This dialect, spoken in two very distant areas, that were not connected in any way during the historic era (
Arcadia in the center of the
Peloponnese, and the isle of
Cyprus), is probably the most ancient of the classic
Greek dialects, and represented the language as it was probably spoken prior to the
Doric invasion.
This dialect was little researched and dealt with (mainly because there is very little literary tradition in it) until the deciphering of the texts found on tablets in Pylos, Mycenae and Cnossus, dating to 1200 BCE and earlier (in the Linear B writing). Investigation of these texts showed remarkable resemblance between them and the Arcado-Cyprian dialect.