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Linear B, the script of Bronze Age Crete, resisted professional decipherment for half a century. It was solved in 1952 by Michael Ventris — an architect who worked on it in his spare time.

Michael Ventris (1922–1956)

LanguageHistory

Why it matters

The idea in context

Ventris saw the tablets at an exhibition aged fourteen and never let them go. Treating the problem like a code rather than a language, he built grids of sign patterns, and his breakthrough was to test a possibility everyone had dismissed — that the language underneath was an early form of Greek. It was. The tablets turned out to be inventories: sheep, wheels, oil, spices. Ventris died in a car crash at 34, four years after the announcement. Linear A, the older Cretan script, is still unread.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

Tunç Çağı Girit'inin yazısı olan Linear B, yarım yüzyıl boyunca profesyonel çözümlemeye direndi. 1952'de, boş zamanlarında üzerinde çalışan bir mimar olan Michael Ventris tarafından çözüldü.
Michael Ventris (1922-1956)

Ventris tabletleri on dört yaşında bir sergide gördü ve bir daha bırakmadı. Sorunu bir dilden çok bir şifre gibi ele alarak işaret örüntülerinden ızgaralar kurdu ve asıl atılımı, herkesin elediği bir olasılığı sınamak oldu — alttaki dilin Yunancanın erken bir biçimi olması. Öyleydi. Tabletlerin envanter olduğu ortaya çıktı: Koyun, tekerlek, yağ, baharat. Ventris duyurudan dört yıl sonra, 34 yaşında bir trafik kazasında öldü. Daha eski Girit yazısı olan Linear A hâlâ okunamıyor.

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Background reading: Michael VentrisAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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