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The Decipherment of Linear B (Canto) (Paperback)

by John Chadwick (Author) "The urge to discover secrets is deeply ingrained in human nature; even the least curious mind is roused by the promise of sharing knowledge withheld..." (more)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; New Ed edition (13 Sep 1990)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0521398304
ISBN-13: 978-0521398305
Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.4 x 1.2 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 213,549 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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#3 in	Books > Languages > By Language > German > By Publisher > Cambridge University Press
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Product Description

Review

‘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

Product Description

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.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
The urge to discover secrets is deeply ingrained in human nature; even the least curious mind is roused by the promise of sharing knowledge withheld from others. Read the first page

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A popular account by an expert, 8 Jun 2005

By	Eoin McAuley (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The decipherment of this ancient Mycenaean script from about 1400 BC was one of the great mystery stories of the 20th Century. John Chadwick is an expert in archaic Greek, who assisted Michael Ventris in deciphering the thousands of clay tablets discovered in the ruins of Knossos and Pylos. Ventris's demonstration that the language was an archaic form of Greek rocked the world of Ancient Greek history. In this book, Chadwick gives a popular account of the decipherment, somewhat light on the technical details of Ventris's discoveries, but with a good section on what the translated records show of Mycenaean society. The book was written in the 1950s but has a modern postscript which shows that most of the original findings still stand today.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and very well written, 4 April 2008

By	J. Reffin (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This slim volume elegantly and concisely describes the process by which Michael Ventris deciphered the Linear B script. The story is worth telling, not least because Ventris was an amateur scholar - working as a professional architect while pursuing this work as a hobby in his spare time. It was written by Ventris' close collaborator, John Chadwick, shortly after the decipherment and this proximity to the events described allows Chadwick to convey to the reader some of the excitement of discovery.

The book was prepared for the general reader so does not require any great specialist knowledge. As such, it is heartily recommended to anyone with an interest in learning more about the topic. The story is made poignant by the tragic death in a road accident of Michael Ventris in 1956, a couple of years after the main events described. Chadwick's own sense of loss can be seen through the text.

My copy dates from 1961 so lacks the later postscript but, such was the quality of the original work by Ventris and Chadwick, the content remains relevant today in all its essentials.

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