In the early 1900s on the island of Crete, British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans uncovered nearly 3,000 tablets inscribed with strange symbols. He thought these symbols represented the language spoken by Europe’s oldest civilization. Their meaning would elude scholars for 50 years.
Pada awal tahun 1900-an di pulau Kreta, arkeolog Inggris Sir Arthur Evans menemukan hampir 3.000 catatan bertuliskan simbol aneh. Dia pikir simbol-simbol ini mewakili bahasa yang digunakan oleh peradaban tertua Eropa. Maknanya tidak dipahami para sarjana selama 50 tahun.
Evans discovered these tablets amid the colorful frescoes and maze-like hallways of the palace of Knossos. He called the civilization Minoan— after the mythical Cretan ruler, King Minos. He thought the script, dubbed Linear B, represented the Minoan language, and scholars all over the world came up with their own theories. Was it the lost language of the Etruscans? Or perhaps it represented an early form of Basque?
Evans menemukan ini di tengah lukisan dinding berwarna-warni dan lorong-lorong seperti labirin di istana Knossos. Dia menyebutnya peradaban Minoan— dinamai menurut mitos penguasa Kreta , Raja Minos. Dia pikir catatan itu, dijuluki Linear B, mewakili bahasa Minoan, dan para sarjana di seluruh dunia mengemukakan teori mereka sendiri. Apakah itu bahasa Etruria yang hilang? Atau mungkin itu mewakili bentuk awal bahasa Basque?
The mystery intensified because Evans guarded the tablets closely–– only 200 of the inscriptions were published during his lifetime–– but he couldn’t decipher the script. However, he did make two accurate observations: the tablets were administrative records, and the script was a syllabary, where each symbol represented both a consonant and a vowel, mixed with characters that each represented a whole word.
Misteri semakin meningkat karena Evans menjaga catatan itu dengan ketat–– hanya 200 dari catatan itu yang diterbitkan selama hidupnya–– tapi dia tidak bisa memecahkan aksara itu. Namun, dia melakukan dua pengamatan akurat: bahwa itu adalah catatan administrasi, dan aksara itu adalah suku kata, di mana setiap simbol mewakili huruf konsonan dan vokal, dicampur dengan karakter yang mewakili seluruh kata.
Evans worked on Linear B for three decades before a scholar from Brooklyn, New York, named Alice Kober set out to solve the mystery. Kober was a professor of Classics at Brooklyn College when few women held such positions. To help in her quest, she taught herself many languages–– knowledge she knew she would need to decipher Linear B. For the next two decades, she analyzed the symbols.
Evans mengkaji Linear B selama tiga dekade sebelum Alice Kober sarjana dari Brooklyn, New York, mencoba untuk memecahkan misteri itu. Kober adalah seorang profesor bidang Klasik di Brooklyn College ketika hanya sedikit wanita yang memegang posisi seperti itu. Untuk membantu pencariannya, dia mempelajari banyak bahasa–– dia memerlukan pengetahuan bahasa itu untuk menguraikan Linear B. Selama dua dekade berikutnya, dia menganalisis simbol-simbol itu.
Working from the few available inscriptions, she recorded how often each symbol appeared. Then she recorded how frequently each symbol appeared next to another. She stored her findings on scrap paper in cigarette cartons because writing supplies were scarce during the Second World War.
Dia mengerjakan beberapa catatan yang tersedia, mencatat seberapa sering setiap simbol muncul. Kemudian ia mencatat seberapa sering setiap simbol muncul di samping yang lain. Ia menyimpan temuannya di atas kertas bekas dalam karton rokok karena perlengkapan menulis langka selama Perang Dunia Kedua .
By analyzing these frequencies, she discovered that Linear B relied on word endings to give its sentences grammar. From this she began to build a chart of the relations between the signs, coming closer than anyone before to deciphering Linear B. But she died, probably of cancer, in 1950 at the age of 43.
Dengan menganalisis frekuensi ini, ia menemukan bahwa Linear B menggunakan akhiran kata untuk memberikan tata bahasa kalimatnya. Dari sini dia mulai membuat bagan hubungan antara tanda-tanda, lebih dekat dari siapa pun sebelumnya untuk mengartikan Linear B. Tapi ia meninggal, mungkin karena kanker, pada tahun 1950 di usia 43 tahun.
