Phaistos Disc
From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
| Phaistos Disc | |
|---|---|
  Phaistos Disc, side A (top) and side B (bottom) | |
| Material | Clay |
| Created | 2nd millennium BC |
| Discovered | July 3, 1908 Phaistos, Crete, Greece |
| Discovered by | Luigi Pernier |
| Present location | Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece |
The Phaistos Disc or Phaistos Disk is a disk of fired clay from the island of Crete, Greece, possibly from the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age (second millennium BC), bearing a text in an unknown script and language. Its purpose and its original place of manufacture remain disputed. It is now on display at the archaeological museum of Heraklion. The name is sometimes spelled Phaestos or Festos.
The disk was discovered in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier during the excavation of the Minoan palace of Phaistos.[1] The disk is about 15 cm (5.9 in) in diameter and is covered on each side with a spiral text, consisting of a total of 241 occurrences of 45 distinct signs, which were created by pressing individual sign stamps onto the soft clay before firing. While its unique features initially led some scholars to suspect a forgery or hoax, the disk is now generally accepted as authentic by archaeologists.
This mysterious object captured the imagination of amateur and professional palaeographers, and many attempts have been made to decipher the code behind the disc's signs.[2] While it is not clear that it is a script, most attempted decipherments assume that it is; most additionally assume a syllabary, others an alphabet or logography.
Discovery[edit]
The Phaistos Disc was discovered in the Minoan palace-site of Phaistos, near Hagia Triada, on the south coast of Crete;[3] specifically the disc was found in the basement of room 8 in building 101 of a group of buildings to the northeast of the main palace. This grouping of four rooms also served as a formal entry into the palace complex. Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier recovered the intact "dish" on 3 July 1908 during his excavation of the first Minoan palace.
The disc 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 content 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 centimetres south-east of the disc and about 50 cm (20 in) above the floor, Linear A tablet 'PH-1' was also found.
Dating[edit]
Yves Duhoux (1977) dates the disc to between 1850 B.C. and 1600 B.C. (MMIII in Minoan chronology) on the basis of Luigi Pernier's report, which says that the disc was in a Middle Minoan undisturbed context.[4] Jeppesen (1963) dates it to after 1400 (LMII–LMIII in Minoan chronology). 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 (MMI–LMIII, a period spanning most of the second millennium B.C.). J. Best suggests a date in the first half of the 14th century B.C. (LMIIIA) based on his dating of tablet PH-1.[5]
Physical description[edit]
Material[edit]
The disk is made of fine-grained clay. Some authors have stated that the clay does not appear to be of local origin, perhaps not even from Crete.[6] It was intentionally and properly fired, unlike tablets and seals that were baked only accidentally.[6]
Shape and dimensions[edit]
The disk is approximately cylindrical, about 16 cm in diameter and almost 2 cm thick, with rounded edges. More precisely, the outline is slightly egg-shaped, with the diameter varying from 15.8 to 16.5 cm and the thickness from 1.6 to 2.1 cm. The disk is slightly concave on side A and convex on side B.[6]
Typographic writing[edit]
The most remarkable feature of the Phaistos disk is that the embossed signs that comprise its inscription all result from pressing separate stamps – one for each symbol – into the soft clay before firing. Thus the disk can be seen as an early example of movable-type printing.[7][8] Typesetter and linguist Herbert Brekle writes:[9]
If the disc is, as assumed, a textual representation, we are really dealing with a "printed" text, which fulfills all definitional criteria of the typographic principle. The spiral sequencing of the graphematical units, the fact that they are impressed in a clay disc (blind printing!) and not imprinted are merely possible technological variants of textual representation. The decisive factor is that the material "types" are proven to be repeatedly instantiated on the clay disc.
A medieval example of a similar blind printing technique[10] is the Prüfening dedicatory inscription.[9][11]
Popular-science author Jared Diamond describes the disc as an example of a technological innovation that did not become widespread because it was made at the wrong time in history. Diamond contrasts the process with Gutenberg's printing press.[12]
Scribed lines[edit]
Besides the stamped symbols, there are a few markings made by scoring the moist clay with a sharp stylus. On each side there is a continuous spiral line that separates successive turns of the text. The strip between successive spires of this line is divided into sections by short radial lines, so that each section contains a few whole signs. The presumed start of the text, adjacent to the edge, is also marked by such a radial stroke, with the addition of five dots punched along it with the stylus. Finally, under some of the stamped signs, there are short oblique strokes.
