DL has quite a number of assorted enthusiasts in its ranks, bee-keepers, ballroom dancers, bird watchers, marathon runners, golfers, rock climbers and protein crystallographers to name but a few. I am one of them nutters but with a somewhat simpler preoccupation, transcribing the Odyssey into its natural script, Linear B. You can be forgiven if you don't have an O-level in it, hardly any employer requires it, least of all CLRC. What is Linear B script? The script inscribed on clay tablets unearthed by Sir Arthur Evans when he dug up the ruins of the Minoan palace in Knossos, Crete, a century ago. Why Linear B? Simple really, the first tablet inscriptions Evans came across were in Linear A (still undeciphered). The world had to wait for another Englishman, Michael Ventris, an architect and wartime RAF navigator, and for the discovery of the ruins of King Nestor's palace at Pylos (and another 600 tablets) before it was realised (through smart scientifc deduction) that Linear B was an early form of Greek writing of the Mycenian era, used long before the Trojan War, at the time of Theseus, Jason and Hercules. Ventris' decipherment of the script was described at the time (1952) as the climbing of the Everest of Aegean Archaeology.

Many a Homerist have since wondered whether Homer actually had committed his epic hexameters into some sort of writing or at least kept notes for himself and his kin, exclusively. Experts have pronounced the very idea as absurd. Homer was supposed to be blind and, anyway, his publishers would have turned him down for the sheer cost of papyrus and the fact that the Generals (Laegetas) and Chief Executives (Wanax) of the Achaeans preferred to be orally entertained during their symposia by live, singing bards. But, a big but, we forget the accountants. All the tablets deciphered so far seem to be inventory lists. Is it not at all possible that some of these scribes, while eavesdropping on the bards entertaining the Mycenian Kings (Basileus) in their glorious palaces, might have been tempted to write down what they heard? And surely, they would have jumped at the opportunity (or been instructed) to write down how many ships, soldiers, servants and accompanying personnel were put on board the long black-bottomed boats for the expedition on Troy. The Catalogue of Ships, of course! The very passage in the Iliad the authenticity of which has been hotly disputed even by the ancients, suspected to be a genuine Athenian fraud, must surely have originated from clay tablet records in the national audit office at Delphi (just try to set the DL stores catalogue in hexameters and you will appreciate Homer's genius).

ANDRA MOI ENNEPE MOUSA POLUTROPON OS MALA POLLA A-DA-RA MO E-NE-PE MO-SA PO-RU-TO-RO-PO O MA-LA PO-LA Here is a noble mission: The first written work of Western literature, some 16000 lines of verse for the Iliad and 12000 lines for the Odyssey, still unsurpassed in its rhythm, imagery, richness of language and heroic drama that kept scores of generations fascinated with the glorious (mis)deeds of heroes and gods has been translated in almost every language but not published in its natural, Mycenian script. Not even the most immortal phrases. Interesting prospect? Would anyone like to help? Do you know of anyone else who might be able to collaborate on this noble extracurricular project? Maybe someone has attempted it already. I 'd like to know, please. Here are the first two verses of the Odyssey in Hellenic and Mycenian script (excuse spelling mistakes).  PLACQH EPEI TROIHS IERON PTOLIEQRON EPERSE PA-LA-KE-TE E-PI TO-RO-JA WI-E-RO PO-TO-RI-E-TO-RO E-PE-RE-SE

Key reference: John Chadwick, "'The Decipherment of Linear B", Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 1992, ISBN 0-521-39830-4.