Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Glyph-Breaker

  • Book
  • © 1997

Overview

Authors:
  1. Steven Roger Fischer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Fischers decipherments yielded important discoveries: that the Minoans, contrary to settled opinion, were closely related to the Greeks; and that Rongorongo script was a living script, used not only for rituals but for composition, and

  • thus the only active system of writing in Oceania before the twentieth century * An absorbing, accessible account of how an ancient code is broken

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-X
    Download chapter PDF

  2. In Odysseus’s Wake

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 1-12

  3. Logos

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 13-46

  4. The New Labyrinth

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 47-64

  5. The Skein of Ariadne

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 65-92

  6. “Hear Ye, Cretans and Greeks!”

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 93-117

  7. The Battle of Naxos

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 119-137

  8. Rapanui

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 139-152

  9. Talking Boards of the Pacific

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 153-165

  10. Atop Tere Vaka

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 167-185

  11. “All the Birds…”

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 187-204

  12. Surfing the Rongorongo

    • Steven Roger Fischer
    Pages 205-222

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 223-234
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

1 IN ODYSSEUS'S WAKE 1 1 LOGOS 13 3 THE NEW LABYRINTH 47 4 THE SKEIN OF ARIADNE 65 S "HEAR YE, CRETANS AND GREEKS!" 93 6 THE BATTLE OF NAXOS 119 7 RAPANUI 139 8 TALKI NG BOARDS OF TH E PACI FIC 153 9 ATOP TERE VAKA 167 10 "ALL THE BIRDS ... " 187 11 SURFING THE RONGORONGO 205 Suggested Reading 223 Index 227 A "glyph" (short for hieroglyph) is a sign in a script. And a "breaker" is a person who cracks a script's code. A "glyph­ breaker" is then a decipherer, someone who lets us read the unreadable, that linguistic magician who gives voice to the mute past. Until 1984 no one had been able to read Crete's 3600-year­ old Phaistos Disk, Europe's earliest literature and greatest written enigma. Until 1994 no one could make sense of Easter Island's mysterious Iongorongo writing, Oceania's only script predating the twentieth century. No one had ever deciphered two wholly different historical scripts before. Until now. This is the true story of these two achievements.

Reviews

"...provides a step-by step account of how (Fischer) cracked this code, proceeding with the utmost care and objectivity, constantly modifying and improving his method, and gradually filling in the blanks." New Scientist

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Glyph-Breaker

  • Authors: Steven Roger Fischer

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2298-9

  • Publisher: Copernicus New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Steven Roger Fischer 1997

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4612-7490-2Published: 17 September 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4612-2298-9Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 234

  • Number of Illustrations: 5 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Anthropology

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation