Standard keyboard template layout for the Mycenaean Linear B font by Curtis Clark:NOTE: the keyboard template layout for Mycenaean Linear B as posted here is only 620 pixels wide, to conform to the narrow exigencies for images post on Word Press. The full format standard keyboard layout, which is 1200 pixels wide, is the only one which is truly legible. You will need to request it from me here: vallance22@zoho.com You can download the Mycenaean Linear B font by Curtis Clark here:
The standard keyboard template layout for the Mycenaean Linear B font by Curtis Clark is beautifully laid out and very logical. The keyboard layout makes all of the following quite clear. But I repeat all of the key sequences here for your benefit. For the vowels A E I O U, type q w e r t, and for the homophones: tiya pte ai riyo siya, type: Q W E R T For the homophones: ha nwa pu2 rai riya, type: ! @ # $ % For the homophones: dwe kwe, type: + = For the homophones: dwo two, type: | \ I have made it even easier for you to use it by assigning mnemonics to several syllabogram series, as follows: You will notice that to the immediate RIGHT of the DA DE DI DO DU series of syllabograms I have typed DA, then to the immediate right of the TA TE TI TO TU series of syllabograms I have typed TA. That makes it very easy to remember which series of keys you need to type for the DA series of syllabograms, and which for the TA, i.e. A S D F G for DA a s d f g for TA DA + TA = DATA! The same applies for the NA and SA series, for which the mnemonics are NASA. Thus, you type: Z X C V B for NA + z x c v b for SA + Likewise, for MA ME MI MO MU H J K L : and for PA PE PI PO PU h j k l ; A few pointers: [1] To type the syllabograms QA QE QI and QO, you type Y U I O [2] To type the syllabograms ZE ZE ZO and the homophone DWO, you type P { } | [3] To type the syllabograms WE WE WI WO, you type y u i o [4] To type the syllabograms YA YE YO and the homophone TWO, you type p [ ] \ Even though it takes a little getting used to, it is all very logical.
Tag: Font
You do not want to miss this Fantastic Twitter account, FONT design company of the highest calibre!
You do not want to miss this Fantastic Twitter account, FONT design company of the highest calibre! I have just fortuitously come across what I consider to be the most fantastic font site or Twitter account on newly designed, mostly serif, extremely attractive fonts, some of which they offer for FREE!!! You simply have to check them out. Click here to follow typo graphias:Here is a composite of some of the astonishing font graphics on this amazing site!
Serendipitously happening on this account put a bee in my bonnet. I simply had to send you all on the fast track to downloading and installing the Minoan Linear A, Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot Linear C + several beautiful ancient Greek fonts, of which the most heavily used is SPIonic, used for Ionic, Attic, Hellenistic and New Testament writings and documents. Hre are the links where you can download them, and much more besides! Colour coded keyboard layout for the Mycenaean Linear B Syllabary:
includes font download sites for the SpIonic & LinearB TTFs
The first ever keyboard map for the Arcado-Cypriot Linear C TTF font!
which also includes the direct link to the only site where you can download the beautiful Arcado-Cypriot Linear B font, here:
How to download and use the Linear B font by Curtis Clark:
Easy guide to the Linear B font by Curtis Clark, keyboard layout:
What’s more, you can read my full-length extremely comprehensive article, An Archaeologist’s Translation of Pylos Tablet Py TA 641-1952 (Ventris) by Rita Roberts, in Archaeology and Science (Belgrade) ISSN 1452-7448, Vol. 10 (2014), pp. 133-161, here:
in which I introduce to the world for the first time the phenomenon of the decipherment of what I designate as the supersyllabogram, which no philologist has ever properly identified since the initial decipherment of Mycenaean Linear B by Michael Ventris in 1952. Unless we understand the significance of supersyllabograms in Linear B, parts or sometimes even all of at least 800 Linear B tablets from Knossos alone cannot be properly deciphered. This lacuna stood out like a sore thumb for 64 years, until I finally identified, categorized and deciphered all 36 (!) of them from 2013 to 2014. This is the last and most significant frontier in the complete decipherment of Mycenaean Linear B. Stay posted for my comprehensive, in-depth analysis and synopsis of The Decipherment of Supersyllabograms in Linear B, which is to appear early in 2017 in Vol. 11 of Archaeology and Science. This ground-breaking article, which runs from page 73 to page 108 (35 pages on a 12 inch page size or at least 50 pages on a standard North American page size) constitutes the final and definitive decipherment of 36 supersyllabograms, accounting for fully 59 % of all Linear B syllabograms. Without a full understanding of the application of supersyllabograms on Linear B tablets, it is impossible to fully decipher at least 800 Linear B tablets from Knossos.
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Colour-coded keyboard layout & FONT for the Mycenaean Linear B syllabary
Colour-coded keyboard layout & FONT for the Mycenaean Linear B syllabary:I originally posted this colour-coded keyboard layout for the Mycenaean Linear B syllabary in 2014, but it bears re-posting, because it is so very helpful to people learning how to type in Mycenaean Linear B. Simply right-click on the image of the keyboard above, then SAVE AS + whatever name you wish to give it, then print it out on your printer. NOTE that it is vital that you download the Mycenaean Linear B FONT before you can even use the Linear B keyboard! You can download the font from here:
You can also download several ancient Greek fonts from the same site, but I highly recommend you select the SPIonic font, as it is the one which was used by the Athenians in the fifth century BCE. However, the font as downloaded appears in both upper and lower case and features all of the Greek accents. The original Athenian alphabet was in upper case only.
