Allen Fromherz Linear A and B Linear B is the oldest known form of Greek writing ex-tant today.. Adapted from Cretan Linear A, it was probably developed for a language other than Greek..
Trang 1fi erce resistance from the native Berbers According to
legend, the famed Berber queen al-Kahina only
surren-dered after burning the forests and laying waste to the
land Indeed, centuries after the Arab invasion, cycles
of confl ict between the Berbers and Arabs, especially in
modern Algeria, continue to this day
Further reading: Apuleius The Golden Ass Translated by
Robert Graves New York: Penguin Classics, 1950; Gibbon,
Edward The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire New
York: Penguin, 1985; MacKendrick, Paul The North
Afri-can Stones Speak Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1980; Raven, Susan Rome in Africa New York:
Rout-ledge, 1993
Allen Fromherz
Linear A and B
Linear B is the oldest known form of Greek writing
ex-tant today It is a syllabic script that was used to
rep-resent Greek sounds Adapted from Cretan Linear A,
it was probably developed for a language other than
Greek The Minoans and Mycenae used Linear B in
their palaces at least 400 years before the Greek Dark
Ages It is quite different from the Greek alphabet,
which was based on a North Semitic script and
devel-oped after the Greek Dark Ages Archaeologists became
aware of the existence of Linear B in 1878, when a clay
tablet was found at Knossos
By 1895 archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans (1851–1941)
suspected that it was Greek after examining signs found
on seals Evans published his work in a volume
enti-tled B Cretan Pictographs and Prae-Phoenician Script
(1895) In 1900 Evans conducted an archaeological dig
at Knossos where he discovered an archive of clay
tab-lets in Linear B, thought to be the archive of the palace
of King Minos Despite years of effort Evans was unable
to decipher the Linear B script However, he was able to
conclude that frequently repeated short line markers in
Linear B were word markers The hieroglyphic script of
Linear A has yet to be deciphered Evans noticed that
there were parallels between the Cypriot script, which
had been deciphered, and Linear B In 1939 another
ar-chive of tablets in Linear B were discovered at Pylos in
Greece
Linear B was believed to be Minoan until 1952,
when British amateur archaeologist Michael Ventris
(1922–56) deciphered it At fi rst Ventris did not believe
that the language represented by the script was Greek,
despite the fact that many of the deciphered words were archaic forms of Greek In 1951 Ventris approached John Chadwick, an expert in early Greek, for help To-gether they were able to show defi nitively that Linear
B was Greek Most of the material in Linear B records lists of people, goods, and animals The occasional use
of ideograms such as “tripod” and “horse” provided
an important clue for deciphering Linear B Further study has shown that it has features closely related to the Classical Arcadian and Cypriot dialects
See also hieroglyphics
Further reading: Chadwick, John The Decipherment of
Linear B Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992; Horrocks, Geoffrey Greek: A History of the Language and Its Speakers New York: Addison Wesley Longman, 1997; Palmer, Leonard Robert The Greek Language Norman: Uni-versity of Oklahoma Press, 1996; ——— The Interpretation
of Mycenaean Greek Texts Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963; Renfrew, Colin Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of the Indo-European Origins Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987
Andrew J Waskey
Liu Bang (Liu Pang)
(247–195 b.c.e.) founder of Chinese dynasty
Liu Bang was also known as Liu Ji (Liu Chi) He was born in 247 b.c.e to a farming family, was the fi rst com-moner to ascend the Chinese throne, founded the long-lived Han dynasty (202 b.c.e.–220 c.e.), and died in
195 b.c.e As emperor he was called Gaodi (Kao-ti), which means “high emperor”; after death he was called Han Gaozu (Han Kao-tsu), which means “high pro-genitor of the Han.” He was admired for his abilities, generosity, and taking advice from his ministers
A minor offi cial in 209 b.c.e., Liu rose in revolt against the oppressive Qin (Ch’in) dynasty and joined forces with Xiang Yu (Hsiang Yu), the foremost rebel general They agreed that the fi rst to enter the Qin capital area would be king In 206 b.c.e Liu’s forces entered the Qin capital Xienyang (Hsien-yang) and received the surrender
of the last Qin monarch He was generous in victory, pro-tected the Qin royal family, and forbade looting
However, irreconcilable rivalry between Xiang and Liu led to war between them Xiang’s brilliant generalship was nullifi ed by his cruelty and arrogance; abandoned by his allies and troops, Xiang committed suicide in 202 b.c.e