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The Phaistos Disc (Phaistos Disk, Phaestos Disc, Festos Disc, Greek: Δίσκος της Φαιστού) is a curious archaeological find, likely dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age. Its purpose and meaning, and even its original geographical place of manufacture, remain disputed, making it one of the most famous mysteries of archaeology. This unique object is now on display at the archaeological museum of Herakleion in Crete, Greece.

Discovery

The Phaistos Disc was discovered in the basement of room 8 in building 101 of the Minoan palace-site of Phaistos, near Hagia Triada, on the south coast of Crete. Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier recovered this remarkably intact "dish", about 15 cm in diameter and uniformly just over 1 cm thick, on July 3 1908.

Luigi Pernier discovered the disc during his excavation of the first Minoan palace. It was found in the main cell of an underground "temple depository". These basement cells, only accessible from above, were neatly covered with a layer of fine plaster. Their context was poor in precious artifacts but rich in black earth and ashes, mixed with burnt bovine bones. In the northern part of the main cell, in the same black layer, a few inches south-east of the disc and about twenty inches above the floor, linear A tablet PH-1 was also found. The site apparently collapsed as a result of an earthquake, possibly linked with the explosive eruption of the Santorini volcano that affected large parts of the Mediterranean region ca. 1628 BC.

Dating

Yves Duhoux (1977) dates the disc to between 1850 and 1600 on the basis of L. Pernier's report, which says that the Disc was in a Middle Minoan undisturbed context. Jeppesen (1963) dates it to after 1400 on the basis of a wrong translation of Pernier's report. Doubting the viability of Pernier's report, Louis Godart (1990) resigns himself to admitting that archaeologically, the disc may be dated to anywhere in Middle or Late Minoan times. J. Best (in Achterberg et al. 2004) suggests a date in the first half of the 14th century based on his dating of tablet PH 1.

Similar objects

No object directly comparable to the Phaistos Disc has been found. There is, however, a small number of comparable symbols known from other Cretan inscriptions, known summarily as Cretan hieroglyphs. First, there is the votive double axe found by Spyridon Marinatos in the Arkalohori Cave. Then there is the altar stone of Malia. Finally, there is a seal fragment (HM 992), dated to the 18th century, bearing the "double comb" glyph (21). No inscription made with the same set of stamps has been found. Other artifacts bearing spiral-shaped inscriptions are known both from Crete and the Aegaean in general, and even from Etruria. A spiralling Linear A inscription is found on the golden ring of Mavro Spelio near Knossos (KN Zf 13). The Iron Age Discus of Magliano bears a spiralling inscription in Etruscan.

A very peculiar find was made in 1992 in a basement in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia: A fragment of an apparent copy of, or draft for the Phaistos disc, with the symbols incised with a stylus rather than imprinted. It is uncertain whether this artifact is genuinely ancient, a good faith modern copy of the Phaistos disc, or a bad faith attempt at forgery. The house in the basement of which the fragment was found was built in 1880. Allegedly, the object was recognized as a fake and returned to its private owner.

The inscription

The inscription was made by pressing pre-formed hieroglyphic "seals" into the soft clay, in a clockwise sequence spiralling towards the disc's center. It was then baked at high temperature.

Glyphs

There are a total of 241 tokens on the disc, comprising 45 unique glyphs. Many of these 45 glyphs represent easily identifiable every-day things. In addition to these, there is a small diagonal line that occurs underneath the final sign in a group a total of 18 times. The disc shows traces of corrections made by the scribe in several places. The 45 symbols have been numbered by Arthur Evans from 01 to 45, and this numbering has become the conventional reference used by most researchers. Some symbols have been compared with Linear A characters by Nahm, Timm and others. Others scholars (J.Best, S. Davis) have pointed to similar resemblances with the Luwian hieroglyphs, or with Egyptian hieroglyphs (A. Cuny).

