The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code
May 2013 · Harper Collins
3.9star
13 reviewsreport
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385
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About this ebook
The discovery and deciphering of Europe’s earliest known written language is recounted with “almost nail-biting suspense” in this prize-winning account (Booklist, starred review).
In 1900, famed archaeologist Arthur Evans uncovered the ruins of Knossos, a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that flowered on Crete 1,000 years before Greece’s Classical Age. The massive discovery included a cache of ancient tablets, Europe’s earliest written records. For half a century, the meaning of the inscriptions, and even the language in which they were written, would remain an enigma.
Award–winning New York Times journalist Margalit Fox follows this intellectual mystery from the Bronze Age Aegean to a legendary archeological dig at the turn of the twentieth century, and on to the brilliant decipherers who finally cracked the code in the 1950s. These include Michael Ventris, the amateur linguist who deciphered the script but met with a sudden, mysterious death that may have been a direct consequence of his findings; and Alice Kober, the unsung heroine of the story whose painstaking work allowed Ventris to crack the code.
Winner of the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
In 1900, famed archaeologist Arthur Evans uncovered the ruins of Knossos, a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that flowered on Crete 1,000 years before Greece’s Classical Age. The massive discovery included a cache of ancient tablets, Europe’s earliest written records. For half a century, the meaning of the inscriptions, and even the language in which they were written, would remain an enigma.
Award–winning New York Times journalist Margalit Fox follows this intellectual mystery from the Bronze Age Aegean to a legendary archeological dig at the turn of the twentieth century, and on to the brilliant decipherers who finally cracked the code in the 1950s. These include Michael Ventris, the amateur linguist who deciphered the script but met with a sudden, mysterious death that may have been a direct consequence of his findings; and Alice Kober, the unsung heroine of the story whose painstaking work allowed Ventris to crack the code.
Winner of the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
Ratings and reviews
3.9
13 reviews
Toby Smith
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January 5, 2014
I picked this up on a whim, and within a few pages I was thoroughly hooked. Ms. Fox does a great job of bringing an era, a riddle, and three very different characters to life in this book. By necessity, it dives a bit deep into subtleties of grammar and language construction at times. But the author does admirable work of keeping the content accessible while providing enough detail that the reader can appreciate how clever the protagonists' results were. I can't recommend this enough. I only wish I could find more books as compelling as this one was.
1 person found this review helpful
Leslie Stompor
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July 15, 2015
A really good mystery story, well explained. You don't need special knowledge, as Fox explains what you need to know in easy-to-understand language. Her background makes the accomplishment even more incredible!! They didn't know the language OR the alphabet -- a double whammy! Where do you start?!
About the author
An award-winning journalist trained as a linguist, Margalit Fox is a senior writer at the New York Times. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in linguistics from Stony Brook University and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia Univer-sity. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, the writer and critic George Robinson.
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