The Riddle of the Labyrinth (58 page)

letter frequencies in, 94, 107

phonetic values in, 50, 53, 120, 159, 163, 211, 225–32, 250, 253, 255–56

place-names, 232, 233, 236, 238–40, 245, 255, 266–67

proper names in, 48–49,
48
, 51, 53, 266

reading, 43

and rebus, 52–53

signaries, 182, 225, 227–28

spoken, 41

syllabaries, 42, 73, 106, 119, 127, 134–35, 164,
226
, 228, 230, 233–34,
234

symbol systems, 56

word endings, 125–26, 136, 230, 240, 242–43, 265–66

written, 41–46.
See also
specific languages

Language
, 196–97

Latin language, 122–23, 135, 138, 157

Linear A script, 144, 248

and Cypro-Minoan script, 114

discovery of, 6

and Linear B, 36–37,
37
, 68–69, 127, 241–42

and Minoan civilization, 256

and
Scripta Minoa III
, 173, 178, 188

Linear B:

access limited to, 74–75, 96–97, 117–18, 128, 151

administrative records, 6–7, 54, 56–57, 69–70, 183, 231–32, 269–70, 272–84

“and” (button) character
, 156–58, 224

bilingual inscription lacking for, 80

bridging character in, 163–66

characteristics of, 37–38, 59

“Chariot” Tablets, 120–21,
121
, 125, 279

on clay, 60

and Cypriot syllabary, 234–35,
234–35

dating of, 36

decipherment of, xv–xvi, 38–39, 59, 114, 154.
See also
Evans, Arthur; Kober, Alice; Ventris, Michael

discovery of tablets, 6,
6
, 9, 33, 271, 293

frequency analysis of, 93–95

hieroglyphs of, 36

“horse” fragment,
82
, 235–36,
235
, 276

identifying the language, 241–46

inflected language of, 121–25, 134–35, 144–45, 263, 264–65

known facts about, 97–98

and Linear A, 36–37,
37
, 68–69, 127, 241–42

logograms, 71–72,
71
,
72
, 73, 87, 98, 183,
184
, 228

“Man” tablet, 34,
35
, 183–85,
184

as mixed script, 73–74

as Mycenaean, 256

number of tablets, 59

numbers expressed in, 69–70,
70

pairs of, 59,
59
, 72, 87–88, 98, 230

proper names in, 48

publications of, 134, 143, 156

and Pylos tablets, 147, 179–82, 231

as secret code, 7–9, 38, 54

sign-groups in, 72–74, 182, 227–32,
227
,
229

signs of, 81, 287

solving the riddle, 241–46

spelling rules for, 242–43, 252

as syllabary, 73, 97, 119, 127, 134–35, 138, 228, 241

as unknown language and script, 45

Lubetkin, Berthold, 210

MacGillivray, Joseph Alexander,
Minotaur
, 23

Mackenzie, Duncan, 77

Mayan hieroglyphics,
55
, 56

Mesopotamia, cuneiform writing of, 36–37

Mid-Century Report (Ventris), 222, 259

Minoan civilization, 79, 147–48, 256

Minoan labyrinth, 262

Minoan language:

Evans's assumptions about, 79–80, 256

inflected, 126, 134

and Linear B, 79, 80, 88, 96, 102, 120, 126

and Polynesian language, 158

Minoan writing system, 155, 166, 167, 211

“and” symbol
in, 157

bridging characters in, 141

decipherment of, 197, 247–48

three signs on amphora, 16,
16

types of script, 144

Minos, 4–5, 77.
See also
Palace of Minos

Moe, Henry Allen, 141, 143, 170, 192

Moore, Henry, 206, 210

Morgan, J. P., 77

Mycenae:

bead gems from, 25

economic documents of, 276–81, 282

Evans's assumptions about, 79–82

goods produced in, 278–81

inscribed vessels from, 16

kingdoms of, 271–72

language of, 242, 256

Lion Gate, 15

officials named in, 272–73, 283

religion in, 282–84

Schliemann's excavation of, 13–15, 23–24, 28, 271, 285

slaves in, 274–76

state banquets in, 283–84

trades plied in, 273–76

war threats documented in, 281–82

Mycenaean Age, 15, 272

Mycenology, 260, 262

Myres, John Linton, 39, 79, 82, 170

and Bennett, 223

and discovery of Knossos tablets, 33

and Evans's work, 117–18, 128

handwriting of, 178,
178

and Kober's work, 142, 143, 156, 162, 172–73, 174, 187–90, 195, 267

and
Scripta Minoa II
, 142, 157, 162, 172–75, 177–78, 181, 195, 197–99, 219, 223, 225, 233

and
Scripta Minoa III
, 178,
178
, 188

and Ventris, 170–71, 173, 194, 218–20, 249–50

Nero, Emperor, 64–65

Nicholson, Ben, 206

Oxford:

Kober's work in, 141–43, 162, 172–75, 178, 181

postwar conditions in, 129–30

Ventris in, 218–20, 251–52

Palace of Minos, Knossos:

administrative records of, 6–7, 34, 65

destruction of, 67, 271, 272, 284–85

discovery of, 4–5, 29

Evans's excavations of, 32–33

Palace of Minos
(Evans), 209

reconstruction of, 77–78, 230–31

Schliemann's plans for, 30

Palace of Nestor, Pylos, 147, 271, 284

Palaima, Thomas G., 61, 79, 87, 108, 157, 214

Persian alphabet, 106

Petrie, Flinders, 13

Phoenician alphabet, 22, 27, 37, 42–43, 60–61, 234, 241

Piperski, Alexander, 98

Plato, 248

Pope, Maurice,
The Story of Archaeological Decipherment
, 43–44, 126, 225, 229, 255, 264