nr	glyph	description	incidence	remarks
01		"marching figure of a man"	11
02		"head of man with crested helmet", the "Mohican" head in profile	19	the most frequent symbol, always word-initial
03		a bald head in profile, with "tattoo" or jewelery on the cheek	2
04		"captive", a standing human figure with bound arms	1
05		"male child"	1
06		"woman"	4
07		"woman's breast", a bell-shaped symbol	18
08		"fist with cestus"	5
09		"tiara"	2
10		"arrow"	4	on side A only
11		"bow"	1
12		"shield"	17	12 times in the group 02-12; compared with Linear B qe and Luwian TURPI
13		"knotted club"	6
14		"The flat tops of the two prominences in this figure as well as the slots in the base are characteristic features of manacles, the slots being for the attachment of thongs"	2
15		"pickaxe"	1
16		"knife"	2
17		"instrument for cutting leather"	1
18		"carpenters angle"	12	compared with Linear A/B 37, Linear B ti
19		"kind of plane", Y shape	3	on side A only; compared to Linear B sa
20		"handled vase"	2
21		"double comb"	2
22		"double pipe"	5	on side B only
23		"square headed mallet"	11	compared to Linear A/B 05 or Linear A/B 06, Linear B to or na
24		"Pagoda like building"	6	compared to Linear B wa
25		"Ship"	7
26		"Horn of ox"	6
27		"Hide of animal, probably an ox"	15
28		"Ox's foot"	2
29		"Head of animal of the feline genus"	11
30		"Head of horned sheep"	1
31		"Flying bird"	5	on side A only
32		"Seated dove"	3
33		"Fish"	6
34		"insect, possibly a bee"	3
35		"plant or tree sign"	11	compared to Linear B te
36		"olive branch"	4	on side B only; compared to Linear B ni (fig tree)
37		"plant with a fan-shaped flower"	4
38		"Maguerite or star-anemone" (eight-petaled flower)	4
39		"saffron flower", Ψ shape	4
40			6
41			2
42			1
43		"triangle with internal granulation"	1	compared to Linear B ta2
44			1
45		"water"	6	compared to Linear B ra2

yielding a frequency distribution of

19-18-17-15-12-11-11-11-11-7-6-6-6-6-6-6-5-5-5-4-4-4-4-4-4-3-3-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1

The nine hapaxes are 04 (A5), 05 (B3), 11 (A13), 15 (B8), 17 (A24), 30 (B27), 42 (B9), 43 (B4), 44 (A7). Of the eight twice-occurring symbols, four (03, 21, 28, 41) occur on side A only, three (09, 16, 20) on side B only, and only one (14) on both sides.

Strokes

There are a number of glyphs marked with an oblique stroke, the strokes are not imprinted but carved by hand and are attached to the first or last sign of a "word", depending on the direction of reading chosen. Their meaning is a matter of discussion. One hypothesis, supported by Evans, Duhoux, Ohlenroth and others, is that they were used to subdivide the text into paragraphs, but alternative meanings have been offered by other scholars.

Direction

Evans argued that the disc had been written, and should be read, from the center out; because it would have been easiest to place the inscription first and then size the disc to fit the text. There is general agreement, including Evans himself who changed his mind, that he was wrong: the inscription was made, and should be read, from outside in. As has been observed since the first efforts at decipherment, the centers of the spirals are not in the center of the disc, and some of the symbols near the center are crowded as though the maker was cramped for space; one pair of symbols are set top-to-bottom, so it is hard to tell what order they should be in. Except in the cramped section, when there are overstrikes, the inner symbol overlies the outer symbol. Yves Duhoux says that any outward reading may be discarded. despite all this, there are still a few such attempted decipherments (e.g. Massey 2003).

Inscription text

There are 61 "words", 31 on side A and 30 on side B (numbered A1 to A31 and B1 to B30, outside to inside), here read outside-to-inside (putting the "Mohican" glyphs word-initially and the strokes word-finally). The shortest words are two symbols in length, the longest seven symbols. The strokes are here transcribed as apostrophes ('). The transcription begins at the vertical line of five dots, circling the rim of the disc once, clockwise (13 words on A, 12 words on B) before spiralling towards the center (18 more words on each side). There is one word-final effaced sign at A8, which Godart notes as resembling sign 3 or 20; or less probably 8 or 44. Evans considered side A as the front side, but technical arguments have since been forwarded favouring side B as the front side.

The glyphs in the following transcription appear in their original orientation, the human and animal figures like in Egyptian and Luwian hieroglyphics facing opposite reading direction, as it were facing the oncoming reader (read right to left starting with A1):

In numerical transcription:

Side A:

02-12-13-01-18' 24-40-12 29-45-07' 29-29-34 02-12-04-40-33 27-45-07-12 27-44-08 02-12-06-18-? 31-26-35 02-12-41-19-35 01-41-40-07 02-12-32-23-38' 39-11

