Man Who Deciphered Linear B: The Stor

Author:   Andrew Robinson
Publisher:   Thames & Hudson Ltd
ISBN:  

9780500510773


Pages:   168
Publication Date:   29 May 2002
Replaced By:   9780500289983
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained


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Man Who Deciphered Linear B: The Stor


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Overview

Linear B is Europe's oldest readable writing, dating from the middle of the second millennium BC. First discovered in 1900, on clay tablets among the ruins of the Palace of Minos at Knossos, Crete, it remained a mystery for over fifty years until 1952, when Michael Ventris discovered that its signs did not represent an unknown language as previously believed, but an archaic dialect of Greek, more than 500 years older than the Greek of Homer. Dubbled 'the Everest of archaeology', the decipherment was all the more remarkable because Ventris was not a trained classical scholar but an architect by profession, who had first heard of linear B as a schoolboy. An initial fascination became a lifelong obsession for this intriguing and contradictory man, a gifted linguist but a divided soul. This is the first book to tell not just the story of Linear B but that of the 'modest genius' who broke the code.

Full Product Details

Author:   Andrew Robinson
Publisher:   Thames & Hudson Ltd
Imprint:   Thames & Hudson Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 13.50cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 21.50cm
Weight:   0.300kg
ISBN:  

9780500510773


ISBN 10:   0500510776
Pages:   168
Publication Date:   29 May 2002
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Replaced By:   9780500289983
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained

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The first book to tell not just the story of the decipherment of Linear B, Europe's oldest readable script, but also that of Michael Ventris, the 'modest genius' who cracked the code.


Michael Ventris is one of the heroes of 20th-century scholarship. He was fascinated from his teens by Linear B, the obscure script first found on tablets in the ruins of Knossos in 1900. Ventris trained as an architect, but he remained drawn to Linear B, until finally in 1952 he deciphered it - proving, contrary to his and others' assumptions, that it was an early form of Greek, predating the Homeric epics by hundreds of years. But having solved the mystery and gained international acclaim, Ventris lost interest - he toyed dispiritedly with the idea of returning to architecture but died in a mysterious car crash in 1956, at the age of 34. Ventris's collaborator John Chadwick told the story of Ventris's great achievement in his famous book The Decipherment of Linear B, published soon after Ventris's death. Now Robinson, himself a philologist by training, looks at Ventris's life from a wider angle, particularly focusing on the qualities that enabled him to make his discovery. This is unashamedly an intellectual biography - there is very little reference to Ventris's personal life and key events such as his parents' deaths when he was in his teens are scarcely mentioned. Ventris's early life is dutifully covered, but the interest of the author - and therefore the reader - really only takes off with Ventris's researches into Linear B. Robinson manages to give life to the arcane subject of Mycenean Greek linguistics, and explains lucidly the various logical deductions that led Ventris to his conclusions. Robinson also succeeds in persuading the reader of his basic thesis - that Ventris's lack of formal training in classics was far from being a hindrance to him, and that his intuitive leaps of thought were essential for his success. This is an absorbing account of an extraordinary man and his remarkable achievement. In this handsomely produced book, Robinson brings Ventris's story to a wider audience, and will enthral anyone with an interest in linguistics, cryptography or the ancient world. (Kirkus UK)


Author Information

Andrew Robinson is the Literary Editor of The Times Higher Education Supplement. Among his previous books are The Story of Writing and Earthshock.

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