Greek writing systems and languages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkalochori_Axe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypro-Minoan_syllabary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_A
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eteocypriot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eteocretan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelasgians
http://users.teilar.gr/~g1951d/Aegean.pdf

The above links provide ample evidence that, prior to the Hellenic
period, Greece supported many mutually unintelligible languages, some
written using similar alphabets but others written in totally
different ones. Several of these languages (such as Linear A) remain
unintelligible, though there is now a theory that Linear A is related
to Indo-Iranian (which would be a massive blow to Aggy who believes it
to be a form of Greek).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koine_Greek

However, given that Koine Greek is the first mutually intelligible
form of Greek to have been spoken or written, one must assume that
earlier forms of Greek borrowed heavily from the language spoken in
that specific region - or, at least heavily enough that no common
Greek existed prior to 300 BC. Except where they have specifically
learned earlier forms, a modern Greek could not read/write any form of
Greek prior to the Common Greek era.

However, this raises a problem with respect to the charter. If a
language cannot be read at this time, can it be considered a
historical text? At first glance, the answer would be yes. After all,
it could be read at one time, and therefore it was historical then. A
Latin text today doesn't cease to be historical in the hands of a non-
Latin speaker, so why would a text in an unknown language not be
historical?

The more complex answer is that if we cannot determine what it says,
we cannot determine the accuracy of what it says. At best, it tells
you merely that the script was in use at that time, but it tells you
nothing about what the writers were thinking. Books by the "Golden
Dawn" exist and tell you that writing existed in Victorian England,
but the content is clearly not historical. Hysterical, perhaps, but
not historical. The argument over whether the Bible contains
historical information shows that this isn't unique to modern
writings. If, as some assert, the Bible is not historical in any sense
of the term even though it was written in historical times, then being
written in historical times is not sufficient.

This would tend to suggest that an unreadable script cannot be
considered a historical document, as it is self-evident that if you
cannot read it, nothing it says can be considered of historic value.

However, there we run into other problems. Some cultures (such as that
on Easter Island) have left virtually no evidence except in the form
of unreadable texts. If we reject these as unhistoric, then we cannot
examine those cultures at all, even though they may have left texts of
historic value.

Indeed, it's worse than just being unreadable. Because virtually
nothing has survived on Easter Island from the times of the surviving
writings, even if we could read them, we'd have no data whatsoever to
evaluate the claims made. We'd be forced to accept anything not
obviously contrary to what little we know of them and what we know
from science today, OR to reject everything they say. Neither of these
options has any merit in a scientific sense, both are beliefs based on
doctrine rather than evidence, so that would appear to mean that these
texts can never be considered of historic merit. No matter what we
learned, what is written could be true or could be an "alternative
universe" work of fiction (which is outside the charter).

Going back to Greece for a second, if Greek prior to 300 BC (ie: not
Common Greek) was not mutually intelligible, then the accepted
definition of "Greek" (one who spoke a language mutually intelligible
across Greece) could not possibly be valid. Ergo, nobody prior to that
date can be considered "Greek" in that sense and must be considered at
a more tribal level.
.

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