02-27-25-10-23-18 28-01' 02-12-31-26' 02-12-27-27-35-37-21 33-23 02-12-31-26' 02-27-25-10-23-18 28-01' 02-12-31-26' 02-12-27-14-32-18-27 06-18-17-19 31-26-12 02-12-13-01 23-19-35' 10-03-38 02-12-27-27-35-37-21 13-01 10-03-38

Side B:

02-12-22-40-07 27-45-07-35 02-37-23-05' 22-25-27 33-24-20-12 16-23-18-43' 13-01-39-33 15-07-13-01-18 22-37-42-25 07-24-40-35 02-26-36-40 27-25-38-01

29-24-24-20-35 16-14-18 29-33-01 06-35-32-39-33 02-09-27-01 29-36-07-08' 29-08-13 29-45-07' 22-29-36-07-08' 27-34-23-25 07-18-35 07-45-07' 07-23-18-24 22-29-36-07-08' 09-30-39-18-07 02-06-35-23-07 29-34-23-25 45-07'

The "Mohican" (02) only ever occurs word-initially, in 13 instances followed by the "shield" (12, which in some instances also occurs word-finally). Six words occur twice each: The three-word sequence 02-27-25-10-23-18 28-01' 02-12-31-26' occurs twice (A14-16, A20-22). 02-12-31-26' recurs for a third time (A19). Four more words occur twice each, 02-12-27-27-35-37-21 (A17, A29), 10-03-38 (A28, A31), 22-29-36-07-08' (B21, B26) and 29-45-07' (A3, B20).

Decipherment attempts

A great deal of speculation developed around the disc during the 20th century. The Phaistos Disc captured the imagination of amateur archeologists. Many attempts have been made to decipher the code behind the disc's glyphs. Historically, almost anything has been proposed, including prayers, a narrative or an adventure story, a "psalterion", a call to arms, a board game, and a geometric theorem. Some of the more fanciful interpretations of its meaning are classic examples of pseudoarchaeology.

Most linguistic interpretations assume a syllabary, based on the proportion of 45 symbols in a text of 241 tokens typical for that type of script; some assume a syllabary with interspersed ideographic symbols, a property of every known syllabary of the Ancient Near East (Linear B as well as cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing). There are, however, also alphabetic and purely ideographical interpretations.

While enthusiasts still believe the mystery can be solved, scholarly attempts at decipherment are thought to be unlikely to succeed unless more examples of the glyphs turn up somewhere, as it is generally thought that there isn't enough context available for meaningful analysis. Any decipherment without external confirmation, such as successful comparison to other inscriptions, is unlikely to be accepted as conclusive.

Origin of the script

Cretan or foreign origin?

There are a few main theories about the origin of the glyphs Until recently, most scholars have argued strongly against the local origin of the artifact. Evans (1909:24f.) wrote that

"when one comes to compare the figures in detail with those of the Minoan hieroglyphic signary, very great discrepancy is observable... Out of the forty-five separate signs on the Phaistos Disk, no more than ten more or less resemble Cretan hieroglyphic forms... The human figures in their outline and costume are non-Minoan... The representation of the ship also differs from all similar designs that occur either among the hieroglyphic or the linear documents of Crete".

Because of the lack of coherence with known Cretan scripts observed by Evans, Ipsen (1929:15) finds it tempting to assume a non-Cretan origin for the Disc. He admits, however, that its origin would still have to be Aegean, and since Linear A was a common Aegean script, he observes that such an assumption will not resolve the problem .

However, with the discoveries of some artifacts bearing highly similar signs (see above), hypotheses claiming Cretan origin have become more common.

Original invention or derivation?

Ipsen (1929:11) speaks against an entirely independent origin of the scripts, postulating that pre-existing scripts must have been known to its inventors. He goes on to cite Hieroglyphic Luwian as a "perfect parallel" (Ipsen 1929: 17) of an original script inspired under the direct influence of other scripts (its symbol values inspired by cuneiform, its shapes by Egyptian hieroglyphs)

Following Ipsen's and Evans' remarks, X (name censored) has advocated the hypothesis of a non-Cretan but Aegean and Cycladic original acrophonic writing, inspired by the Egyptian Hieroglyphic script.

Schwartz (1956:108) asserts a genetic relationship between the Phaistos Disc script and the Cretan linear scripts.

There are three main candidates for being related to the Disc's script, all of them partly syllabic, partly ideographic: Linear A, Luwian hieroglyphs and Egyptian hieroglyphs. More remote possibilities are comparison with the Proto-Canaanite abjad or the Byblos syllabary.