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PART B: The application of geometric co-ordinate analysis (GCA) to parsing scribal hands in Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B
PART B: The application of geometric co-ordinate analysis (GCA) to parsing scribal hands in Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B Introduction: I propose to demonstrate how geometric co-ordinate analysis of Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B can confirm, isolate and identify with precision the X Y co-ordinates of single syllabograms, homophones and ideograms in their respective standard fonts, and in the multiform cursive “deviations” from the invariable on the X Y axis, the point of origin (0,0) on the X Y plane, and how it can additionally parse the running co-ordinates of each character, syllabogram or ideogram of any of the cursive scribal hands in each of these scripts. This procedure effectively epitomizes the “style” of any scribe’s hand, just as we would nowadays characterize any individual’s handwriting style. This hypothesis is at the cutting edge in the application of graphology a.k.a epigraphy exclusively based on the scientific procedure of artificial intelligence geometric co-ordinate analysis (AIGCA) of scribal hands, irrespective of the script under analysis. If supercomputer or ultra high speed Internet generated artificial intelligence geometric co-ordinate analysis of Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform is a relatively straightforward matter, as I have summarized it in my first article [1], that of Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B, both of which share more complex additional geometric constructs in common, appears to be somewhat more of a challenge, at least at first glance. When we come to apply this technique to more complex geometric forms, the procedure appears to be significantly more difficult to apply. Or does it? The answer to that question lies embedded in the question itself. The question is neither closed nor open, but simply rhetorical. It contains its own answer. It is in fact the hi-tech approach which decisively and instantaneously resolves any and all difficulties in every last case of geometric co-ordinate analysis of any script, syllabary or indeed any alphabet, ancient or modern. It is neatly summed up by the phrase, “computer-based analysis”, which effectively and entirely dispenses with the necessity of having to parse scribal hands or handwriting by manual visual means or analysis at all. Prior to the advent of the Internet, modern supercomputers and artificial intelligence(AI), geometric co-ordinate analysis of any phenomenon, let alone scribal hands, or handwriting post AD (anno domini), would have been a tedious mathematical process hugely consuming of time and human resources, which is why it was never attempted then. The groundbreaking historical epigraphic studies of Emmett L. Bennet Jr. and Prof. John Chadwick (1966): All this is not to say that some truly remarkable analyses of scribal hands in Mycenaean Linear B were not realized in the twentieth century. Although such studies have been few and far between, one in particular stands out as pioneering. I refer of course to Emmett L. Bennet Jr.’s remarkable paper, “Miscellaneous Observations on the Forms and Identities of Linear B Ideograms” (1966) [2], in which he single-handedly undertook a convincing epigraphic analysis of Mycenaean Linear B through manual visual observation alone, without the benefit of supercomputers or the ultra-high speed internet which we have at our fingertips in the twenty-first century. His study centred on the ideograms for wine (*131), (olive) oil (*130), *100 (man), *101 (man) & *102 (woman) rather than on any of the Linear B syllabograms as such. The second, by John Chadwick in the same volume, focused on the ideogram for (olive) oil. As contributors to the same Colloquium, they essentially shared the same objectives in their epigraphic analyses. Observations which apply to Bennett’s study of scribal hands are by and large reflected by Chadwick’s. Just as we find in modern handwriting analysis, both Bennett and Chadwick concentrated squarely on the primary characteristics of the scribal hands of a considerable number of scribes. Both researchers were able to identify, isolate and classify the defining characteristics of the various scribal hands and the attributes common to each and every scribe, accomplishing this remarkable feat without the benefit of super high speed computer programming. Although Prof. Bennett Jr. did not systematically enumerate his observations on the defining characteristics of particular scribal hands in Mycenaean Linear B, we shall do so now, in order to cast further light on his epigraphic observations of Linear B ideograms, and to situate these in the context of the twenty-first century hi tech process of geometric co-ordinate analysis to scribal hands in Mycenaean Linear B. I have endeavoured to extrapolate the rather numerous variables Bennett assigned determining the defining characteristics of various scribal hands in Linear B. They run as follows (though they do not transpire in this order in his paper): (a) The number of strokes (vertical, horizontal and diagonal – right or left – vary significantly from one scribal hand to the next. This particular trait overrides most others, and must be kept uppermost in mind. Bennett characterizes this phenomenon as “opposition between varieties”. For more on the concept of ‘oppositions’, see my observations on the signal theoretical contribution by Prof. L. R. Palmer below. (b) According to Bennet, while some scribes prefer to print their ideograms, others use a cursive hand. But the very notion of “printing” as a phenomenon per se cannot possibly be ascribed to the Linear B tablets. Bennet’s so-called analysis of scribal “printing” styles I do not consider as printing at all, but rather as the less common scribal practice of precise incision, as opposed to the more free-form cursive style adopted by most Linear B scribes. Incision