The bronze
Arkalochori Axe is a second millennium BC
MinoanThe Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. The Minoan culture flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC; afterwards, Mycenaean Greek culture became dominant at Minoan sites in Crete...
votive double axe excavated by
Spyridon MarinatosSpyridon Nikolaou Marinatos was one of the premier Greek archaeologists of the 20th century.- Career :...
in 1934 in the
ArkalochoriArkalochori is a modern city on the edge of the Lasithi plain in central Crete and the archaeological site of a Minoan sacred cave...
cave on
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
. It is notable for being engraved with an inscription of fifteen symbols. Some of the symbols may be identified as
Linear ALinear A is one of two linear scripts used in ancient Crete before Mycenaean Greek Linear B. In Minoan times, before the Mycenaean Greek dominion, Linear A was the official script for the palaces and cults and Cretan Hieroglyphs were mainly used on seals. These three scripts were discovered and...
characters, while others are reminiscent of those found on the
Phaistos DiscThe Phaistos Disc is a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age . It is about 15 cm in diameter and covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols...
. In particular, the "Mohican"
glyphA glyph is an element of writing. It is a slightly vague term, but a more precise definition might be an individual mark on paper or another written medium which contributes to the meaning of what is written there...
(D02), which is the most frequent character of the Phaistos Disc, appears on the axe inscription three times.
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The bronze
Arkalochori Axe is a second millennium BC
MinoanThe Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. The Minoan culture flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC; afterwards, Mycenaean Greek culture became dominant at Minoan sites in Crete...
votive double axe excavated by
Spyridon MarinatosSpyridon Nikolaou Marinatos was one of the premier Greek archaeologists of the 20th century.- Career :...
in 1934 in the
ArkalochoriArkalochori is a modern city on the edge of the Lasithi plain in central Crete and the archaeological site of a Minoan sacred cave...
cave on
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
. It is notable for being engraved with an inscription of fifteen symbols. Some of the symbols may be identified as
Linear ALinear A is one of two linear scripts used in ancient Crete before Mycenaean Greek Linear B. In Minoan times, before the Mycenaean Greek dominion, Linear A was the official script for the palaces and cults and Cretan Hieroglyphs were mainly used on seals. These three scripts were discovered and...
characters, while others are reminiscent of those found on the
Phaistos DiscThe Phaistos Disc is a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age . It is about 15 cm in diameter and covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols...
. In particular, the "Mohican"
glyphA glyph is an element of writing. It is a slightly vague term, but a more precise definition might be an individual mark on paper or another written medium which contributes to the meaning of what is written there...
(D02), which is the most frequent character of the Phaistos Disc, appears on the axe inscription three times. The axe and the Phaistos disk are conserved in the
Iraklion Archaeological MuseumThe Heraklion Archaeological Museum is one the great museums of Greece and the best in the world regarding the Minoan art as it contains the most notable and complete collection of artifacts of the Minoan civilization of Crete. The museum began in 1883 as a simple collection of antiquities...
.
The Inscription
Of the fifteen signs, two appear to be unique. The suggestions for comparison with Linear A and Phaistos Disc glyphs are due to Torsten Timm (2005).
Reading right to left, top to bottom, the symbols are as follows.
| № |
Sign |
Comment |
Linear A |
Phaistos Disc |
| 01 |
|
|
A 304 ? |
|
| 02 |
|
|
AB28 I |
D39  |
| 03 |
|
|
AB01 DA |
|
| 04 |
|
|
|
D02  |
| 05 |
|
|
|
|
| 06 |
|
|
AB05 TO ? |
|
| 07 |
|
cf. 04 |
|
D02 |
| 08 |
|
|
AB80 MA |
|
| 09 |
|
|
AB04 TE |
D35  |
| 10 |
|
cf. 04 |
|
D02 |
| 11 |
|
|
AB31 SA |
D19  |
| 12 |
|
cf. 08 |
AB80 MA |
|
| 13 |
|
|
AB06 NA |
D23  |
| 14 |
|
Root? |
|
|
| 15 |
|
|
A338 ? |
|