Arkalochori Axe

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

The Arkalochori Axe is a 2nd millennium BC Minoan bronze votive double axe 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 ?

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]

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. (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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