Lecture and Book Promotion: The Beginnings of Literacy in Europe: Prehistoric Scripts of Greece and Cyprus

On Friday, 22 May 2026, at 12:00 p.m., a lecture and book promotion event was held for Prof. Dr. Helena Tomas’s book entitled The Beginnings of Literacy in Europe: Prehistoric Scripts of Greece and Cyprus.

The book was presented by Prof. Dr. Adnan Busuladžić, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Sarajevo, and by the author herself, Prof. Dr. Helena Tomas.

Biography of Prof. Dr. Helena Tomas

Helena Tomas was born in Livno in 1971. In 1997, she graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb with a double major in Archaeology and Greek Language and Literature, defending her thesis in Classical Archaeology on the undeciphered Greek script Linear A. In 1998, she enrolled in a doctoral programme in Archaeology at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, where she obtained her PhD in 2004.
Since 2004, she has been teaching at the Department of Archaeology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. In 2024, she was promoted to the rank of Full Professor with tenure at the same department, for which she received a special recognition from the University of Zagreb, awarded by Rector Prof. Stjepan Lakušić.
At the Department of Archaeology, she regularly teaches courses in Greek and Roman Archaeology, Mycenaean Archaeology and Epigraphy, as well as Greek for Archaeologists. She is also involved in teaching within the doctoral programme in Archaeology at the University of Zagreb.
Helena Tomas has participated in more than sixty scholarly conferences, primarily abroad, and has delivered numerous invited lectures across Europe, the United States, Australia, and Canada. She is the author of four scholarly books, two of which have been recognized as university textbooks. In addition to her books, she has published numerous academic articles, mainly in internationally recognized publications. Since 2025, she has been a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Sciences and Arts, based in Sarajevo.
About the Book: The Beginnings of Literacy in Europe: Prehistoric Scripts of Greece and Cyprus
The book The Beginnings of Literacy in Europe: Prehistoric Scripts of Greece and Cyprus examines the earliest writing systems that emerged within the Aegean civilization, the foundation of later European civilization. Their written records provide valuable insights into their culture and way of life, as well as into the origins of what would later be understood as European culture.
Prof. Dr. Helena Tomas is Croatia’s leading specialist in Aegean studies and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Bronze Age scripts Linear A and Linear B. Drawing on the latest scholarly literature as well as the author’s own research, the book offers a systematic overview of the earliest European writing systems and their use. It also presents the most recent interpretations of Linear A, Linear B, the Cypro-Minoan script, and the Cypriot syllabic script.

The book was published in 2025 by Školska knjiga, Zagreb.

We were delighted to host Prof. Tomas and to have the opportunity to present her work at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina.