Cretan Hieroglyphic

The first comprehensive account of the earliest and as yet undeciphered script from the Aegean Bronze Age, indeed from Europe.

Matilde Civitillo (Edited by), Silvia Ferrara (Edited by), Torsten Meissner (Edited by)

9781009490108, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 31 October 2024

352 pages, 46 b/w illus. 36 tables
25 x 17.5 x 2.3 cm, 0.764 kg

Nearly 4000 years ago a hieroglyphic script was used on Crete which predates Linear A and Linear B, indeed any other writing in Europe, but remains undeciphered since its discovery at the beginning of the twentieth century. This is the first comprehensive account of this script, which is analysed by the leading experts through an array of lenses, including archaeology, philology, palaeography, cognitive studies and decipherment theory, in order to showcase its importance in the history of writing. The book takes a broad approach to writing, understanding it not solely or even mainly as a visual tool to convey language, but primarily as a social and cultural phenomenon rooted in agency, materiality, and semiotics. The volume will provide an invaluable tool for scholars and will facilitate further research. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Preface: The Cretan Hieroglyphic Script and Problems of Decipherment Louis Godart
Introduction Matilde Civitillo, Silvia Ferrara and Torsten Meissner
1. Cretan Hieroglyphic Sign Repertoires: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Silvia Ferrara
2. Origins and Interface with Iconography Miguel Valério
3. Cretan Hieroglyphic Writing as a System of Visual Encoding: Iconicity and Graphic Communication Georgia Flouda
4. Macro View: Uses, Social Practices, and Ideological Implications of Hieroglyphic Texts Anna Margherita Jasink and Judith Weingarten
5. Forms, Materials and Sequence Matilde Civitillo
6. Scribal Practices, Syntax, and Morphology Philippa M. Steele
7. The Relationship between Cretan Hieroglyphic and the other Cretan Scripts Torsten Meissner and Ester Salgarella
8. Investigations into the Language(s) behind Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A Brent Davis
9. The Future of Cretan Hieroglyphs: Outlooks and Trajectories John Bennet And Vassilis Petrakis
Epilogue John G. Younger
Appendix
Indexes
Concordances
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK]