Linear B
E192255
Linear B is an ancient syllabic script used to write Mycenaean Greek, making it the earliest known form of written Greek.
All labels observed (8)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Linear B canonical | 14 |
| Linear B Ideograms | 2 |
| Linear B Syllabary | 2 |
| Linear B (for Mycenaean Greek) | 1 |
| Linear B Ideograms block | 1 |
| Linear B Syllabary block | 1 |
| Linear B represents an early form of Greek | 1 |
| Linear B script | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1705619 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Linear B Context triple: [Mycenaean civilization, usesScript, Linear B]
-
A.
Linear B inscriptions
Linear B inscriptions are ancient clay tablet writings using the Linear B script that record administrative and economic activities in Mycenaean Greek palatial centers.
-
B.
Mycenaean Greek
Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language, known from Linear B inscriptions dating to the Late Bronze Age.
-
C.
Ugaritic alphabet
The Ugaritic alphabet is an ancient cuneiform script used in the city of Ugarit to write the Ugaritic language, notable as one of the earliest known alphabetic writing systems.
-
D.
Phoenician alphabet
The Phoenician alphabet is an ancient consonantal writing system developed by the Phoenician civilization that became the ancestor of most major modern alphabets, including Greek, Latin, and Arabic.
-
E.
Hieroglyphic Luwian
Hieroglyphic Luwian is an extinct Anatolian Indo-European language known from inscriptions written in a distinctive hieroglyphic script used in Bronze and Iron Age Anatolia and northern Syria.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Linear B Target entity description: Linear B is an ancient syllabic script used to write Mycenaean Greek, making it the earliest known form of written Greek.
-
A.
Linear B inscriptions
Linear B inscriptions are ancient clay tablet writings using the Linear B script that record administrative and economic activities in Mycenaean Greek palatial centers.
-
B.
Mycenaean Greek
Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language, known from Linear B inscriptions dating to the Late Bronze Age.
-
C.
Ugaritic alphabet
The Ugaritic alphabet is an ancient cuneiform script used in the city of Ugarit to write the Ugaritic language, notable as one of the earliest known alphabetic writing systems.
-
D.
Phoenician alphabet
The Phoenician alphabet is an ancient consonantal writing system developed by the Phoenician civilization that became the ancestor of most major modern alphabets, including Greek, Latin, and Arabic.
-
E.
Hieroglyphic Luwian
Hieroglyphic Luwian is an extinct Anatolian Indo-European language known from inscriptions written in a distinctive hieroglyphic script used in Bronze and Iron Age Anatolia and northern Syria.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
ancient script
ⓘ
syllabic script ⓘ writing system ⓘ |
| archaeologicalSite |
Chania
ⓘ
Knossos ⓘ Mycenae and Tiryns ⓘ
surface form:
Mycenae
Pylos ⓘ Thebes ⓘ Mycenae and Tiryns ⓘ
surface form:
Tiryns
|
| associatedCivilization | Mycenaean civilization ⓘ |
| category | Bronze Age writing system ⓘ |
| decipheredBy | Michael Ventris ⓘ |
| deciphermentContributor | John Chadwick ⓘ |
| deciphermentMethod | structural analysis and comparison with Greek ⓘ |
| deciphermentYear | 1952 ⓘ |
| derivedFrom | Linear A ⓘ |
| earliestAttestation | circa 1450 BCE ⓘ |
| earliestFormOf | written Greek ⓘ |
| geographicRegion |
Aegean Sea region
ⓘ
surface form:
Aegean region
Crete ⓘ Peloponnese ⓘ Greek mainland ⓘ
surface form:
mainland Greece
|
| hasSignType |
logograms
ⓘ
numerals ⓘ syllabic signs ⓘ |
| hasUnicodeBlock |
Linear B
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Linear B Ideograms
Linear B self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Linear B Syllabary
|
| influenced | study of Greek historical linguistics ⓘ |
| ISO15924Code | Linb ⓘ |
| languageWritten | Mycenaean Greek ⓘ |
| latestAttestation | circa 1200 BCE ⓘ |
| materialForm |
clay tablets
ⓘ
inscribed stirrup jars ⓘ |
| notUsedFor | literary texts ⓘ |
| numberOfSyllabicSignsApprox | about 87 ⓘ |
| primaryUse |
administrative records
ⓘ
economic records ⓘ |
| reasonForPreservation | accidental firing in palace destructions ⓘ |
| scriptContinuity | predecessorOfDebatedRelationTo ⓘ |
| scriptFamily |
Cretan hieroglyphs
ⓘ
surface form:
Aegean scripts
|
| scriptUsageContext | palatial bureaucracy ⓘ |
| timePeriodUsed | circa 15th century BCE to 12th century BCE ⓘ |
| UnicodeRange |
U+10000–U+1007F
ⓘ
U+10080–U+100FF ⓘ |
| usesScriptType | syllabary ⓘ |
| writingDirection | left-to-right ⓘ |
| writingMedium | wet clay impressed with stylus ⓘ |
| writingSystemFor | Mycenaean Greek ⓘ |
| writingSystemStatus | deciphered ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Linear B Description of subject: Linear B is an ancient syllabic script used to write Mycenaean Greek, making it the earliest known form of written Greek.
Referenced by (23)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Linear B script
this entity surface form:
Linear B (for Mycenaean Greek)
this entity surface form:
Linear B Syllabary block
this entity surface form:
Linear B Ideograms block
this entity surface form:
Linear B Syllabary
this entity surface form:
Linear B Ideograms
this entity surface form:
Linear B Syllabary
this entity surface form:
Linear B Ideograms
this entity surface form:
Linear B represents an early form of Greek
subject surface form:
Greek language