of characters, i.e. Linear B, syllabograms, logograms and ideograms, predates the invention of printing in the Western world by at least two millennia, and as such cannot be attributed to printing as we understand the term. Bennett was observing the more strictly geometric scribal hands among those scribes who were more meticulous than others in adhering more or less strictly to the dictates of linear, circular and other normalized attributes of geometry, as outlined in the economy of geometric characteristics of Linear B in Figure 1: Click to ENLARGEBut even the more punctilious scribes were ineluctably bound to deviate from what we have established as the formal modern Linear B font, the standard upon which geometric co-ordinate analysis depends, and from which all scribal hands in both Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B, the so-called “printed” or cursive, must necessarily derive or deviate. (c) as a corollary of Bennet’s observation (b), some cursive hands are sans serif, others serif. (d) similarly, the length of any one or any combination of strokes, sans serif or serif, can clearly differentiate one scribal hand from another. (e) as a corollary of (c), some serif hands are left-oriented, while the majority are right-oriented, as illustrated here in Figure 2: Click to ENLARGE
(f) As a function of (d) above, the “slant of the strokes” Bennett refers to is the determinant factor in the comparison between one scribal hand and any number of others, and as such constitutes one of the primary variables in his manual visual analytic approach to scribal hands. (g) In some instances, some strokes are entirely absent, whether or not accidentally or (un)intentionally. (h) Sometimes, elements of each ideogram under discussion (wine, olive oil and man, woman or human) touch, just barely touch, retouch, cross, just cross, recross or fully (re)cross one another. According to Bennet, these sub-variables can often securely identify the exact scribal hand attributed to them. (i) Some strokes internal to each of the aforementioned ideograms appear to be partially unconnected to others, in the guise of a deviance from the “norm” as defined by Bennett in particular, although I myself am unable to ascertain which style of ideogram is the “norm”, whatever it may be, as opposed to those styles which diverge from it, i.e. which I characterize as mathematically deviant from the point of origin (0,0) on the X Y co-ordinate axis on the two-dimensional Cartesian plane. Without the benefit of AIGCA, Bennett could not possibly have made this distinction. Whereas any partially objective determination of what constitutes the “norm” in any manual scientific study not finessed by high speed computers was pretty much bound to be arbitrary, the point of origin (0,0) on the X Y axis of the Cartesian two-dimensional plane functions as a sound scientific invariable from which we define the geometrically pixelized points of departure by means of ultra high speed computer computational analysis (AIGCA). (j) The number of strokes assigned to any ideogram in Linear B can play a determinant role. One variation in particular of the ideogram for wine contains only half the number of diagonal strokes as the others. This Bennett takes to be the deviant ideogram for must, rather than wine itself, and he has reasonably good grounds to make this assertion. Likewise, any noticeable variation in the number of strokes in other ideograms (such as those for olive oil and humans) may also be indicators of specific deviant meanings possibly assigned to each of them, whatever these might be. But we shall never know. With reference to the many variants for “man” or human (*101), I refer you to Bennett’s highly detailed chart on page 22 [3]. It must be conceded that AI geometric co-ordinate analysis is incapable of making a distinction between the implicit meanings of variants of the same ideogram, where the number of strokes comprising said ideogram vary, as in the case of the ideogram for wine. But this caveat only applies if Bennet’s assumption that the ideogram for wine with fewer strokes than the standard actually means (wine) must. Otherwise, the distinction is irrelevant to the parsing by means of AIGCA of this ideogram in particular or of any other ideogram in Linear B for which the number of strokes vary, unless corroborating evidence can be found to establish variant meanings for each and every ideogram on a case by case basis. Such a determination can only be made by human analysis. (k) As Bennett has it, the spatial disposition of the ideograms, in other words, how much space each ideogram takes up on the various tablets, some of them consuming more space than others, is a determinant factor. He makes a point of stressing that some ideograms are incised within a very “cramped and confined space”. The practice of cramming as much text as possible into an allotted minimum of remaining space on tablets was commonplace. Pylos tablet TA 641-1952 (Ventris) is an excellent example of this ploy so many scribes resorted to when they discovered that they had used up practically all of the space remaining on any particular tablet, such as we see here on Pylos tablet 641-1952 (Figure 3): Click to ENLARGE
