Claudia felt like picking up the laptop and throwing it at the blonde-haired boy in the middle row. His whole attitude and demeanour drove her way past the point of mild irritation, to simmering anger.
She knew who he was of course. The son of a wealthy hedge-fund manager. Someone who’d had everything handed to them on a plate their whole life, who had never known what it was like to lose everyone you knew, everything you owned, to starve, never had to drag themselves up from nothing, broken, and see the world around you collapse into ruin. A pompous little shit, she thought, but restrained herself, remaining calm and polite on the exterior.
“Not quite Stephen. The tablet shown on the slide is Minoan Linear A, not Linear B. Michelle, would you like to explain to us the difference between them please?”
The mousy-haired girl at the front went a pale shade of crimson as she was spotlighted but replied succinctly. “Linear A predates B and was used for religious records. It hasn’t been deciphered yet, unlike Linear B.”
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“Deciphered by whom?”
“Sorry, I don’t know.”
Claudia smiled. Not a complete answer, of course, but that was to be expected at this point, so early in the course. She could always rely on Michelle Baker, she thought.
“Correct. Linear A was used from 1800 to 1450 B.C.E., whereas the oldest examples of Linear B discovered, date to 1400 B.C.E., and, as Michelle alluded to, used within religious and palace writings. It’s probable Linear B shows the adaptation of Linear A script to represent the Archaic Greek language introduced by the Mycenaeans as they invaded and conquered the already declining Minoan Civilisation. Linear B was initially deciphered by Michael Ventris, but we’ll cover that in more detail next week. Now, moving on.”
“Pauti” came a muttered voice which stopped Claudia cold in mid-flow.
Pauti. A word she had not heard uttered in over 3600 years. Not since the time of the great waves, and one of the words etched upon the tablet in the photograph, displayed on the large screen in front of them.
