Michael George Francis Ventris, (; 12 July 1922 – 6 September 1956) was an English architect, classicist and philologist who deciphered Linear B, the ancient Mycenaean Greek script.
At this time, he was reading Adolf Erman's Die Hieroglyphen in German. In 1931, the Ventris family returned home.
From 1931 to 1935 Ventris was sent to Bickley Hill School in Stowe.
From 1931 to 1935 Ventris was sent to Bickley Hill School in Stowe.
His parents divorced in 1935.
When he was not boarding at school, Ventris lived with his mother, before 1935 in coastal hotels, and then in the avant garde Berthold Lubetkin's Highpoint modernist apartments in Highgate, London.
Evans attempted to decipher both in the following decades, with little success. In 1936, Evans hosted an exhibition on Cretan archaeology at Burlington House in London, home of the Royal Academy.
The money for her artistic patronage came from Polish estates. ==Young adult== Ventris's father died in 1938 and his mother Dora became administrator of the estate.
With the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Mrs Ventris lost her private income, and in 1940 Dora's father died.
With the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Mrs Ventris lost her private income, and in 1940 Dora's father died.
During the interview period following the lecture, Ventris immediately confirmed that Linear B was as yet undeciphered, and determined to decipher it. In 1940, the 18-year-old Ventris had an article "Introducing the Minoan Language" published in the American Journal of Archaeology.
She was also popular and very beautiful. Ventris did not complete his architecture studies, being conscripted in 1942.
His preference was for navigator rather than pilot, and he completed the extensive training in the UK and Canada, to qualify early in 1944 and be commissioned.
Ventris and his wife had two children, a son, Nikki (1942–1984) and a daughter, Tessa (born 1946).
Then he came home to complete his architectural education with honours in 1948 and settled down with Lois working as an architect.
Although this proved incorrect, it was a link he continued to explore until the early 1950s. Shortly after Evans died, Alice Kober noted that certain words in Linear B inscriptions had changing word endings — perhaps declensions in the manner of Latin or Greek.
Ventris continued with his efforts on Linear B, discovering in 1952 that it was an archaic form of Greek.
He was awarded an OBE in 1955 for "services to Mycenaean paleography." In 1959 he was posthumously awarded the British Academy's Kenyon Medal. ==Death and legacy== In 1956 Ventris, who lived in Hampstead, died instantly in a late-night collision in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, with a parked truck while driving home, aged 34.
Michael George Francis Ventris, (; 12 July 1922 – 6 September 1956) was an English architect, classicist and philologist who deciphered Linear B, the ancient Mycenaean Greek script.
He was awarded an OBE in 1955 for "services to Mycenaean paleography." In 1959 he was posthumously awarded the British Academy's Kenyon Medal. ==Death and legacy== In 1956 Ventris, who lived in Hampstead, died instantly in a late-night collision in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, with a parked truck while driving home, aged 34.
He was awarded an OBE in 1955 for "services to Mycenaean paleography." In 1959 he was posthumously awarded the British Academy's Kenyon Medal. ==Death and legacy== In 1956 Ventris, who lived in Hampstead, died instantly in a late-night collision in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, with a parked truck while driving home, aged 34.
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