Arkalochori Axe
The Arkalochori Axe is a 2nd millennium BC Minoan bronze votive double axe (labrys) excavated by Spyridon Marinatos in 1934 in the Arkalochori cave on Crete,[1] which is believed to have been used for religious rituals.[2] It is inscribed with fifteen symbols.
It has been suggested that these symbols might be Linear A, although some scholars disagree.[3]
The labrys and the Phaistos Disc are conserved in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. They share some symbols.
Inscription[]
Of the fifteen signs, two appear to be unique. The following suggestions for comparison with Linear A and Phaistos Disc glyphs are attributed to Torsten Timm (2004).[4] Reading top to bottom, right to left, the symbols are:
№ | Sign | Comment | Linear A | Phaistos Disc |
01 | A 304 KA ?? | |||
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 ? |
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Note that reading top to bottom, right to left after turning the inscription counterclockwise gives a different sequence and numbering of the glyphs. The alternative sequence is suggested to be translatable as a text with a dedicatory offering to Tammuz.[5]
See also[]
- Phaistos Disc
- Dispilio tablet
References[]
- ^ Best, Jan G. P.; Woudhuizen, Fred (31 December 1989). Lost Languages from the Mediterranean. Brill. p. 97. ISBN 978-90-04-08934-1.
- ^ Whittaker, Helène (2005). "Social and Symbolic Aspects of Minoan writing". European Journal of Archaeology. 8 (2): 157–181. doi:10.1177/1461957105058207.
- ^ Price, Glanville (2000). Encyclopedia of the languages of Europe. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-631-22039-8.
- ^ Timm, Torsten (2004). "Der Diskos von Phaistos - Anmerkungen zur Deutung und Textstruktur". Indogermanische Forschungen (109): 204–231. doi:10.1515/16130405.204. S2CID 170325659. (PDF 0.5 Mb)
- ^ Revesz, Peter Z. "A translation of the Arkalochori Axe and the Malia Altar Stone". WSEAS Transactions on Information Science and Applications (Vol. 14, (2017)): 124–133.
- Cretan hieroglyphs
- Minoan archaeological artifacts
- Axes
- Archaeological discoveries in Greece
- Ancient Greek metalwork
- 1934 archaeological discoveries
- Minoan art
- 2nd-millennium BC works
- Bronze objects
- Heraklion Archaeological Museum