Yet cross comparative geometric analysis of the relative size of the “font” or cursive scribal hand of this tablet and all others in any ancient script, hieroglyphic, syllabary, alphabetical or otherwise, distinctly reveals that neither the “font” nor cursive scribal hand size have any effect whatsoever on the defining set of AIGCA co-ordinates — however minuscule (as in Linear B) or enormous (as in cuneiform) — of any character, syllabogram or ideogram in any script whatsoever. It simply is not a factor. (l) Some ideograms appear to Bennett “almost rudimentary” because of the damaged state of certain tablets. It is of course not possible to determine which of these two factors, cramped space or damage, impinge on the rudimentary outlines of some of the same ideograms, be these for wine (must), (olive) oil or humans, although it is quite possible that both factors, at least according to Bennet, play a determinant rôle in this regard. But in fact they cannot and do not, for the following reasons: 1. So-called “rudimentary” incisions may simply be the result of end-of-workday exhaustion or carelessness or alternatively of remaining cramped space; 2. As such, they necessarily detract from an accurate determination of which scribe’s hand scribbled one or more rudimentary incisions on different tablets, even by means of AIGCA; 3. On the other hand, the intact incisions of the same scribe (if they are present) may obviate the necessity of having to depend on rudimentary scratchings. But the operative word here is if they are present. Not only that, even in the presence of intact incisions by said scribe, it all depends on the total number of discrete incisions made, i.e. on the number of different syllabograms, logograms, ideograms, word dividers (the vertical line in Linear B), numerics and other doodles. We shall more closely address this phenomenon below. (m) Finally, some scribes resort to more elaborate cursive penning of syllabograms, logograms, ideograms, the Linear B word dividers, numerics and other marks, although it is open to serious question whether or not the same scribe sometimes indulges in such embellishments, and sometimes does not. This throws another wrench into the accurate identification of unique scribal hands, even with AIGCA. The aforementioned variables as noted though not explicitly enumerated by Bennett summarize how he and Chadwick alike envisioned the prime characteristics or attributes, if you like, the variables, of various scribal hands. Each and every one of these attributes constitutes of course a variable or a variant of an arbitrary norm, whatever it is supposed to be. The primary problem is that, if we are to lend credence to the numerous distinctions Bennet ascribes to scribal hands, there are simply far too many of these variables. When one is left with no alternative than to parse scribal hands by manual visual means, as were Bennet and Chadwick, there is just no way to dispense with a plethora of variations or with the arbitrary nature of them. And so the whole procedure (manual visual inspection) is largely invalidated from a strictly scientific point of view. In light of my observations above, as a prelude to our thesis, the application of artificial geometric co-ordinate analysis (AIGCA) to scribal hands in Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B, I wish to draw your undivided attention to the solid theoretical foundation laid for research into Linear B graphology or epigraphy by Prof. L.R. Palmer, one of the truly exceptional pioneers in Linear B linguistic research, who set the tone in the field to this very day, by bringing into sharp focus the single theoretical premise — and he was astute enough to isolate one and one only — upon which any and all research into all aspects of Mycenaean Linear B must be firmly based. I find myself compelled to quote a considerable portion of Palmer’s singularly sound foundational scientific hypothesis underpinning the ongoing study of Linear which he laid in The Interpretation of Mycenaean Greek Texts [4]. (All italics below mine). Palmer contends that.... The importance of the observation of a series of ‘oppositions’ at a given place in the formulaic structure may be further illustrated... passim... A study of handwriting confirms this conclusion. The analysis removes the basis for a contention that the tablets of these sets were written at different times and list given herdsmen at different stations. It invalidates the conclusion that the texts reflect a system of transhumance (see p. 169 ff.). We may insist further on the principle of economy of theses in interpretation... passim... See pp. 114 ff. for the application of this principle, with a reduction in the number of occupational categories. New texts offer an opportunity for the most rigorous application of the principle of economy. Here the categories set up for the interpretation of existing materials will stand in the relation of ‘predictions’ to the new texts, and the new material provides a welcome opportunity for testing not only the decipherment but also interpretational methods. The first step will be to interpret the new data within the categorical framework already set up. Verificatory procedures will then be devised to test the results which emerge. If they prove satisfactory, no furthers categories will be added. The number of hypotheses set up to explain a given set of facts is an objective measure of the ‘arbitrary’, and explanations can be graded on a numerical scale. A completely ‘arbitrary’ explanation is one which requires x hypotheses for y facts. It follows that the most ‘economical’ explanation is the least ‘arbitrary’. I could not have put it better myself. The more economical the explanation, in other words, the underlying hypothesis, the less arbitrary it must necessarily be. In light of the fact that AIGCA reduces the hypothetical construct for the identification of scribal style to a single invariable, the point of origin (0,0) on the two-dimensional Cartesian X Y plane, we can reasonably assert that this scientific procedure practically eliminates such arbitrariness. We are reminded of Albert Einstein’s supremely elegant equation E = Mc2 in the general theory of relatively, which reduces all variables to a single constant. Yet, what truly astounds is the fact that Palmer was able to reach such conclusions in an age prior to the advent of supercomputers and the ultra high speed Internet, an age when the only means of verifying any such hypothesis was the manual visual. In light of Palmer’s incisive observations and the pinpoint precision with which he draws his conclusion, it should become apparent to any researcher in graphology or epigraphy delving into scribal hands in our day and age that all of Bennet’s factors are variables of geometric patterns, all of which in turn are mathematical deviations from the point of origin (0,0) on the two-dimensional