HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Gareth Alun Owens
OR:
Gareth Alun Owens on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Gareth Alun Owens (born 1964) is a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
-
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
academic, currently serving as Associate Director and «Erasmus/Socrates» Manager/Tutor of the International Relations Office of th
Hellenic Mediterranean University
(formerly Technological Educational Institute of Crete) and as Associate Professor of Hellenic Culture -- History, Language and Civilization. He is notable for his contributions to
Linear B Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...
studies and for his attempts to coordinate the efforts of academics to decipher
Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 to 1450 BC to write the hypothesized Minoan language or languages. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civil ...
.


Biography

Owens read
Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
, completing a master's thesis on Linear B and a thesis on the problem of Linear A for his
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
. He has taught at London and at the
University of Crete The University of Crete (UoC; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης) is a multi-disciplinary, research-oriented institution in Crete, Greece, located in the cities of Rethymno (official seat) and Heraklion, and one of the country's most aca ...
and has authored several publications in both English and modern Greek. Owens is married to a Greek archaeologist (Kalliope Nikolidaki) with whom he frequently collaborates. He has earned the Modern Greek Diploma of Proficiency from the
National and Capodistrian University of Athens National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
where he took a second Ph.D. in
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
. Owens applied for and was granted citizenship. In fulfilling his obligations as a male Greek citizen, Owens briefly served in the
Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the ...
. In addition to his academic postings, Owens has worked as a translator for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and taught English on Crete. Recently, Owens served as the professor for the
Sigma Phi Epsilon Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...
2010 Tragos Quest and taught Greek literature and history to 16 of the fraternity's top leaders.


Linear A

Owens postulates that the phonetic values of ninety-percent of Linear A characters correspond to those of Linear B figures of similar appearance. A full ten characters do not admit analysis in terms of Linear B, and Owens can only speculate about their meaning. Using his system of correspondences, Owens has uncovered several place names which appear in the Linear B tablets and figure prominently in the archaeological history of Crete. In addition, he believes that he has found evidence of
grammatical gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...
for nouns and '' nomen agentis'', as well as vocabulary and noun and verb endings that to him indicate the underlying "Minoan" language of the Linear A tablets to be an
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
language of the
Satem Languages of the Indo-European family are classified as either centum languages or satem languages according to how the dorsal consonants (sounds of "K", "G" and "Y" type) of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) developed. An e ...
branch. Owens has founded the Daedalic Theme Network to foster collaboration on Linear A decipherment and other
Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...
issues.


Publications


Books

* ΔΑΙΔΑΛΙΚΑ – Γραφές και Γλώσσες της Μινωικής και Μυκηναϊκής Κρήτης'' 20 Essays in Modern Greek (1991-96) Scripts and Languages of Minoan and Mycenaean (Herakleion:1996) * KRITIKA DAIDALIKA — ''20 Selected Essays in Memory of James T. Hooker on the Archaeology, Epigraphy and Philology of Minoan and Mycenaean Crete'' (Amsterdam & Las Palmas, Gran Canarias:1997) . * ''Evidence for Indo-European Language in the Minoan Documents — 5 Selected Articles on Minoan and Mycenaean Crete in memory and honour of Michael Ventris and John Chadwick to celebrate 50 years since the publication of “Evidence for Greek Dialect in the Mycenaean Archives”'', Journal of Hellenic Studies 73, 1953, 84-103 and Documents in Mycenaean Greek, 1956, Monograph DO-SO-MO Fascicula Mycenologica Polona 6 (
Piotrków Trybunalski Piotrków Trybunalski (; also known by #Etymology, alternative names), often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland with 71,252 inhabitants (2021). It is the second-largest city situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Previously, it wa ...
:2006)


DVD

* The Scripts of Knossos — Heraklion, a City through the Ages, Municipality of
Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...
and
University of Crete The University of Crete (UoC; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης) is a multi-disciplinary, research-oriented institution in Crete, Greece, located in the cities of Rethymno (official seat) and Heraklion, and one of the country's most aca ...
, 2004.


See also

*
Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 to 1450 BC to write the hypothesized Minoan language or languages. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civil ...
*
Linear B Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...
*
Minoan civilization The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450BC ...
*
Mycenaean Greece Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in ...
*
Decipherment In philology, decipherment is the discovery of the meaning of texts written in ancient or obscure languages or scripts. Decipherment in cryptography refers to decryption. The term is used sardonically in everyday language to describe attempts to ...


External links


Owens's ''curriculum vitae''DAIDALIKA
- Website for Minoan languages and scripts at the Hellenic Mediterranean University {{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Gareth Alun Hellenists Living people Eteocretan language Epigraphers 1964 births