Arkalochori Axe

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Arkalochori Axe - the central portion of the bronze labrys bears inscriptions

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 01 A 304 01 KA ??
02 02 AB28 01 I D39 Phaistos glyph 39.svg
03 03 AB01 01 DA
04 04 D02 Phaistos glyph 02.svg
05 05
06 06 AB05 01 TO ??
07 07 cf. 04 D02 Phaistos glyph 02.svg
08 08 AB80 01 MA
09 09 AB04 01 TE ? D35 Phaistos glyph 35.svg
10 10 cf. 04 D02 Phaistos glyph 02.svg
11 11 AB31 01 SA ?? D19 Phaistos glyph 19.svg
12 08 cf. 08 AB80 01 MA
13 13 AB06 01 NA ?? D23 Phaistos glyph 23.svg
14 14 Root?
15 15 A338 01 ?

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[]

References[]

  1. ^ Best, Jan G. P.; Woudhuizen, Fred (31 December 1989). Lost Languages from the Mediterranean. Brill. p. 97. ISBN 978-90-04-08934-1.
  2. ^ Whittaker, Helène (2005). "Social and Symbolic Aspects of Minoan writing". European Journal of Archaeology. 8 (2): 157–181. doi:10.1177/1461957105058207.
  3. ^ Price, Glanville (2000). Encyclopedia of the languages of Europe. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-631-22039-8.
  4. ^ 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)
  5. ^ 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.
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