Signs[edit]
Sign list and counts[edit]
There are 45 distinct signs on the disk, occurring a total of 242 times — 123 on side A and 119 on side B. In addition to these, a small diagonal line was incised with a stylus (not stamped) underneath some signs, a total of 18 times. The 45 symbols were numbered by Arthur Evans from 01 to 45,[1] and this numbering has been adopted by most researchers.
The signs were added to the Unicode universal computer character (UCS) set in 2008, after a 2006 proposal by Michael Everson and John H. Jenkins.[13] In the following table, the No. column is the Evans number of each sign; the Glyph column is a modern drawing of the symbol; and the Font column uses the UCS font available in the browser. The assigned Unicode names are PHAISTOS DISC SIGN followed by the names shown under Name in the table below, taken from a 1995 book by Louis Godart.[14]
One sign occurrence on side A is too damaged to identify. According to Godart, it may be sign 03 (TATTOOED HEAD) or 20 (DOLIUM); or less probably 08 (GAUNTLET) or 44 (SMALL AXE).[14]: p.101 Theoretically, it could also be a 46th distinct sign.
The sign images below are reversed left-to-right relative to their appearance on the disk, reflecting their presentation in most Western books and articles.[15]
Also, some signs occur in the disk in two or more orientations, rotated by 90 or 180 degrees. It is generally assumed that the rotation has no semantic or linguistic value, so the rotated copies are still the same symbol. Therefore, the "normal" orientation of those signs is not known, and might have been left to the scribe's discretion.[13][15]
| Sign | Frequency | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Glyph | Font | Name | A | B | A+B |
| 01 |  | 𐇐 | PEDESTRIAN | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 02 |  | 𐇑 | PLUMED HEAD | 14 | 5 | 19 |
| 03 |  | 𐇒 | TATTOOED HEAD | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 04 |  | 𐇓 | CAPTIVE | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 05 |  | 𐇔 | CHILD | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 06 |  | 𐇕 | WOMAN | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 07 |  | 𐇖 | HELMET | 3 | 15 | 18 |
| 08 |  | 𐇗 | GAUNTLET | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 09 |  | 𐇘 | TIARA | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 |  | 𐇙 | ARROW | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 |  | 𐇚 | BOW | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 |  | 𐇛 | SHIELD | 15 | 2 | 17 |
| 13 |  | 𐇜 | CLUB | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 14 |  | 𐇝 | MANACLES | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 |  | 𐇞 | MATTOCK | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 |  | 𐇟 | SAW | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 |  | 𐇠 | LID | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 |  | 𐇡 | BOOMERANG | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 19 |  | 𐇢 | CARPENTRY PLANE | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 20 |  | 𐇣 | DOLIUM | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 21 |  | 𐇤 | COMB | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 |  | 𐇥 | SLING | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 23 |  | 𐇦 | COLUMN | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| 24 |  | 𐇧 | BEEHIVE | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 25 |  | 𐇨 | SHIP | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 26 |  | 𐇩 | HORN | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| 27 |  | 𐇪 | HIDE | 10 | 5 | 15 |
| 28 |  | 𐇫 | BULLS LEG | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 |  | 𐇬 | CAT | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| 30 |  | 𐇭 | RAM | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 31 |  | 𐇮 | EAGLE | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 32 |  | 𐇯 | DOVE | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 33 |  | 𐇰 | TUNNY | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 34 |  | 𐇱 | BEE | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 35 |  | 𐇲 | PLANE TREE | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| 36 |  | 𐇳 | VINE | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 37 |  | 𐇴 | PAPYRUS | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 38 |  | 𐇵 | ROSETTE | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 39 |  | 𐇶 | LILY | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 40 |  | 𐇷 | OX BACK | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 41 |  | 𐇸 | FLUTE | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 42 |  | 𐇹 | GRATER | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 43 |  | 𐇺 | STRAINER | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 44 |  | 𐇻 | SMALL AXE | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 45 |  | 𐇼 | WAVY BAND | 2 | 4 | 6 |
Nature of depicted objects[edit]
Many of the signs are depictions of concrete objects with a recognizable general nature (such as humans, birds, plants, a boat), or parts thereof (heads, hides, flowers). However, in most cases the precise nature of objects depicted is still unknown (as of 2023). The sign names assigned by scholars, in particular by Godart[14] and the Unicode consortium,[13] were rather arbitrary, often based on the slightest shape similarity.
