Linear B (Spring 2020)
CLAS 7012: Linear B
Spring 2020
Wednesday 3-5:30 pm
HUM 370
Basic information
Professor Dimitri Nakassis
Office: Eaton Humanities 1B25
Office hours: Mondays, 12-2 pm (or by appointment)
Phone: 303-492-8184
E-mail: Dimitri.Nakassis@colorado.edu
Course schedule
Week 1
Wednesday, January 15
Class: Brief introductory lecture about Linear B (no assignment)
Week 2
Wednesday, January 22: no class
Read (for background):
- John Younger and Paul Rehak, “The Material Culture of Neopalatial Crete” (2008)
- John Younger and Paul Rehak, “Minoan Culture: Religion, Burial Customs, and Administration” (2008)
- Cynthia Shelmerdine and John Bennet, “Mycenaean States” (2008)
- Laura Preston, “Late Minoan II to IIIB Crete” (2008)
- Joseph Maran and James Wright, “The Rise of the Mycenaean Culture, Palatial Administration and Its Collapse” (2020)
- Jan Driessen, “Chronology of the Linear B Texts” (2008)
Week 3
Wednesday, January 29
Class: Lecture and discussion on the historical context of the emergence of the Linear B script, by James Wright (professor emeritus, Bryn Mawr College, former director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens)
Read:
- Tom Palaima and Elizabeth Sikkenga, “Linear A > Linear B” (1999)
- Jan Driessen and Charlotte Langohr, “Rallying 'round a 'Minoan' Past: The Legitimation of Power at Knossos during the Late Bronze Age” (2007)
*Thursday, January 30: James Wright lecture on “Art and Civilization in the Protohistoric Aegean” (HUMN 135, 5 pm)
Week 4
Wednesday, February 5
Class: interpreting texts, part I
Read:
- Yves Duhoux, “Interpreting the Linear B records: some guidelines” (2011)
- José Melena, “Mycenaean Writing” (2014), pp. 1-26
- Ruth Palmer, “How to Begin? An Introduction to Linear B Conventions and Resources” (2008)
Week 5
Wednesday, February 12
Class: interpreting texts, part II
Read:
- Yves Duhoux, “Mycenaean anthology” (2008)