Category: Tablets

Linear B Tablets, Knossos, Pylos, Mycenae, Thebes, Chania, Iklaina, translation of tablets, syllabograms, ideograms, Arcado-Cypriot, Linear C

Restoration the full text of the badly damaged Linear A tablet from Gournia


Restoration the full text of the badly damaged Linear A tablet from Gournia:




Here we see my restoration of the full text of the badly damaged Linear A tablet from Gournia, which includes line 0. at the top and line 4. at the bottom. This is just a personal interpretation, which may stray from the actual text of the original tablet... but we cannot really know this. Note that the RECTO (front side) and the VERSO (reverse side) are reversed. If you horizontally flip the VERSO it fits correctly into the RECTO. So this means that we have to read the text on the RECTO from left to right (dextrograde) and on the VERSO from right to left (sinistrograde). The reconstruction certainly makes sense. It was hard work, but worth it and fun!
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severely damaged Linear A fragment from Gournia


severely damaged Linear A fragment from Gournia:





To the best of my ability, I have attempted to read the syllabograms and ideograms on the severely damaged Linear A fragment from Gournia, but it is so badly damaged that it is hard to tell if I have interpreted all the signs well enough. At any rate, the interpretations I have attempted hang together.






	


	
	






	
	

		
Restoration of the top of Minoan Linear Tablet ZA 20 (Zakros) REVISED:
	


	

		

Restoration of the top of Minoan Linear Tablet ZA 20 (Zakros) REVISED:

Since the last post on my original restoration of the top of Minoan Linear Tablet ZA 20 (Zakros), I have reconsidered the hypothetical text, and I have come up with this more plausible restoration:

Linear A tablet ZA 20 Zakros top restored

The running decipherment reads as follows:

1. a field
2. of 20 bales of einkorn wheat
3. and 20 bales of emmer wheat
4. and 65 bales of barley
5. all measured by bales
6. 4 bales of MI ?? ZA (unknown) + 1 bale with wheat
7. and 12 bales of wheat with 2 spin-offs of chaff from the wheat 
8. totals for all the above = 130

This restoration is the basis of an article on it soon to be published on academia.edu. I shall keep you posted. 



	


	
	






	
	

		
Richard Janke’s conjectural restoration of the missing top of Linear A tablet ZA 20
	


	

		

Richard Janke’s conjectural restoration of the missing top of Linear A tablet ZA 20:

Since the top of Linear A tablet ZA 20 is missing, I boldly took it upon myself to restore the top of this tablet. My restoration is of course conjectural, but I am quite sure it is something like what the original must have looked like, because line 6 mentions sitetu and line 7 situ. These are variants on the same Linear A word, situ, which just so happens to look a great deal like the Linear B word sito, which means “wheat”. SO it is natural to suppose that in fact situ and sitetu also mean “wheat” in Linear A.  

linear-a-tablet-za-20-zakros-restored

Here is the decipherment of the entire Linear A tablet ZA 20 (Zakrs), including the restored lines 1.-7.

1. kireta2 11 = 11 units (probably bales) of barley
2. dideru 42 = 42 bales of einkorn wheat
3. dideru 30 qerie 22 = 30 bales of einkorn wheat (2) and 22 bales of another type of grain (3)
4. qerie 6 = 6 bales of grain type (3)
5. ro? + direza- = (dide)ro [left truncated] = einkorn wheat = didero + direza = a unit of measurement
6. se + mi? +ru? 4 sitetu 1 = “se” is the last syllabogram, i.e. syllable of the word direza+se, which implies the word is inflected.
7. situ 6 te*123 12 rumitase 2 = 6 bales of wheat + 12 bales or units of te*123 (unknown) 2 units of chaff  
8. kura 120 = kura = TOTAL of all items listed in lines 1.-7.

No one has ever attempted to decipher even the extant bottom portion of Linear A tablet ZA 20 (Zakros) before, let alone to restore the missing lines in the missing top portion of this tablet.



	


	
	






	
	

		
Translation of Linear B tablet KN 571 Rb 01 by Rita Roberts
	


	

		

Translation of Linear B tablet KN 571 Rb 01 by Rita Roberts:

KN 571 R b 01

This is the very last tablet Rita Roberts has had to translate to fulfill the requirements of her third year of university.  In 3 years she has translated at least 250 tablets. Congratulations are in order! 



	


	
	








	
	

		
Translation of Linear B Tablets KN 515 R r 11 & KN 516 Rs 12 by Rita Roberts
	


	

		

Translation of Linear B Tablets KN 515 R r 11 & KN 516 Rs 12 by Rita Roberts:

Linear B tablets KN 515 & 516



	


	
	








	
	

		
Translation of Knossos tablet KN LD (1) 573 by Rita Roberts
	


	

		

Translation of Knossos tablet KN LD (1) 573 by Rita Roberts:

Knossos tablet KN 573 textiles

This tablet presents several difficulties. While a literal translation is adequate, we must use our imagination to render a fluent translation. For instance, in line 1.we translate “delivered free” as “tariff free”, since in line 2. the cloth is “foreign”, i.e. “imported”, as well as being “decorated”  or more accurately “embroidered”. In addition in 3. the supersyllabogram WI can mean either simply “leather” or “made of leather”, implying that there is a piece made of leather to go with the imported embroidered cloth. So as we can see, this is far from being a straightforward translation. It is in fact one of the most difficult tablets Rita Roberts has ever had to translate. 



	


	
	






	
	

		
Translation of Linear B tablet, KN 581a R ? 03, Knossos, by Rita Roberts
	


	

		

Translation of Linear B tablet, KN 581a R ? 03, Knossos, by Rita Roberts:

KN 581 a R 03



	


	
	






	
	

		
Translation of Linear B tablet, KN 586 Rm 11, Knossos,  by Rita Roberts
	


	

		

Translation of Linear B tablet, KN 586 Rm 11, Knossos,  by Rita Roberts:

KN 586 M m 11

This is far from being a straightforward tablet to decipher. It presents at least 3 difficulties:

1. the presence of the relatively rare logogram RIYO (see the tablet above) in the putative personal name ARIYOA.
2. the presence of digamma (#) twice in the name on line 2, which could be either the putative personal name, KOWOWEYA or RUWOWEYA, depending on how one is able to decipher the first left-truncated syllabogram on that line, which could be either KO or RU.
3. the presence of  what appears to be the rare syllabogram JU at the end of the second line, but we cannot even be sure of that.

The tablet is damaged enough to raise the questions in 2. and 3. above.



	


	
	






	
	

		
Rita Roberts, translation of Knossos Linear B tablet, KN 556 R o 01
	


	

		

Rita Roberts, translation of Knossos Linear B tablet, KN 556 R o 01:

KN 556 R o 01




	


	
	






	
	

		
Rita Roberts, translation of Knossos Linear B tablet, KN 555 R o 05
	


	

		

Rita Roberts, translation of Knossos Linear B tablet, KN 555 R o 05:

KN 555 R o 05




	


	
	








	
	

		
Translation of Linear B tablet KN 594 R b 10 on textiles by Rita Roberts
	


	

		

Translation of Linear B tablet KN 594 R b 10 on textiles by Rita Roberts:


Linear B tablet KN 574 R b 10



	


	
	












	
	

		
translation of Knossos tablet fragments KN 775 M g 03 & KN 776b M f 01 by Rita Roberts
	


	

		

translation of Knossos tablet fragments KN 775 M g 03 & KN 776b M f 01 by Rita Roberts:




Knossos tablets KN 775 M 6 03 & KN 776b M f 01