Symbol 21 (Godart's "COMB") was once conjectured to be a palace floorplan.[16] However, this hypothesis was cast in doubt by the discovery of a vase with a nearly identical symbol incised on the bottom, believed to be a potter's mark.[17]
Symbol 20 ("DOLIUM") was assumed to be the conch of a large sea snail, such as Tonna dolium or some Eudolium species. One such conch was found at Phaistos and is believed to have been used as a musical instrument for ritual uses.
Sign distribution[edit]
The distribution of symbols is highly non-random, and quite different between the two sides. Evans's symbol 02 (PLUMED HEAD) is the most frequent one, occurring 19 times — 14 of them on side A. The next most frequent signs are 07 (HELMET), with 18 occurrences, mostly on side B; 12 (SHIELD), with 17, mostly on side A; and 27 (HIDE), with 15, of which 10 on side A.
Still, 26 of the 45 symbols occur on both sides, at least once on each. The most common signs that occur on only one side are 31 (EAGLE), on side A, and 22 (SLING), on side B; both with five occurrences each.
The following table shows how many distinct signs (Sign count) have the same number of occurrences (Frequency). The third number in each column is the product of the two numbers above, that is, the total number of occurrences (Token count) of those signs:
| Frequency | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sign count | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 9 | Total = 45 signs | ||||||
| Token count | 19 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 44 | 7 | 36 | 15 | 24 | 9 | 16 | 9 | Total = 241 tokens |
The nine hapaxes (symbols occurring just once) 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) occurs on both sides.
Sign correlations[edit]
The distribution of symbol pairs too is highly non-uniform. For example, of the 17 occurrences of sign 12 (SHIELD), thirteen follow immediately sign 02 (PLUMED HEAD).
Text[edit]
Directionality[edit]
Evans, at one point, published an assertion 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 that he was wrong, and Evans himself later changed his mind: the inscription was made, and should be read, in the clockwise sense, from the outside in toward the centre, as with the similar spiral inscription on the Lead Plaque of Magliano.[18]: 649 Yves Duhoux stated that any outward reading may be discarded.[citation needed]
Among the arguments that support this conclusion is the fact that the centres of the spirals are not in the centre of the disc. Also, some of the symbols near the centre are crowded, as though the maker was cramped for space. One pair of symbols is even stacked in the "vertical" (radial) direction rather than side-by-side. Furthermore, whenever symbols overlap, the inner symbol overlies the outer symbol. (However, this analysis is complicated by several apparent corrections made by the scribe, where the stamping of the corrected symbols may well have been different from the reading order.) Jean Faucounau has proposed a reconstruction of the scribe's movements, which would also require an inward direction.[citation needed]
The outside-to-centre reading direction implies right-to-left reading of the text, which is into the faces of the people and animals — as is the case in Egyptian and Anatolian.
In spite of this widespread consensus, some authors still dispute this conclusion and attempt to decipher it under the opposite reading order (left-to-right, counterclockwise, from the center to the periphery).
Phaistos disk scholars publishing in languages with left-to-right writing systems have generally found it convenient to mirror the text so that it reads from left to right. In this case, for consistency, the individual symbols are mirrored as well. (This practice is commonly seen also in many publications about Egyptian and Anatolian hieroglyphic texts.) The Unicode character set was designed to be used in this way, thus Unicode fonts typically depict the characters flipped relative to their orientation on the disk.
Order of the two sides[edit]
Evans considered side A as the "front" side, but technical arguments have since been forwarded favouring side B as the "front" side.[citation needed]
The following is a single image of the text "unrolled". While the order of the characters is left-to-right reversed, the signs themselves are in the original orientation.
