Writing Systems
Greek Alphabets
Apart from using the characters of the Greek alphabet as notations in my maths and science classes, I don't know how to read Greek. (sigh This is a real tragedy.) Nor am I a linguist genius, since English is the only language I know. English is the only language I can read and write. (Judging by the number of spelling and grammar errors I often have, I haven't even fully mastered English. sigh)
However, I can give you a brief history on the Greek alphabets.
On the right, I have listed the Greek alphabet, with the last column being the English (Latin) equivalent of each Greek character.
So what is the "alphabet"?
To avoid going too deep with theory, an alphabet can be defined as a set of characters that represents the phonemic structure of a word. A word will have vowels and consonants. (Well that's enough of the theory for today!)
The Greeks did not invent the alphabet. (Well, the writing system was actually named after them. The word "alphabet" was actually derived from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet – "alpha" and "beta".)
The origin of the alphabet was probably between the 17th and 15th century BC by the Phoenicians, that great sea-going nation in ancient times. Linguistically, Phoenician belonged to the Semitic family of languages, used by the people living in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon). (As opposed to the Greek language being part of the Indo-European family of languages.)
What the Greeks invented was their own set of characters, and the use of vowels in an alphabet full of consonants. Phoenician and other Semitic languages didn't have vowels as such. The Greek alphabet was invented some time between the 8th and 7th century BC, after the Dorian Invasion. Thus, after the arrival of the Hellenic peoples (eg. Greeks, such as the Dorians, Aeolians and Ionians).
According to the 1st century BC historian, Diodorus Siculus, it was Cadmus who brought the Phoenician alphabet to the Greeks, therefore facilitating the creation of their own version of an alphabet. This would mean the Greek alphabet by Cadmus is far older than they are actually are. For if Cadmus did exist, he would have lived in the Bronze Age, at least half a dozen generations before the war between Argos and Thebes, ie. Seven Against Thebes.
Anyway, the Greek alphabet greatly influenced other writing systems in Europe, because the Roman or more precisely the Latin alphabet borrowed either directly or indirectly from the alphabet used by the Greeks. Latin also borrowed (more directly) the characters used by the Etruscans, but then the Etruscans had also borrowed some of their characters from the Greek alphabet as well.
There was a period in the Roman Republic where the Greek language was used by the Roman elites and scholars more than their own language, Latin. The Latin alphabet would later become more widely used than the Greek, and it directly influenced the Germanic languages, including English.
Though the Greek alphabet remained relatively unchanged since its invention, regionally and racially the spoken language underwent many phonetic changes over the centuries, so there were many different dialects of Greek.
Alphabet |
Capital |
Lowercase |
Latin Equivalent |
alpha |
A |
α |
a |
beta |
B |
β |
b |
gamma |
Γ |
γ |
g |
delta |
Δ |
δ |
d |
epsilon |
E |
ε |
e |
zeta |
Z |
ζ |
z |
eta |
H |
η |
h |
theta |
Θ |
θ |
th |
theta (symbol) |
ϑ |
||
iota |
I |
ι |
i |
kappa |
K |
κ |
k |
lamba |
Λ |
λ |
l |
mu |
M |
μ |
m |
nu |
N |
ν |
n |
xi |
Ξ |
ξ |
x |
omicron |
O |
ο |
o |
pi |
Π |
π |
p |
rho |
P |
ρ |
r |
sigma |
Σ |
σ |
s |
sigma (final) |
ς |
||
tau |
T |
τ |
t |
upsilon |
Y |
υ |
u |
upsilon (symbol) |
ϒ |
||
phi |
Φ |
φ |
ph |
chi |
X |
χ |
kh, ch |
psi |
Ψ |
ψ |
ps |
omega |
Ω |
ω |
w |
Linear B
There is one thing I should point out. During the Bronze Age, writing did exist in the Aegean civilisation before the Hellenic invasion/migration (eg. Dorians, Aeolians and Ionians) and before the introduction of the Greek alphabet in Greece. The pre-Hellenic writing system was known as Linear B, used by the Mycenaean civilisation on Crete and the surrounding islands as well as in Mycenae and other cities on the mainland. Linear B was used as early as 1450 BC. It was forgotten when the Mycenaean cities were destroyed during the Dorian invasion (c. 1150 BC). See Who were the Greeks? about the Greek people in the About Classical Mythology page.
All the Greek writing that came down to us from ancient Greece was written with the Greek alphabet. And these Greek authors were descendants of the Hellenic Greeks, such as Homer, Hesiod, Euripides, etc. So you may have pondered if the Linear B was written in the language of the Greeks?
The answer is yes, the scripts of Linear B were indeed Greek, but these pre-Hellenic Greeks didn't use the Greek alphabet. When Linear B writing was discovered by the 19th century archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in Knossos, the experts at that time thought that it wasn't Greek at all. It wasn't until it was deciphered that experts now understood that the language used by the Mycenaeans belonged to one of the Greek dialects.
However, there was no literature that was written using these Linear B scripts. Nor was there any historical document written in Linear B. What was discovered when Linear B was deciphered was that the writings that were found, were used for administrative purposes only. Clay tablets that were found, only recorded the accounting of goods and inventory.
