LITERACY IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE AEGEAN: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE USE OF LINEAR A AND LINEAR B

This article deals with the differences in the reach and range of literacy between Linear A and Linear B. To this end, the various document types, styles, and supports found for the two writing systems are surveyed and it is concluded that evidence for a non-administrative use of Linear B is still minimal. It is then argued that the Linear B inscribed stirrup jars show that Mycenaean literacy was strictly limited. Furthermore, text-internal evidence leads to the conclusion that Mycenaean Greece had an oral legal culture, meaning that another potential application for the script cannot be assumed on the basis of the evidence available. This picture is then contrasted with the situation in Minoan Linear A. Newly discovered evidence is adduced in this context and it is argued that, on the level of the individuum, the Minoan priestess was literate while her Mycenaean counterpart likely was not. More broadly speaking, it is argued that the most important factor accounting for the relative differences in literacy and the spread and attestation of writing is to be seen in the role of writing in the religious sphere in Linear A and Linear B respectively. The existence of Linear B literacy on perishable material remains an open question but it is argued that it is not easy to see what it would have been used for; neither economic administration, nor legal texts, not literature would necessarily appear to be obvious candidates here. In the final part of the article the question is addressed whether Linear B was used for diplomatic correspondence. To this end, two Hittite texts are taken into consideration. The fact that one of them was recently re-evaluated and is now taken to be a translation of a letter sent from the king of Ahhiyawa to the Hittite king shows the potential of this type of material for further research into Mycenaean literacy; diplomatic correspondence might potentially complement the picture that we currently have though it is likewise argued that, while certainly possible, this does not imply the existence of diplomatic archives in Mycenaean Greece or indeed in the Greek language at all