The Phaistos Disk THE PHAISTOS DISK - University Blog ...sites.utexas.edu/scripts/files/2016/07/eisenberg_2008.pdf · The Phaistos Disk (Figs 1, 2, 13, 14) ... a magic inscrip-tion

INTRODUCTIONThe Phaistos Disk (Figs 1, 2, 13, 14) is asmall clay disk stamped with a series ofunique ‘hieroglyphs’ purportedly exca-vated in July 1908 by Luigi Pernier inthe palace of Phaistos on the island ofCrete. It may not ever rank in the pub-lic’s mind with the Piltdown Man as anobject of great renown in the field ofman’s attempt to fool both the publicand countless numbers of scholars.However, its exposure as the mostfamous fabrication of an ancient scriptshould certainly end the long-standingcontroversy over its origins and thetranslation of its intriguing hiero-glyphs. On this 100th anniversary of its‘discovery’, the writer hopes to bring tolight its dubious origin.

One of the most fascinating aspectsof the attempts to decipher the disk isits innumerable interpretations andthose of the individual glyphs. In fact,eight additional pages have been addedto this issue of Minerva in order to pre-sent a comprehensive listing of thesedecipherments and the various inter-pretations of the different signs. Theinterpretations of the script range from

The Phaistos Disk

THE PHAISTOS DISK:A ONE HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD HOAX?

The 10th in a series of articles by the Editor-in-Chief of Minerva,Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D., dealing with the problems of forgery and ancient art.

Fig 1. The PhaistosDisk, side A.

Fig 2. The PhaistosDisk, side B.

Minerva, July/August 2008 9

scholarly discussions of its relationshipto ancient Greek scripts such as Proto-Ionian and, obviously, Minoan, to Ana-tolian (Hittite and Luwian), as well asoften far-fetched links to Basque, Indo-European, Proto-Slavonic, Rhodian,Coptic, Semitic, Proto-Byblic, Tatarish-Turkish, scripts from the Black Sea area(South Caucasian/Georgian, Kartvelian,Colchian, Mingrelian-Laz), and evenWest Finnish or Old Estonian, Indian,Chinese, and Polynesian.

Attributions have been made of the‘text’ on the disk relating to deities andevents in Greek mythology includingZeus and the Minotaur, Theseus andAriadne, Dionysos, and Icarus; in theNear East to the Hittites and Philistines;and in Egypt to Osiris and Isis, Thoth,and the pharaohs.

Over the past 100 years it has beeninterpreted variously as an adventurenarrative, a poetic verse, a hymn, aprayer, a sacred text, a magic inscrip-tion – perhaps a curse, an aid-in-heal-ing ritual, a funerary record, analmanac, or a calendar-diary. Otherssuggest an administrative document, arecord of gifts made to a temple, a judi-

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The Phaistos Disk

cial court list, a political treaty, a palaceschedule, a palace site plan description,proof of a geometric theorem, a call toarms, a list of soldiers, or a text forteaching reading. It has also been inter-preted by some as a board game orgame of chance, even musical notes fora stringed instrument. Not to be out-done, a Russian scholar recently pro-posed it as a device for the manufactureof metal wares.

Pseudo-archaeology, or the unscien-tific, often fantastic, interpretation ofancient remains comes into play withmany interpretations by amateurarchaeologists or historians of the disk’scontents. They have suggested that it isa ‘number-philosophical’ documentfrom Atlantis, a message from extrater-restrials, and even a portal or ‘stargate’with which a wormhole (a theoreticalconnection in time or space) can becreated to enable one to achieve tele-portation to cosmic distances.

It would be very difficult to actuallydecipher the disk, if genuine, unlessfurther texts with additional glyphswere discovered. Statistically it is tooshort and it does not provide enoughclues as to its content. Also, if thewriter is correct in his assessment of thedisk as a 100-year-old forgery, it wouldbe virtually impossible to provide a cor-rect translation. Then, the only personwho could disclose the ‘meaning’ ofthe glyphs is the one who inventedthem. The writer doubts that they actu-ally represent any kind of text but thatthey were cleverly chosen to purposelyconfuse the scholarly world.

Background The story of the disk begins with theexcavations of the Italian archaeolo-gists in Crete in the 1880s, led by the

noted Federico Halbherr. He was mostfamous for his discovery in 1884 atGortyna of the early 5th century BC‘Great Inscription’ inscribed on thewalls of the city’s Odeum of the earliestlegal code found in Europe. The longGreek text detailed the statutes forguilty individuals and the punishmentsfor crimes. Halbherr, an epigraphist,concentrated on the study of ancientGreek inscriptions from 1884 to 1888and was compiling a corpus of Cretaninscriptions with his mentor DomenicoComparetti. Later, Halbherr and hisItalian colleagues, Roberto Paribeni,André Savignon, and especially LuigiPernier, conducted excavations uncov-ering the Minoan palace complex ofPhaistos, between 1900 and 1907.

Halbherr had often expressed hiswish that written texts would be dis-covered at Phaistos. In 1900 he wrotethat the excavation of the palace ofPhaistos ‘has produced some verylovely Mycenaean vases, terracotta fig-urines… But to date there are noinscribed tablets, though we are hope-ful that they will be found elsewhere.’At the same time, the renowned Eng-lish archaeologist (Sir) Arthur Evans(1851-1941), had already receivedmuch acclaim for his studies of theearly hieroglyphic inscriptions on Cre-tan seals, and especially later on for hisexcavations of the site of the palace atKnossos. Evans visited Crete in 1894 toinvestigate the earliest pictographicscript, or hieroglyphics, that appearedon Cretan seals (Fig 3) and also the twoother unknown scripts: Linear A (Fig 4),c. 1750-1450 BC, and Linear B (Fig 5),c. 1450-1375 BC. Just one year laterEvans published his Cretan Pictographsand Prae-Phoenician Script. In it he calledthe Minoan ‘hieroglyphs’ ‘pictographs’and Linear A and B ‘Prae-Phoenician’.Later this small book would beexpanded into his classic work ScriptaMinoa (vol. 1, 1909; vol. 2, 1952).

In the opinion of the writer, Pernierwas jealous of the success of Halbherrand Evans and decided to outdo them

Fig 3 (far left).Minoan bead sealwith hieroglyphic

saw sign.Cf. disk sign

no. 16, the saw.

Fig 4 (left).Linear A tabletfrom the palace

of Phaistos,c. 1750 BC.

Fig 5 (above right).Linear B bar 066

from thehieroglyphic archive

at Knossos,c. 1750 BC.

Fig 6 (below left).The Etruscan leadMagliano Disk, c.

475-450 BC, foundin Magliano, Italy,

in 1884. Theinscription spiralsinward on both

sides, but the otherside does not have

the spiral line.Note the threevertical dotsnear the topused once

for punctuationcompared to thefive used on thePhaistos Disk.

Fig 7 (right).Minoan clay labelin the form of a

flat bivalve shell,with ‘hieroglyphic’

script, from thepalace of Knossos.

10 Minerva, July/August 2008

both by making a discovery that wouldastound the archaeological commu-nity. He had found nothing at Phaestosthat could in any way surpass or evenequal the amazing finds at Knossos byEvans, begun in 1900. By 1903 Evanshad uncovered much of the founda-tions of the Palace (that he laterfamously overly-reconstructed), inaddition to the Throne Room, the won-drous frescoes, and the faience femalefigurines. Evans also found many Lin-ear A and Linear B tablets during thecourse of his excavations at Knossos.

Inspiration for the Phaistos Disk What could Pernier ‘discover’ to bringhim fame and glory and to rival that ofHalbherr and Evans? He soon came upwith the answer – the creation of a relicwith an untranslatable pictographictext - the Phaestos Disk. Evans wasobviously quite excited about the dis-covery of the disk. In Scripta Minoa hepublished the preliminary details of theunearthing of the Phaistos Disk and a21-page analysis based upon Pernier’spublication of the disk in 1908: ‘Il discodi Phaestos con caratteri pittografica inAnsonia III, 255-302 (a 48-page studypublished in the same year of its dis-covery). It must be emphasised thatforgeries are not just made for financialgain, but often to boost the reputationof an excavator or scholar, as in thecase of the Piltdown Man in 1912.

Pernier (1874-1937) was trained asan archaeologist in Italy and among hisreadings he would have been quitefamiliar with the discovery of theMagliano Disk, found in Magliano,Italy in 1884, and published by L. A.Milani in 1893. This near-round leaddisk (Fig 6) contained an Etruscaninscription spiraling inward on bothsides. Since the Etruscan language hadnot yet been deciphered, its contentsremained a mystery. Perhaps Perniercould create a similar disk – but for the


The Phaistos Disk

Minoans. Lead was rarely used in Creteexcept for smaller objects. It wouldhave seemed more logical to make itout of clay, since most of the largerinscribed objects found on Crete weremade of clay, such as the many tabletsfrom Knossos that were later publishedin detail by Evans in Scripta Minoa in1909. Perhaps another source of inspi-ration for the design of the disk werethe two offering tables found at Phais-tos with relief spiral decorations men-tioned by Halbherr in a 1900 letter toComparetti. He may also have takennotice of the stamped designs on largeCretan pithoi (large storage pots) of theperiod. In addition, another source ofinspiration may have been the semi-round clay labels with ‘hieroglyphic’script from the palace of Knossos (Fig7).

The ploy was to create a completelynew script that would confound Evansand the other scholars since it would bevirtually untranslatable. He would clev-erly construct new, more elaboratesymbols that would not just, in part,mimic the yet-undeciphered threeother scripts, but would elaborate uponthem. He would also include elementsthat would reflect influence from for-eign sources, such as the Luwian hiero-glyphs from Anatolia, an early form ofLuwian used by the Hittites betweenc. 1400 and c. 1200 BC (Figs 8, 34). Forexample, the writer has found four def-inite parallels (Fig 8) - compare no.128C5 to disk sign no. 12, no. 12932 todisk sign no. 15, no. 1287A to disk signno. 26, and 128CD to disk sign no. 38.Epigraphers would certainly suggestseveral more links since there are over500 signs in the Luwian hieroglyphictext. A monumental Luwian inscrip-tion was first described in 1850,another in 1870, and a third in 1884,so it certainly would have been familiarto a scholar versed in Bronze Age lin-guistics in the early 1900s. This mixtureon the disk of Minoan and Luwian ele-ments would also puzzle scholars sinceit was not necessarily created at Phais-tos but could have come from anotherundiscovered Cretan site with an Ana-tolian influence. It could also haveoriginated from another Aegean site oreven Anatolia itself. To add furtherconfusion, a link to Egyptian hiero-glyphs is found in such signs as nos.18and 45, and especially to Egyptian wallpaintings of the New Kingdom, as insigns nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6.

To further confuse the linguistsPernier included several signs thatresemble those of Linear A and Linear B– according to the writer, a total ofabout ten that show a relatively closeor exact link. Six for Linear A (Fig 9):Sign no. 12, an elaboration of AB78;no. 15, similar to A364; no. 16, simi-lar to AB87; no. 17, somewhat similarto A322; no. 24, an elaboration of

metre-high hills rising from the Mes-sara Plain on the west of the island,5km from the coast. It was named aftera grandson of Herakles. Legend has itthat an oracle ordered him to go toCrete. Phaistos was the legendary homeof Rhadamanthys, its ruler, and one ofthe three sons of Europa and Zeus.With his brother Sarpedon, ruler ofMalia, he was forced to depart fromCrete following an argument withMinos, the third brother and the rulerof Knossos. The first palatial building atPhaistos was erected c. 1900 BC, atabout the same time as the palaces atKnossos and Malia. This Early PalatialPeriod ended c. 1700 BC as the result ofa major earthquake and the consequen-tial burning of the palaces. Thisdestruction was previously thought bysome scholars to be due to foreigninvasions, perhaps by Greeks or byLuwians from Anatolia. The palaceswere rebuilt, but another disastrousearthquake, or a military invasion bythe Mycenaean Greeks, took placec. 1450 BC. This time only Knossos andone other palatial site, Archanes, wererebuilt.

