Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, the earliest confirmed form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1450 BC. It is descended from the older Linear A, an undeciphered earlier script used for writing the Minoan language. It is also the only one of the three "Linears" to be deciphered, by English architect and self-taught linguist Michael Ventris. The script was discovered by archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in the early 1900s during excavations in Crete and the Greek mainland. Its full decipherment did not occur until 1953, by Michael Ventris, an architect who actually liked linguistics and epigraphy more than architecture, and John
