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Faculty of Classics

 

Biography

I am a Junior Research Fellow at St. John’s College. I have completed my PhD in Classics at Peterhouse (Cambridge), specializing in Mycenaean Epigraphy, after an MPhil at Lucy Cavendish College (Cambridge). Before moving to Cambridge, I completed a BA and an MA in Classics at the University of Padova (Italy) in association with the Galileian School of Higher Education.

Research

My current research revolves around the palaeographical relations between Bronze Age Cretan scripts, focusing primarily on Linear A (writing Minoan) and Linear B (writing Mycenaean Greek), and branching out to the older Cretan Hieroglyphic (unidentified language). As Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic still remain undeciphered, the long-term goal of this work is to help establish clearer palaeographical connections (or the lack thereof) ultimately leading to a refinement of the sign repertories, as well as structures, of Cretan scripts so as to arrive at a more nuanced appreciation of the Cretan writing traditions as a whole (both synchronically and diachronically). This avenue of research originated form my PhD dissertation, where I investigated the process of script adaptation and transmission with language change from Linear A onto Linear B on structural and palaeographical grounds.  

Publications

Key publications: 
  • Book

Aegean Linear Script(s): Rethinking the Relationship between Linear A and Linear B2020, Cambridge University Press.

  • Book Chapters

‘Reconstruction of an orthographic system: The Linear B syllabary of Bronze Age Greece’, forthcoming, in Condorelli M. and Rutkowska H. (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Orthography, Cambridge University Press. 

  • Articles  

'Linear A', 2022, Oxford Classical Dictionary

'Imagining Cretan Scripts: the influence of visual motifs on the creation of script-signs in Bronze Age Crete', 2021, Annual of the British School at Athens (Open Access)

‘A note on the Linear A & B ideogram AB 131/VIN(um) 'wine' and its variants: References to time notation?’, 2020, Ktèma 45, pp. 161-171. 

‘Drawing lines: The palaeography of Linear A and Linear B’, 2019, Kadmos 58, pp. 61-92.

‘Non-connective behaviour of the particle -qe in the Linear B documents from Pylos’, 2019, Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici. Nuova Serie 5, pp. 71-84. 

Form and function of clausal particles in the Mycenaean documents from Pylos’, 2019, Journal of Greek Linguistics 19, pp. 196-214. 

Some thoughts on Mycenaean o-u-qe’, 2018, in Jasink A. M. and Alberti M. E. (eds.), Akrothinia 2: Contributi di giovani ricercatori agli studi egei e ciprioti(Firenze University Press), pp. 249-257.

  • Reviews 

Review of Understanding Relations Between Scripts: The Aegean Writing Systems, ed. by Steele P. M., 2017, Oxford, in Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie 58 (2018, p. 48-49).

  • Digital Resources 

SigLA - The Signs of Linear A: a palaeographical database (under construction), in collaboration with Simon Castellan

Teaching and Supervisions

Teaching: 

Affiliated Lecturer (2019-2022), Faculty of Classics, Cambridge: 'Aegean Prehistory' (D Caucus) and 'Greek in the Bronze Age' (E Caucus) for Part II students

Research supervision: 
  • Graduate and Undergraduate supervisor: Greek and Latin linguistics and translation, Mycenaean Greek linguistics, Mycenaean epigraphy. 
  • Teacher of the course ‘Introduction to Linear B’ in the Summer School in Homer at University College London (July 2016, 2017, 2018).
Junior Research Fellow, St. John's College
Dr Ester  Salgarella

Contact Details

St. John's College
Cambridge
CB2 1TP
Not available for consultancy

Affiliations

Latest news

Classics Shorts with Mary Beard: videos for schools

19 February 2023

We are thrilled to be launching Classics Shorts : a series of videos for schools introducing the ancient Greek and Roman worlds and exploring themes with continuing resonance for the modern classroom. Each film is accompanied by teaching materials for use in schools. Celebrity guests join Mary Beard and her colleagues to...

New appointment in Classical Archaeology

10 February 2023

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Dr Jane Rempel has been appointed to an Assistant Professorship in Classics from 1 September 2023. She is currently Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at the University of Sheffield.

Regius Professorship of Greek

16 January 2023

The Faculty is delighted to announce that Professor Tim Whitmarsh FBA has been elected Regius Professor of Greek from 1 April 2023. He is currently the A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture in the University. Looking ahead to his new role, Professor Whitmarsh commented: ’I am thrilled and honoured to be taking up this...

Mary Beard receives THE Outstanding Achievement Award

18 November 2022

Professor Mary Beard received the Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2022 Times Higher Education Awards . The citation hailed how she had “broken through the ivory tower’s walls and brought her unique enthusiasm for her subject – and crucially, what it can teach us about contemporary life and politics – to the world”...