According to Pernier, the disk wasfound on the ground in Room 8 of thepalace, close to the north-east corner,about 50cm above the bedrock, in darkearth that was mixed with ash, char-coal, and some pottery sherds. Theearth, however, was not compactedand contained objects from other peri-ods including part of a Hellenistic vase.Nearby was a Linear A tablet, PH1, withwhich he fixed the date of the disk atMiddle Minoan III, c. 1700-1600 BC.There are several other proposed dat-ings. The earliest is 2100 BC, proposedby Victor J. Kean, the latest, c. 1100 BC,by Kristian Jeppesen. Most scholarsagree with Pernier that it was made c.1700-1600 BC. It should be noted alsothat the room contained several MiddleMinoan IIIB vases that date c. 1650-1600 BC.

Creation of the DiskThe disk is a hand-formed, irregulardisk of fine-grained clay. It has beennoted that the clay, even though asfine as that used for the local Kamaresware pottery, did not appear to be of alocal origin, perhaps not even fromCrete. The diameter varies from 15.8 to16.5cm and the thickness from 1.6 to2.1cm. Side A is thickest at the edges,side B is thickest at the centre. It wasperfectly fired, unlike the tablets andseals that were baked by fires created bythe destruction of the different sites.

Opinions differ as to the way thatthe two sides were printed. Ernest Gru-mach (1969) thought that each sidewas imprinted separately, then the twosides joined. ‘…the seam can still beclearly seen along the edge of the Disk’.Reinier Van Meerten (1977) suggested

AB54; and no. 45, similiar to AB76; andfour for Linear B (Fig 10: Sign no. 12,an elaboration of Linear B 78; no. 14, aversion of 87; no. 36, an elaboration of30; and no. 45, an elaboration of 76.

Some epigraphers link even moreof the Phaistos Disk signs to Linear Aand Linear B. For instance, TorstenTimm demonstrates 19 links just forLinear A. The forger then quite oftenrotated the direction of a sign some90 degrees or more, especially those ofthe cat head, sign no. 29. This how-ever, was a mistake, for it would notbe the practice of a scribe carefullyexecuting such a sophisticated script.

The Uniqueness of the Phaistos DiskIn making the clay disk, he made theerror of creating a terracotta ‘pancake’with a cleanly cut edge. Ancient claytablets do not have such sharp edges,because they would easily have dam-age from usage. He also fired the finehand-formed clay disk uniformly. It istherefore unique in that Minoan claytablets were not fired purposefully,only accidentally. They were onlybaked as a result of the fires accompa-nying the destruction of the palaces.Pernier may not have realised this atthe time.

It is unique on several other moreimportant counts. Second, there is noother ancient ‘moveable type’, in factnone until Gutenberg (AD 1454).Third, there is no other large, thinclay disk in the Bronze Age. Last, butcertainly not least, there is no otherhieroglyphic script of this type. Theonly advanced Aegean or Mediter-ranean hieroglyphic scripts are thoseof Egypt and Luwian and these arenot related, except for the few signsthat Pernier borrowed or adapted.These counts of uniqueness, each in acompletely different category, pointto the disk as a forgery.

Find Spot of the DiskThe palace grounds and town of Phais-tos are located on one of the three 70-

Fig 8.Luwian hieroglyphs

from Anatolia.

Fig 9. Linear Asigns relating to

Phaistos Disk signs.

Fig 10 (right).Linear B signs

relating toPhaistos Disk signs.



The Phaistos Disk


Fig 12.Michigan relic

forgeries: sandstonestamps with

symbols.Photo: courtesy of

Eric S. Perkins,Michigan HistoricalMuseum, Lansing.

Fig 14The PhaistosDisk, drawing

of side B.

that the basic disk, about 1.2cm thick,was fired first, then layers 0.3-0.4cmthick were applied to each side; next itwas inscribed, the edges smoothed, andfinally it was fired. Louis Godart (1990)believed that it was created in onepiece, first imprinted on side A, thenside B, the latter being impressed lessdeeply.

The Stamping of the DiskDifferent stamps were used for severalof the same signs. It has been suggestedby various authors that the stampswere made of such diverse materials asgold, silver, bronze, lead, ivory, wood,and even stone. Godart favoured theuse of gold for its durability and ‘clarityof the contours’. Pernier had suggestedhard wood or ivory, while Evansthought that they were metal cast inmatrices of engraved steatite.

Stamps were often placed on thedisk in different directions – sideways,upside down, and so on. This is not anormal procedure in which suchsophisticated symbols would be used inantiquity. It is apparent that the orderof the signs was not carefully plannedand that the sequence was beinginvented as they were being stampedon the disk. This indicates that it wascertainly not an ancient document.The spirals do not end in the centre;the symbols near the centre arecrowded; there are overstrikes of thesymbols near the centre; and the finaltwo symbols overlie one another.

Leon Pomerance (1976) proposedthat the inscriptions were not printedwith individual stamps, but that eachside was prepared from a single lime-stone matrix on which all of the signswere engraved. He based this theory onthe fact that there were ‘significant dif-ferences in the outline and shapes ofidentical symbols.’ Grumach had ear-lier noted these differences.

If the disk is ancient why have noneof the stamps used to create it everbeen found either at Phaistos or at anyother site? The writer has previouslypointed out that a series of stonestamps with symbols (Figs 11-12) hadbeen made between the 1890s and theearly 1900s by the perpetrator of thenotorious ‘Michigan Forgeries’ (see ‘TheMichigan Relics: An ArchaeologicalHoax, Minerva, July/August 2004, pp.

Fig 11.Michigan relic

forgeries: sandstonestamps with

symbols. The tinbox in which theywere kept dates

to c. 1910.Photo: courtesy of

Eric S. Perkins,Michigan HistoricalMuseum, Lansing.

Fig 13The PhaistosDisk, drawing

of side A.


do – with the exception of signs suchas the vertical ship and fish. The fre-quency of the signs varies consider-ably according to the whim of thecreator. Thomas Balistier (1998) pointsout that the shield, no. 12, appears 15times on side A, but only twice on sideB, whereas the breast or helmet, no. 7,appears just twice on side A, but 16times on side B.

Many of the signs on the disk areunusually naturalistic, depicting a live-liness not found to such a great extentin pictographic scripts of the time,such as Egyptian hieroglyphics.Clearly outlined representations, suchas the striding man (no. 1), a boundprisoner (no. 4), and a flying bird (no.31), are found only occasionally inother scripts such as Egyptian andLuwian. Scholars have argued for 100years as to which writing system hasbeen employed for this unique relic –do the signs represent words, syllables,or just letters?

It has been generally accepted thatthe signs just represent nouns and

The Phaistos Disk

that verbs are lacking, the script beinga syllabary, the signs acting as sylla-bles and serving as an alphabet. LinearB is a syllabary. Godart points out thatthere are too few signs for a pictogra-phy and too many for an alphabet onthe disk. It has been suggested byGünter Neumann (1968) that thescript is a syllabary with some signsacting as pictographs. Thomas S.Barthel (1988), J. T. Hooker, andMichaell Trauth (1990) also agree thatit is a similar mixture.

In a pictographic script the signrepresents the object that it depicts,

Fig 15 (left).The Phaistos Disksigns. The referencenumbers are those

initiated by SirArthur Evans and

are still beingused today.

Fig 16 (top right).The slanted strokebelow the disk signno. 18 on the far

left of this group ofsigns on side A of

the disk is one of 16or 17 that appearon the disk. The

five dots, as shownon the far right ofthe group of signson the disk in Fig16, might be com-

pared tothe five dots

representing thenumber 50 on

Linear B bar 057in Fig 44.

Fig 17 (middleright). The

Arkalochori axefound by SpyridonMarinatos in 1934.

Fig 18 (right).Inscription onthe haft of the

Arkalochori axe.

45-48). They were apparently used topress into the soft clay tablets andother clay ‘relics’ which they pro-duced. They were said to be the firstevidence of the migration of anancient Near Eastern people to mod-ern Michigan. Were these inspired bythe Phaistos Disk – or were they possi-bly one of the principal sources forPernier for the creation of the disk?Unfortunately we do not know whenthe Michigan forger, James Scotford,created his stamps, before or after the‘discovery’ of the disk. Some werefound in a tin dating to 1910.

The Signs of the DiskOf the 45 different signs (Fig 15), thereare 123 signs stamped on side A sepa-rated by vertical lines into 31 groupsand 119 signs on side B separated into30 groups. The groups have beeninterpreted as words, sentences, andeven complete verses. The signs basi-cally face to the right as if they weremeant to be read as pictographs ofrecognisable everyday objects, as they



16). Furthermore, on each side of thedisk there is a single ‘dotted bar’ com-posed of five dots (some scholars con-tend only four) on side A (also Fig 16)and five dots on side B. The strokes anddotted bars were incised by hand, aswere the main spiral lines and the verti-cal dividers.

The dotted bars led Alice E. Kober(1948) to surmise that there were otherdisks and that these were the fourthand fifth sides of a long document.Rudolf Hoschek considered them toindicate pages or chapters in a group ofseveral disks. It is the writer’s con-tention that the strokes and dotted barswere added merely to lead scholarsastray – another oddity to puzzle them– and a common trick amongst forgers.Indeed, Dirk Ohlenroth (1996), becauseof the strokes, regards the disk as ‘theoldest example of the use of naturalpunctuation’. The writer notes the sim-ilarity of the five dots on Linear B bar057 (Fig 44) to the five dots on thedisk. The dot in Cretan script representthe number 10; five dots represents 50(Fig 15). Was this numbering systemthe source for the forger’s dotted bars?The writer notes that the vertical barrepresents the Cretan script number100 – is this the inspiration for the ver-tical lines of the disk? (See Fig 7 for avertical bar and two dots, Fig 44 for abar and five dots.)

In 16 instances signs were erasedand replaced by different signs. Onewould not expect so many correctionsin such an elaborate production if itwas an ancient document. Ernst Gru-mach (1962) suggested that the scribewas not correcting mistakes but actu-ally improving the content or form.

COMPARISONSThe Arkalochori AxeFor years local peasants had been dig-ging in a shallow cave in Arkalochori incentral-eastern Crete and unearthing alarge variety of bronze weapons andother metal objects. Sadly, many ofthese have been lost because they wereoften melted down and made into farmtools. A Greek archaeologist, JosephChatzidakis, first excavated the cave in1912 and found many weapons -swords and daggers – and a large groupof votive double axes. Soon thereafter agold double axe was found by somechildren. The cave was then rapidlyplundered by the locals.

