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P.09-Phaistos Disc:Valley of the Thracians 9/6/08 13:09 Page 1 P.09-Phaistos Disc:Valley of the Thracians 9/6/08 13:09 Page 1 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. INTRODUCTION The Phaistos Disk (Figs 1, 2, 13, 14) is a small clay disk stamped with a series of unique ‘hieroglyphs’ purportedly exca- vated in July 1908 by Luigi Pernier in the palace of Phaistos on the island of Crete. It may not ever rank in the pub- lic’s mind with the Piltdown Man as an object of great renown in the field of man’s attempt to fool both the public and countless numbers of scholars. However, its exposure as the most famous fabrication of an ancient script should certainly end the long-standing controversy over its origins and the translation of its intriguing hiero- glyphs. On this 100th anniversary of its ‘discovery’, the writer hopes to bring to light its dubious origin. One of the most fascinating aspects of the attempts to decipher the disk is its innumerable interpretations and those of the individual glyphs. In fact, Fig 1. The Phaistos eight additional pages have been added Disk, side A. to this issue of Minerva in order to pre- sent a comprehensive listing of these decipherments and the various inter- pretations of the different signs. The interpretations of the script range from scholarly discussions of its relationship to ancient Greek scripts such as Proto- Ionian and, obviously, Minoan, to Ana- tolian (Hittite and Luwian), as well as often 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 even West Finnish or Old Estonian, Indian, Chinese, and Polynesian. Attributions have been made of the ‘text’ on the disk relating to deities and events in Greek mythology including Zeus and the Minotaur, Theseus and Ariadne, Dionysos, and Icarus; in the Near East to the Hittites and Philistines; and in Egypt to Osiris and Isis, Thoth, and the pharaohs. Over the past 100 years it has been interpreted variously as an adventure narrative, a poetic verse, a hymn, a prayer, a sacred text, a magic inscrip- tion – perhaps a curse, an aid-in-heal- ing ritual, a funerary record, an almanac, or a calendar-diary. Others Fig 2. The Phaistos suggest an administrative document, a Disk, side B. record of gifts made to a temple, a judi- Minerva, July/August 2008 9 P.09-Phaistos Disc:Valley of the Thracians 9/6/08 13:09 Page 2 The Phaistos Disk Fig 3 (far left). both by making a discovery that would cial court list, a political treaty, a palace Minoan bead seal astound the archaeological commu- schedule, a palace site plan description, with hieroglyphic nity. He had found nothing at Phaestos proof of a geometric theorem, a call to saw sign. that could in any way surpass or even arms, a list of soldiers, or a text for Cf. disk sign equal the amazing finds at Knossos by no. 16, the saw. teaching reading. It has also been inter- Evans, begun in 1900. By 1903 Evans preted by some as a board game or Fig 4 (left). had uncovered much of the founda- game of chance, even musical notes for Linear A tablet tions of the Palace (that he later a stringed instrument. Not to be out- from the palace famously overly-reconstructed), in of Phaistos, done, a Russian scholar recently pro- c. 1750 BC. addition to the Throne Room, the won- posed it as a device for the manufacture drous frescoes, and the faience female of metal wares. noted Federico Halbherr. He was most Fig 5 (above right). figurines. Evans also found many Lin- Pseudo-archaeology, or the unscien- famous for his discovery in 1884 at Linear B bar 066 ear A and Linear B tablets during the tific, often fantastic, interpretation of Gortyna of the early 5th century BC from the course of his excavations at Knossos. ancient remains comes into play with ‘Great Inscription’ inscribed on the hieroglyphic archive many interpretations by amateur walls of the city’s Odeum of the earliest at Knossos, Inspiration for the Phaistos Disk c. 1750 BC. archaeologists or historians of the disk’s legal code found in Europe. The long What could Pernier ‘discover’ to bring contents. They have suggested that it is Greek text detailed the statutes for him fame and glory and to rival that of a ‘number-philosophical’ document guilty individuals and the punishments Halbherr and Evans? He soon came up from Atlantis, a message from extrater- for crimes. Halbherr, an epigraphist, with the answer – the creation of a relic restrials, and even a portal or ‘stargate’ concentrated on the study of ancient with an untranslatable