| Arkalochori Axe | |
|---|---|
 The central portion of the bronze labrys bears inscriptions | |
| Material | Bronze |
| Created | c. 1650 BC |
| Discovered | 1934 Arkalochori, Crete, Greece |
| Discovered by | Spyridon Marinatos |
| Present location | Heraklion, Crete, Greece |
The Arkalochori Axe is a 2nd millennium BC Minoan bronze votive double axe (labrys) excavated by Spyridon Marinatos in 1934 in the Arkalochori cave in 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]
See also
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. S2CID 162881074.
- ↑ 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.