Linear B Ideogram B249

A disputed boat or ship logogram in the Pylos records.

Its known examples are three drawings on two clay tablets from Pylos, made in the Late Bronze Age: two on PY Mn 11 and one on the back of An 724.

A logogram is a sign for an object or category, rather than a spoken syllable. PY Mn 11 is a tax record; An 724 lists people called up as rowers, and its back shows a boat. Together, these contexts favor a maritime reading without settling the exact object or word.

Why do the ancient drawings differ?

They are three handwritten forms of one sign.

On PY Mn 11.1, the bow points left and the stern rises into a structure compared with a captain’s cabin. On PY Mn 11.7, the drawing is reduced to a simple boat; the study compares it with Linear B sign *86.

On the back of An 724, the stern structure lies down, interpreted as a possible sign that the boat was under repair. The ancient drawings vary; on screen, the character’s appearance comes from the installed font.

If someone sends 𐃔, what does it mean?

Without context, treat it as an unfamiliar ancient-script sign, not a decoded everyday message.

In a modern conversation, it points toward an interest in Aegean writing or the Pylos tablets; add a plain-language gloss when the boat reading matters.