In 1934 Spyridon Marinatos, theDirector of the Herakleion Museum,confiscated many of the objects andrenewed the excavations. One of 25gold axes and one of six or seven silver

axes found had short inscriptions inLinear A. A bronze axe (Fig 17), how-ever, was inscribed with 15 hiero-glyphic signs in three columns (Fig 18).Of the 15 signs, ten of them (with tworepeated) seem to be unique. In herJanuary/March 1935 American Journal ofArchaeology report Elizabeth Pierce Ble-gen mentions the discovery in 1934 ofthe double axes in silver and gold, andbronze axes, knives, and swords ‘num-bered by the hundreds’, but, oddly, nomention of any inscribed items. Godartstresses that ‘there are no definite com-parisons between the signs of the Discand the syllabograms of the threeknown Cretan scripts (Hieroglyphics,Linear A and Linear B)…’

The Gold Ring and Silver Pinfrom Mavro SpilioA gold ring found in 1926 at MavroSpilio, Crete, by Sir Arthur Evans has aspiral arrangment of the text whichconists of 19 signs in Linear A (Fig 19).The ring, with an inner diameter ofonly 13mm, was certainly too small towear and, in fact, its authenticity hasbeen questioned. A silver pin from thesame site also has an inscription in Lin-ear A.

The Malia Altar StoneA stone slab excavated in 1937 inMalia, Crete, by Fernand Chaputhier,has 16 inscribed hieroglyphs, threerepeated twice, and is the only exampleof a Cretan hieroglyphic inscription onstone (Fig 20). Alice Kober (1938) statedthat ‘…the resemblance between thesigns of this inscription and that of thePhaistos Disk is very slight.’

The Vladikavkaz DiskA clay fragment of a disk with 20 signs(Fig 21) was found in the basement of ahouse built in 1880 in Vladikavkaz, inthe Russian Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, in 1991. It copies some of thesigns and groups on the Phaistos Diskbut they are incised rather thanstamped. It is said that it was recog-nised by the local museum as a forgeryand returned to the owner but has nowapparently disappeared. It could possi-bly be a forger’s prototype for the disk

The Phaistos Disk

the image, not the word as such.There are too few signs on the diskand too many repetitions for this to bea functional pictographic script. Sucha system would require many hun-dreds or even thousands of signs forthis type of script and it would beimpractical to make a stamp for eachsign. Some scholars, however, such asLienhard Delekat (1979) and Victor J.Kean (1996) support this theory.

Ernst Schertel (1948) believed thatthe script is a mixture of alphabet andsyllabary, while Derk Ohlenroth(1996) argued that it was a sophisti-cated early Greek phonetic alphabeticsystem with more than double thenumber of letters than the regularGreek alphabet of just 24 letters.

The Direction of the SignsAlthough there had been much dis-agreement about the direction inwhich the signs should be read – fromthe centre out or from the outside in,it has been accepted by most scholarsthat it reads from the outside in, fromright to left, as with the Egyptian andAnatolian hieroglyphs - towards thedirection that the heads of the peopleand animals face. In Linear A and Lin-ear B the reading direction is from leftto right, but some scholars such asGodart argue that it has no relation-ship to these scripts.

The Strokes, Dotted Bar,and Corrections There is considerable argument regard-ing the meaning of the 16 or 17 slantedstrokes that appear below the sign fur-thest to the left in some groups (Fig

Fig 19.The gold ringfrom Mavro

Spilio with LinearA inscription(Kn Zf 13).

Fig 20 (below left).The Malia altar

stone hieroglyphicinscription.

Fig 21 (right).The Vladikavkazdisk. A forger’sprototype or a

copy of theoriginal forgery?



tion of the elements.3. A unique element in the composi-tion.4. A ‘unique style’: the appearance ofa fully developed style or type hith-erto unknown.5. Repeated favourite ancient motifsand devices of the forger - in periodsor regions where they do not ordinar-ily occur, or invented types.6. Reversal of image.7. A synthesis of geographically dis-parate styles.8. A disparity in time-placement ofelements.9. Correction by elimination.

One can allow for a small numberof these elements to occur in a gen-uine antiquity, but the preponderanceof such elements for the disk leads tothe conclusion that it is certainly aforgery. However, only a thermolumi-nescence test to determine whetherthe disk was created in the past cen-tury or two or over three millenniaago will finally settle this intriguingproblem to everyone’s satisfaction.The writer has attempted to have thistest carried out several times in thepast but to no avail. It is not evenpossible to physically examine thedisk outside of the case at themuseum. In a reply to a most recentrequest to the museum to examinethe disk, the Director, Dr NotaDimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, wrote:

‘Dear Dr Eisenberg, In reply toyour e-mail of July 25, 2007, wewould like to inform you that unfor-tunately we are not able to satisfyyour request to examine the Phaistosdisc and the inscribed Arkalochoriaxe. Specifically, the inscribed Arkalo-chori axe is encased and stored,whereas the Phaistos disc because ofits uniqueness is considered as nonmovable…’

The Phaistos Disk


Fig 22. Sign on Linear A tabletPH18 from Phaistos. Cf. to disk

sign no. 1, the ‘pedestrian’.

Fig 23. Advancing boxer on Haghia Triada‘Boxer Rhyton’. Cf. to disk sign no. 1.

His hands are bound with fistwrappings similar to disk sign no. 8.

Fig 24 (below left).Sea Peoples inEgyptian 19th

Dynasty wall relief.Cf. headdresses toheaddress of disk

sign no. 2, theplumed head.

Fig 25.The Luwian sign

mu that resemblesthe plumes on disk

sign no. 2, theplumed head.

Fig 26. Cretan captive with tattoo fromEgyptian 18th Dynasty wall painting.

Cf. tattoo on face of disk signno. 3, the tattooed head.

Fig 27. Ivory figurine of a child withshaven head from Palaikastro.Cf. disk sign no. 5, the child.

Figs 29 (right).Sealstone from

the controversialTreasure of Thisbe,

Boeotia. Cf. hairand garment of

figure at left withdisk sign no. 6,

the woman.

or merely an attempt at copying theoriginal forgery.

CONCLUSIONSeveral of the errors made by theforger of the disk fit into the cate-gories tabulated by the writer in his‘Aesthetics of the Forger: Stylistic Cri-teria in Ancient Art Forgery’ (Minerva,May/June 1992, 10-15). They include:1. A disparity in the style of executionof the elements.2. A disparity in the degree of abstrac-

Fig 28. Polychrome clay female figurinefrom the first palace at Phaistos, c. 1750

BC. Cf. disk sign no. 6, the woman.


Meanwhile the disk, which haslong been considered to be ‘One ofthe most famous mysteries of archae-ology’ (Wikipedia) remains anenigma. Our readers’ comments, asusual, are welcomed.

The Phaistos Disk


Fig 32.Ideogram for an

arrow on a LinearB tablet from

Knossos. Cf. todisk sign no. 10,

the arrow.

Fig 34. Anatoliandisk seal of MursilisII, c. 1322-1295 BC,

from the HittiteEmpire. Luwian

hieroglyphic signsin the centre

surrounded byHittite cuneiform.The Luwian signfor a winged sun

disk resembles thedisk sign no. 11, thebow; also, the sawsign is very close to

disk sign no. 16,the saw.

Fig 36. Pottery vasefrom Knossos withstamped design. Cf.design to disk signno. 12, the shield.

Fig 37.Abnormally long

Minoan whitesteatite four-sided

bead seal withhieroglyphic sign

of mountains(on its side). Cf.disk sign no. 14,the manacles.

Fig 38.Minoan white

cornelian prismseal from eastern

Crete withhieroglyphic pick

sign. Cf. disksign no. 15,

the mattock.

Fig 33 (right).Hittite relief atYazilikaya with

procession of deitieswearing tiara-

type headdress. c.1250-1200 BC. Cf.

headdress disksign no. 9.

Fig 31. An ancient cestus or boxingglove. Cf. to disk sign no. 8,

the gauntlet. See also Fig 22.

Fig 30. Mycenean ivory relief of a man’shead with a boars’ tusk helmet.Cf. disk sign no. 7, the helmet.

Fig 35 (below left).Kernos (offeringtable) from thepalace of Malia.

ANALYSIS OF THE PHAISTOSDISK SIGNSThe 45 different signs on the disk arenumbered here according to the systemset up by Sir Arthur Evans. The numberin parentheses following Evans’ namefor the sign (used here with some mod-ification) is the number of times thatthe symbol appears on the disk. Thefirst notations in most of the signentries are the possible sources of thesign as suggested by various writers. Forfull references for the names of scholarsmentioned, see Appendix: Attempts atDeciphering.

1. PEDESTRIAN (11) Crete, Egypt. Cf.stick figure on Linear A tablet PH18from Phaistos (Fig 21); Mycenaeans in19th dynasty wall paintings in Egypt-ian tombs. JME (the writer): Possiblesource for Pernier: The advancing box-ers on the Haghia Triada steatite rhyton,the ‘boxer vase’ (Fig 22), coincidentallyexcavated (1900-1908) by Halbherrwith Pernier. Also see the Luwian signsfor ‘walking man’ or ‘walking legs’.


more logical to show two of them.There is no ancient parallel for a sin-gle breast as a sign. 8. GAUNTLET (5) Crete. Cf. boxerswith hands bandaged. (Godart: fight-ing glove; Dettmer: workman’s glove.)JME: Possible source for Pernier: thefist wrappings of the boxers on theHaghia Triada steatite rhyton – the‘Boxer Vase’ (Fig 23) - excavated byHalbherr with Pernier; or the classicalcestus (boxing glove) (Fig 31).9. TIARA (2) Hittite: Cf. seals androck carvings for similar headgear.JME: The most likely source forPernier would be the nearly identicaltiara which appears on rock carvingssuch as the one in a Hittite shrine atYazilikaya, c. 1250-1220 BC (Fig 33).10. ARROW (4) Crete: Cf. Linear Aideogram. But no arrowhead? (Ohlen-roth: ear of grain.) JME: The Minoansign of an arrowhead appears with orwithout a shaft, but no barbs, as wellas one with no arrow point but withbarbs – a complete reversal. However,on a Linear B tablet from Knossos theideogram for an arrow is quite close(Fig 32), though simplified since it isincised on clay. A comparison madeto Linear A sign AB79 is rather far-fetched. 11. BOW (1) Crete. Cf. Minoan seals.JME: Cf. the Luwian sign of a wingedsun-disk (Fig 34).12. SHIELD OR PLATE (17) Crete. Cf.Mycenaean shield examples. (Pernier:It resembles a kernos (offering table)found at the palace of Malia (Fig 35),but it has 34 circular depressionsaround the rim, not six; Duhoux: adesign stamped on a pottery vasefrom Knossos (Fig 36); Dettmer: a diskwith seven points for the solar year.)JME: Pernier’s source certainly wouldhave been the Luwian sign for bread,128C5, a disc with up to seven dots,the seven dots being placed in thesame positions (Fig 8) or, less likely, asimilar Egyptian hieroglyph with fouror five dots representing corn on thethreshing floor. Also, Linear A signAB78 is a circle with 3 dots.13. CLUB (6) Greece. (Evans: club ofHerakles; Dettmer: a plant; Ohlen-roth: ‘cypress’.) The club of Herakles,to which it has been compared, firstappears considerably later.14. MANACLES (2) (Aartun: foot-

