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The Riddle Of The Labyrinth: The Quest To Break An Ancient Code
NPR ^ | Jume 30, 2013 | NPR Staff

Posted on 06/30/2013 2:47:37 PM PDT by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: alicekober; brooklyncollege; crete; cuneiform; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; history; knossos; lineara; linearb; margalitfox; michaelventris; orthography; pages; script; tablet
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1 posted on 06/30/2013 2:47:37 PM PDT by OddLane
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To: SunkenCiv

ping


2 posted on 06/30/2013 2:47:54 PM PDT by OddLane
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To: OddLane

I always thought that the answer to the riddle of the Labyrinth was that you’re not supposed to give babies to David Bowie.


3 posted on 06/30/2013 2:52:43 PM PDT by Greetings_Puny_Humans
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To: Greetings_Puny_Humans

LOL.


4 posted on 06/30/2013 2:54:47 PM PDT by OddLane
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To: OddLane

Did it offer any clues as to where Hoffa is buried?


5 posted on 06/30/2013 2:56:08 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: OddLane

In before someone says that, when deciphered, Linear B means “drink your Ovaltine”.


6 posted on 06/30/2013 3:00:07 PM PDT by married21
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To: OddLane; martin_fierro; mikrofon

You know, I think I've got it figured out. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it reads something like this:

There once was a fella from Knossos
Who suffered from some weird neurosis
He'd sit there in Crete
And write with his feet
And his script would for ages engross us

7 posted on 06/30/2013 3:10:42 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Tales from the Script.)
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To: married21

Burma Shave.


8 posted on 06/30/2013 3:18:30 PM PDT by Salamander (.......Uber Alice!.......)
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To: Salamander

Ha!


9 posted on 06/30/2013 3:24:51 PM PDT by married21
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To: OddLane

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

Maybe I am thinking of an older script from Crete but I am sure I read recently that we cannot decipher what the ancient Cretans wrote.


10 posted on 06/30/2013 3:27:02 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8: verses 38 and 39. "For I am persuaded".)
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To: OddLane

The Riddle of the Labyrinth

2 lefts, one right, skip 3, 1 left, 2 rights, you’re home free.


11 posted on 06/30/2013 3:27:37 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: OddLane

Sometimes an ancient unsolved mystery of a unseen script is just a ancient grammar error or mindless doodling. .


12 posted on 06/30/2013 3:30:27 PM PDT by ThomasThomas ("We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.")
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To: married21

;)


13 posted on 06/30/2013 3:33:14 PM PDT by Salamander (.......Uber Alice!.......)
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To: Cvengr

What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it’s all about?


14 posted on 06/30/2013 3:34:39 PM PDT by Salamander (.......Uber Alice!.......)
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To: Salamander

I don’t read cursive hieroglyphs.


15 posted on 06/30/2013 3:36:17 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: yarddog
...I read recently that we cannot decipher what the ancient Cretans wrote...but we do know they were liars...
16 posted on 06/30/2013 3:37:37 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: Cvengr

I don’t understand. How do we know they were liars?


17 posted on 06/30/2013 3:43:00 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8: verses 38 and 39. "For I am persuaded".)
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To: Cvengr

Titus 1:12
(12) One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

Ergo the Cretan Paradox:
Epimenides the Cretan says “All Cretans are liars.” This statement, because it was uttered by a Cretan, is true if and only if it is false.


18 posted on 06/30/2013 3:53:26 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: yarddog

see above


19 posted on 06/30/2013 3:54:17 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: All

42


20 posted on 06/30/2013 4:03:22 PM PDT by BipolarBob
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