Linear B

Linear B
A Historical Poem
By
Bayle James


A writing system there used to be
By the name of Linear B
It was used by people from yesterday
It was written on tablets made of clay

No one knew what it meant
The archeologists didn’t make a dent
The coded words were not cracked
The symbols all seemed so abstract

They needed someone to break the code
No one knew how it flowed
They looked around Knossos for a clue
But no one could figure out what to do

Minoan was the language they thought it would be
The clay tablets did not give away its history
Everyone was stuck on this one thought
And they were all becoming very distraught

Along came a boy who knew what to do
He studied at home and found a clue
He loved to learn languages all the time
Solving this puzzle made him feel sublime

He knew Greek, French and Swiss
This to him made him reminisce
‘These letters look Greek.’ Said the boy
He was right and full of joy

The tablets were translated into English from Greek
He had to explain his amazing technique
He got published, this boy was a star
He would walk around while smoking a cigar

Michael Ventris solved Linear B
All the archeologists were so full of glee
The 4360 tablets were found and translated
In English they were created