ABSTRACT
This chapter, in addition to examining Ventris’ actions in detail, highlights heretofore untold part of story, the role of Professor Sterling Dow of Harvard University. Ventris’ decipherment of Linear B as an early form of Greek in summer of 1952, now just over 65 years ago, stands as one of the greatest accomplishments in our field. On 1 July 1952, just 11 days short of his 30th birthday, Michael Ventris announced on the Third Programme of the BBC radio his decipherment of Linear B. After reviewing discovery of tablets at Knossos and Pylos and their publication in early 1951 and early 1952, Ventris outlines the way to go about deciphering “a set of inscriptions where language and writing are unknown quantities and where there is no bilingual to help us”. Ventris’ article actually appeared before the 15th of April and made quite a splash, for it received substantial coverage in the “education” section of Time magazine dated 19 April 1954.