X Y Cartesian axis. As such Bennet’s factors or variables, established as they were by the now utterly outdated process of manual visual parsing of the differing styles of scribal hands, may be reduced to one variable and one only through the much more finely tuned fully automated computer-generated procedure of geometric co-ordinate analysis. When we apply the technique of AI geometric co-ordinate analysis to the identification, isolation and classification of scribal hands in Linear B, we discover, perhaps not to our surprise, that all of Bennet’s factors (a to m) can be reduced to geometric departures from a single constant, namely, the point of origin (0,0) on the X Y axis of a two-dimensional Cartesian plane, which alone delineates the “style” of any single scribe, irrespective of the script under analysis, where style is defined as a function of said analysis, and nothing more. It just so happens that another researcher has chosen to take a similar, yet unusually revealing, approach to manual visual analysis of scribal hands in 2015. I refer to Mrs. Rita Robert’s eminently insightful overview of scribal hands at Pylos, a review of which I shall undertake in light of geometric co-ordinate analysis in my next article. Geometric co-ordinate analysis via supercomputer or the ultra high speed Internet: Nowadays, geometric co-ordinate analysis can be finessed by any supercomputer plotting CGA co-ordinates down to the very last pixel at lightning speed. The end result is that any of a number of unique scribal hands or of handwriting styles using ink, ancient on papyrus or modern on paper, can be identified, isolated and classified in the blink of an eye, usually beyond a reasonable doubt. However strange as it may seem prima facie, I leave to the very last the application of this practically unimpeachable procedure to the analysis and the precise isolation of the unique style of the single scribal hand responsible for the Edwin Smith papyrus, as that case in particular yields the most astonishing outcome of all. Geometric co-ordinate analysis: Comparison between Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B: Researchers and linguists who delve into the syllabaries of Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B are cognizant of the fact that the syllabograms in each of these syllabaries considerably overlap, the majority of them (almost) identical in both, as attested by Figures 4 & 5: Click to ENLARGE
By means of supercomputers and/or through the medium of the ultra-high speed Internet, geometric co-ordinate analysis (AIGCA) of all syllabograms (nearly) identical in both of syllabaries can be simultaneously applied with proximate equal validity to both. Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B share a geometric economy which ensures that they both are readily susceptible to AI geometric co-ordinate analysis, as previously illustrated in Figure 1, especially in the application of said procedure to the standardized font of Linear B, as seen here in Figure 6: Click to ENLARGE
And what applies to the modern standard Linear B font inevitably applies to the strictly mathematical deviations of the cursive hands of any number of scribes composing tablets in either syllabary (Linear A or Linear B). Even more convincingly, AIGCA via supercomputer or the ultra high speed Internet is ideally suited to effecting a comparative analysis and of parsing scribal hands in both syllabaries, with the potential of demonstrating a gradual drift from the cursive styles of scribes composing tablets in the earlier syllabary, Minoan Linear A to the potentially more evolved cursive hands of scribes writing in the latter-day Mycenaean Linear B. AICGA could be ideally poised to reveal a rougher or more maladroit style in Minoan Linear A common to the earlier scribes, thus potentially revealing a tendency towards more streamlined cursive hands in Mycenaean Linear B, if it ever should prove to be the case. AIGCA could also prove the contrary. Either way, the procedure yields persuasive results. This hypothetical must of course be put squarely to the test, even according to the dictates of L.R. Palmer, let alone my own, and confirmed by recursive AICGA of numerous (re-)iterations of scribal hands in each of these syllabaries. Unfortunately, the corpus of Linear A tablets is much smaller than that of the Mycenaean, such that cross-comparative AIGCA between the two syllabaries will more than likely prove inconclusive at best. This however does not mean that cross-comparative GCA should not be adventured for these two significantly similar scripts. Geometric co-ordinate analysis of Mycenaean Linear B: A propos of Mycenaean Linear B, geometric co-ordinate analysis is eminently suited to accurately parsing its much wider range of scribal hands. An analysis of the syllabogram for the vowel O reveals significant variations of scribal hands in Mycenaean Linear B, as illustrated in Figure 2 above, repeated here for convenience:
By zeroing in on Knossos tablet KN 935 G d 02 (Figure 9) we ascertain that the impact of the complexities of alternate geometric forms on AIGCA is all the more patently obvious: Click to ENLARGE