"Words"[edit]
The signs are laid out on each side as a single spiral text, which is split by the inscribed radial strokes into "words". Both ends of the text on each side are also assumed to be "word" boundaries. There are 61 such "words" on the Disc, with two to seven sign occurrences each: 31 on side A and 30 on side B. These "words" are conventionally numbered A1 to A31 and B1 to B30, reading from right to left (clockwise, edge-to-center).[14] The signs are laid out right next to the disk's edge at first (13 words on A, 12 words on B) before spiralling toward the center (18 more words on each side).
There may be one additional radial stroke near the center of side A, over-stamped by the sign 03 (TATTOOED HEAD), between sign 10 (ARROW) and the central sign 38 (ROSETTE). However, most scholars ignore that possible stroke and count the last three symbols as a single "word" 10-03-38 (which happens to occur also at about the same position on the next-to-last turn).[14]
On both sides, there is a radial line also right before the start (outermost end) of the text, with five dots punched along it using a sharp round stylus.
"Paragraphs"[edit]
The short oblique strokes that were drawn with a stylus (not stamped) below some signs are always attached to the last sign of a "word" (assuming outside-in reading direction). Their meaning is a matter of discussion. One hypothesis, supported by Evans,[1] Duhoux, Ohlenroth and others,[citation needed] is that they further subdivide the text into "paragraphs". However, alternative meanings have been offered by other scholars.[citation needed]
Most transcriptions have 10 of those oblique strokes on side A and 8 on side B. That mark occurs at the end of the last word on side B, but not on side A; however, the end of the text on side A is generally assumed to end a "paragraph" as well. There are thus 11 and 8 "paragraphs", respectively, on sides A and B. Those 19 "paragraphs" have between one and four "words", with two exceptions: one "paragraph" on side A with nine words (A4 to A12), and one on side B with 12 words (B7 to B18).
However, oblique strokes at the end of words A7 and B8 may have been lost due to damage along the edge of disk; and the discontinuity in the placement of symbols between B12 and B13, following the end of the first turn of the text, might have served as a "paragraph" break too.[citation needed]
Also, close inspection of modern high-resolution photographs of the disk show that the "stroke" commonly listed under sign 19 at the end of word A24 is not really a stroke sign, but merely part of a crack that extends from the center of the disk to its edge, cutting through several signs. Excluding that occurrence, there would be only 9 oblique strokes and 10 paragraphs on side A, and words A23 to A27 would be a single five-word paragraph.
Transcriptions[edit]
The following transcriptions of the text all assume a right-to-left (clockwise, edge-to-center) reading direction on the disk, starting at the vertical (radial) line of five dots. In these transcription, however, the order of the characters has been flipped, so that they should be read left-to-right and top-to-bottom. The oblique stroke is assumed to indicate the last word of a "paragraph". A horizontal line has been added after each "paragraph" for clarity.
For consistency with most published sources, these transcriptions assume that there is an oblique stroke at the end of word A24, even though high-resolution images show it to be just a crack.
Unicode[edit]
The following is a rendering of the Phaistos Disc inscription in Unicode characters from the Phaistos code block (code points +101D0 to +101FC). The radial strokes are denoted by the ASCII character "|" (+7C), and the oblique subscripted stroke by the comma-like PHAISTOS DISK COMBINING OBLIQUE STROKE (+101FD) after the affected symbol. The radial stroke with five dots, that indicates the presumed start of text, is denoted by the ISO Latin 1 character "¦" (+A6). The boxed question mark "⍰" (+2370) denotes the illegible sign in word A8. The appearance of the signs will depend on the font used by the browser, but normally they should all be left-to-right flipped relative to their appearance on the disk.
