Origin c. 16th to 11th centuries BCE, Cyprus
The Cypro-Minoan syllabary is a Bronze Age script used on Cyprus from around the sixteenth to eleventh centuries BCE, believed to derive from Linear A carried to the island through Minoan contact, and used to write an as yet unidentified language, likely not Greek. Its own undeciphered status is compounded by a small surviving corpus, but it is understood to be the ancestor of the later Cypriot syllabary, which was in turn eventually used to write Greek on the island, connecting the Aegean scribal tradition across more than a thousand years.
Facts
Origins
Origin Periodc. 16th to 11th centuries BCE, Cyprus 1 Place of Origin Historical OriginDerived from Linear A and used on Cyprus and at Ugarit; like Linear A, it remains undeciphered. 2 Identity
Script TypeSyllabary (undeciphered): a small surviving corpus in an as yet unidentified language, likely not Greek. 1 Script type (class) Connections
Associated With
This source names Cyprus directly: "is a Bronze Age script used on Cyprus from around the sixteenth to eleventh centuries BCE, believed to derive from Linear A carried to the island through Minoan contact, and used to write an as yet..."
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)Encyclopaedia Britannica editors
Related To
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2024s.v. Cypro-Minoan scriptView the Source 2. The Decipherment of Linear B
John Chadwick, Cambridge University Press, 1958
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