Ptolemy cartouche, 49–50,
49
,
50
, 52

Pylos tablets:

chariots in, 279

decipherment of, 228, 229, 230–31

discovery of, 146–48, 271

limited access to, 148, 151, 179, 192, 223

Linear B compared to, 147, 179–82, 231

military preparedness in, 282

P641 “Tripod,” 252–55,
253
, 256

publications on, 179, 248

Ramses cartouche, 52,
52
, 232

Rapa Nui (Polynesian language), 45

Reiss, Ernst, 90

Richardson, Robin, 209

Robinson, Andrew, 193, 222, 247, 251, 256, 257, 260

on Kober's work, 264

Lost Languages
, xviii

The Man Who Deciphered Linear B
, xvii, xx, 206, 207, 223, 225, 269

The Story of Writing
, 53, 117

on Ventris's mother, 212–13

Roman alphabet, 37, 43, 61, 62, 235, 241

Rongorongo script, 45, 56,
56
, 61

Rosetta stone, 46–53, 80, 166

Rotokas alphabet, 58

Royal Academy of Arts, 203–4, 209

Samuel, Edward, 257

Schliemann, Heinrich, 13–15, 21, 23–24, 28, 30, 271, 285

Sequoyah, Chief, 57

Shelmerdine, Cynthia W., 270, 272–73, 274–75, 280

Singh, Simon,
The Code Book
, 47, 48, 51

Smith, Prue, 245–46, 247

The Morning Light
, 221

Socrates, 248

Solomon Islands, 58

Stillman, William James, 29

Stone Age implements, 23, 31

Sumerian cuneiform, 41–42, 60

Sundwall, Johannes, 130–33, 170, 194

Knossisches in Pylos
, 132–33

Knossos tablets published by, 75, 94, 130, 131, 132

Kober's correspondence with, 131, 151, 158, 174, 186

Swindler, Mary, 115

Talos (mechanical man), 5

Thebes, Linear B script in, 271

Thompson, Sir D'Arcy Wentworth, 113

Tiryns, Linear B script in, 271

Tsountas, Chrēstos, 16

University of Pennsylvania, 152–54, 160–61, 167–70

and Center for Minoan Linguistic Research, 152, 153, 169–70, 175, 179

Ventris, Lois, 215–17, 245, 257

Ventris, Michael, 8, 9, 89,
201

as architect, 218, 221–22, 258–59, 260

BBC broadcast by, 247–49, 250, 262–63

birth and background of, 205–10

critics of, 248–49, 250, 252, 257

death of, xvi, xix–xx, 261–62

and decipherment, 149, 156, 158, 163, 182, 229–32, 259–60

Documents in Mycenaean Greek
(with Chadwick), 251, 258, 262

early theories of, 103, 211–12, 214, 225, 232, 241, 244

“Evidence for Greek Dialect in Mycenaean Archives” (with Chadwick), 251, 255–56

grids of, 159, 224–25,
226
, 229,
237
, 238,
238
,
239
,
240
, 244

handwriting of, 170–71,
171

“Introducing the Minoan Language,” 213–14

“King Nestor's Four-Handled Cups,” 256

and Knossos tablets, xvi, 204–5

and Kober, 119, 158, 159–60, 171, 230, 262, 263–64

“The Languages of Minoan and Mycenaean Civilizations,” 222

and Linear B, xx, 210–11, 218–20, 260

and mother's death, 212–13

and Myres, 170–71, 173, 194, 218–20, 249–50

as outsider, 259–60, 285

and place-names, 232, 233, 236, 238–40, 245

public speaking, 251–52, 254–57, 258

and Pylos tablets, 148, 228

in Royal Air Force, 215–18

self-doubt of, 249, 251–52, 256–57, 260–61

solving the riddle, 87, 88, 224, 229–30, 241–46, 247, 250, 253–55, 262

and spelling rules, 242–43, 252

survey by, 193–95, 222

tags used by, 215

withdrawal of, 173, 186, 218, 219, 222–23, 258, 260

Work Notes, 223–25, 229, 244–45, 249

Ventris, Tessa, 257–58, 262

A Very English Genius
(documentary film), 208–9, 210, 257, 262

Vietnamese language, 235

Villa Ariadne, 77, 97

Wharton, Edith, 77

World War I, 75–76

World War II, 97, 147, 205, 212

writing:

alphabetic system, 43, 58

boustrophedon, 61,
61

determinatives in, 53–54, 81, 229

direction of, 60–62, 97

hieroglyphic-pictographic, 144

and language, 104

logographic or ideographic, 42, 43, 56, 57

proto-writing, 41, 56

syllabic system, 43, 57,
57–58

Youlbury, Oxford, 24–25, 75, 76,
76

Young, Rodney, 179

Young, Thomas, 48–51

MARGALIT FOX
, an award-winning journalist trained as a linguist, is a senior writer for the
New York Times
. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in linguistics from Stony Brook University and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. Her previous book,
Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind
, which takes readers to an isolated Middle Eastern village whose residents use a sign language unlike any other in the world, has been called “fascinating” by the
Washington Post
, “masterly and accessible” by
Nature
, and “astonishing” by the Associated Press. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, the writer and critic George Robinson. Visit her online at facebook.com/riddleofthelabyrinth and twitter.com/margalitfox.

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Talking Hands:
What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind

Cover photograph: Palace of Minos © Hulton Collection/Getty Images

THE RIDDLE OF THE LABYRINTH
. Copyright © 2013 by Margalit Fox. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.