Side A:
- ¦ 𐇑𐇛𐇜𐇐𐇡𐇽
- | 𐇧𐇷𐇛 | 𐇬𐇼𐇖𐇽
- | 𐇬𐇬𐇱 | 𐇑𐇛𐇓𐇷𐇰 | 𐇪𐇼𐇖𐇛 | 𐇪𐇻𐇗 | 𐇑𐇛𐇕𐇡⍰ | 𐇮𐇩𐇲 | 𐇑𐇛𐇸𐇢𐇲 | 𐇐𐇸𐇷𐇖 | 𐇑𐇛𐇯𐇦𐇵𐇽
- | 𐇶𐇚 | 𐇑𐇪𐇨𐇙𐇦𐇡 | 𐇫𐇐𐇽
- | 𐇑𐇛𐇮𐇩𐇽
- | 𐇑𐇛𐇪𐇪𐇲𐇴𐇤 | 𐇰𐇦 | 𐇑𐇛𐇮𐇩𐇽
- | 𐇑𐇪𐇨𐇙𐇦𐇡 | 𐇫𐇐𐇽
- | 𐇑𐇛𐇮𐇩𐇽
- | 𐇑𐇛𐇪𐇝𐇯𐇡𐇪 | 𐇕𐇡𐇠𐇢𐇽
- | 𐇮𐇩𐇛 | 𐇑𐇛𐇜𐇐 | 𐇦𐇢𐇲𐇽
- | 𐇙𐇒𐇵 | 𐇑𐇛𐇪𐇪𐇲𐇴𐇤 | 𐇜𐇐 | 𐇙𐇒𐇵
Side B
- ¦ 𐇑𐇛𐇥𐇷𐇖 | 𐇪𐇼𐇖𐇲 | 𐇑𐇴𐇦𐇔𐇽
- | 𐇥𐇨𐇪 | 𐇰𐇧𐇣𐇛 | 𐇟𐇦𐇡𐇺𐇽
- | 𐇜𐇐𐇶𐇰 | 𐇞𐇖𐇜𐇐𐇡 | 𐇥𐇴𐇹𐇨 | 𐇖𐇧𐇷𐇲 | 𐇑𐇩𐇳𐇷 | 𐇪𐇨𐇵𐇐 | 𐇬𐇧𐇧𐇣𐇲 | 𐇟𐇝𐇡 | 𐇬𐇰𐇐 | 𐇕𐇲𐇯𐇶𐇰 | 𐇑𐇘𐇪𐇐 | 𐇬𐇳𐇖𐇗𐇽
- | 𐇬𐇗𐇜 | 𐇬𐇼𐇖𐇽
- | 𐇥𐇬𐇳𐇖𐇗𐇽
- | 𐇪𐇱𐇦𐇨 | 𐇖𐇡𐇲 | 𐇖𐇼𐇖𐇽
- | 𐇖𐇦𐇡𐇧 | 𐇥𐇬𐇳𐇖𐇗𐇽
- | 𐇘𐇭𐇶𐇡𐇖 | 𐇑𐇕𐇲𐇦𐇖 | 𐇬𐇱𐇦𐇨 | 𐇼𐇖𐇽
Pictorial[edit]
The following transcription uses modern drawings of the signs, which are left-to-right reversed with respect to their appearance on the disk. The labels A1-A31 and B1-B30 are the traditional word numbers.[14]
Side A:
A1 
A2 
A3 
- A4
A5 
A6 
A7 
A8 
A9 
A10 
A11 A12 
- A13
A14 
A15 
- A16
- A17
A18 A19 - A20 A21
- A22
- A23
A24 
- A25 A26 A27
- A28
A29 A30 A31
Side B:
- B1
B2 B3 
- B4 B5
B6 
- B7 B8
B9 
B10 B11 
B12 B13 B14 B15 B16 B17 
B18 - B19 B20
- B21
- B22 B23 B24
- B25 B26
- B27
B28 B29 B30
Numerical[edit]
The following transcription uses the Evans numbers for the signs.[5] The vertical bar characters "¦" and "|" represent the start-of-text and word-separating radial lines, respectively. The slash "/" denotes the oblique stroke under the preceding sign. The caret "^" indicates the transition from the first turn of the text (along the disk's edge) to the inner turns, and "??" is the unreadable sign.
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/
Word list[edit]
The following table shows the distinct "words" of the text, their frequencies, and their locations. (The oblique "paragraph separator" strokes are not considered part of the words.)
The up/down arrow buttons on the first column can be used to sort the "words" lexicographically based on the Evans sign numbering — so that all the "words" that start with the same symbols are listed together.
The arrow buttons on the third column can be used to sort the "words" by back-to-front lexicographic order, in which the signs of each word are reversed; so that all the "words" with same ending are listed together. Column 4 still shows each "word" in the presumed reading order, only right-justified to make the common endings more evident.