The Phaistos Disk


2. PLUMED HEAD (19) Sea Peoples(Pelesedt, Denyen, Tjekker), Egypt;Crete. Cf. Sea Peoples in 19th Dynastywall reliefs on Egyptian temples (Fig23). It is vaguely similar to one of thesigns on the Arkalokhori axe (Fig 18),though it is facing; and the hairstyleson terracotta male figures fromTraostalos near Ksato Zakros, but farmore sophisticated in its depiction.(Evans, Godard, Pernier: featheredhelmet.) JME: Cf. Luwian sign for mu(Fig 25). The closest comparison,however, is the feathered headdress ofthe American Indian which requiredno visible skull cap.3. TATTOOED HEAD (2) Crete,Egypt. Cf. Minoan man with figure-of-eight tattoo in Egyptian 18thDynasty wall painting (Fig 26).(Dettmer: not a tattoo, but a Cretandouble earring.) JME: It was certainlyderived from the Egyptian wall paint-ing.4. CAPTIVE (1) Asia Minor, Egypt. Cf.Asian prisoners on 19th dynasty tem-ple walls. (Aartun: walking farmer dis-tributing seed; Dettmer: femaleprisoner.) JME: It was most probablyderived from the Egyptian depictionsof prisoners with their hands tiedbehind their backs, such as thosedepicted on Seti I’s Temple of Amonat Karnak.5. CHILD (1) Crete. Cf. ivory figurineof a child with shaven head fromZakros for the use of a ‘bald’ child inCretan art (Fig 27). JME: The first fivesigns for heads and persons all havebald heads making comparisons withthe hairdos of people in other scriptsor signs perhaps purposefully diffi-cult. The source for the bald headswas perhaps one or more of the ivoryfigurines of children with shavenheads from Zakros and Haghia Triada.6. WOMAN (4) Crete, Sea Peoples,Egypt. Cf. hairstyle to that of the SeaPeoples in 19th dynasty wall reliefson Egyptian temples. (Evans: sharpcontrast to Minoan-Mycenaeanfemale type; Ipsen: relates it to Cretangarb; Doro Levi: found ‘parallel’ tofemale idols found at Phaistos.) JME:The apparent source for this sign wasa small figurine with pendulousbreasts, hair flowing behind, and aflounced skirt from room XCVII-XCVIII of the first palace at Phaistos(Fig 28) or another perhaps found pre-viously by Pernier. Another sourcemight be the sealstone from the con-troversial Treasure of Thisbe fromBoeotia. This depicts a woman withhair flowing behind and flouncedskirts (Fig 29).7. HELMET or BREAST (18) Europe.Cf. Bronze Age helmets. (Godard: hel-met; Evans, Dettmer: breast; Pernier:cap.) JME: Possible source for Pernier:the Phoenician or Bronze Age helmet(Fig 30). If it was a breast it would be

Fig 39.Linear A signAB31. Cf. disk

sign no. 19,carpentry plane.

Fig 40 (right).Obsidian doliumshell found in theLittle Palace atHagia Triada.

Fig 41 (right).Clay seal

impression ondocument HM 992

from Phaistos(excavated by

Pernier?).Cf. disk sign

no. 21, comb orpalace plan.

Fig 42.A Lycian rock-cuttomb in Anatolia.

Cf. disk signno. 24, a beehive

or structure.

Fig 43.Ideogram 179 onLinear B tabletfrom Knossos.

Cf. disk sign no. 24.

Fig 44 (right).Four-sided Minoanclay Linear B bar

057 withhieroglyphs. Thevertical bar and

five dots representthe number 1500.Cf. disk sign no. 24

and five dots oneach side of disk.


The Phaistos Disk


Fig 46 (right). Goldring from Mochloswith Minoan ship,

c. 1450 BC.

Fig 48 (below left).Minoan hiero-

glyphic symbolsfor ships. Cf. disk

sign no. 25.

Fig 49 (below).Red cornelian

prism with cat withfacing head, found

in 1898; coverillustration forEvans’s ScriptaMinoa I (1908).

Cf. disk sign no. 29,a head in profile

and quite different.

Fig 50 (belowright). Egyptian

wall painting fromthe 18th Dynastytomb of Useramonat Thebes, c. 1460

BC, showingCretans carryingrhytons (libationvessels). Cf. disk

sign no. 30.

Fig 45 (left).Predynastic

Egyptian vase withNilotic ship; ensign

or standard oncabin. Naqada II,c. 3450-3300 BC.

Cf. disk signno. 25, ship.

stool; Dettmer: yoke; Evans: manaclesor handcuffs; Pernier: mountains.)JME: Cf. a Minoan white steatite beadseal with a hieroglyphic sign ofmountains (Fig 37). This sign appearsonly vertically, not horizontally asoften depicted.15. MATTOCK OR PICK (1) Crete. Cf.actual mattocks (or picks); Linear Asign A364; Linear B sign B232. JME:Cf. Minoan white cornelian prism seal(Fig 38) A similar bronze mattock wasfound by Pernier at Phaistos. If thiswere a Minoan disk, the use of a sin-gle-headed pick rather than the dou-ble-headed axe would be unusual.Also, the direction is changed 90degrees.16. SAW OR KNIFE (2) Cf. Linear Asign AB74, though quite different.JME: Cf. Minoan bead seal (Fig 3) andLinear B bar 066 (Fig 5). A close paral-lel can be found in a Luwian hiero-glyphic sign (Fig 34); also an Egyptianhieroglyphic sign – set.17. LID or TOOL (1) Crete. Cf.Minoan and Mycenaean lids; Linear Asign A322 is somewhat similar,though the direction is changed 90degrees (Fig 9). (Evans: tool for cut-ting leather; Godart: lid.) JME: Thesource would be the Linear Aideogram.18. BOOMERANG or SET-SQUARE(12) Egypt. Cf. weapons in Egyptiantombs. (Aartun: corner/angle; Evans:carpenter’s angle; Godart:boomerang.) JME: The source couldbe the Linear A sign AB37, though ithas a much narrower angle and thedirection is changed 90 degrees; orthe Egyptian sign and amulet for theset square (kub), though it has anangle of 90 degrees.19. CARPENTRY PLANE (3) Crete(Aartun: branch; Dettmer: ruler with

Fig 47 (aboveright). Cycladic

‘frying pan’ vesselwith depiction of

ship, spirals; ‘pubictriangle’ below.Note ensign on

prow. Syros, EarlyCycladic II period,c. 2800-2300 BC,L. 28cm. Cf. disk

sign no. 25.

vertical depiction be considered aspace-saver?). It is lacking a mast;ships as Minoan hieroglyphic signsalmost always have masts (Fig 48).26. HORN (6) (Ox horn) (Aartun:tail.) JME: Cf. Luwian sign no. 1287A(Fig 8) which is a more than probablesource.27. HIDE (15) Crete: Cf. Linear Bideogram *258 from Knossos and *154from Pylos. (Evans, Godart: cowskin;Dettmer: goatskin.) JME: Why is thehide inverted twice in the same groupon side A?28. BULL’S LEG or COW’S LEG (2)Crete. Cf. steatite seals with bulls’ legsfrom Malia. JME: An unusual case ofreversal of image, in this case turningan animal part upside down. Thereare several instances of a Minoanhieroglyphic sign for a human leg (Fig49), but none for an animal leg. Cf.Egyptian sign for the leg of an ox.29. CAT HEAD (11) Crete: Cf. sealimpressions on vases from Malia; fac-ing heads appear in Linear A signAB80, though extremely simplified.The direction, however, is changedfrom right profile to a facing head.Linear A sign L149 is found only onclay tablets. (Evans, Godart, Ohlen-roth: cat; Dettmer: wild dog; Pernier:bulldog.) JME: Cf. cat with facinghead on a red cornelian prism foundin 1898 (Fig 49). Why is the cat headimprinted in different directions onthe disk, some 90 degrees or morefrom the horizontal? It would not bethe practice of a scribe executing sucha sophisticated script; this is certainly

angles; Godart: carpenter’s plane.)20. DOLIUM (2) Crete: Cf. the obsid-ian dolium (sea shell) from Haghia Tri-ada (Fig 40) (Aartun: dry-measurecontainer; Dettmer: vessel; Evans:vase; Godart: ton shell.) JME: Theshading or use of parallel lines isunique for this sign on the disk.21. COMB OR FLOOR PLAN (2)Crete: palace floor plan (Aartun: hoeor rake; Dettmer: weaving comb;Godart: comb.) JME: The source is cer-tainly the sign on Proto-Palatian clayseal impressions on document HM992 (Fig 41) at Phaistos (excavated byPernier?) The suggestion by Woud-huizen that it resembles Swedish rockcarvings of a team of plowing oxen isa bit extreme.22. SLING or DOUBLE FLUTE (5) Ithas been compared to Linear A signA318, but there is little resemblance.(Aartun: whisk; Dettmer: curve mea-sure; Evans: double flute; Godart:slingshot or catapult; Ohlenroth:forked stick.)23. COLUMN or HAMMER (11) Cf.Linear A sign AB06, though it consistsonly of lines at right angle. (Aartun:club; Evans: hammer; Dettmer: a diskstamp; Pernier: column with capital.)24. BEEHIVE or STRUCTURE (6)Lycia: cf. rock-cut tomb (Fig 42),Egypt: cf. Punt (Somalia) hut on 18thdynasty Hatshepsut temple wall relief;Crete: cf. very simplified Linear A signAB54 (Fig 9); Linear B sign 179 (Fig43), also from Knossos. (Aartun,Dettmer: house; Evans: pagoda-likebuilding, animal coop, or bird cage;Godart: beehive; Erika Spann-Reinsch:covered palanquin.) JME: Cf. Cretanhieroglyph as on a four-sided clay bar(Fig 44). The forger, however, mostprobably used the Lycian tomb as themain source.25. SHIP (7) Egypt: small Predynasticpots, c. 3200 BC, with symbols on thecabins of Nilotic ships (Fig 44);Cyclades (see below); Crete: gold ringfrom Mochlos (Fig 46). (Aartun: saw-bow; Dettmer: plow) JME: Cf. shipson Cycladic ‘frying pan’ vessels, c.2300 BC (Fig 47) An unusual case of a90 degree shift in the position of theimage to save space; most probablythe only instance of a ship repre-sented on its side as a symbol, thoughit is also depicted horizontally onceon side B (therefore why should the


not a schoolboy’s practice tablet. Seethe possible explanation below (forsign no. 30).30. RAM HEAD (1) Some scholarsrelate this to the Linear A symbol of aram - sign AB13, but this is a bit far-fetched, as the Linear A sign is highlyabstract. JME: An Egyptian wall paint-ing from the tomb of Useramon, c.1460 BC, depicts Cretans bringing trib-ute to Egypt including animal-headrhytons (Fig 50). The writer believesthat this may be the inspiration for theram head sign (rather than using themore common bull’s head rhyton. TheMinoan hieroglyphic signs for the ramdo not show the horns projectingbeyond the profile of the head,although there is a goat head with out-wardly curving horns on a Minoanseal (Fig 37). The single ram head andtwo cat heads on side B face upward,the same position as the animal headrhytons in the Egyptian wall painting.It should be pointed out that thewriter is using the drawing fromRobinson’s book and he notes that theram head – on side B - had been mis-takenly replaced in the drawing by theartist for a helmet, disk sign no. 7. Wehave corrected this in our copy of thedrawing.31. EAGLE AND SERPENT (5) (Aar-tun, Ohlenroth: falcon; Evans,Dettmer, Godart: eagle.) JME:Imprinted in different positions:upward, to the left, and to the right.Signs for the eagle in Crete, AB81 (Fig51), and Egypt are quite different, theformer again being highly abstract.32. DOVE (3) (Aartun: goose; Dettmer:duck; Evans, Godart, Ohlenroth:dove.) JME: It is unlike the preeningand pecking birds of Cretan hiero-glyphic script (Fig 52), however thesource is certainly one of the Knossosfrescoes with partridges (Fig 55), a birdno one has apparently considered pre-viously.33. TUNNY (6) (Dettmer: the scribemeant a ‘large fish’, but it is a dolphin;Evans, Pernier: tuna.) JME: cf. the fishon a Minoan bead seal (Fig 56). Itcould be an elaboration of a Minoansymbol or the fish on the Cycladic ‘fry-ing pan’ vessels, as the one from Naxoswith four fish, c. 2500 BC, publishedby A. K. Stephanos in 1905 (Fig 57).34. BEE (3) (Aartun: wineskin;Dettmer: bird’s-eye view of cow.) JME:Not a Minoan or Egyptian depiction ofa bee, the symbol for which is done inprofile. Pernier’s inspiration for usingthis insect was probably a Linear Asign with the vertical line removed (Fig53).35. PLANE TREE (11) Crete. Cf. LinearA sign AB04, though only with onebranch. (Aartun: fruit; Dettmer: oak;Evans: plant or tree; Godart: bush orbranch with broad leaves; Pernier:branch of plane tree.)

