Linear B was devised for a very different Greek civilisation than the one we’re exploring in this essential guide. The Greek language is attested as early as c1400 BC in a script we know as Linear B – this was a syllabic script, with every sign standing for a syllable rather than a letter. Ancient Hellas is what the Greeks would have called it, and it was really wherever Greeks (Hellenes) lived permanently – where they made homes, spoke Greek, worshipped gods in the Greek way, and so on. Professor Paul Cartledge answers key questions about one of the world’s greatest civilisations Q: What time period do we define as ancient Greece, and which events bookend that period?Ī: There’s really no such thing as ‘ancient Greece’, in the sense there’s a ‘modern Greece’.
