Linear B syllable ro

It writes the syllable conventionally transliterated ro.

It is a syllabogram: a sign for one spoken syllable. A Linear B scribe combined it with other signs to spell words in Mycenaean Greek.

Linear B was adapted from Linear A, an earlier Cretan script, to write Mycenaean Greek. The earliest group of texts at Knossos dates from the end of the 15th or beginning of the 14th century BCE. Many surviving tablets are palace accounts of goods, people, work, and offerings.

Why can 𐀫 also be lo?

Linear B’s r-series represents both r and l.

Scholars conventionally transliterate this sign as ro, but its series could spell a Mycenaean syllable beginning with the l sound too. The surrounding word tells you which reading fits.

The related Cypriot syllabary also wrote Greek, but kept r and l distinct; 𐠒 is its lo sign. The two scripts have different spelling rules.

Why does Linear B leave some consonants unwritten?

Many signs fit syllables that end in a vowel.

Many Linear B signs combine a consonant and a vowel. That makes an open syllable: one that ends in a vowel. A consonant at the end of a word may go unwritten; in a consonant cluster, scribes could insert a written vowel or leave one consonant out.