The languages of the ancient world and the mysterious scripts, long undeciphered, in which they were encoded have represented one of the most intriguing problems of classical archaeology in modern times. This celebrated account of the decipherment of Linear B in the 1950s by Michael Ventris was written by his close collaborator in the momentous discovery. In revealing the secrets of Linear B it offers a valuable survey of late Minoan and Myceanean archaeology, uncovering fascinating details of the religion and economic history of an ancient civilisation.

Table of Contents

Illustrations; Preface; 1. Michael Ventris; 2. The Minoan scripts; 3. Hopes and failures; 4. Birth of a theory; 5. Growth and development; 6. The decipherment and the critics; 7. Life in Mycenaean Greece; 8. Prospects; Postscript; Appendix; Index.

Reviews

'In this present short book - lucid, concise and admirable - Chadwick tells us something of Ventris and his mind, and of the problems involved in the decipherment of Minoan-Mycenaean scripts. It is written for the layman and very well written. It is not only an account of a startling piece of philological and archaeological research, but a simple, moving human story.' The Spectator