When applied to the parsing of every last syllabogram, homophone, logogram, ideogram, numeric, Linear B word divider and any other marking of any kind on any series of Linear B tablets, ultra high speed geometric co-ordinate analysis can swiftly extrapolate a single scribe’s style from tablet KN 935 G d 02 in Figure 9, revealing with relative ease which (largely) intact tablets from Knossos share the same scribal hand with this one in particular, which serves as our template sample. We can be sure that there are several tablets for which the scribal hand is in common with KN 935 G d 02. What’s more, extrapolating from this tablet as template all other tablets which share the same scribal hand attests to the fact that AIGCA can perform the precise same operation on any other tablet whatsoever serving in its turn as the template for another scribal hand, and so on and so on. Take any other (largely) intact tablet of the same provenance (Knossos), for which the scribal hand has previously been determined by AIGCA to be different from that of KN 935 G d 02, and use that tablet as your new template for the same cross-comparative AICGA procedure. And voilà, you discover that the procedure has extrapolated yet another set of tablets for which there is another scribal hand, in other words, a different scribal style, in the sense that we have already defined style. But can what works like a charm for tablets from Knossos be applied with relative success to Linear B tablets of another provenance, notably Pylos? The difficulty here lies in the size of the corpus of Linear B tablets of a specific provenance. While AIGCA is bound to yield its most impressive results with the enormous trove of some 3,000 + (largely) intact Linear B tablets from Knossos, the procedure is susceptible of greater statistical error when applied to a smaller corpus of tablets, such as from Pylos. It all comes down to the principle of inverse ratios. And where the number of extant tablets from other sources is very small, as is the case with Mycenae and Thebes, the whole procedure of AIGCA is seriously open to doubt. Still, AIGCA is eminently suited to clustering in one geometric set all tablets sharing the same scribal hand, irrespective of the number of tablets and of the subset of all scribal hands parsed through this purely scientific procedure. Conclusion: We can therefore safely conclude that ultra high speed artificial intelligence geometric co-ordinate analysis (AIGCA), through the medium of the supercomputer or on the ultra high speed Internet, is well suited to identifying, isolating and classifying the various styles of scribal hands in both Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B. In Part C, we shall move on to the parsing of scribal hands in Arcado-Cypriot Linear C, of the early hieratic handwriting of the scribe responsible for the Edwin Smith Papyrus (1600 BCE) and ultimately of the vast number of handwriting styles and fonts of today. References and Notes: [1] The application of geometric co-ordinate analysis (GCA) to parsing scribal hands: Part A: Cuneiform https://www.academia.edu/17257438/The_application_of_geometric_co-ordinate_analysis_GCA_to_parsing_scribal_hands_Part_A_Cuneiform [2] “Miscellaneous Observations on the Forms and Identities of Linear B Ideograms” pp. 11-25 in, Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, © 1966. Palmer, L.R. & Chadwick, John, eds. First paperback edition 2011. ISBN 978-1-107-40246-1 (pbk.) [3] Op. Cit., pg. 22 [4] pp. 33-34 in Introduction. Palmer, L.R. The Interpretation of Mycenaean Texts. Oxford: Oxford at the Clarendon Press, © 1963. Special edition for Sandpiper Book Ltd., 1998. ix, 488 pp. ISBN 0-19-813144-5
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Learn How to Type Linear B FAST! – well, at least much faster than usual: Click to ENLARGE
Learn How to Type Linear B FAST! - well, at least much faster than usual: Click to ENLARGETypically, keyboard layouts for Mycenaean Linear B are so abstruse that they actually confuse us more than they help us. I hope to remedy this messy state of affairs with this brand new keyboard layout for Mycenaean Linear B which I have just devised, with its own mnemonics and other guidelines for easy learning. Here are the keys to this keyboard layout: KEYS: Your first time round, you must download & install the Linear B Font by Curtis Clark, here: Click to go to the site and download the font:
Once you have installed the Linear B Font, you can then proceed to type anything you like in Linear B, by following these steps in order. (a) First you must change your Font from your default (Times New Roman, Georgia etc.) to Linear B (b) Next, you should increase the size of your Linear B font 2 points up from your default font size in (a). Thus, if you default font size is 12 points, you should set the Linear B font to 14 points. You may also need to set the Linear B font to BOLD if it does not appear clearly enough to your satisfaction. This is up to you. (c) SYLLABOGRAMS: Syllabograms: If you start typing any linear series of 5 q w e r t y keyboard keys from the left to the right, you will be typing the entire series of a particular group of syllabograms from [consonant + a + e + i + o + u], as illustrated in the examples here: If you type A S D F G, you will automatically get DA DE DI DO DU. Try it! If you type a s d f g, you will automatically get TA TE TI TO TU. If you type Z X C V B, you will automatically get NA NE NI NO NU. If you type z x c v b, you will automatically get SA SE SI SO SU. Etc. NOTE the mnemonics, DATA & NASA, for the syllabogram series DATA = DA... + TA... and NASA for the syllabogram series NASA = NA... + SA... Think about it for a second or two, and you will get it. From then on in, it will be a cinch for you to type DA... from A... & TA... from a... (DATA) + NA... from Z & SA from z... (NASA). Anyway, it is for me. If you don ’t like using mnemonics (memory reminders, the string on an elephant ’s trunk), you can just skip this part. The only exception to this is the series: q w e r t (lower-case LC), which gives you the 5 vowels in order: a e i o u. Some series of syllabograms are incomplete. In these cases, you do not have to type as far across the keyboard. For example: If you type Y U I O, you will automatically get QA QE QI QO If you type y u i o, you will automatically get WA WE WI WO Examples of actual Linear B text (Latinized): If you type .Vv, you get the word, KONOSO (Knossos) If you type hef, you get the word, PAITO (Phaistos) If you type Ep, you get thew word, AIZA (goat) If you type qXLe[, you get the word, ANEMOIYERIYA (Priestess of the Winds) (d) NUMERICS: These are easy. Once you are in Linear B, 1 = 1, 2 = 2, 3 = 10... 