meaning between the English words kill and kiss is a result of the exchange of the phoneme /l/ for the phoneme /s/.

The problem with phonemes as the basic element of speech

http://makingnoiseandhearingthings.com/tag/speech-signal/ Speech and Writing Systems: Speech as a continuous sound wave

“I am an elephant”

Where are the words, syllables, phonemes? Four Early Writing Systems in the West

1. Cuneiform: Sumeria, Akkadia, Assyria, Babylonia 2. Linear A: Minoan (Crete) 3. Linear B: Mycenean (mainland Greece) 4. West Semitic: Phoenician Cuneiform (latin cuneus, wedge) Cuneiform (latin cuneus, wedge)

Sumer and the Sumerians - writing appears about 3500 BCE Akkadian empire (c. 2350 BCE) First Assyrian empire (c. 2150 BCE) First Babylonian empire (c. 1830 BCE) ! The! earliest writing system in the West !! Mesopotamia ! ! ! ! !

• Sumerian empire • Akkadian empire • Assyrian empire • Babylonian empire Palace at Nimrud (Ashurnasirpal II) ! (Assyria) Cuneiform - development Sumerian to Akkadian

! Logographic to (logo)syllabic ! How a word like “eye” becomes the sign for the sound /i/ Early Cuneiform Linear A The Minoan Civilization Crete: Palace of Knossos/Cnossos ! c. 1900-1450 BCE

Crete and the Minoan Civilizaiton: Trade Routes Knossos - pithoi Knossos – grand staircase Knossos - Throne room

King / Priest Queen’s room Blue Ladies Linear A – Hagia Triada, Crete Linear B The Mycenaean Civilization Mainland Greece, esp. Peloponnesus ! Palace centers at Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes (also exported to Knossos on Crete) ! ! c. 1450–1200 BCE The Peloponnesus

Linear B

! The Palace of Nestor at Pylos Palace of Nestor, Pylos - throne room Palace of Nestor, Pylos - courtyard Palace of Nestor, Pylos – Lyre Player Palace of Nestor, Pylos - throne room Pylos – Bay of Navarino Linear B

! Mycenae (Mycene) The Peloponnesus

M Danuvius a R s r O o g I

in u R

e MOESIAs FE r A IN D SUPERIOR MOESI

US AEM H NS MO

Hebrus

I A BOSPHORUS R A C A x H io T I s RHODOPE L MONS PROPONTIS L ONI IA Y CED A YN MA Thasos ITH R B

I C CHALCATHOS U MONS MYSIA

M OLYMPUS Lemnos A P MONS HELLESPONTUS S R I I O N A M I N Lesbos A E D E P U O mos I er Corcyra R S L H AEGAEUM I U s M THESSALIA S

S u

O Scyrus

o l N Euboea L

e Y IONIUM MARE D

CRETA

INTERNUM MARE

Lion’s gate reconstruction Lion’s gate today: note Cyclopean Stones View from behind Lion’s gate Mycenae – Demons? Mycenae – Palace Megaron

Cf. Megaron at Pylos, Palace of Nestor Mask of Agamemnon, etc.

Gold lion rhyton Mycenae – gold cup

Palace of Nestor, Pylos – Linear B Tablet c. 1200 BC Linear B

Fully syllabic By Matthew Hartnett, St Mark’s School

Linear B Pylos The Tripod Tablet Linear B Pylos The Tripod Tablet Linear B Pylos The Tripod Tablet Indo European Greek is an Indo European Language ! Semitic

Principal modern descendants are Hebrew and Arabic ! Western Semitic

The Phoenician Script ! The Phoenician Script ! a “consonantal alphabet”? or ! an “odd and compressed syllabary” with unspeciﬁed vowels !