Linear B Ideogram B142

Possibly beeswax; the reading is not settled.

The beeswax reading draws on three clues: its appearance in a weighed-goods record, a proposed connection to a honey-related sign, and comparison with the ancient Greek word *kēros (“wax”). Other proposals include tendons from agrimi, a wild goat, or goat hair. The context favors beeswax but does not settle the reading.

Why was 𐂜 written?

It was recorded as a palace commodity for accounting.

Linear B tablets are clay records of palace administration: they list goods, movements, and assessed payments. B142 appears in the Knossos Mc series, a group of assessment records, where it is measured by weight; neighboring entries are assessments, not a narrative sentence.

The oldest surviving Linear B tablets are generally placed at Knossos in the latter half of the 15th century BCE; that dates the script's surviving record, not the origin of B142.

Where did Linear B come from?

Linear B grew from older Cretan writing.

It developed from Linear A, an earlier script used on Crete, and has graphic links to Cretan Hieroglyphic, another Cretan writing system. Those scripts recorded Minoan languages that remain poorly understood; Linear B was adapted to write Mycenaean Greek.

That shared history explains the script's development, not B142's reading: the beeswax proposal comes from how this sign is used in Linear B records.