Linear A

Some signs are close enough to Linear A and Linear B that they may have the same phonetic value, like 12 = qe, 43 = ta₂, or 31 = ku. A recent systematic comparison with Linear A is that of Torsten Timm, 2004 . Based on the Linear A character distribution patterns collected by Facchetti Timm concludes that the language of the Disc inscription is the same as the language of Linear A. Timm identifies 20 of the 45 characters with Linear signs, assigning Linear B phonetic values to 16.

Luwian hieroglyphs

Achterberg et al. (2004) present a systematic comparison with Luwian hieroglyphs, resulting in a full decipherment claim (see below).In particular, they consider the stroke symbol cognate to the Luwian r(a/i) symbol, but assign it the value -ti. The stroke on A3 is identified as the personal name determinative. 01 is compared to the logogram SARU, a walking man or walking legs in Luwian. 02 is compared to word-initial a₂, a head with a crown in Luwian. The "bow" 11 is identified as the logogram sol suus, the winged sun known from Luwian royal seals. The "shield" 12 is compared to the near identical Luwian logogram TURPI "bread" and assigned the value tu. 39 they read as the "thunderbolt", ideogram of Tarhunt, in Luwian a W-shaped hieroglyph.

List of decipherment claims

The decipherment claims listed are categorized into linguistic decipherments, identifying the language of the inscription, and non-linguistic decipherments. A purely ideographical reading is not linguistic in the strict sense: while it may reveal the meaning of the inscription, it would not allow us to identify the underlying language.

Linguistic

• George Hempl, 1911 (interpretation as Ionic Greek, syllabic writing); A-side first; reading inwards;
• Florence Stawell, 1911 (interpretation as Homeric Greek, syllabic writing); B-side first; reading inwards;
• Albert Cuny, 1914 (interpretation as an ancient Egyptian document, syllabic-ideographic writing);
• Benjamin Schwarz, 1959 (interpretation as mycenean Greek, syllabic writing, comparison to Linear B); A-side first; reading inwards;
• Jean Faucounau, 1975, (interpretation as "proto-Ionic" Greek, syllabic writing ); A-side first; reading inwards; the result is a (funerary) hymn to one Arion, son of Argos, destroyer of Iasos. Reviewed by Duhoux (2000).
• Vladimir Georgiev, 1976 (interpretation as Hittite language, syllabic writing); A-side first; reading outwards;
• Steven R. Fischer, 1988 (interpretation as a Greek dialect, syllabic writing); A-side first; reading inwards;
• Kjell Aartun, 1992 (interpretation as a Semitic language, syllabic writing); A-side first; reading outwards;
• Derk Ohlenroth, 1996 (interpretation as a Greek dialect, alphabetic writing); A-side first; reading outwards; numerous homophonic signs;
• Sergei V. Rjabchikov 1998 (interpretation as a Slavonic dialect, syllabic writing ); A-side first; reading outwards;
• Adam Martin, 2000 (interpretation as a Greek-Minoan bilingual text, alphabetic writing); reading outwards, side A as Greek, side B as Minoan
• Keven & Keith Massey, 2003 (interpretation as a Greek dialect, syllabic writing ); A-side first; reading outwards;
• Marco Corsini, 2003 (interpretation as a Greco-Creto-Egyptian document ); A-side first; reading outwards;
• Achterberg et al., 2004 (interpreted as Luwian); A-side first; reading inwards; The resulting text is a Luwian document of land ownership, addressed to one na-sa₂-tu ("Nestor") of hi-ya-wa (Ahhiyawa).

Non-linguistic or ideographic

• Paolo Ballotta, 1974 (interpretation as ideographic writing);
• Harald Haarmann, 1990 (interpretation as ideographic writing);
• Leon Pomerance, 1976 (interpretation as astronomical document);
• Peter Aleff, 1982 (interpretation as ancient gameboard);
• Ole Hagen, 1988 (interpretation as calendar)
• Hermann Wenzel, 1998 (astronomical interpretation)
• Friedhelm Will, 2000 (interpretation as number-philosophically-document of "atlantean" origin);
• Axel Hausmann, 2002 (document from Atlantis, dated to 4400 BC, ideographic reading)
• Rosario Vieni, 2005 (interpretation as a calendar )