Minoan hieroglyphic sign no. 88 for asaffron flower.40. OX BACK (6). (Godart: ox’s back;unrecognisable sign to others.) JME: Ifit is an ox’s back, it is a uniqueancient hieroglyphic depiction of ananimal’s rear end. The suggested com-parison to Linear A signs AB26 andAB27 is extreme.41. FLUTE (2) (Aartun: bone;Dettmer: copper bars; Godart: flute.)JME: It is certainly not a flute withthis irregular outline. Copper barswould be in the form of ingots – rec-tangular with flaring ends. Why use abone for a symbol?42. GRATER (1) (Aartun: coral;Dettmer: saw; Godart: grater or rasp.)JME: There are too many dots for asmall ancient hieroglyphic sign.43. STRAINER (1) Crete: Cf. Linear Asign AB66. (Aartun, Dettmer: femalepubic region; Evans: a puzzling sign;

The Phaistos Disk


Fig 53.Linear A sign

possibly used tomake a disk sign

no. 34, bee.

Fig 58. Eight-petal rosettes onthe ‘rosette krater’ from the

first palace at Phaistos.

Fig 59. Cycladic ‘frying pan’ vessel withtriangles filled with dots; ‘pubic triangle’

below. Syros, Early Cycladic II period,c. 2800-2300 BC, l. 27cm.

Fig 54.Linear A sign AB76

is most probablythe source for disk

sign no. 45,a wavy band orflowing water.

Fig 51.Linear A sign for

the eagle, AB81, isquite abstract

compared to thedisk sign no. 31,an eagle holding

a snake.

Fig 52. Cretanhieroglyphic sign fora dove, quite unlike

disk sign no. 32representing a dove.

Fig 57. Cycladic ‘frying pan’ vessel withdepiction of fish, spirals, and sun. Syros,

Early Cycladic II period, c. 2800-2300 BC.Cf. disk sign no. 33, a tunny.

Fig 56. Minoan bead seal withfish. Cf. disk sign no. 33, a tunny.

Fig 55. Fresco with partridges (detail)from the pavilion of the ‘Caravanserai’at Knossos. Cf. disk sign no. 32, dove

(but probably a partridge).

36. VINE or BUSH (4) Crete. Cf. Lin-ear A sign AB30 or hieroglyph no.101, both somewhat similar. (Aartun:black coral; Dettmer, Godart:grapevine; Evans: olive branch;Ohlenroth: shrub.) JME: Linear A signAB30 has horizontal branches; it isnot branching out from a single stem.37. PAPYRUS (4) Egypt. Cf. papyri onTheban wall paintings. (Aartun: pieceof straw; Dettmer: flax plant; Godart:papyrus; Ohlenroth: lily.)38. ROSETTE (4) Crete. Cf. several 8-petalled rosettes on the ‘rosette krater’from Phaistos (Fig 58) and a gold pinfrom Malia. (Aartun: blossom;Dettmer: lotus; Evans: local floweradapted from Egyptian lotus blossom;Godart, Ohlenroth: rosette.) JME: Therosette is a popular symbol for theforger.39. LILY (4) (Aartun: husk; Dettmer:meadow saffron; Godart: lily; Ohlen-roth: crocus; Pernier: saffron.) JME:The suggested comparison to Linear Asign AB28, a trident, is far-fetched, asis the Luwian sign ‘W’ for a thunder-bolt. It is certainly a plant. Cf. to


Godart: sieve; Ohlenroth: triangle.)JME: The granulated triangle is a popu-lar device for the forger (see thewriter’s ‘Aesthetics of the Forger’, no.14). Again, there are too many dots fora small hieroglyphic sign. His sourcemay have been the triangles filled withsmall dots on the so-called Cycladic‘frying pans’ (Fig 59).44. SMALL AXE (1) (Aartun: aquaticplant leaf; Dettmer: bull’s hide;Godart: small hatchet.) JME: None ofthese suggestions would properly fitthis oddly-shaped sign; it is too irregu-lar.45. WAVY BAND or FLOWINGWATER (6) (Dettmer: water channel;Godart: wavy bundle; Ohlenroth:wave; Pernier: flowing water as in theEgyptian hieroglyphic sign.) JME: Thesource is probably the identical LinearA sign AB76 (Fig 9), Linear B sign 76(reversed), or the equivalent Luwiansign.

There are 22 disk signs that areclosely or somewhat related to LinearA or Linear B, especially the former,but there are no double axes, horns,bull heads, or octopuses, symbols thatare closely linked to Minoan Crete.

APPENDIX: ATTEMPTS ATDECIPHERING THE PHAISTOS DISKAartun, Kjell (1992) – ‘Der Diskos vonPhaistos; Die beschriftete Bronzeaxt;Die Inschrift der Taragona-tafel Wies-baden’ in Der Minoische Schrift, Spracheund Texte, vol. 1. A South Semitic syl-labic text in metrical style, spoken inthe south of Arabia (Yemen) before theBronze Age, and a language to whichmodern Arabic and some Ethiopeanlanguages belong. He believes that thewriting system is the same as that onthe Arkalokhori axe. ‘…a Near East-ern/Semitic class in ancient Cretewhich provided political leadershipand cultural guidance during theMinoan era.’ An extremely eroticpoem, a ‘prescription for the executionof sexual rites in the Palace of Phais-tos.’ We hesitate to quote from it,except for the mild beginning: ‘I wantto wet, plow, your field, I want to wet,deep plow, your arable under theyoke!’

Achterberg, Winfried, Jan Best,Kees Enzler, Lia Rietveld, and FredWoudhuizen (2004) – The PhaistosDisc: A Luwian Letter to Nestor. An Ana-tolian hieroglyphic script. A Luwiandocument of land ownership, a letterfrom Great King Tarkhundaradus ofArzawa in Anatolia to King Nestor ofPylos in Akhaia. ‘In Mesara is Phaistos.To Nestor, to the great [man] inAhhiyawa’. First half of the 14th cen-tury.

Aleff, H. Peter (1982, e-book) –The Board Game on the Phaistos Disk.An ancient gameboard related to theEgyptian senet and snake games.

Amazon Research Center (web-site) – A claim that some signs are sim-ilar to rock engravings in North Africa.

Balistier, Thomas (2000) – ThePhaistos Disc – an account of its unsolvedmystery (originally published as DerDiskos von Phaiphos: Zur Geschichteeines Rätsels und den Versuchen seinerAuflösung (1998). Discussion of deci-pherments of Aartun, Ohlenroth,Dettmer, and others. ‘…today, how-ever, it seems rather absurd to assumeit is a fake.’

Ballotta, Paola (1974) – Ledéchiffrement du Disque de Phaistos.Ideographic writing.

Barger, Jorn (2001, website) –Probably the funeral psalm of KingArion, c. 1800 BC, from islands nearTroy.

Barthel, Thomas S. (1988) –‘Forschungsperspektiven für denDiskos von Phaistos’ in MünchnerBeiträge zur Völkerkunde, vol. 1, 9-24.The differences in content from side Ato side B represent ‘a thematic changefrom day to night and male to female’(Balistier).

Best, Jan, and Woudhuizen, FredC. (1980) – Ancient Scripts of Crete andCyprus.

Best, Jan, and Woudhuizen, FredC. (1989) – Lost Languages from theMediterranean. Best: an abstract of cor-respondence between King Nestor ofAchaia (outgoing letter on side A ofthe disk) and the King of Phaistos(Tarhuntiwaqtas or Kunawa?) (incom-ing letter on Side B). (See Fred C.Woudhuizen.) Best dates it to the firsthalf of the 14th century BC.

Blohm, Hans, Stafford Beer, andDavid Suzuki (1987) - Pebbles to Com-puters – The Thread. A two month cal-endar for daily activities in the palace,c. 1700 BC.

Bossert, H. (1931) - ‘Unentzifferteund unübersetze Inschriften’ inAtlantis. Länder/Völker/Reisen, 249-256.An import from Anatolia. Similarity toHittite, syllabic hieroglyphic script.

Bowden, Edgar (1992) – Cybele theaxe-goddess: Alliterative verse, linear Brelationships and cult ritual of the phais-tos disc. Greek alliterative verse metri-ces describing an Anatolia religiouscult of ‘Cybele Axe Goddess and Posei-don Hippios’.

Burdic, Steve (1998, website) – Anastronomical interpretation using thesolstices. It refers to the cycle of thesun over the year.

Burrage, Champlin (1921) – ‘Stud-ies in the Minoan HieroglyphicInscriptions’ in Harvard Studies in Clas-sical Phililogy, 32, 177. Interpreted asSemitic. (From JME notes, 1968-71.)

Butler, Alan (1999) – The BronzeAge Computer Disc. A system of measur-ing time, space, and distance. ‘The pri-mary meaning of the text wasmathematical rather than linguistic…

an astronomically explicit calendar…goes beyond the basic zodiac toinclude planetary movements...including the possible reality ofAtlantis (in the Atlantic) and the pos-session by the Minoans of extensiveknowledge of the outer solar system.’This is a good example of ‘pseudo-archaeology’.

Caratelli, Pugliese G. (1945) – ‘LeIscrizione Preellenici di Hagia Triada’in Creta e della Grecia Peninsularia,Annuario. Cretan, comparable to theglyphs on the Arkalachori axe and theMalia altar stone.

Chadwick, John (1958) – The Deci-pherment of Linear B.

Chadwick, John (1987) – Linear Band Related Scripts. A simple syllabicsystem. ‘None of the more compli-cated and thus distinctive signs can beparalleled. Its Minoan origin must thusrest in doubt until more evidence isavailable.’ ‘…the world’s first typewrit-ten document’. ‘It has been a millstoneround my neck for decades.’

Coppens, Philip (2000) – ‘ThePhaistos Disk’ in Frontier, January-Feb-ruary. It could be used for both achance game and a ‘rule game’, likebackgammon.

