Mnamon
Ancient writing systems in the Mediterranean
A critical guide to electronic resources
News
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2024-07-10Isut - A tool for collaborative annotation and computational analysis of Hieratic texts
Isut is a tool, created by Mark-Jan Nederhof, Julius Tabin, and Christian Casey with the support of the University of Liège, which collects fully annotated Hieratic facsimiles of some well-known Egyptian texts. Its main purpose is to compare different shapes of Hieratic signs, distinguishing periods, provenances, and genres, which can be useful for dating and for identifying scribes.
The Guesser is a feature that allows the user to draw a Hieratic sign, and the tool will return the normalized hieroglyphs and Gardiner names of the shapes in the database that are most similar to it.
(D. Salvoldi) -
2024-05-13Book
The Legacy of Michael Ventris: Progress and Perspectives in the Field of Aegean Scripts and Mycenaean Studies, edited by F. Aura Jorro, M. Del Freo, J. Piquero (Incunabula Graeca CVIII), Roma, CNR Edizioni, 2023, XVIII+350 pp.
The volume, published with the contribution of the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (Spain), brings together 14 contributions on the impact that the decipherment of the Linear B script had on the study of the origins of Greek civilisation and is divided into three sections: one on Linear B and other Aegean scripts, one on Mycenaean Greek, and one on Mycenaean documents as historical sources. In the first section, some unresolved questions concerning the Aegean writing systems of the Bronze Age are discussed; in the second section, the Mycenaean Greek is analysed in the light of its phonetic, morphological, syntactic and lexical characteristics with particular reference to its relations with the Greek dialects of the 1st millennium BC; finally, the contributions in the third section focus on the significance of Linear B documents for the reconstruction of the social, religious and material history of Greece in the Late Bronze Age.
More information here.
(M. Del Freo) -
2024-02-20Book
The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek, 2 vols., ed. by J. T. Killen, Cambridge, CUP, 2024, pp. xxviii (vol. 1) + xxvi (vol. 2) + 1145.
In 1952 Michael Ventris deciphered the script found on the Linear B tablets from Crete and the Greek mainland, therefore revealing the earliest known form of Greek. In 1956 he and John Chadwick published Documents in Mycenaean Greek, which gave an account of the decipherment, of the language of the tablets, of the society and economy revealed by the documents and a series of chapters giving texts, translations and commentary of the most important tablets. Though partially updated in 1973, Documents is now very much outdated: there has been a vast accrual of bibliography on the subject since 1973, and discoveries of tablets at new sites. This new survey, written by fourteen of the world's leading experts, will bring the reader fully up-to-date with developments in all aspects of Mycenaean studies, concluding with a new, full glossary of all the most recently discovered words.
(M. Del Freo) -
2024-02-19Seminar
On Thursday February 22nd, starting at 10 a.m., the Seminar "Confini, terre di frontiera, limiti nel mondo antico e tardoantico" will be held within the PhD in Studi Storici. Storia e civiltà del mondo antico e del Vicino Oriente (Dipartimento di Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo. Storia, Archeologia, Geografia, Arte e Spettacolo. Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia) at the Sala Orbatello, via della Pergola 60 in Florence.
The Seminar is organized by G.A. Cecconi, A. Magnelli and G. Torri.
Poster with the seminar program
More information
(G.Torri) -
2024-01-04Book
One State, Many Worlds: Crete in the Late Minoan II-IIIA2 Early Period, Proceedings of the International Conference held at Khania, Megalo Arsenali, 21st – 23rd November 2019 (SMEA NS Suppl. 2), ed. by A. L. D’Agata, L. Girella, E. Papadopoulou, D. G. Aquini, Roma, Edizioni Quasar, 2022, 452 pp. (ISBN: 978-88-5491-273-1).
This volume contains the proceedings of an international conference held at Khania, November 2019. Its aim is to resume the discussion on LM II-IIIA2 early Crete, one of the most crucial periods in the history of the island, which marked its inclusion in the political and cultural orbit of mainland Greece. The contributions, which are organized on a geographical basis, begin with Knossos and central Crete, include western and eastern Crete, and end with a few mainland case studies. Two contributions are of particular interest to epigraphists: one on the Linear B from Knossos (J. Driessen - O. Mouthuy) and one on the beginning of Linear B administration in mainland Greece (V. Petrakis).
(M.Del Freo)