Notes

1. Nahm, Werner. "Vergleich von Zeichen des Diskos von Phaistos mit Linear A". Kadmos (Vol. 14, No. 2. (1975)): 97–101. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
2. Timm, Torsten. "Der Diskos von Phaistos - Anmerkungen zur Deutung und Textstruktur". IF (Vol. 109 (2004)): 204–231. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
3. There is no Unicode encoding for the symbols, but ConScript Unicode Registry has assigned a block of the Unicode Private Use Area to be used for the script. Two fonts include support for this area; Code2000 and Everson Mono Phaistos.
4. Facchetti, Giulio M. "Statistical data and morphematic elements in Linear A". Kadmos (Vol. 38, No. 2. (1999)). {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help)

Selected bibliography

General

• Balistier, Thomas. The Phaistos Disc - an account of its unsolved mystery, Verlag Thomas Balistier, 2000.
• Chadwick, John. The Decipherment of Linear B, Cambridge University Press, 1958.
• Duhoux, Yves. Le disque de phaestos, Leuven, 1977.
• Duhoux, Yves. How not to decipher the Phaistos Disc, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 104, n° 3 (2000), p. 597-600 (PDF 5.9 Mb).
• Evans, A. J., Scripta Minoa, the written documents of Minoan Crete, with special reference to the archives of Knossos, Classic Books (1909), ISBN 0742640051.
• Faure, P. "Tourne disque", l'énigme du disque de Phaistos, Notre Histoire n°213, October 2003 (PDF 0.7 Mb).
• Godart, Louis. The Phaistos Disc - the enigma of an Aegean script, ITANOS Publications, 1995.
• Timm, Torsten. Der Diskos von Phaistos – Fremdeinfluss oder kretisches Erbe?, BoD, 2005.

Attempted decipherments

This list contains off-line accounts of various decipherments mentioned above

• Aartun, Kjell, 'Der Diskos von Phaistos; Die beschriftete Bronzeaxt; Die Inschrift der Taragona-tafel' in Die minoische Schrift : Sprache und Texte vol. 1, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz (1992) ISBN 3-447-03273-1
• Achterberg, Winfried; Best, Jan; Enzler, Kees; Rietveld, Lia; Woudhuizen, Fred, The Phaistos Disc: A Luwian Letter to Nestor, Publications of the Henry Frankfort Foundation vol XIII , Dutch Archeological and Historical Society, Amsterdam 2004
• Balistier, Thomas, The Phaistos Disc - an account of its unsolved mystery, Verlag Thomas Balistier, 2000 (as above); describes Aarten's and Ohlenroth's decipherments.
• Faucounau, Jean, Le déchiffrement du Disque de Phaistos & Les Proto-Ioniens : histoire d'un peuple oublié, Paris 1999 & 2001.
• Fischer, Steven R., Evidence for Hellenic Dialect in the Phaistos Disk, Herbert Lang (1988), ISBN 3261037032
• Hausmann, Axel, Der Diskus von Phaistos. Ein Dokument aus Atlantis, BoD GmbH (2002), ISBN 3831145482.
• Hempl, George. "The Solving of an Ancient Riddle: Ionic Greek before Homer". Harper's Monthly Magazine (Vol. 122, No. 728 (Jan 1911)): 187–198. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
• Martin, Adam, Der Diskos von Phaistos - Ein zweisprachiges Dokument geschrieben in einer frühgriechischen Alphabetschrift, Ludwig Auer Verlag (2000), ISBN 3-9807169-1-0.
• Ohlenroth, Derk, Das Abaton des lykäischen Zeus und der Hain der Elaia: Zum Diskos von Phaistos und zur frühen griechischen Schriftkultur, M. Niemeyer (1996), ISBN 3484800089.
• Polygiannakis, Ο Δισκος της Φαιστού Μιλάει Ελληνικά (The Phaistos disk speaks in Greek), Georgiadis, Athens (2000).
• Pomerance, Leon, The Phaistos Disk: An Interpretation of Astronomical Symbols, Paul Astroms forlag, Goteborg (1976). reviewed by D. H. Kelley in The Journal of Archeoastronomy (Vol II, number 3, Summer 1979)
• Schwartz, Benjamin. "The Phaistos disk". Journal of Near Eastern Studies (Vol. 18, No. 2 (1959)): 105–112. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
• Stawell, F. Melian. "An Interpretation of the Phaistos Disk". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs (Vol. 19, No. 97. (Apr., 1911)): 23–29, 32–38. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help) JSTOR URL

See also

• Arkalochori Axe
• Cretan hieroglyphs
• Linear A

External links

• Article on a site about strange ancient artifacts
• The symbols
• French site
• list of decipherment claims

• Undeciphered writing systems
• Archaeological artefacts
• Minoan civilization