The language (or languages) of the ancient
Minoan civilization of
Crete was written in
Cretan hieroglyphs and later in the
Linear A syllabary. As the Cretan hieroglyphs are undeciphered and Linear A only partly deciphered, the
Minoan language is unknown and unclassified—and indeed, it cannot be known that the two scripts record the same language, or even that a single language is recorded in each. The
Eteocretan language, attested in a few alphabetic inscriptions from Crete a thousand years later, is possibly a descendant of Minoan, but it is itself unclassified.