Greek

Ancient Scripts

Linear B tablet

Click on the following links to see some examples of Greek written in its pre-alphabetic form (Linear B) and on a variety of Papyri:

• Linear A and B scripts compared – by Professor Paula Perlman, University of Texas
• Homer, Iliad 14. 227-253, 256-263 papyrus (P.Princeton inv. AM 4405 (=P.Oxy. III 551)
• Homer, Iliad 8, 3-12 papyrus (P.Duk.inv. 59)
• Homer, Iliad 1, 528-540 papyrus (P.Duk.inv. 971 V)
• Scholia to Homer, Odyssey 1, 45-116 papyrus (P.Duk.inv. 769 V)
• Magical papyrus

The following link is to a page that will show you how one alphabet was transformed into another – e.g. how the Phoenician alphabet was taken over and modified by the Greeks:

Evolution of Alphabets – by Professor Robert Fradkin, University of Maryland