[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.60,0:00:09.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the early 1900s on the island of Crete,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.63,0:00:14.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans \Nuncovered nearly 3,000 tablets
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.17,0:00:16.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,inscribed with strange symbols.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.66,0:00:19.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He thought these symbols represented\Nthe language spoken
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.43,0:00:21.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by Europe’s oldest civilization.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.92,0:00:25.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their meaning would elude scholars \Nfor 50 years.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.92,0:00:29.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Evans discovered these tablets \Namid the colorful frescoes
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.21,0:00:32.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and maze-like hallways\Nof the palace of Knossos.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.85,0:00:35.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He called the civilization Minoan—
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.40,0:00:38.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,after the mythical Cretan ruler, \NKing Minos.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.78,0:00:43.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He thought the script, dubbed Linear B,\Nrepresented the Minoan language,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.34,0:00:47.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and scholars all over the world \Ncame up with their own theories.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.35,0:00:49.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was it the lost language of the Etruscans?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.94,0:00:53.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or perhaps it represented \Nan early form of Basque?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.40,0:00:57.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The mystery intensified because Evans\Nguarded the tablets closely––
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.40,0:01:01.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,only 200 of the inscriptions \Nwere published during his lifetime––
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.06,0:01:03.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but he couldn’t decipher the script.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.36,0:01:07.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,However, he did make \Ntwo accurate observations:
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.24,0:01:11.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the tablets were administrative records,\Nand the script was a syllabary,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.36,0:01:14.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where each symbol represented \Nboth a consonant and a vowel,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.81,0:01:18.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mixed with characters \Nthat each represented a whole word.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.40,0:01:23.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Evans worked on Linear B for three decades\Nbefore a scholar from Brooklyn, New York,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.73,0:01:27.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,named Alice Kober \Nset out to solve the mystery.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.25,0:01:30.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kober was a professor \Nof Classics at Brooklyn College
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.45,0:01:33.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when few women held such positions.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.50,0:01:36.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To help in her quest, she taught herself\Nmany languages––
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.90,0:01:40.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,knowledge she knew she would need \Nto decipher Linear B.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.23,0:01:43.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the next two decades, \Nshe analyzed the symbols.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.94,0:01:46.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Working from the few \Navailable inscriptions,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.44,0:01:49.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she recorded how often \Neach symbol appeared.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.47,0:01:53.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then she recorded how frequently \Neach symbol appeared next to another.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.27,0:01:56.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She stored her findings on scrap paper \Nin cigarette cartons
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.69,0:02:00.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because writing supplies were scarce \Nduring the Second World War.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.40,0:02:02.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By analyzing these frequencies,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.16,0:02:05.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she discovered that Linear B \Nrelied on word endings
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.25,0:02:07.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to give its sentences grammar.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.15,0:02:11.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From this she began to build a chart \Nof the relations between the signs,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.25,0:02:15.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,coming closer than anyone before \Nto deciphering Linear B.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.25,0:02:20.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But she died, probably of cancer, \Nin 1950 at the age of 43.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.93,0:02:23.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While Kober was analyzing \Nthe Knossos tablets,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.53,0:02:28.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an architect named Michael Ventris \Nwas also working to crack Linear B.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.23,0:02:33.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He had become obsessed with Linear B\Nas a schoolboy after hearing Evans speak.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.39,0:02:37.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He even worked on deciphering \Nthe script while serving in World War II.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.99,0:02:40.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After the war, Ventris \Nbuilt on Kober’s grid
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.98,0:02:44.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,using a newly published cache \Nof Linear B inscriptions
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.22,0:02:49.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,excavated from a different archeological\Nsite called Pylos, on mainland Greece.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.50,0:02:52.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His real breakthrough came \Nwhen he compared the tablets from Pylos
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.91,0:02:54.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with those from Knossos
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.51,0:02:59.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and saw that certain words appeared on\Ntablets from one site but not the other.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.64,0:03:02.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He wondered if those words represented\Nthe names of places
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.79,0:03:05.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,specific to each location.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.26,0:03:09.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He knew that over centuries, place names\Ntend to remain constant,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.09,0:03:10.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and decided to compare Linear B
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.79,0:03:14.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to an ancient syllabary \Nfrom the island of Cyprus.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.59,0:03:18.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Cypriot script was used \Nhundreds of years after Linear B,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.54,0:03:20.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but some of the symbols were similar—
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.60,0:03:23.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he wondered if the sounds \Nwould be similar, too.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.35,0:03:26.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When Ventris plugged some of the sounds \Nof the Cypriot syllabary
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.53,0:03:28.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into the Linear B inscriptions,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.43,0:03:30.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he came up with the word Knossos,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.62,0:03:34.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the name of the city where Evans \Nhad discovered his tablets.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.42,0:03:37.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In a domino effect, \NVentris unraveled Linear B,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.80,0:03:41.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with each word revealing more clearly \Nthat the language of Linear B
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.44,0:03:44.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was not Minoan, but Greek.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.22,0:03:48.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ventris died in a car crash four years \Nlater, at the age of 34.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.74,0:03:52.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But his discovery rewrote \Na chapter of history.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.40,0:03:55.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Evans had insisted that the Minoans \Nconquered the mainland Greeks,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.90,0:03:59.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that was why examples of Linear B \Nwere found on the mainland.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.39,0:04:03.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the discovery that Linear B \Nrepresented Greek, and not Minoan,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.13,0:04:05.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,showed that the opposite had happened:
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.13,0:04:10.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mainland Greeks invaded Crete and adopted\Nthe Minoan script for their own language.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.24,0:04:12.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the story isn’t over yet.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.69,0:04:14.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The actual language of the Minoans,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.89,0:04:17.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,represented by another script \Ncalled Linear A,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.84,0:04:19.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has yet to be deciphered.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.88,0:04:23.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It remains a mystery—\Nat least for now.