Linear B Vessel Sign B155

It is an unidentified Linear B vessel sign, not a syllable. Linear B catalogues describe it as an uninterpreted vase logogram—a picture sign for a vessel category, without naming a specific pot. *155VAS is modern scholarly notation, not a word Mycenaean scribes necessarily wrote or pronounced.

Linear B vessel ideograms appear in Mycenaean inventories. Scribes paired them with quantities, names, and descriptions to classify pottery by their own categories.

How does B155 fit Crete’s writing history?

B155 belongs to Linear B, the script used for Mycenaean Greek. Crete’s Bronze Age writing began with picture signs in the Cretan Hieroglyphic tradition (ca. 1900–1600 BCE). The later linear tradition included Linear A (ca. 1800–1450 BCE) and Linear B (ca. 1400–1200 BCE); Linear B developed from Linear A to write Mycenaean Greek. Local Cretan writing drew inspiration from examples in Egypt and the Levant. These broad links do not identify B155’s individual ancestor.

An Iklaina tablet dated ca. 1450–1400 BCE shows Linear B in use; that date belongs to the tablet, not to B155’s first appearance.