We have a new student of Mycenaean Linear B, our third, Dante Aramideh of Holland

We have a new student of Mycenaean Linear B, our third, Dante Aramideh of Holland:

We have a new student of Mycenaean Linear B, our third, Dante Aramideh of Holland. Here are Dante’s first 2 translations.

 

 

She is 17 years old, and the youngest of our 3 students, the first being Rita Roberts of Crete, who is the senior of the three, and who has been with us since 2014, and who is by far our most advanced student, being as she is in her second year of university studies. Our second student to come on board is Thalassa Farkas of Canada, whose age falls in between that of Dante Aramideh and Rita Roberts. Thalassa is making rapid progress in learning how to decipher Mycenaean Linear B, as attested by her translation of these two tablets:

 

 

Both Dante and Thalassa are familiar with alphabetical ancient Greek, while Rita Roberts is learning it.

9 new Minoan Linear A words under U-WI, all of but 1 of which are probably of proto-Greek origin

9 new Minoan Linear A words under U-WI, all of but 1 of which are probably of proto-Greek origin:

The 9 new Minoan Linear A words under U-WI are all probably of proto-Greek origin. As for those terms beginning with the syllabograms WA & WI, I have come to the conclusion that they all begin with digamma, meaning that digamma is even more common in Minoan Linear A than it is in Mycenaean Linear B. If we take into account that every last one of the Minoan Linear A words beginning with digamma would appear without digamma in Mycenaean Linear A, they all are equivalent to their Mycenaean Linear B and ancient Greek counterparts (the latter having dropped digamma for good). For instance, [3] TERA is almost certainly the ancient volcanic island of Thera, now Santorini, while [5] WAJA is equivalent to archaic Greek aia = earth, land and [7] WIJA is fem. pl. = arrows. The only word I have been unable to satisfactorily decipher is [6], of which I was able to decipher the first 2 syllabograms. You have to read the table to see my translation.

With this, we have come full circle to the end of our remarkable journey towards the decipherment of Minoan Linear A. Now that I have deciphered every last word I believe is of proto-Greek, proto-Hebrew, proto-Semitic or proto-Scythian origin, I have reached a cumulative grand TOTAL of 62 new Minoan Linear A words, expanding my original Minoan Linear A Glossary of 107 words = 21.5% of the total extant Linear B lexicon of 510 terms by my arbitrary count to a TOTAL = 169 words = 33 % of the total Minoan Linear A lexicon, which is exactly the sum and percentage I had predicted! This amounts to what is demonstrably a workable decipherment of the Minoan language, including of its grammar, which had evaded me before.

Now all I have to do is to decipher as many of the 27 supersyllabograms in Minoan Linear A, beyond the 9 I have already deciphered. Now that I am armed with 62 new Minoan Linear A words, I am quite sure that I shall be able to decipher quite a few more of the supersyllabograms, and with that goal accomplished, I shall have effectively and once and for all deciphered the Minoan language.

 

More gems of Bahai’ wisdom!

More gems of Bahai’ wisdom!

 

 

Beautiful photos of some of the magnificent frescoes at Knossos, taken by Richard while he was there on May 1 2012

Beautiful photos of some of the magnificent frescoes at Knossos, taken by Richard while he was there on May 1 2012:

Minoan Costume History synopsis: a wonderful site!

Minoan Costume History synopsis: a wonderful site!



You simply have to check this site out! I have never seen such an in-depth study on Minoan costume, female and male alike, on the Internet. Here is just a small excerpt:

An era of great development, contemporaneous with the civilization of ancient Egypt and Phoenicia, and which may be dated about 2000-1500 B.C., had preceded the civilization that came from Asia Minor into Crete and Greece. Such fragments of Cretan culture as have come down to us reveal a beauty of technique and a delicate sense of form to which no contemporaneous civilization provides any parallel. (italics mine). It is certainly true that the Minoans were far more style-conscious than people of any other contemporaneous civilization, such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Hittites. No question about it.

Owing to the lack of written records, the processes and methods of manufacture are still wrapped in obscurity, but although we are thus reduced to surmise regarding the materials used, the dress of that time is of the highest interest in view of its connexion with the costumes of other peoples. Our attention is especially attracted by the dress worn by the women. The slim, wiry figures of the men are clothed almost universally with a loincloth, richly patterned and splendidly decorated. Here and there we see wide cloaks that clothe the whole body, giving it a large appearance. Women also, it would seem, wore the short loincloth, but we find them wearing in addition skirts put together in an almost fantastic manner that betrays a highly developed knowledge of the technique of dressmaking. These skirts are constructed in tiers, separated by strips of rich ornamentation. 

Illustrations from this site (there are many more, just as striking as these!)

Minoan Linear A jedi = Mycenaean Linear B atoroqo = man/men, human

Minoan Linear A jedi = Mycenaean Linear B atoroqo = man/men, human:



After wracking my brains out for at least 3 months, I have finally come to the belated conclusion that the Minoan Linear A word jedi = Mycenaean Linear B atoroqo = man/men, human. There is a reasonably good chance that this is correct (60% +), given the following factors:

(a) On the first tablet, HT 8, jedi immediately precedes the ID for “olives or olive oil” followed by the supersyllabogram KI, which almost certainly stands for kireta2 (kiretai) = Mycenaean Linear B apudosi = “delivery”. So the phrase appears to mean, “One man is preparing to deliver 10 (amphorae) of olive oil”.
(b) On the verso of the second tablet, HT 122, there are 40 jedi = Linear B atoroqo = man/men, human who are apparently counting the crop yield (qaqaru), where the total (kuro) of all items accounted for on this tablet is 65. 

Previous researchers have attributed a personal name to Jedi, but that interpretation is implausible.

This is term 103 I have deciphered, more or less accurately.