October 2021 – It's All Greek To Me

A tour of Mycenaean Tiryns

The Mycenaean palace of Tiryns (Τίρυνθα), located in the Argolid between Argos and Nafplio, has been known since ancient times for its impressive fortifications, made of stones so large they were said to have been built by the Cyclopes. It’s a site well worth visiting if you’re in the area, and after a recent trip there, I thought I’d share some photos and information here as a virtual tour.

Photograph of tall stone fortification wall, with river bed to left and blocks of stone on ground in front — Panoramic view of the fortifications of Tiryns from near the north end of the lower citadel; the upper citadel is to the right

Aegean scripts in the digital age: a guide to fonts

I quite often get asked about fonts to use for Linear B and the other related Aegean and Cypriot syllabic writing systems, and since I’ve just come across a couple of new (to me) options, I thought I’d share them all here for anyone else looking to write Linear B et al. in digital form! Tl; dr, it’s easier than you might expect to write Linear B on an electronic tablet instead of a clay one… (sorry, obligatory “tablet” joke). Read on for some options!

Long horizontal Linear B tablet with 3 lines of text — The Linear B ‘tripod tablet’ from Pylos, on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, and its text (a list of bronze vessels) typed out in the ‘Alphabetum’ font.

Screenshot of typed Linear B text — The Linear B ‘tripod tablet’ from Pylos, on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, and its text (a list of bronze vessels) typed out in the ‘Alphabetum’ font.