▁Greek ). ▁ ▁Work ▁on ▁the ▁ancient ▁languages ▁of ▁the ▁Near ▁East ▁progress ed ▁rapidly . ▁In ▁the ▁mid - 1 9 th ▁century , ▁Henry ▁Raw lin son ▁and ▁others ▁de ci pher ed ▁the ▁Be h ist un ▁Ins cription , ▁which ▁records ▁the ▁same ▁text ▁in ▁Old ▁Pers ian , ▁El am ite , ▁and ▁A kk ad ian , ▁using ▁a ▁variation ▁of ▁c une iform ▁for ▁each ▁language . ▁The ▁el uc id ation ▁of ▁c une iform ▁led ▁to ▁the ▁de ci pher ment ▁of ▁S umer ian . ▁H itt ite ▁was ▁de ci pher ed ▁in ▁ 1 9 1 5 ▁by ▁Bed ř ich ▁H ro zn ý . ▁ ▁Linear ▁B , ▁a ▁script ▁used ▁in ▁the ▁ancient ▁A ege an , ▁was ▁de ci pher ed ▁in ▁ 1 9 5 2 ▁by ▁Michael ▁Vent ris ▁and ▁John ▁Ch ad wick , ▁who ▁demonstrated ▁that ▁it ▁recorded ▁an ▁early ▁form ▁of ▁Greek , ▁now ▁known ▁as ▁My c ena e an ▁Greek . ▁Linear ▁A , ▁the ▁writing ▁system ▁that ▁records ▁the ▁still - unknown ▁language ▁of ▁the ▁M ino ans , ▁res ists ▁de ci ph ering , ▁despite ▁many ▁attempts . ▁ ▁Work ▁continues ▁on ▁scripts ▁such ▁as ▁the ▁May a , ▁with ▁great ▁progress ▁since ▁the ▁initial ▁break through s ▁of ▁the ▁ph on etic ▁approach ▁champion ed ▁by ▁Y uri ▁Kn or oz ov ▁and ▁others ▁in ▁the ▁ 1 9 5 0 s . ▁Since ▁the ▁late