John Chadwick (1) (1920–1998)

I found this book a combination of interesting and frustrating. It was written 56 years ago and shows some signs of aging, but overall I am glad I read it. It has scratched an itch I've had forever about Linear B.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for the obsessive desire and sheer intellect that led to the decipherment. Michael Ventris, the architect whose avocation was archaeology and languages, deciphered Linear B. He died tragically young at the age of 34 in 1956 just a few weeks show more before publication of his first definitive work, Documents in Mycenaean Greek. This was the scholarly work.

The Decipherment is for lay people. John Chadwick, a collaborator, wrote the Decipherment after Ventris' death. Just think what Ventris could have done in the next decades of his life. The brief glimpses of the thought processes, linguistic dead ends, linguistic jumps, and sheer guesswork he made are stunning.

The one frustrating thing that kept me on edge throughout my reading was something that was probably presented in the book but obliquely - the placement of Linear B in the panoply of languages of the region during that time. I have since gone to other sources online and placed Linear B with Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphics chronologically in my mind, and confirmed my impression that Linear A has not yet been deciphered.

Throughout the book Chadwick gets in licks against archaeologists and linguists whose methodology or bias against the decipherment offends him - either procedurally or emotionally. I liked those parts because they are refreshingly straightforward and NOT politically correct. I also like the parts where Chadwick presents the continuing interest in and collaboration among archaeologists and linguists.

The chapter on Life in Mycenaean Greece was all supposition and what-iffing, presented, to my mind, as simply unproven fact. However, in the 1992 Postscript Chadwick admits that quite a few of the suppositions have been disproved, so I am bit disappointed that so much of what was really biased opinion made it into the book.

But, overall the book was well written and challenging. So glad I read it. show less

Interesting! I knew, vaguely, that someone had figured out how to read the clay tablets found in various areas of Greece and vicinity. This book gives the details. Honestly, it seems to have been as much luck as anything else - why did they assign those particular syllables to those signs, which when combined (and read very carefully) make words that sound like Greek? That aside, the complex process of tying symbols to meanings to syllables is fascinating, if a bit beyond me. The discussion show more of linguists around the world working on aspects of this (these) question(s) is interesting in itself, as well. Definitely worth reading, though I doubt I'll reread. show less

If you want to read about the decipherment of Linear B then this book is the motherlode. The author was a Bletchley Park code-breaker who worked with Ventris on the decipherment, so this is a first hand account. The central part of the book where he describes the breakthrough reads almost like a memoir. Some (most) of the linguistics went over my head, but even if the fine detail of the argument is missed you can still follow it and the story.

He also gives an overview of Mycenaean studies show more pre-decipherment and discusses the implications of what was found written on the tablets. It was still a controversial topic when this book was published and I particularly enjoyed how he would dismiss the opinions of other experts as 'absurd'.

A quick note on editions. There are two, the second being published in 1967 with corrections and a postscript so get that one unless you're a first edition junkie. show less

Fascinating! A brief biography and description of Ventris, a most admirable man; long descriptions of the decipherment process well written for a lay audience, an outline of such inferences regarding Mycenaean economy and culture as may be made from the limited material together with the reflexes of the age detectable in Homer; and a post-script hinting at progress in the succeeding 25 years. Especially interesting for the sketch of the fierceness of academic classics studies in the first show more half of the 20th c. show less