Emmett Leslie Bennett Jr. (July 18, 1918 – December 15, 2011) was an American

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

whose systematic catalog of its symbols led to the solution of reading Linear B, a 3,300-year-old syllabary used for writing

Mycenaean Greek Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC), before the hypothesised Dorian invasion, often cited as the '' terminus ad quem'' for th ...

hundreds of years before the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as w ...

was developed. Archaeologist

Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based on ...

had discovered Linear B in 1900 during his excavations at

Knossos Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...

on the Greek island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

and spent decades trying to comprehend its writings until his death in 1941. Bennett and Alice Kober cataloged the 80 symbols used in the script in his 1951 work ''The Pylos Tablets'', which provided linguist

John Chadwick John Chadwick, (21 May 1920 – 24 November 1998) was an English linguist and classical scholar who was most notable for the decipherment, with Michael Ventris, of Linear B. Early life, education and wartime service John Chadwick was born ...

and amateur scholar

Michael Ventris 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. A student of languages, Ventris had pursued deciphermen ...

with the vital clues needed to finally decipher Linear B in 1952.Papers of Emmett L. Bennett Jr.

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory. Accessed January 1, 2012. Bennett was born on July 18, 1918, in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and attended the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

, where he studied the classics, earning bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, and was a student of the American archaeologist

Carl Blegen Carl William Blegen (January 27, 1887 – August 24, 1971) was an American archaeologist who worked at the site of Pylos in Greece and Troy in modern-day Turkey. He directed the University of Cincinnati excavations of the mound of Hisarlik ...

, who had uncovered a series of tablets inscribed in Linear B during excavations he had conducted at Pylos in 1939.

Fox, Margalit Margalit Fox (born 1961) is an American writer. She began her career in publishing in the 1980s, before switching to journalism in the 1990s. She joined the obituary department of ''The New York Times'' in 2004, and authored over 1,400 obituarie ...

"Emmett L. Bennett Jr., Ancient Script Expert, Dies at 93"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', December 31, 2011. Accessed January 1, 2011. Bennett worked as a

cryptanalyst Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...

on the American effort decoding Japanese ciphers during World War II, despite not knowing any Japanese. After beginning his academic career at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

and the

, Bennett spent almost three decades on the faculty of the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

before he retired in 1988. Bennett's papers were acquired and have been cataloged and organized by the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory at the University of Texas. Bennett was awarded the

Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute of America The Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement is awarded by the Archaeological Institute of America in "recognition of a scholar who has made distinguished contributions to archaeology through his or her fieldwork, publications ...

in 2001 in recognition of "outstanding contributions to the field of archaeology" for his role in cataloging Linear B texts and the development of the field of Mycenaean studies.Wilkie, Nancy C
"From the President: Mycenae Gets the Gold"
'' Archaeology (magazine)'', Volume 54 Number 2, March/April 2001. Accessed January 1, 2012. Bennett died in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

at the age of 93. He was survived by two daughters, three sons and four grandchildren.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Emmett L. Jr. 1918 births 2011 deaths American classical scholars American philologists Hellenic epigraphers People from Minneapolis Scholars of Mycenaean Greek University of Cincinnati alumni Classical scholars of the University of Texas at Austin Classical scholars of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Classical scholars of Yale University Classical philologists