Linear B Ideogram B171

Treat it as an uncertain commodity mark, not a spoken syllable.

Scholars write the sign as *171. Its placement in tablets points to a counted good, but the mark does not spell out the good's name.

Linear B was adapted from Linear A to write Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek, and keep palace accounts. The oldest surviving group of Linear B texts comes from the Knossos Room of Chariot Tablets, a set of administrative records dated to the beginning of the 14th century BCE; an alternative chronology places it at the end of the 15th century BCE. B171 likely marked a commodity in these records, often alongside quantities or livestock.

Read the records, not the outline

At Knossos, *171 occurs in records alongside a Linear B word scholars associate with Cyperus, a kind of sedge. At Thebes, sealed consignment records place it beside livestock entries and quantities. One interpretation is fodder distributed in bundles for a day's feeding; these settings support an animal-related commodity, but do not identify the exact plant or product.

𐙑 is the Linear A sign AB171, in the script from which Linear B was adapted. The matching number links the scholarly catalogue labels but does not prove the signs had the same meaning. Scholars write the Linear B sign as *171; B171 is its Unicode inventory label, and neither label gives an ancient pronunciation.