Corsini, Marco Guido (2002-2005,website) – ‘The Apotheosis of Seqe-nenra Tao II/Rhadamanthys, c. 1544B.C. (on the Phaistos Disc)’. Greco-Creto-Egyptian, c. 1600-1540 BC. It isthe Disk of the Ra/Sun Rhadamanthys.‘Rhadamanthys was a pharaoh ofGreek origins (and, following theGreek tradition, king of Phaistos). TheApotheosis of Rhadamanthys was thendeposited in the archives of the finalphase of the first palace of Phaistos.Rhadamanthys was born in a Greekspeaking city, probably Phaistos (fol-lowing the tradition that he was bornin Gortyna, which descended in originfrom Phaistos, the capital of the Mes-sara), where since 1700 B.C. the Ioni-ans adopted the scripture.’ ‘Blissfullady of the labyrinth, blissful Isonoia,lady of the coffins and protectress ofthe pyramid. The daughter of CreonMegara consecrate there to You, thedaughter of Creon in the cella of thelabyrinth, the daughter of CreonMegara consecrate there to You thedead.’

Crombette, Fernand (1880-1970) –Clartés sur la Crete (vols 1-3). Monosyl-labic, pictographic signs in a Coptictext. Of Basque origin. Relates theadventures of Icarus; used as a boardgame. Crombette believed that the firstking of Crete was the son of the firstking of the 1st Dynasty of Egypt.

Crystal Links (website) – ‘Thedisk speaks about the spiraling natureof reality and creation which links toSacred Geometry - the Golden MeanSpiral - Phi Ratio - the manner inwhich consciousness moves between

The Phaistos Disk



realities.’ ‘In conclusion, the PhaistosDisk is another one of the ‘Games ofThoth’ created to bring awarenessabout the nature of reality.’

Cuny, Albert (1911) – ‘Del’employ des ‘Virgules’ sur le disquede Phaestos’ in Revue des Études Anci-ennes, 13, 297-312 (and vol. 14, 1912).Egyptian, syllabic-ideographic script(from Wikipedia).

Davaras, Costis (1967) – ‘ZurHerkunft des Diskos von Phaistos’ inKadmos, 6, 101-105. Because of thefinding of the clay ‘plumed’ heads (cf.sign no. 2) at Traostalos near KatoZakros, the disk’s non-Cretan origin is‘losing more and more credibility’.

Davis, Simon (1967) – The Deci-pherment of the Minoan Linear A andPictographic Scripts. An acrophonic syl-labary in a Minoan or Hittite lan-guage. A resemblance to Anatolianhieroglyphs. Relating to the manufac-ture of seals. ‘…sealings spirals stampssealings I made stamps sealings great(one) stamps.’ Duhoux terms thistranslation ‘virtually gibberish’.

Delekat, Lienhard (1979) – ‘DerDiskus von Phaistos – Entwurf einerTextlesung und –deutung’ in Ugarit-Forschung – Internationales Jahrbuch fürdie Altertumskunde Syrien-Palästina, 11,165-178. Greek pictographs. An invi-tation to the Anthesteria festival(Feast of Flowers, dedicated toDionysos). ‘Helmsman’s-rhythm-beat-ing-call of the blossoming (Antheste-ria-festive) radiant heaven’s-treedweller (Dionsysos): With both armsfish-waving, ye lamb-herdsman (peo-ple of Tyr), go to Amyclae…’

Dettmer, Otto (1989) – Das Rätseldes Diskos von Phaistos: Das schwersteKreuzwordrätsel de Welt. A syllabary ofMessenian origin (the western Pelo-ponnese). ‘In invocation to the earthgoddess Gea in the cave of Ino to pre-vent earthquakes…’ in a ‘rare form ofGreek with phonetic values for thepictographs.’ ‘A greeting by Talaio,king or god of the Aegeatians, to thesurviving Cretans following the earth-quake.’ (from Balistier).

Dow, S. (1954) – ‘Minoan Writing’in American Journal of Archaeology, 58,2 (80pp.) He thought that the diskwas too fragile an object to be animport from Anatolia.

Duhoux, Yves (1977) – Le Disquedu Phaestos. Archeologie. Epigraphie.Edition Critique. Luwian.

Duhoux, Yves (2000) – ‘How notto decipher the Phaistos Disc’, Ameri-can Journal of Archaeology, 104, 3, 597-600. Cretan provenance, c. 1850-1600BC. Could be related to Linear A. Areview of Faucounau’s Le déchiffementdu disque de Phaistos. Preuves et Conse-quences. ‘The Minoan character of thedisc, regularly debated in the past, isassured thanks to an impressive seriesof points in common with indis-

putable Minoan artifacts.’ He claimsthat the signs have ‘clear affinitieswith the Arkalokhori axe’.

Dunand, Maurice (1945) – BybliaGrammata. There is a strong resem-blance to the Proto-Byblic script.

Eisenberg, Jerome M. (1999) – Ina letter to The Economist, 16 January:‘a joke perpetrated by a clever archae-ologist from the Italian mission toCrete upon his fellow excavators…Taking a thermoluminescence test,which should date the firing of theclay at about 100 years ago, can solvethe mystery of the disc.’

Ephron, Henry D, (1962) –‘Hygieia Tharso and Iaon: The Phais-tos Disk’ in Harvard Studies in ClassicalPhilology, 66, 1-91. Late Minoanperiod (from Wikipedia).

Evans, Arthur J. (1909) – ScriptaMinoa I, the written documents ofMinoan Crete… Non-Minoan, fromAsia Minor (1921). The human figuresand costume are non-Minoan and ‘nomore than ten more or less resembleCretan hieroglyphic forms’. He com-pared sign no. 2, the plumed head,with the Philistine headdress and signno. 24, the building, with the Lycianrock-cut tombs. Possibly a hymn orreligious chant to the earth goddess,the goddess of fertility, or the Anato-lian Great Mother who was wor-shipped in both Asia Minor andCrete.

Fattah, Nurihan (n.d.) – The Lan-guage of Gods and Pharaohs. The disk isa text in Tatarish-Turkish about thefeast of a nobleman. Fattah, a KazanUniversity professor, also claims thatthe written and spoken language inAtlantis was Turkish.

Faucounau, Jean (1975), (1999,2001) – Le déchiffement du disque dePhaistos. Preuves et Consequences. Heclaims that it comes from the Syrosculture of the Cyclades. ‘Proto-Ionic’Greek dialect, a syllabic acrophonicscript comparable to Linear B. Theinvention of an early Aegean people,the Proto-Ionians’, borrowing the ideafrom 6th Dynasty Egypt. A funeraryhymn to Arion, child of Argos,destroyer of Iasos. Duhoux states: ‘Infact, this study commits enough seri-ous errors of all sorts to warrant asecure place in the anthology of mis-guided decipherments.’ He mixes truesyllabograms (representing sounds)with some purely alphabetic conso-nants, a combination unknown indeciphered Aegean scripts.

Faure, P. (2003) – ‘Tourne disque,l’énigme du disque de Phaistos’ inNotre Histoire, 213, October 2003. Heconsiders the disk to be a forgery.

Fell, Howard Barraclough (1973)– ‘Polynesian tablets and Protopolyne-sian. A newly deciphered Europeantongue of the Minoan subgroup. ThePhaistos disk ca. 1600 B.C.’ in Museum

of Comparative Zoology, Harvard Uni-versity, 200-217. He found Polynesianelements and suggested early contactsbetween the two civilisations.

Fell, Howard Barraclough (1976)– ‘The Decipherment of the PhaistosDisk’, The Epigraphic Society OccasionalPublications and Papers, 4, 79. An Ana-tolian language. A verse in femininerhyme, ‘an oracular aid in the inter-pretation of omen’. Other side: Inprose, ‘how a priest may determinethe fate of a client by observing thebehavior of birds’.

Fischer, Steven R. (1988) – Evi-dence for Hellenic Dialect in the PhaistosDisk. Greek dialect, syllabic script. AMinoan call to arms to repel Carianinvaders from Anatolia. ‘Like Ventris,Fischer gradually came to the ideathat he might be dealing with earlyGreek or at least Indo-European.’ ‘Thetranslation offered involves a pub-lished announcement, or the tran-scription of a speech, by thecommander of a Minoan naval force,urging his troops on to battle (appar-ently near Naxos) against invadersfrom Anatolia.’ ‘Hear ye, Cretans andGreeks: my great, my quick! Hear ye,Danaidans, the great, the worthy!Hear ye, all blacks, and hear ye,Pudaan and Libyan immigrants!’

Fischer, Steven R. (1997) – Glyph-Breaker. It is written in a Hellenicdialect of Minoan, ‘a sister languageof Mycenaean Greek’.

Franklin, Kenneth (with LeonPomerance) – A calendar or analmanac (see Leon Pomerance).

Frenkel, M. (1999) – ‘The Phaistosdisk as an astronomical calculator.’ Apaper presented at the Oxford VI andSEAC 99 Conference (27 May 1999).

Georgiev, Vladimir (1976) – Onthe similarity to Luvian (Hittite) hiero-glyphs and Linear B. An acrophonic,syllabic hieroglyphic script (noted ear-lier by H. Bossert (1932) and SimonDavis (1967). A story in Luwian aboutthe Cretan king Minos.

Gleye, Arthur (1912) – KretischeStudien. Die westfinnische Inschrift auddem Diskus von Phaestos. The languageis West Finnish or Old Estonian.

Godart, Louis (1990, 1995) – ThePhaistos Disc – the enigma of an Aegeanscript. From an Aegean culture. Middleor Late Minoan, c. 1550-late 13th cen-tury BC. ‘Among the written testimo-nia from ancient Crete there is not asingle text that permits us to defineany relationship whatsoever with thePhaistos disc. Thus we can say withcertainty that the script on the disc istotally alien to the scripts of Minoan-Myceneaean Crete.’ Godart points outthat ‘there are no definite compar-isons between the signs of the Discand the syllabograms of the threeknown Cretan scripts (Hieroglyphics,Linear A and Linear B)…’

The Phaistos Disk



Gordon, Cyrus H. (1966) – Evi-dence for the Minoan Language. A syl-labic acrophonic legend in a Semitictext.

Gordon, F. G. (1931) – ThroughBasque to Minoan: transliterations andtranslations of the Minoan tablets. Ahymn to the ‘rain lord’, associatedwith Aquarius, in a language allied toBasque. ‘…dogfish smiter on thecreeping flower; the lord, smiter ofthe horse-hide; the dog climbing thepath, the dog emptying with the footthe water pitchers, climbing the cir-cling path, parching the wineskin…’

Grumach, Ernst (1962) – ‘Die Kor-rekturen des Diskus von Phaistos’ inKadmos, 1, 16-26. Of Cretan origin.He suggests a change in content at apoint near the end of side A from amale to female theme.

Grumach, Ernst (1967) – ‘ZumHerkunft des Diskus von Phaistos’ inAkten des 2. Internationalen Kretologen-Kongresses I, 281-296.

Gwynn, B. V., and N. Kolyvanos,N. (1977) – The Phaistos Disc. An earlyform of Greek, of administrative sig-nificance.

Haarmann, Harald (1990) – Lan-guage in Its Cultural Embedding. Ideo-graphic writing. A sacred text of afunerary rite, the symbols represent-ing persons, gods, spirits, offerings,events, places, attributes, and reli-gious activities.

Hagen, Ole 1988, 2001 – ThePhaistos Disk – Alias the Minoan Calen-dar. A calendar with the names ofmonths. ‘He claims that the imagesdescribe ceremonies or duties thatshould be performed on the appropri-ate date’.

Hall, H. R. (1911) – ‘A Note on thePhaistos Disk’ in Journal of HellenicStudies, 31, 119-123. Non-Cretan,from Asia Minor (1927). He suggeststhat the plumed head sign has afeathered helmet, showing Philistineorigin.

