Linear B

Poesy plus Polemics

Arthur Evans 1851-1941
British Archaeologist

Alice Kober 1906-1950
American Linguist

Michael Ventris 1922-1956
British Architect

Linear B Tablet from Knossos
Photo from minoer.net

eccentric geniuses

learned to converse with burnt clay

speaking tongues forgotten

since one thousand years

before Homer’s Greece

learned how to write

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deep beneath layered

Minoan hegemony

Europe’s by far oldest city

imperial Knossos stood center of Crete

where Theseus conquered the labyrinth

slaying the murderous minotaur

the palace of Minos

anchoring Aegean commerce

held cradles of tablets inscripted

with records of kingdom

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discovered amid char and ash

from the flames Santorini rained down

where all voice of culture went mute

they were sent on a fifty year journey

through brilliant hands

finally cleverly cracking

the mysteries of their recalcitrant code

bringing back to the light

this more ancient than ancient

writ language of civilized men

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eccentric geniuses

learned to converse with burnt clay

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