Ventris

Ventris is a surname. The name is most widely associated with Michael Ventris (1922–1956), an English architect and self-taught linguist who deciphered Linear B, the script used for writing Mycenaean Greek.

In the early 1950s, Ventris proposed that Linear B encoded an early form of Greek rather than a non-Greek language. Working with the linguist John Chadwick, he tested this hypothesis and helped establish a functioning framework for reading the syllabic signs. Their work culminated in the publication Documents in Mycenaean Greek (1953), which presented a complete reading of the script and identified the underlying language as Greek. The decipherment enabled scholars to translate administrative tablets from sites such as Knossos, Pylos, and other Mycenaean centers, significantly advancing the study of Bronze Age Aegean civilization.

Ventris’s achievement is regarded as a landmark in linguistics and archaeology, reshaping understandings of the Mycenaean world and the development of ancient Greek. He died in 1956, but his work continues to influence philology, archaeology, and the interpretation of early Greek history.

The surname Ventris remains relatively uncommon, with Michael Ventris as the most widely recognized bearer. Beyond his discoveries, there are fewer publicly prominent individuals with the name, though it may appear in various genealogical or regional contexts.