pictographic with which a wormhole (a theoretical Greek inscriptions from 1884 to 1888 text - the Phaestos Disk. Evans was connection in time or space) can be and was compiling a corpus of Cretan obviously quite excited about the dis- created to enable one to achieve tele- inscriptions with his mentor Domenico covery of the disk. In Scripta Minoa he portation to cosmic distances. Comparetti. Later, Halbherr and his published the preliminary details of the It would be very difficult to actually Italian colleagues, Roberto Paribeni, unearthing of the Phaistos Disk and a decipher the disk, if genuine, unless André Savignon, and especially Luigi 21-page analysis based upon Pernier’s further texts with additional glyphs Pernier, conducted excavations uncov- publication of the disk in 1908: ‘Il disco were discovered. Statistically it is too ering the Minoan palace complex of di Phaestos con caratteri pittografica in short and it does not provide enough Phaistos, between 1900 and 1907. Ansonia III, 255-302 (a 48-page study clues as to its content. Also, if the Halbherr had often expressed his published in the same year of its dis- writer is correct in his assessment of the wish that written texts would be dis- covery). It must be emphasised that disk as a 100-year-old forgery, it would covered at Phaistos. In 1900 he wrote forgeries are not just made for financial be virtually impossible to provide a cor- that the excavation of the palace of gain, but often to boost the reputation rect translation. Then, the only person Phaistos ‘has produced some very of an excavator or scholar, as in the who could disclose the ‘meaning’ of lovely Mycenaean vases, terracotta fig- case of the Piltdown Man in 1912. the glyphs is the one who invented urines… But to date there are no Pernier (1874-1937) was trained as them. The writer doubts that they actu- inscribed tablets, though we are hope- an archaeologist in Italy and among his ally represent any kind of text but that ful that they will be found elsewhere.’ readings he would have been quite they were cleverly chosen to purposely At the same time, the renowned Eng- familiar with the discovery of the Fig 6 (below left). confuse the scholarly world. lish archaeologist (Sir) Arthur Evans The Etruscan lead Magliano Disk, found in Magliano, (1851-1941), had already received Magliano Disk, c. Italy in 1884, and published by L. A. Background much acclaim for his studies of the 475-450 BC, found Milani in 1893. This near-round lead The story of the disk begins with the early hieroglyphic inscriptions on Cre- in Magliano, Italy, disk (Fig 6) contained an Etruscan excavations of the Italian archaeolo- tan seals, and especially later on for his in 1884. The inscription spiraling inward on both inscription spirals gists in Crete in the 1880s, led by the excavations of the site of the palace at inward on both sides. Since the Etruscan language had Knossos. Evans visited Crete in 1894 to sides, but the other not yet been deciphered, its contents investigate the earliest pictographic side does not have remained a mystery. Perhaps Pernier script, or hieroglyphics, that appeared the spiral line. could create a similar disk – but for the Note the three on Cretan seals (Fig 3) and also the two vertical dots other unknown scripts: Linear A (Fig 4), near the top c. 1750-1450 BC, and Linear B (Fig 5), used once c. 1450-1375 BC. Just one year later for punctuation Evans published his Cretan Pictographs compared to the five used on the and Prae-Phoenician Script. In it he called Phaistos Disk. the Minoan ‘hieroglyphs’ ‘pictographs’ and Linear A and B ‘Prae-Phoenician’. Later this small book would be Fig 7 (right). expanded into his classic work Scripta Minoan clay label Minoa (vol. 1, 1909; vol. 2, 1952). in the form of a flat bivalve shell, In the opinion of the writer, Pernier with ‘hieroglyphic’ was jealous of the success of Halbherr script, from the and Evans and decided to outdo them palace of Knossos. 10 Minerva, July/August 2008 P.09-Phaistos Disc:Valley of the Thracians 9/6/08 13:09 Page 3 The Phaistos Disk Minoans. Lead was rarely used in Crete AB54; and no. 45, similiar to AB76; and metre-high hills rising from the Mes- except for smaller objects. It would four for Linear B (Fig 10: Sign no. 12, sara Plain on the west of the island, have seemed more logical to make it an elaboration of Linear B 78; no. 14, a 5km from the coast. It was named after out of clay, since most of the larger version of 87; no.
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