Linear A - Which Language did the Minoans speak?

Minoan civilization, besides being the first in Europe, is well-known and admired for its architecture, art, trade and overall impact it had on the subsequent cultures in Greece. In this episode, we talk about the greatest mystery of the Minoans - their language and the still undeciphered Linear A script.

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#minoans #minoancivilization #ancientgreece #bronzeage #ancienthistory #crete #greece

[Diogolindir]

I love the idea that influential, well educated egyptians knew Minoan Linear A as part of some sort of base curriculum to be able to participate in commerce and diplomacy.

[IrishEye]

"It's OK, don't keep a copy, everything is stored in the vast archive on Thera. Wait, did you hear something?"

[StMiBll]

I have always wondered if the Minoan language could have been a remnant of the Natufian or Neolithic farmers who expanded from the Levant and Anatolia into Europe. No matter what it is fascinating. The Minoans are among the few world cultures about which people will consume so much literature and watch so many documentaries who all basically say “I don’t know” over and over again. 😂

[PeterOConnell-pqio]

Evan's enthusiasm and heavy handed re-imagining of Minoan culture likely set back our understanding of these people by decades. Hopefully we'll eventually be able to sort things about these fascinating people out.

[TTTT]

At some point we will have a better idea as more material is discovered in archeological digs.

[richardarcher]

If only someone would unearth an artifact like the Rosetta stone with the Cretan Heiroglyphs, and Linear A inscribed with direct translations in a langauage we can read (Ancient Egyptian, Hittite or Akkadian cuneiform or some such) and then the code can be cracked..

[petehoover]

One thing I've thought odd is that for the Indus Valley script we don't have a clue of any numbers yet most of what we have seems to be shipping labels.

[ecurewitz]

Maybe someday we will find more Linear A texts, alongside a language we already know and then decipher it Rosetta Stone style

[arturogonzalez]

Holy cow to think that the time from the classical to the middle minoan was the same as our time to the Byzantine/Justinian time

[AthanasiosJapan]

The disk of Phaestos deserves to be mentioned here.

[brostelio]

I cannot describe how much I love this channel. Another gem of a video!

[LuciusQuinctiusCincinnatus]

Great video! Bravo! I would like to see links to literature so that viewers can read them too. Another thing about the Minoan language can be said that all Greek words ending in -inth probably come from Minoan: Τίρυνθα - Tiryns, Κόρινθος - Corinth, λαβύρινθος - Labyrinth

[andyhayes]

I have always wondered what the Minoan language soon we will know 🤞

[Dionysos]

There aren't enough Minoan Linear A inscriptions to enable translation. Even then, they wouldn't tell us much more than Linear B has about Mycenaeans, except that they valued goods and furniture more highly than their captive slaves.

[pontiacpaul]

Its very possible it was the last eastern hunter gather lang left not replaced before writing

[saard]

The Atlantis myth is more than likely based on the Minoan civilization. Plato heard about an advanced civilization that suffered a cataclysmic event during the eruption of Thera on Santorini and their society went downhill from there.

[ludomian]

Very interesting!
Out of all phonetic signs, how many of them overlap in Linear A and Linear B?

[EatRawGarlic]

Very interesting! In history class, we were basically told: "We just don't know how to translate Linear A.".

I remember that at the time, this sounded strange and somewhat unsatisfactory to me, so since we knew Linear B, but I don't think the teacher ever went in depth into why that was.

And 13 y.o. me wasn't bothered enough by it to ask further.

[Tipi_Dan]

Regarding the languages of various European groups (aboriginal or Anatolian) that were spoken before the Indo-European incursions we can only speculate, as our host has done here to great effect. I often wonder about the nature of the language(s) spoken by the megalith builders (now revealed to have been of mixed Anatolian and aboriginal descent). I have a private obsession regarding the language of the Etruscans, and here I must clarify a statement made by our host in this video. The Etruscan language has been transcribed, but has not been translated. We know (some of) the words. We even know the meanings of some of the words. But we still do not know the meaning of, nor do we understand, the language at large. Here, speculation has run its course, and we can only hope that future archeological discoveries may provide us with something like the Rosetta Stone, to reveal the full translation of Etruscan. The same holds for the language of the Minoans and Linear A. Some ancient knowledge still lies buried in the ground. Things turn up. Egypt holds great promise. We can pray, and we can search: that is all. The language(s) of the Western European megalith builders may indeed be lost to us forever, because of their great antiquity, illiteracy, and isolation from the Mediterranean world and the dry climates necessary for artifact preservation.

[iliasmastoris]

If we ever do progress our understanding of Linear A, it is likely to come from the decipherment of the Hittite tablets, who had a practice of recording songs and poems of their neighbours.