1922-1956

British Architect, Archaeologist, and Cryptographer

Although educated as an architect, Michael Ventris won acclaim for solving one of the genuine mysteries of archaeology. An early fascination with languages and scripts was the basis for his success in his 1953 decipherment of Linear B, regarded as the greatest of all archaeological decipherments. Tragically, Ventris was killed in a 1956 car accident shortly before his only book, Documents in Mycenaean Greek, was published.

Born on July 12, 1922, Michael Ventris was the son of a British Army officer who served in India and a mother whose father was a native of Poland and had settled in England. As a young boy, his mother introduced him to archaeology through regular trips to London's British Museum and its objects of antiquity. Ventris began his schooling in Switzerland, where he became fluent in French and German. He had a talent...