5 = 100 8 = 2,000 etc. The only thing you need to remember is how many times to press each number key to write a large number in Linear B, e.g. for 43,537, type: 0 0 8 7 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 (e) HOMOPHONES: Some series (some of which are also incomplete) yield only homophones. For example: SHIFT 1 2 3 4 5 = ! @ # $ % yield the homophones: ha nwa pu2 rai riya. [ ] \ yield the syllabograms YE & YO + the homophone -two- & when shifted to upper case (UC) { } | yield the syllabograms ZE & ZO + the homophone -dwo- (lower case! LC) You will be typing homophones very rarely; so you don’t really need to learn these keys. Just refer to the chart when you need to type homophones (at a ratio of some 100 syllabograms per homophone, i.e. 100:1) CLOSING THE LINEAR B FONT & SWTICHING BACK TO YOUR DEFAULT FONT: (A) You MUST follow these steps after you have finished typing text in Linear B. (a) SAVE your document immediately in .doc or .docx format! (b) SWITCH to your default font (e.g. Times New Roman or Georgia) and reduce your font size by 2 points (also remove BOLD if you used BOLD to type in Linear B). (c) You may now continue typing in your default font. If Linear B still appears, and your default font does not, you have incorrectly followed this procedure. TO SWITCH BACK TO THE LINEAR B FONT: (B) You MUST follow these steps to switch to the Linear B font, after you have finished typing text in your default font (Times New Roman or...) (a) SAVE your document immediately in .doc or .docx format! (b) SWITCH to the Linear B font and increase your font size by 2 points (also add BOLD if you want your Linear B text to stand out). (c) You may now continue typing in Linear B. If your default font still appears, but Linear B does not, you have incorrectly followed this procedure. Simply alternate from (A) to (B) to switch back and from your default font & Linear B. DO NOT OMIT ANY STEPS! IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TYPE LOGOGRAMS & IDEOGRAMS USING THE LINEAR B FONT. Oh, and don’ t forget to print out this template of the Linear B font, laminate it in plastic and pin it to the wall above your computer for quick reference! I shall illustrate how to insert these in your Linear B text in the next post. Richard
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The First Ever KEYBOARD MAP for the Arcado-Cypriot TTF Font!
The First Ever KEYBOARD MAP for the Arcado-Cypriot TTF Font: Click to ENLARGEThis is the first time ever that anyone has posted the Keyboard Map or the Arcado-Cypriot TTF Font. As such, I reserve all rights for the map. If you wish to use this keyboard map, please feel free to do so, but since it is under international copyright, it is both illegal not to acknowledge the source, and ethical to acknowledge it. Since my copyright stamp is on the map, you will automatically be acknowledging it when you use it. However, anyone erasing the copyright restrictions will be subject to legal procedure. Please respect the work I have put into this map. This month, I shall also release a Keyboard Map for both the Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot Linear C fonts, which will make the task of typing both fonts much easier for students and researchers of Mycenaean Linear B & Arcado-Cypriot Linear C. In order to use the Linear C font, you must first download it at:
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Linear C Font Chart. This is the only site where you can find the Linear C Font in TTF format. All other sites provide it in UNICODE format, which is incompatible with Windows. Thank you Richard
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How to Install and Use the Linear B True Type Font by Curtis Clarke
How to Install and Use the Linear B True Type Font by Curtis Clarke (Click to ENLARGE):If you want to be able to type Linear B with your keyboard, you must first download the font, which you can easily do by scrolling to the bottom of this page to: Friends & Links, to LinearBTTF Font, which will take you to the page where you can download the Linear B Font. You must then install the Font in your Windows Fonts directory. I do not know the procedure for MAC users. Typing the appropriate UC (upper case) or LC (lower case) letter, number or non-alphanumeric character will produce the Linear B syllabogram associated with that character. This takes some getting used to, but in fact, the keyboard layout for Linear B is practical and logical, if you take the time to learn this. For instance, typing q w e r t will yield the Linear B vowels, A E I O U in that order. However, typing Q W E R T yields the Linear B syllabograms, TIYA PTE AI RIYO & SIYA. So be careful! Likewise, a s d f g gives you TA TE TI TO TU, but A S D F G yields DA DE DI DO DU. Anyone who is truly serious about learning Linear B should definitely learn how to type it on the keyboard, as writing it can be messy and arduous. It takes some getting used to, but you will master it eventually. Best of luck. Richard
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How to download & use the Linear B Font by Curtis Clark:
How to download & use the Linear B Font by Curtis Clark:
DOWNLOAD & install the Linear B Font by Curtis Clark:
Unless you download and install the Linear B Font you will not be able to type Linear B on your keyboard, and unless you read the NOTES below, Linear B characters will look far too small when you insert them in a document. To download:
on this Blog, scroll down to the bottom of this page to: Friends & Links & scroll down to: Linear B TTF & click on it to download.
NOTES on the usage of the Linear B font:
1. Whenever you switch from your default Latin font (Times New Roman, Georgia etc.), you will have to change your font size to 26 or 28 points BOLD, if you wish the Linear B text to appear large enough on your keyboard to be easily legible. If you choose anything less than 26 points, some Linear B characters may not display correctly, usually with some strokes missing.
2. Once you have switched to Linear B font, you can use the keyboard guide in the previous post to type Linear B characters (vowels, syllabograms, homophones & logograms) or words, phrases and sentences. With the guide and the Linear B Font install, you will even be able type the entire text of most extant Linear B tablets.
