Understanding Relations Between Scripts : The Aegean Writing Systems

Philippa M. Steele (Editor)

ISBN 10: 1785706446 / ISBN 13: 9781785706448

Published by Oxbow Books, Oxford; Havertown, 2017

About this Item

An excellent copy in great condition. Cover shows faint signs of use, but is unmarked and undamaged. All pages clean, crisp and fresh. Publisher's note: Examines the writing systems of the ancient Aegan and Cyprus in the second and first millennia B.C., principally Cretan hieroglyphic, Linear A, Linear B and Cypro-Minoan. These scripts, of which some are deciphered and others are not, are known to be related to each other. However, the details of their relationships with each other have remained poorly understood and this is the first volume dedicated solely to exploring this issue. Nine expert contributors aim to reach a better appreciation of relationships between the writing systems than has been possible in previous research, through an interdisciplinary dialogue that takes account both of features of the writing systems and of the contextaul factors affecting the ways in whcih writing systems and of the contectual factors affecting the ways in which writing was used and passed on. Each individual contribution furthers this aim by presenting the latest research on the Aegean scripts, demonstrating the great advances in our understanding of sscript relations that are possible through such detailed and innovative studies - cover Size: 17 x 23.9 x 1.3 cm. xv, 221 pp. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Archaeology; Greek language -- Writing; Inscriptions, Linear A; Inscriptions, Linear B; Alphabet; ISBN: 1785706446. ISBN/EAN: 9781785706448. Add. Inventory No: 240217RST012028.

Seller Inventory # 240217RST012028

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Understanding Relations Between Scripts : The Aegean Writing Systems
• Publisher: Oxbow Books, Oxford; Havertown
• Publication Date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1785706446
• ISBN 13: 9781785706448
• Binding: Softcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Archaeology

About this title

Synopsis

Understanding Relations Between Scripts: The Aegean Writing Systems arises from a conference held in Cambridge in 2015. The question of how writing systems are related to each other, and how we can study those relationships, has not been studied in detail and this volume aims to fill a gap in scholarship by presenting a number of case studies focused on the writing systems of the Bronze Age Aegean. These include Cretan Hieroglyphic, Linear A and Linear B, used predominantly in Crete and mainland Greece, as well as the Cypro-Minoan script of Cyprus. Most of these systems (the only major exception being Linear B) remain undeciphered to some degree but we nevertheless have considerable evidence for their development and use.

Each contributor focuses on a different theoretical problem and/or set of scripts. Important questions include: How and why did writing emerge in Crete in the Middle Bronze Age? What is the relationship between writing and art? Why did different writing systems co-exist with each other? What changes were made when a new system was developed from an old one? Can our understanding of how different systems are related to each other help us to reconstruct the values of script signs? The contributors tackle such questions by employing a variety of methods, from epigraphic and palaeographic analysis to typological comparison and contextual study.

The result is a coherent volume that will not only enrich our understanding of the ancient Aegean writing systems in particular, but will also provide an important example for future studies of writing across the world.

About the Author

Philippa Steele is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Classics, Cambridge. Her research has concentrated on the languages and scripts of ancient Cyprus and linguistic interrelations and writing systems in the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean. She is the author of A Linguistic History of Ancient Cyprus and editor of Syllabic Writing on Cyprus and its Context (both 2013).