Linear B Tablets (Knossos)

Discovered at the Minoan palace of Knossos, these clay tablets represent some of the oldest surviving examples of the Greek language. They date back to approximately 1400 BCE and were used by Mycenaean administrators.

The tablets were primarily used for administrative and economic record-keeping by the Mycenaean palace centers. They meticulously cataloged inventory, agricultural goods, and personnel details rather than literary or mythological tales.

The tablets were inscribed using Linear B, a syllabic script that consists of phonetic signs and logograms. This script was adapted from the earlier Minoan Linear A, which remains undeciphered.

The archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered the first major cache of these tablets during his excavations of Knossos in the early 1900s. The script itself was successfully deciphered in 1952 by the architect Michael Ventris.