Mycenaean Greek
Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC), before the hypothesised Dorian invasion, often cited as the "terminus ad quem" for the introduction of the Greek language to Greece. The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first attested on Crete before the 14th century BC. Most inscriptions are on clay tablets found in Knossos, in central Crete, as well as in Pylos, in the southwest of the Peloponnese. Other tablets have been found at Mycenae itself, Tiryns and Thebes and at Chania, in Western Crete. The language is named after Mycenae, one of the major centres of Mycenaean Greece.

The tablets long remained undeciphered, and many languages were suggested for them, until Michael Ventris deciphered the script in 1952.

The texts on the tablets are mostly lists and inventories. No prose narrative survives, much less myth or poetry. Still, much may be glimpsed from these records about the people who produced them and about Mycenaean Greece, the period before the so-called Greek Dark Ages.
Q9129
Greek language
Concept
Q34374
Crete
LOC
Q181264
Mycenaean Greece
Concept
Q987129
Dorian invasion
Concept
Q1102542
terminus ad quem
Concept
Q190102
Linear B
MISC
Q173527
Knossos
LOC
Q34374
Crete
LOC
Q7263152
Pylos
LOC
Q78967
Peloponnese
LOC
Q132564
Mycenae
LOC
Q217379
Tiryns
LOC
Q5760
Thebes
LOC
Q182299
Chania
LOC
Q259378
Michael Ventris
PER
Q210443
Greek Dark Ages
TIME
Q668366
Mycenaean Greek
MEDIA
1952-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1952
DATE
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16
NUMBER
+12^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
12
NUMBER
+14^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
14
NUMBER
country
writing system
country
located on terrain feature
located on terrain feature