Ventris, Michael

Ventris, Michael (1922-56), architect, b. Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England.

In 1900, Sir Arthur Evans began digging at Knossos in Crete in search of remains left by people living there in ancient times.

Among these remains he found tablets containing two unknown forms of writing. Evans called them Linear A and Linear B.

Archaeologists in many parts of the world tried to work out the meaning of the writing. None of them succeeded.

Michael Ventris became interested in the problem at the age of fourteen. He spent sixteen years working on Linear B, treating it as a secret code, and he was finally able to read it.

Linear B was an early form of Greek, and Ventris's discovery taught scholars something new about the early history of Greece.

Ventris was killed in a motor car accident three years after he discovered the meaning of Linear B.

So far, no one has found out the meaning of Linear A.

See The Man Who Deciphered Linear B: The Story of Michael Ventris ~ Andrew Robinson