The Palace of Nestor at Pylos in Western Messenia

In 1939, on the first day of excavation at the archaeological site that he called The Palace of Nestor, Carl W. Blegen uncovered a Mycenaean palace. Its archives contained clay tablets inscribed in the so-called Linear B script, a syllabary employed to record the Greek language. These documents had been unintentionally baked in a conflagration that destroyed the palace early in the 12th century B.C.

Blegen, who died in 1971, planned to see published in a final volume of his excavation report all Linear B texts from Pylos. The present fascicule constitutes the first of two parts fulfilling his commitment and is the work of several generations of scholars who have remained dedicated to the enterprise. After a preliminary detailed introduction, Linear B tablets 1- 616 are here presented accompanied by colour photographs, transcriptions, and definitive epigraphical and palaeographical notes. The Palace of Nestor IV will be fundamental for any future study of Mycenaean economy and society.