3. There are exceptions, since the Linear B font by Curtis Clark cannot account for most of ideograms in Linear B, of which there are well over 100. Fortunately, these ideograms, for the most part, occur relatively rarely on the tablets. One notable exception is Pylos Tablet 641-1952 (Ventris), the very first tablet Michael Ventris translated in June & July 1952, on which the ideograms for various types of tripods (ti-ri-po-de) frequently recur. The Curtis Clark font (or for that matter any other Linear B/Mycenaean font) cannot account for ideograms such as these.
NOTE:
In cases such as this, you can (if you like) download charts of Linear B ideograms in image formats (e.g. jpeg or PNG), and then crop to the particular ideogram you want to use, resize it to the equivalent of 26 to 28 points, and then insert it into your document at the appropriate position in the Linear B word containing that ideogram, finally switching back to the Linear B font to complete the word. The problem with this, of course, is that it is a time-consuming and awkward procedure. It's up to you. If you have the patience, do it. If you are hosting a Linear B blog, and you want Linear B text to appear professional, you really don't have much of a choice. I don't.
If you wish to access the Linear B Ideograms, proceed as follows:
1. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to Friends & Links and then to UCB Linear B Ideograms, and click to see the chart of Linear B ideograms. Click on the chart of ideograms, click again to open it in its full size, and then right click to save it to your computer. Once you have saved the table of ideograms, you then crop down to the particular ideogram you would like to insert in your Linear B text, and save the cropped ideogram to your computer. Good luck! You'll need it.
Here you see a little demonstration of how to crop a particular ideogram out of the UCB Linear B Ideograms table you have just downloaded. I did it in 3 steps myself, so that I could see the results at each step, but of course, you will take your own approach to cropping down to a single ideogram, in this case, the ideogram for "woman":
Note that I will be explaining & illustrating the use of Linear B logograms and ideograms (annotated) at Progressive Linear B Lessons, Levels 4 & 5 in the winter & spring (of 2014).
4. When you switch back to your default Latin font to type English (or French, German, Italian etc. Etc.) you of course must downsize the font size back to its default, for instance, Times New Roman or Georgia 10-12 points regular (not BOLD).
Summary:
When you switch to the Linear B font, upsize the font size to a minimum of 26-28 points BOLD. When you switch back to your default Latin font, downsize to 10-12 points regular (not BOLD). Recycle this routine as required.
Richard
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Easy Guide to the Keyboard Layout for the Linear B Font by Curtis Clark
Easy Guide to the Keyboard Layout for the Linear B Font by Curtis Clark (Click to ENLARGE):
NOTES on the Easy Guide to the Keyboard Layout for the Linear B Font by Curtis Clark: Once you have downloaded the Linear B Font by Curtis Clark (See the next post for instructions), and have had your first look at it, you will probably be wondering how to make any sense of the keyboard layout. Which alphanumeric keys correspond to which Linear B syllabograms? It all looks like a complete mess. Not to worry. I have taken the trouble and plenty of time to figure it all out for you. You will be hugely relieved to discover that there is a method to the apparent madness of the keyboard layout. The rationale behind the design of the Linear B keyboard is in fact perfectly sound, and (mostly) logical in its own quirky way. Right away, we note that the lowercase (LC) alphanumeric key sequence q w e r t yields the Linear B vowels A E I O U when you have reset your Font to Linear B. Likewise, each standard sequence of Linear B syllabograms, e.g. DA DE DI DO DU, RA RE RI RO RU (and any other Linear B syllabogram sequence) is produced by a corresponding sequence of uppercase (UC) or lowercase (LC) alphanumeric characters. For instance, A S D F G produce DA DE DI DO DU while a s d f g produce TA TE TI TO TU & Z X C V B produce NA NE NI NO NU while z x c v b yield SA SE SI SO SU. Exception: The sequence of alphanumeric characters Y U I O does not produce a complete sequence of Linear B syllaobgrams. Y yields homophone PA2 (Y) while U I O give us QE QI QO. This makes sense, since there are only 3 syllabograms in the Q+ series. Curtis Clark has therefore assigned to the alphanumeric key Y the homophone PA2 (See the keyboard table above for the actual homophone). All of the other alphanumeric key sequences, however short (3 sequential keys), except one, yield corresponding complete series of syllabograms . 2 uppercase (UC) of 5 alphanumeric key sequences yield homophones. These are: (UC) Q E R T which produces the homophones TIYA AI RIYO SIYA, except for W which gives us the syllabogram PTE. So the complete UC series Q W E R T = TIYA PTE AI RIYO SIYA. NOTE: (UC) ! @ # $ % produce homophones only: HA NWA P2 RAI RIYA. 1 lowercase LC) of 4 alphanumeric key sequences yields its corresponding series of 4 syllabograms: y u i o = WE WE WI WO 2 sequences of 3 alphanumeric key sequences yield respectively: (LC) p [ ] = YA YE YO while (UC) P { } = ZA ZE ZO each of which consists of only 3 syllabograms anyway. 2 sets of homophones are represented by LC & UC of the same key: LC = KWE UC + DWE & LC \ TWO UC | DWO (DUO= Linear B 2) Master these guidelines and you have mastered the Linear B keyboard. If you intend to repost this Guide on your site, on any picture board, on Facebook, Twitter or any other Internet services or site, please respect my copyright, since it took me at least 8 hours to produce it along with these helpful notes. Thank you Richard
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