Hansel, Stanislaw (1999, website)– It is probably written in a Semiticlanguage that he calls Keftian afterthe Egyptian name for Crete – Keftiu.

Hausmann, Axel (2002) – DerDiskus von Phaistos. Ein Dokument ausAtlantis. An ideographic script fromAtlantis, c. 4400 BC.

Hemple, George (1911) – ‘TheSolving of an Ancient Riddle: IonicGreek before Homer’, Harper’s MonthlyMagazine, 122, 728, January, 187-198.Ionic Greek, syllabic script. ‘Lo, Xiphothe prophetess dedicates spoils from aspoiler of the prophetess.’ Perhaps theearliest published attempt at its deci-pherment.

Henke, Christoph (2003) – DieHierarchie der Zeichen auf dem Diskusvon Phaistos. He interprets it as ‘a hier-archy of characters’.

Hutchinson, R. W. (1973) – Prehis-

Macalister, R. A. S. (1914) – ‘ThePhilistines’ in Palestine ExplorationFund Quarterly, 141 (JME notes, 1968).It has a Libyan connection and simi-larity to several Egyptian hieroglyphs.A judicial court list, dated, with themagistrates’ and witnesses’ names.

Mackenzie, Duncan (c. 1908) –Cretan Palaces. Mackenzie, Field Direc-tor for Sir Arthur Evans and an experton Cretan clay tablets and sealings,thought that the clay is of foreign ori-gin.

Marinatos, Spyridon (c. 1935-39)– A sacred script. He considers thedisk and the Arkalokhori axe (foundby Marinatos) to be ‘cultural artifactsof the same kind’.

Martin, Adam (2000) – Der Diskosvon Phaistos - Ein zweisprachiges Doku-ment geschrieben in einer fruhgriechis-chen Alphabetschrift Erhaltlich.Greek-Minoan bilingual alphabetictext. Side A is an early Greek text for afuneral service meant to console abereaved person. Side B is the Minoanversion of the same text.

Massey, Kevin and Keith, A. J.(1997-2003, website) – ‘Mysteries ofHistory Solved’. A magical text, per-haps a curse, in an Indo-European syl-labic script. ‘this Proto-Byblic scriptwhich is demonstrated by the Masseytwins as being a closely related ortho-graphic system to the Phaistos Disk’.‘The underlying language of theProto-Byblic script was Semitic. It is alinear script which displays manyidentifiable objects, like weapons,human figures, and body parts.’ Later,an unknown Greek script for aninventory of goods ‘similar to most ofthe Linear B tablets.’ What may havehappened in the world of the PhaistosDisk is that farmers and merchantsbrought commodities to a palace,temple, or treasury and depositedthem in this central location. For thisdeposit, they would be given a record,somewhat like a receipt. This is whatLinear B tablets tended to be, listingsof commodities and goods. The Phais-tos Disk is the same thing.

Matz, Friedrich (1972) – The Art ofGreece and Early Greece: the Prelude toGreek Art. It originated in Asia Minor.

McEvedy, Colin (2002) – The NewPenguin Atlas of Ancient History. ‘It hasto be a hoax.’

Meerten, Reinier J. van (1977) –‘On the start of printing of the Phais-tos Disc’ in SMII, Journal of LinguisticCalculus, 29-36. A Semitic text.

Mellink, Machteld J. (1964) –‘Lycian Wooden Huts and Sign 24 onthe Phaistos Disk’ in Kadmos, 3, 1-7.She links sign 24 with a motif of awooden hut on a large Lycian burialvase even though the vase is from the3rd millennium BC.

Meyer, E (1909) – ‘Der Diskus vonPhaestos und die Philister auf Kreta’

The Phaistos Disk

toric Crete. Originating in Asia Minor.Imperiali, Massimo (website,

n.d.) – Possibly a political treaty witha list of geographical places.

Ipsen, Gunther (1929) – ‘DerDiskos von Phaistos. Ein Versuch derEntzifferung’ in IndogermanischeForschungen, 37, 1-41. From some-where in the Aegean, but non-Cretan.Symbol values inspired by cuneiform;shapes inspired by Egyptian hiero-glyphs.

Jensen, Hans (1925) – Geschichteder Schrift. Of Cretan origin.

Jeppesen, Kristian (1962) – ‘Someremarks on the Archaeological Placingof the Phaistos Disc’ in KUML, 180-190. A similarity to several Egyptianhieroglyphs. After 1400 BC, probablyc. 1100 BC.

Johnson, Glenn (n.d.) – AncientCretan Languages (The Phaestos Disk). Asouth-western Anatolian-Syrian ori-gin, relating to Anatolian and Indo-Aryan scripts. A listing of nobilities,perhaps representing a funeraryrecord.

Kaulins, Andis (1980) – The Phais-tos Disc: Hieroglyphic Greek with Euclid-ean Dimensions – The ‘Lost Proof’ ofParallel Lines. Proof of a geometrictheorem in Greek hieroglyphics. ‘…ageometric proof in rather odd Greek,written in an Egyptian-based syl-labary’.

Kean, Victor J. (1985) – The Diskfrom Phaestos. Pictographs filled outwith text, 2100-1900 BC. ‘…theprinted record of the journeys of anearly Minoan who crossed to thecoast of North Africa and headeddeeper into the harsh conditions ofthe Sahara in the hope of persuadingone particular group of nomadichunters to cease their destructive wayof life.’

Kober, Alice (1948) – ‘The MinoanScripts: Facts and Theory’ in AmericanJournal of Archaeology, 52, pp. 82-103.Of Cretan origin until proven other-wise.

Kretschmer, Paul (1931) – ‘DieÄltesten Sprachtschiften auf Kreta’ inGlotta. A Carian document with a listof soldiers. A possible link to the Illyr-ians and to the Etrusco-Venetic andlate Greek scripts.

Ktistopoulos, Konstantinos D.(1951) - ‘Die antike Punktierung undder Diskus von Phaistos’ in Minos, 1,7-25. According to Mark Newbrook,he ‘decided that the text was in aSemitic language and dealt with gods,stars, prophecies and the white ofeggs.’

Kvashilava, Gia D. (2006) – ThePhaistos Disc – Colchian Goldscript. Syl-labic-logograms in Old Colchian. Thedisk was brought from the Black Seaarea through trades to Crete.

Louise, Olivier M. (website) -Greek, about a destruction of Thera.



in Sitzugsberichte der Königlich Preussis-chen Aademia der Wissenschaften, 33,1022-1029. Related to the Philistinesbecause of the plumed head sign, no. 2.

Muenzer, Paul J. (1985) – ThePhaistos Disk Deciphered. It is a Greektext.

Myres, J. L. (1930) – Who were theGreeks? An Anatolian import.

Nahm, Werner (1975) – ‘Vergleichvon Zeichen des Diskos mit Linear A’ inKadmos, 14, 2, 97-101. – Of Cretan ori-gin, made at Phaistos. Comparisonwith some symbols to Linear A – thewalking man, no. 1, to L148 and thecat’s head, no. 29, to L149, th twofound only on tablet PH8 from Phais-tos.

Neumann, Günter (1968) – ‘ZumForschungsstand beim ‘Diskos vonPhaistos’ in Kadmos, vol. 7, no. 1, 27-44. Of Cretan origin. It cannot be datedmuch earlier than the Arkalokhori axe.Ballistier quotes Neumann: ‘…whoeverchooses this document as the object ofhis research must soberly assess thelimits of his possibilities, if he does notwish to experience that no one buthimself believes his theories to be cor-rect.’ He notes a clay ritual plate fromPhaistos with figures of cattle and spi-rals stamped around he edge. He con-siders the disk, the Arkalokhori axe,and the Malia altar stone scripts to be‘individual or local forms’ of the samepictographic script.

Ohlenroth, Derk (1996) – Das Aba-ton des lykäischen Zeus under der Hain derElaia. Of Cretan origin, made at Phais-tos, c. 1850-1550 BC. Free verse in aGreek dialect, a phonetic, alphabeticscript, the pictography almost doublingfor the Greek alphabet signs. It is abouttwo sanctuaries in the Peloponnese inmainland Greece and is a votive offer-ing for the appeasement of the gods,probably made following the eruptionof Thera. On one side, an execrationtext cursing those who enter the shrineof Zeus on Mount Lycaeon in thesouth-west of Arcadia; on the other sidean invocation of the night goddessElaia (the local epiphet for Demeter), acurse resulting in the loss of one’sshadow if an attempt is made to enterthe shrine. Side A: ‘Zeus is also the radi-ant one. If Zeus is the Lycaean, (he)from whose beloved grows a shoot ofhis same essence…’ Side B: ‘Enter thegrove of Elaia: Ignite smoothenedwood all around: In a circle around thesacrificial smoke, beat the earth andwhinny suddenly like a pair ofhorses…’

Olivier, John-Pierre (1975) – ‘Ledisque de Phaistos’, édition pho-tographique, Bulletin de CorrespondenceHellenique, 99, 5-34. He questions theauthenticity of the disk.

Ovendon, Michael, and Archie,Roy (website of Mark Newbrook) – a‘suggestion that the zodiac must have

been first recorded somewhere in thelatitude of Crete at around the time towhich the Disk is dated.’

Pendlebury, J. D. S. (1939) – TheArchaeology of Crete. The disk is animport from Anatolia.

Pernier, Luigi (1908) – ‘Il disco diPhaestos con caratteri pittografici’ inAusonia, 3, 255-302. Of Cretan origin.The contents are of a ritual nature.

Plagnol, Philippe (2007) –Ideograms. It shows a greater relation-ship to Egyptian hieroglyphs ‘than tothe rectilinear and austere tablets of thesyllabic writings rediscovered with it’.

Polygiannakis, Efi (2000) – ThePhaistos disk speaks in Greek. A prayer ina syllabic Greek script.

Polymeros, G. (website) – A Greeklanguage. ‘Palace’s Priestess/shout loudso that I get healed/holy clothes I havebrought up here to you./Respectable,perfect (animals for sacrifices) I havebrought up here to you for the Palace’(from www.UniLang.org).

Pomerance, Leon (1976) – ThePhaistos Disk: An Interpretation of Astro-nomical Symbols. Of Cretan origin. Anastronomical document in a pictorialform of symbolic communication. Hesuggests that the entire design hadbeen ‘cut into a soft limestone matrixfor each side and then impressed on apancake of soft clay. The two disks ofclay were then trimmed around theedges, not quite accurately, placed backto back, and joined with slipped clay’.This would mean that it was not just acase of individual stamps being used àla Gutenberg, but that is was indeed anamazingly early precursor of precastlinotype.

Pravilov, Victor (2006? – website,in Russian) – A device for the manufac-turing of metal wares. Semantic signsfor a ‘polyideographic language’. It issimilar to the internal structure of thedeep-sea cephalopod nautilus pompilius.

Prendergast, Jane (website) –‘Notes on the Phaistos Disc’. A Hittiteorigin because of: (1) the similaritybetween the number of differing sym-bols on the disk and the number of syl-lables in Hittite and Luwian; (2)resemblances of the symbols them-selves to Hittite hieroglyphs and arte-facts and (3) correspondence of objectsdepicted by the symbols and themesfrom the History of Hatusili I. It is possi-ble that the disk may be a record ofgifts made to a temple, possibly that ofArinna. She notes ‘the resemblancesbetween the material of the disc andthe text of the Wars of Hattusili…’

Read, F. W. (1921) – ‘A new inter-pretation of the Phaestos Disk: the old-est music in the world?’ in PalestineExploration Fund, 29-54.’ Musical notes.

