The Riddle Of The Labyrinth: The Quest To Break An Ancient Code

NPR ^ | Jume 30, 2013 | NPR Staff

[OddLane]

Critics have called Margalit Fox's new book, The Riddle of the Labyrinth, a paleographic detective procedural. It follows the story of the laborious quest to crack a mysterious script, unearthed in Crete in 1900, known by the sterile-sounding name Linear B.

Fox, an obituary writer for The New York Times, is good at bringing the departed to life. In The Riddle of the Labyrinth, she tells the story of Alice Kober, a classics professor at Brooklyn College, who worked alone over decades and discovered the essential grammar of Linear B, only to die in 1950 before she could complete her work.

Until now, Kober's contribution to Linear B had been largely overlooked, but Fox tells Jacki Lyden, host of weekends on All Things Considered, that the riddle of the script wouldn't have been solved without Kober.

[yarddog]

OK, I get it now.

[Bigg Red]

That’s because you are a creepy-a__ (code) cracker.

[Bigh4u2]

LOL!

OMG! I nearly feel out of my chair!!

hahahahha!

[Tax-chick]

18 jars wine. 26 jars oil. 14 slaves for 18 workdays each equals (scratch scratch). 500 yards linen.

The vast majority of ancient texts in any script are inventories.

[Veto!]

Good guess and quite funny.

However, I’ve been to Knossos and know for an absolute fact that the script is from a menu at a bistro known as Knossos Joe’s back in the (Neolithic) day, known far and wide for their scrumptious Minotaur burgers.

[mikrofon]

It could be the secret ingredients for the ORIGINAL hair color restorer - Cretian Formula

[katana]

We cannot decipher what the ancient Cretans wrote.

And we know that modern cretins can't read.

[Charles Henrickson]

This is a very early model of a tablet. And it contains one of the first known examples of texting. Note, 160 characters or less. It says:

gurl, pal so txtg. went shpg 2day. omg cray cray. @teotd $ urn @Crete&Barrel. lulz! ttfn <3 #ybff

[yarddog]

Probably right. I remember seeing the translation of some cuneiform tablets and that is exactly what they were.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I did not know that Linear B had been decoded. If it has, then what do those tablets say?

Linear B has been partly decoded. Linear A has not.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

:snicker:

If you are ever stuck in a labyrinth the way to get out is to rest your hand on the wall and do not lift it as you walk. It may take a bit but you will get out.

[yarddog]

Thanks that explains a lot.

[martin_fierro]

a paleographic detective procedural

Why am I reminded of,

♪♫ Now Paul is a real estate novelist
who never had time for a wife ♪♫

[yarddog]

An even better way is to charm a young Princess into giving you a ball of twine and a sword.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

You are welcome. There were three prehistoric scripts on Crete, Cretan hieroglyphs (undeciphered) Linear A (undeciphered) and Linear B (partly deciphered). Usually you can work backwards from a known writing system to an unknown but in this case they ran into a brick wall.

It makes you wonder if the language changed totally.

[yarddog]

For some reason, Crete has always fascinated me. It seems to be so mysterious and also just as old a civilization as Egypt.

Even the way they made their upside down looking pillars which were larger at the top than the bottom, seems really odd.

The ancient Greek myths always show Crete as the most powerful kingdom in antiquity yet in known history, it was just another large island.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I have never had any luck charming princesses. :)

[Veto!]

LOL, But!

OMG @Crete&Barrel bought out Knossos Joe’s? 86d Minotaur burgers?

What’s a gurl 2do?

[Veto!]

For some reason, Crete has always fascinated me. It seems to be so mysterious and also just as old a civilization as Egypt.

It's the olive oil. Best in the world, guaranteed to add thousands of years to your life.

[Veto!]

LOL

Cretin is as Cretin does.