The language used at this period (1450-1200 BC) on the mainland Greece was Mycenaean, because Mycenae was the most powerful Greek kingdom at the time. It is generally believed that Mycenaean was the ancient dialect of the Greek language.
The Linear B was adapted from an earlier writing system that was found on Crete and a few Aeagan islands, known as Linear A (flourished 1850-1400 BC). The language of Linear A has not yet been determined, nor has the Linear A writing been successfully deciphered.
Some of the names found in both tablets in Knossos and Pylos, were believed to be the name of deities, though this can't be established with great certainty. The names could be title of rulers, priests or priestess, instead of deities. The names are not limited to the offerings listed in Linear B tablets; the names are linked to any mythology or religion.
Below, are the names of deities and other figures in the Linear B tablets found in Knossos, Crete and in Pylos on main Greece:
Linear B | Greek equivalent | Roman equivalent | ||
Knossos | Pylos | Translations | ||
PO-TI-NI-JA | PO-TI-NI-JA | Potnia – "Lady" or "Mistress" | – | – |
A-TA-NA PO-TI-NI-JA | – | Atana Potnia – the Idaean Mother of Crete | Athena? or "Lady of Athens"? | Minerva |
– | – | Potnia theron – "Mistress of Animals" | Artemis or Britomartis | Diana |
QE-RA-SI-JA | the Hunter Goddess | |||
DA-PU-RI-TO-JO PO-TI-NI-JA | – | "Lady of the Labyrinth" | Ariadne? | Ariadne |
– | PO-TI-NI-JA PA-KI-JA-NI-JA | Potnia of Sphagianeia (place name) | – | – |
– | PO-TI-NI-JA I-QE-JA | Hippeia – "Mistress of Horses" | – | – |
A-SI-WI-JA | (PO-TI-NI-JA) A-SI-WI-JA | Aswia, Lady of Asia? | – | – |
– | NE-WO-PE-O | (place name) | – | – |
– | U-PO-JO | ? | – | – |
– | MA-TE-RE TE-I-JA | Mater theia – "Divine Mother" | Cybele or Demeter? | – |
E-RE-U-TI-JA | – | Eleuthia | Eileithyia | Ilithyia |
PI-PI-TU-NA | – | Diktynna | Dictynna (Britomartis) |
|
PO-SE-DA-O-NE | PO-SE-DA-O-NE | – | Poseidon | Neptune |
– | PO-SI-DA-E-JA | – | feminine form of Poseidon | – |
E-NE-SI-DA-O-NE | – | Enosidas | Enosichthon ("Earth-shaker") | – |
DI-WO | DI-WE, DI-WI-JE-U | Diwei | Zeus | Jupiter |
DI-WI-JA | DI-WI-JA | Diwia | Dione, feminine form of Zeus | – |
– | E-RA | – | Hera | Juno |
A-RE | A-RE-JA | – | Ares? | Mars |
E-NU-WA-RI-JO | – | Enyalios | Enyalius, epithet of Ares | – |
PA-JA-WO-NE | – | Paiawon | Paean or Paian | – |
– | A-TI-MI-TE | – | Artemis | Diana |
– | E-MA-A | Herma(h)âs | Hermes | Mercury |
– | DI-WO-NU-SO-JO | – | Dionysus? | Liber |
E-RI-NU | – | Erinys? | – | |
– | I-PE-ME-DE-JA | – | Iphimedeia, mistress of Poseidon | – |
– | TI-RI-SE-RO-E | Trisheros – the "Triple Hero"? | – | – |
– | WA-NA-SO-I | Wanasoi – "the Two Queens" | – | – |
– | DI-PI-SI-JO-I | Dipsioi | – | – |
– | DO-PO-TA | Despotas? – the "Lord"? | – | – |
| A-NE-MOI | Anemoi – "The Winds" |
|
|
KO-MA-WE-TE-JA | "the fair-tressed female deity"? | |||
The only names that we have in common in both the Knossos and Pylos tablets are PO-TI-NI-JA (Potnia), PO-SE-DA-O-NE (Poseidon), DI-WO or DI-WE (Zeus), DI-WI-JA (Dione, a feminine form of Zeus), and A-RE or A-RE-JA (Ares).
There are cases where there are masculine and feminine names for both Poseidon and Zeus. The feminine spelling of Poseidon is PO-SI-DA-E-JA, while DI-WI-JA is a feminine name for Zeus, perhaps equivalent to the Oceanid Dione.
The names of Eleuthia (Eileithyia) and Dictynna were recognisable names in Knossos. In Pylos, we can find the equivalents of the classical Hera, Artemis, Hermes, and even more remarkable is that there is a Linear B equivalent for Dionysus. However, modern scholars are doubtful that this Dionysus is a diety.
Although Hera's name appeared in the Linear B tablet at Pylos, the goddess was not identified or linked with Zeus as his consort, like in the classical myths.
As can be seen in the table, some of the deities survived to the Archaic and Classical periods.
By Jimmy Joe