While Kober was analyzing the Knossos tablets, an architect named Michael Ventris was also working to crack Linear B. He had become obsessed with Linear B as a schoolboy after hearing Evans speak. He even worked on deciphering the script while serving in World War II.
Saat Kober menganalisis catatan Knossos, seorang arsitek bernama Michael Ventris juga berusaha memecahkan Linear B. Dia terobsesi dengan Linear B sejak remaja setelah mendengar Evans membahasnya. Dia bahkan memecahkan sandi itu saat bertugas di Perang Dunia II.
After the war, Ventris built on Kober’s grid using a newly published cache of Linear B inscriptions excavated from a different archeological site called Pylos, on mainland Greece. His real breakthrough came when he compared the tablets from Pylos with those from Knossos and saw that certain words appeared on tablets from one site but not the other. He wondered if those words represented the names of places specific to each location.
Setelah perang, Ventris menulis di atas catatan Kober menggunakan tanda yang baru diterbitkan dari inskripsi Linear B. digali dari situs arkeologi lain yang disebut Pylos, di daratan utama Yunani. Terobosan sebenarnya datang ketika ia membandingkan catatan dari Pylos dengan Knossos dan melihat bahwa kata tertentu muncul di catatan satu situs tapi tak di lainnya. Dia bertanya-tanya apakah kata-kata itu mewakili nama tempat spesifik untuk setiap lokasi.
He knew that over centuries, place names tend to remain constant, and decided to compare Linear B to an ancient syllabary from the island of Cyprus. The Cypriot script was used hundreds of years after Linear B, but some of the symbols were similar— he wondered if the sounds would be similar, too. When Ventris plugged some of the sounds of the Cypriot syllabary into the Linear B inscriptions, he came up with the word Knossos, the name of the city where Evans had discovered his tablets. In a domino effect, Ventris unraveled Linear B, with each word revealing more clearly that the language of Linear B was not Minoan, but Greek.
Dia tahu bahwa selama berabad-abad, nama tempat cenderung konstan, dan bertekad membandingkan Linear B dengan suku kata kuno dari pulau Siprus. Catatan Cypriot digunakan ratusan tahun setelah Linear B, tapi beberapa simbolnya mirip— dia bertanya-tanya apakah bunyinya akan serupa juga. Ketika Ventris menyambungkan beberapa suara dari suku kata Siprus ke dalam inskripsi Linear B, ia menemukan kata Knossos, nama kota tempat Evans menemukan catatannya. Dengan efek domino, Ventris memecahkan Linear B, dengan pengungkapan setiap kata yang lebih jelas bahwa bahasa Linear B bukan bahasa Minoan, tapi bahasa Yunani.
Ventris died in a car crash four years later, at the age of 34. But his discovery rewrote a chapter of history. Evans had insisted that the Minoans conquered the mainland Greeks, and that was why examples of Linear B were found on the mainland. But the discovery that Linear B represented Greek, and not Minoan, showed that the opposite had happened: mainland Greeks invaded Crete and adopted the Minoan script for their own language.
Ventris meninggal dalam kecelakaan mobil empat tahun kemudian, pada usia 34 tahun. Tapi penemuannya menulis ulang satu bab sejarah. Evans bersikeras bahwa orang Minoa menaklukkan daratan Yunani, dan itulah mengapa contoh Linear B ditemukan di daratan. Tapi penemuan bahwa Linear B mewakili bahasa Yunani, bukan Minoan, menunjukkan bahwa yang terjadi sebaliknya: Bangsa Yunani menginvasi Kreta dan memakai aksara Minoan untuk bahasa mereka sendiri.
But the story isn’t over yet. The actual language of the Minoans, represented by another script called Linear A, has yet to be deciphered. It remains a mystery— at least for now.
Tapi ceritanya belum berakhir. Bahasa Minoa yang sebenarnya, diwakili oleh catatan lain yang disebut Linear A, yang belum diuraikan. Itu tetap menjadi misteri — setidaknya untuk saat ini.