Scribal Training in Mycenaean Pylos
Scribal Training in Mycenaean Pylos
Dr Anna Judson (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, British School at Athens)
At least 30 people are known to have written administrative documents in the Mycenaean palace of Pylos immediately before its destruction c.1200 BCE. These “scribes” are, however, entirely anonymous: they did not sign their texts, and so are identified only by differences in their handwriting; similarly, none of the texts refer to scribal work or training and no school texts are preserved. This seminar explores ways in which studying two aspects of the Mycenaean scribes’ writing practices – orthography and handwriting – can shed light on the methods by which they were trained to write and keep records using the Linear B writing system.
