John Chadwick
Born 1920 · Died 1998
From London, England, United Kingdom · Nationality: United Kingdom
John Chadwick (21 May 1920 – 24 November 1998) was an English linguist and classical scholar most famous for his role in deciphering Linear B, along with Michael Ventris.
He was born in East Sheen, Richmond-upon-Thames, and educated at St Paul's School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and he served as an officer the Royal Navy's Special Branch during the Second World War.
After the war he was on the staff of the Oxford Classical Dictionary before beginning a Classics lectureship at Cambridge in 1952. That year he began working with Ventris on the progressive decipherment of Linear B, the two writing Documents in Mycenean Greek in 1956 following a controversial first paper three years earlier. Chadwick's philological ideas were applied to Ventris' initial theory that Linear B was an early form of Greek rather than another Mediterranean language.
After Ventris' death Chadwick became the figurehead of the Linear B work, writing the accessible popular book The Decipherment of Linear B in 1958 and revising Documents in Mycenean Greek in 1978.
He retired in 1984, by which time he had become the fourth (and last) Perceval Maitland Laurence Reader in Classics at Cambridge. He continued his scholarship until his death, being an active member of several international societies and writing numerous popular and academic articles.
He married Joan Hill in 1947 and they had one son. [Wikipedia]
Books by John Chadwick in order
Books by John Chadwick in the order they were published, from The Decipherment of Linear B (1958) to A Lexicon to the Latin Text of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (2008).
- 1The Decipherment of Linear B
The Decipherment of Linear B1958 - 2The Mycenae Tablets 3The Mycenae Tablets 31963
- 3The Mycenae Tablets IIIThe Mycenae Tablets III1963
- 4The Mycenaean Greek VocabularyThe Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary1963
- 5The Prehistory of the Greek LanguageThe Prehistory of the Greek Language1963
- 6The Knossos Tablets
The Knossos Tablets1964 - 7Life in Mycenaean GreeceLife in Mycenaean Greece1972
- 8A Lexicon to the Latin Text of the Theological Writings of EA Lexicon to the Latin Text of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-17721975
- 9The Mycenaean World
The Mycenaean World1976 - 10Corpus of Mycenaean Inscriptions from Knossos
Corpus of Mycenaean Inscriptions from Knossos1986 - 11Linear B and Related Scripts
Linear B and Related Scripts1987 - 12Studies in Mycenaean and Classical Greek Presented to John CStudies in Mycenaean and Classical Greek Presented to John Chadwick1987
- 13Lexicographica Graeca
Lexicographica Graeca1996 - 14On the Translator and the Latin TextOn the Translator and the Latin Text2001
- 15A Lexicon to the Latin Text of the Theological Writings of E
A Lexicon to the Latin Text of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg2008