Quiz · Deciphering Linear B

Question 1What is the main point of the talk about Linear B?

The tablets recorded a lost Cretan language unrelated to Greek. Linguistic brilliance alone was enough to decipher the tablets. The tablets preserved great works of lost Cretan literature. Patient statistical analysis revealed the tablets were written in early Greek.

Question 2What did most experts initially believe the Linear B tablets recorded?

Very early Greek written in a strange looking alphabet. Inventories imported from palaces on the Greek mainland. A lost Cretan language unrelated to Greek. Ancient place names copied from older Egyptian records.

Question 3What did the deciphered tablets actually turn out to contain?

Long lost works of Cretan literature and heroic poetry. Mundane warehouse records revealing a whole civilization. Letters exchanged between merchants in Crete and Greece. Religious hymns dedicated to the ancient Greek gods.

Question 4Where were the Linear B clay tablets discovered, according to the talk?

Across Crete and mainland Greece. Across Egypt and mainland Turkey. Only inside the palace of Knossos. Only along the coast of Italy.

Question 5Why did experts reject the possibility that Linear B was Greek?

The tablets were too damaged to read. The script looked nothing like the alphabet. Greek was not spoken in that period. The tablets were dated after Greek vanished.

Question 6What was Michael Ventris's profession, according to the speaker?

He was a professor of ancient history. He was a professional linguist at Oxford. He was an architect rather than a linguist. He was a museum curator in Crete.

Question 7What method did Ventris use to approach the problem?

He compared the tablets with Egyptian hieroglyphs. He tracked statistical patterns in the symbols. He searched for matching texts in Athens. He translated the script using known Greek.

Question 8What guess produced the real breakthrough for Ventris?

That the script was older than Egyptian writing. That the tablets listed royal family names. That the symbols represented numbers only. That certain repeated sequences were ancient place names.

Question 9What did the dull inventories on the tablets reveal?

The economy, administration, and social structure of a civilization. The names of the kings who ruled Crete. The location of lost Cretan literature. The trade routes between Egypt and Greece.

Question 10What can be inferred about experts' expectations of the tablets' contents?

They expected mundane warehouse records from the start. They never hoped the tablets contained literature. They hoped to find lost literature rather than inventories. They predicted the tablets would record place names.