Richter-Ushanas, Egbert (2005) –The Disk of Phaistos and the Sacred Mar-riage of Theseus and Ariadne. A ‘pseudo-scholarly’ decipherment.

Rjabchikov, Sergei V. (1998) –Proto-Slavonic dialect, syllabic script.‘he makes the observation that thePhaistos Disk signs are the decorativeversion of the Linear A script. He ‘readsthe Disk - and Linear A - as early Slavic,more specifically as instructions for rit-uals; he also believes that Etruscan wasclose to early Slavic.’

Robinson, Andrew (2002) – LostLanguages. He quotes the writer (JME)in his letter to The Economist, 16 Janu-ary, 1999: ‘…a joke perpetrated by aclever archaeologist from the Italianmission to Crete upon his fellow exca-vators… Taking a thermoluminescencetest, which should date the firing of theclay at about 100 years ago, can solvethe mystery of the disc.’

Roolvink, Hedwig (1999, website)– ‘The Disk of Phaistos. The millen-nium problem of Crete solved?’ AnAnatolian script of pictograms, proba-bly a very primitive Luwish script.. ‘anaccount of the expedition of a group ofpeople who lived in the mountains andwent in search of flat land.’

Rowe (1919) – From Cyprus. InTransactions of the Royal Society of Aus-tralia, 43, 142. Also in American Journalof Archaeology, 25, 1921, 176 (JMEnotes, 1968-71).

Sankarananda, Swami (1968) –Decipherment of Inscriptions on the Phais-tos Disc of Crete. The language is Indian.

Schachermeyr, Fritz (1964) – Dieminoische Kultur des alten Kreta. Heexplains the differences between thedisk, the Arkalochori axe, and theMalia altar stone by the existence ofdifferent schools of writing in differentplaces and that they showed their inde-pendence from one another. For him,the walking man (no. 1) and flying bird(no. 31) signs are ‘typical Minoanimages of movement’.

Schertel, Ernst (1948) – ‘Der Diskosvon Phaistos. Wege zu Entzifferung’(Ways towards its Decipherment) inWürzburger Jahrbücher für die Altertum-swissenschaft, vol. 3, 334-365. Indo-European, closely cognate with Latin;not of Cretan origin, but from Rhodes.A mixture of syllabic and alphabeticwriting. A double hymn to Zeus andthe Minotaur.

Schomburg, Bernd (2000) – DerJahrtausend-Kalender der Minoer. AMinoan calendar with ‘schematicwinding ideograms’. Free translation:‘Minoan calendar with directions forthe measurement of the year and themillennium.’

Schwarz, Benjamin (1959) – ‘ThePhaistos disk’ in Journal of Near EasternStudies, 18, 2, 105-112. MycenaeanGreek, syllabic script. Related to LinearB. Late Minoan period. Descriptiveprecinct lists (or ‘index of religious pil-grimage centers’ – Balistier)

Sittig, Ernst (1956) – ‘Zur Entziffer-ung der minoisch-kyprischen Tafel von

The Phaistos Disk



Enkomi’ in Minos, 4, 33-42. An earlyform of Greek.

Snowden, Clive (website) – Aprayer in pictographs from Asia Minor.‘The Phaistos Disc: deciphered’ ‘TheGeneral mightiness sought. The HighPriest, The offering the greatest inHeaven. Many offerings were killed,The General a courier gave, To thegreatest person in highest Heaven…’

Sornig, Karl (2006) – ‘The ultimateassessment’, Grazer Linguistische Stu-dien, 65, 151-155.

Stawell, Florence Melian (1911) –‘An Interpretation of the PhaistosDisk’ in Burlington Magazine, 19, 97,April, 23-29, 32-38. Homeric Greek,syllabic script, possibly connected to aCyprian script. A matrix for religioussymbols for a prayer, ‘used in the tra-ditional rites of a great goddess’ suchas Rhea, who was similar to Athena.

Stylos, Nikos (c. 1998) – Phoinik.Stylos claims to have translated boththe Phaistos Disk and the MaglianDisk. He claims that the text was usedfor teaching people to read and thatthe language is ‘arbanetic’.

Sundwall, Johannes (1927-28) –‘Phaistos – Diskus’ in Reallexikon derVorgeschichte 10, 124-126. He com-pares the stamp technique of the diskto the decorative style of the MiddleMinoan III seal impressions (thesource for some of the signs on thedisk).

Thomopoulos, I. (1912) – He pro-poses an Albanian connection (JMEnotes, 1968-71).

Timm, Torsten (2005) – Der Diskosvon Phaistos – Fremdeinfluss oder kretis-ches Erbe? A Minoan stamp script,either syllable or hieroglyphic, with acomplete text, in conformity with Lin-ear A. A ‘reading experiment’. He com-pares 19 signs with Linear A.

Trauth, Michaell (1990) – ‘ThePhaistos Disc and the Devil’s Advo-cate’, Glottometrika, 12, 151-172. Thatit is of Cretan origin ‘can no longer becalled into question’, but the languageis not Greek.

Van Meerten, Reinier J. (1977) –‘On the start of printing of the Phais-tos Disc’ in SMIL, Journal of LinguisticCalculus, 29-36.

Vieni, Rosario (2005) – Il Disco diFesto e il Disco di Nebra: Un calendrarioveecchio di 4000 anni? – A calendar-diary.

Watson, Claire Grace (website) –‘The Phaistos Disk Maze of Daedalus’.‘The disk is a disk of the world thatshows the Minoans’ religion and theirreasoning about the Minoan Eruptionand Tsunami.’ ‘The disk is a Minoanwave spiral on which is depicted theAegean world of Minoan Crete,including a cave, a boat, a pyramid, astar, planets, a constellation, geome-try, maths, and everyday life in Cretethat mirrors the stars above.’

Wenzel, Hermann (1998, website)- An astronomical document with daysymbols.

Westerlaken, W. A. G. (website) –‘The Phaistos Disc Unravelled.’ A Hit-tite relation?

Whittaker, Helène (2005) – ‘Socialand Symbolic Aspects of Minoan Writ-ing’, in the European Journal of Archael-ogy, 8:1, 29-41. Writing was also usedas a marker of status and prestige andfor communication with the divine.

Whittet, Steve (website, 1995) – Acalendar.

Will, Friedhelm (2000) – A num-ber-philosophical document originat-ing in Atlantis. Another example of‘pseudo-archaeology’.

Winter, Dan (website) – The Isis-Osiris mystery myth. The disk, createdc. 1600 BC, records the activities of theIsis-Osiris sect as they convened insidethe Great Pyramid of Cheops andworked to establish their group con-sciousness using the tools of sacredgeometry. It is a ‘portal disk usingmagnetic portal geometry’! Again,‘pseudo-archaeology’ at its finest.

Woudhuizen, Fred. C., with anintroduction by Jan Best (1992) – TheLanguage of the Sea Peoples. From Ana-tolia – A resemblance to Luwian (Ana-tolian) hieroglyphs. A Luwian letter toKing Nestor of Achaia sent from Phais-tos. (See Jan Best.)

Zebisch, Herbert W. (Russian webforum, 2006) – It is written in a SouthCaucasian/Georgian language,Kartvelian, or Colchian (Kolkhian) –Mingrelian-Laz, spoken by the peopleof the Black Sea coast. The pictorialsigns are ‘specimens of ‘Colchian Gold-script... The Colchian language wasspoken by the pre-Olympic Titans, theSun-god Helios…[and] QueenPasiphae, the wife of king Minos ofCrete… The text… is a hymn ‘Nenana’,dedicated to the protector of ‘Aea-Neshkari’, Pelasgian-Colchian GreatMother Goddess Nan/Rhea-Cybele.

A number of the listings above ofattempts to decipher the disk werederived from the book The PhaistosDisc: An Account of its Unsolved Mysteryby Thomas Balistier and the websitesof Mark Newbrook (http://www.bad-language.com/phaistos), AnthonySvoronos (http://users.otenet.gr/ svoro-nan/phaistos.htm), and Wikipedia:‘Phaestos disc’. Another importantwebsite: http://www.disque-phaistos.fr.

Recommended ReadingThomas Balistier, The Phaistos Disk: AnAccount of its Unsolved Mystery (2000). Asmall but excellent, well-documentedaccount of many of the attempts todecipher the disk.

Louis Godart, The Phaistos Disc: TheEnigma of an Aegean Script (1995). Abeautifully photographed descriptionof the disk with enlarged details and

the author’s efforts to interpret it.

Illustration CreditsBalistier, T. - The Phaistos Disk: AnAccount of its Unsolved Mystery (2000):Fig 15.Bossert, H. T. - Altkreta (1923): Fig 23.Davaris, C. - Phaistos – Haghia Triada –Gortyn (n.d.): Fig 58.Eisenberg, J. - drawings (1971). Figs 20(after ‘Ausgrabungen und Funde aufKreta 1936/37’ in ArchaeologischeAnzeiger, 1937, 224-234, Figs 8-9), 53.Evans A. J. - Scripta Minoa I, the writtendocuments of Minoan Crete… (1909):Figs 3, 7, 24, 37-38, 44, 48, 49, 52, 56. Everson M. - Anatolian Hieroglyphs(2007, website), Draft N3236: Fig 8(extract).Farnoux, A. - Cnossos: L’archéologie d’unrêve (1993): Fig 55.Godart, L. - The Phaistos Disc: TheEnigma of an Aegean Script (1995): Figs1-2, 4-5, 16, 19 (drawing by IroAthanasiadou), photo by L. Godart),22, 26, 28, 32, 33, 35, 39, 40, 41, 43,46, 59. All photos, except Fig 19, byJudith Lange; drawings by LouisGodart.Mellersh, H. E. L. - Minoan Crete(1967): Figs 27 (after a drawing in A.Evans, Palace of Minos, 1953), 29.Papathanassopoulos, G. - Neolithic andCycladic Civilization (1981), Figs 47, 57,59.Payne, J. C. - Catalogue of the Predynas-tic Egyptian Collection in the AshmoleanMuseum (1993): Fig 45.Robinson, A. - Lost Languages: TheEnigma of the World’s UndecipheredScripts (2002): Figs 9 (extract), 10(extract), 13, 14, 17, 18, 36, 42. Vieni, R. - Il Disco di Festo e il Disco diNebra: Un calendrario vecchio di 4000anni? (2005): Fig 21.Wikipedia, Cestus: Fig 31. Woudhuizen, F. - The Language of theSea Peoples (1992): Fig 6 (after Milani,1893), 34, 50.www.ancientscripts.com/luwian:Fig 25.

The Phaistos Disk

An international conference onthe Phaistos Disk is planned in

London in November 2008. Full detailswill be posted on the Minerva

website by the end of July:www.minervamagazone.com. See also

Minerva September/October 2008.


Reprints of this article are nowavailable. Contact: Minerva, 14 Old

Bond Street, London W1S 4PP.Tel: (44) 20 7495 2590; Fax (44) 207491 1595. Or: 153 East 57th Street,

New York, NY 10022, USA. Tel: (1) 212355-2034; Fax: (1) 212 688-0412.

E-mail - London:[email protected];New York: [email protected].


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The Phaistos Disk THE PHAISTOS DISK - University Blog ...sites.utexas.edu/scripts/files/2016/07/eisenberg_2008.pdf · The Phaistos Disk (Figs 1, 2, 13, 14) ... a magic inscrip-tion