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!
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.
Aegean
font family: created by George Douros, this is probably the most
widely-used font for Aegean scripts. Free for personal use only. Pros:
this collection of fonts includes the widest range of Aegean and Cypriot
scripts of any available font. “Aegean” contains Linear A, Linear B,
the Cypriot Syllabary, and the Phaistos Disc, as well as other ancient
East Mediterranean/ancient Near Eastern scripts; there are separate
fonts for Cretan Hieroglyphic and Cypro-Minoan. They’re also fairly
frequently updated. Cons: the frequent updates sometimes mean characters
don’t display properly in old files, and the fonts are not licensed for
any form of publication, academic or commercial. If you only want these
fonts for personal/teaching use, and you want the more obscure scripts,
then go for this one!
Alphabetum:
created by Juan-José Marcos, this font includes Linear B, the Cypriot
Syllabary, and the Phaistos Disc only (of the Aegean/Cypriot writing
systems; it has a wide range of other ancient writing systems). A free
trial version is available; the full version is not free, but licenses
are very reasonably priced (one-off payments of €15 for a basic
single-user version, or €45 for a multi-device license allowing use in
academic or commerical publication, web applications, etc). Not updated
as often as Aegean, but may be expanded in the future to include Linear
A. This is the font I’ve been using in recent publications such as my book!
Everson Mono:
new to me. Includes only Linear B; available as ‘shareware’ for a €25
fee (it’s not stated on the website whether this includes use in
publications or not). I haven’t tried this one, and if you’re going to
pay for one, would recommend Alphabetum instead, since it has more
scripts and clearer T&Cs.
Google Noto: this family of fonts includes ones for Linear A, Linear B, and the Cypriot Syllabary (as well as lots of other ancient scripts). They’re all free to use for personal, academic, or commercial use under an Open Font License.
These ones is also new to me, but after a quick install and inspection,
they look pretty comprehensive and I would recommend these for anyone
wanting free fonts for any use.
With all of these fonts, you’ll have to use the Insert > Symbol
function, as they are not mapped to keyboards. There are a couple of
online Linear B keyboards available, though:
Lexilogos:
you can type in Roman characters to produce syllabograms, or click on
the boxes below for ideograms (numbers and weights/measures symbols not
available)
LingoJam: type in Roman characters to produce syllabograms only
NB: I’m aware of some other fonts listed as including one or more
Aegean/Cypriot scripts on various font-sharing sites, but I am not
including in this list any for which I have not been able to find active
websites belonging to the original creators of these fonts, and
therefore cannot verify the licensing information. But if I’ve missed
any other options which do have reliable download links and licensing
information, please share them in the comments!
The AWOL Index: The bibliographic data presented herein has been programmatically extracted from the content of AWOL - The Ancient World Online (ISSN 2156-2253) and formatted in accordance with a structured data model.
AWOL is a project of Charles E. Jones, Tombros Librarian for Classics and Humanities at the Pattee Library, Penn State University
AWOL began with a series of entries under the heading AWOL on the Ancient World Bloggers Group Blog. I moved it to its own space here beginning in 2009.
The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.
The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.
AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.
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