Sewage
So apparently Sydney dumps “filtered”but essentially untreated sewage into the ocean?
Yuk.
Wellington is far from perfect, but is currently spending vast sums to improve it’s current treatment and to treat the sludge byproduct created by treatment.
I know where I’d rather live.
Mycenaean Linear B / Pylos Collection
Excited that my collection of books about Mycenaean Linear B and Pylos is now complete. Linear B was the late Bronze Age (c1300–1170 BCE) writing system used by Mycenaean Greek palace kingdoms to record people, obligations and transactions within those kingdoms. It is the earliest form of European writing, subsequently lost after the late Bronze Age collapse (c1177BC).
Linear B was famously deciphered by Michael Ventris, a British Architect, in 1956. This opened up a whole new window on the late Bronze Age world. Amazingly new insights and discoveries continue to be made 70 years later.
The collection now includes:
- Documents in Mycenaean Greek (Ventris & Chadwick, 1956) - the original publication which shared the decipherment with the world. I’m delighted to have an first edition of this.
- Documents in Mycenaean Greek (2nd Edition) (Ventris & Chadwick, 1973) - expanded version published by John Chadwick after Ventris’s untimely death in 1956.
- The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek - Volume 1 and 2 (John Killen (editor) 2024) - includes updated scholarship on Linear B over period from 1973 to today.
- The Palace of Nestor at Pylos in Western Messenia: Volume IV - the Inscribed Documents - Parts 1 and 2 (Bennett, Melena, Nakassis et al 2025) - A full reproduction and transcription of all of the Linear B tablets found at Pylos. The first time these have all been published.
- The Kingdom of Pylos - Warrior Princes of Mycenaean Greece (Stocker, Lyons, Davis & Militsi-Kechagia 2025) - overview of early and middle Bronze archeology of the Kingdom of Pylos. Accompanied an exhibition at the Getty and Hellenic National Museum 2026.
- Individuals and Society in Mycenaean Pylos (Nakassis 2013) - Innovative prosographic analysis of the names found on the tables of Pylos, identifying which relate to the same individuals.
- A Companion to Linear B - Mycenaean Texts and their World (Duhoux & Davies, 2008 - 2014) - 3 Volumes. A series of academic essays on analysis of the Linear B texts found at Pylos, Knossos and other sites.
- The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age (Cynthia Shelmerdine (editor) 2008) - provides context for the Linear B texts and late Bronze Age Mycenaean Greece.
- The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (Eric Cline (editor) 2010) - complimentary overview of Aegean Bronze Age.
- The Man Who Deciphered Linear B - the story of Michael Ventris (Andrew Robinson 2002) - story of the decipherment, strongly focused on Michael Ventris.
- The Riddle of the Labyrinth (Margalit Fox 2014) - provides a broader analysis of solving the riddle of Linear B, including the key contribution of Alice Kober, who sadly died in 1950 before full decipherment was achieved.
For more information, see my Library catalog for “Mycenaean”.
Bush walk at Venman Bushland National Park, Southeast Queensland.
The Palace of Nestor at Pylos in Western Messenia - Volume IV - the Inscribed Documents
Just received an astonishing two-volume set which provides high quality photos and transcriptions of all the Linear B tablets excavated at the Late Bronze Age Mycenaean archeological site known as “The Palace of Nestor at Pylos”. These tablets were discovered in 1939; full excavation of the site took place from 1952 to 1966.
In the midst of this excavation in 1952, Michael Ventris achieved a breakthrough in the decoding and translation of Linear B, identifying the language of the tablets as an archaic form of Greek. He collaborated with John Chadwick on the first publication of documents on Linear B, including those from Pylos and Knossos.
Now, nearly 90 years after the first set of tablets were discovered, we now have a full description of them all available for study. At the same time, several set of new publications have been released on the interpretation of Linear B tablets.
It is an exciting time for anyone interested in this first surviving form of writing of any Indo-European language, providing an insight into the Aegean world c.BC1250.
‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian’
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
