MYCENAEAN LANGUAGE

most generally believed to be the most ancient form of the Greek language that has been discovered. It was a chancellery language, used mainly for perishable records and inventories of royal palaces and commercial establishments. Written in a syllabic script known as Linear B, it has been found mostly on clay tablets discovered at Knossos in Crete and at Pylos in Messenia, as well as in inscriptions on pots and jars from Thebes, Mycenae, Tiryns, Eleusis, and Boeotian Orchomenos.