DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0287
PART III
THE PHAESTOS DISK
III. $ i. SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS ON THE DISCOVERY
AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DISK
The summary account of the Phaestos Disk which appears in Part I of this Results of
volume,1 derived from a preliminary study of the photographic copies courteously fur^her
supplied me by Dr. Pernier, was already in print before I had the advantage of
studying the results arrived at by the discoverer himself. This circumstance is, in
some respects, not without its advantages, since the provisional conclusions to
which I was led in the earlier part of this work have at least the value of having
been derived from an independent study.
Dr. Mariani, the editor of the Aitsonia, has now supplied me with an advance
copy of Dr. Pernier's full and excellent publication of the Disk, accompanied by
detailed and careful drawings of the signs by Signor Stefani, together with photo-
graphs taken when the object was more fully cleaned. Finally, I have been able to
study the Disk itself in the Museum at Candia. Under these circumstances it seems
desirable to give a more detailed account of this unique hieroglyphic monument, and
at the same time to examine the conclusions to which its discoverer has been led.
The Disk itself was found in a rectangular repository, analogous to the The Disk
'Kaselles' of the Knossian Palace and of Hagia Triada. This repository formed m"m. ill
part of an annexe to the Palace at Phaestos, which was brought to light under stratum.
some Hellenistic constructions, outside its north-east angle.2 Although the soil
within this rectangular cavity showed signs of disturbance and contained a few
intrusive fragments, some of them of late Greek date, the prevailing character of
the ceramic remains found in the same stratum with the Disk shows, as Dr. Pernier
has rightly recognized,3 that they belonged to the concluding phase of the Third
Middle Minoan Period. The painted vessels represented here and in some adjoin-
ing cists of the same character * are in their general appearance identical with those
that both at Knossos and at Phaestos mark the close of the earlier Palace. They
thus belong to the date of the 'Temple Repositories' at Knossos and to the stratum
containing the alabastron lid inscribed with the name of the Hyksos King Khyan,
the approximate date of which, as shown above, may be placed about 1600 b.c.
It is in this stratum, at Knossos so widely extended, that inscribed documents of
1 See above, pp. 22 seqq. 3 Op. tit., pp. 260-4.
See Dr. L. Pernier, Aitsonia, 1909, pp. 255 seqq. and ' Op. cit., p. 261, Figs. 3, 4; p. 262, Fig. 5; p. 263,
P- 257. Fig- 1. Figs. 6, 7.
fit m 2
THE PHAESTOS DISK
III. $ i. SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS ON THE DISCOVERY
AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DISK
The summary account of the Phaestos Disk which appears in Part I of this Results of
volume,1 derived from a preliminary study of the photographic copies courteously fur^her
supplied me by Dr. Pernier, was already in print before I had the advantage of
studying the results arrived at by the discoverer himself. This circumstance is, in
some respects, not without its advantages, since the provisional conclusions to
which I was led in the earlier part of this work have at least the value of having
been derived from an independent study.
Dr. Mariani, the editor of the Aitsonia, has now supplied me with an advance
copy of Dr. Pernier's full and excellent publication of the Disk, accompanied by
detailed and careful drawings of the signs by Signor Stefani, together with photo-
graphs taken when the object was more fully cleaned. Finally, I have been able to
study the Disk itself in the Museum at Candia. Under these circumstances it seems
desirable to give a more detailed account of this unique hieroglyphic monument, and
at the same time to examine the conclusions to which its discoverer has been led.
The Disk itself was found in a rectangular repository, analogous to the The Disk
'Kaselles' of the Knossian Palace and of Hagia Triada. This repository formed m"m. ill
part of an annexe to the Palace at Phaestos, which was brought to light under stratum.
some Hellenistic constructions, outside its north-east angle.2 Although the soil
within this rectangular cavity showed signs of disturbance and contained a few
intrusive fragments, some of them of late Greek date, the prevailing character of
the ceramic remains found in the same stratum with the Disk shows, as Dr. Pernier
has rightly recognized,3 that they belonged to the concluding phase of the Third
Middle Minoan Period. The painted vessels represented here and in some adjoin-
ing cists of the same character * are in their general appearance identical with those
that both at Knossos and at Phaestos mark the close of the earlier Palace. They
thus belong to the date of the 'Temple Repositories' at Knossos and to the stratum
containing the alabastron lid inscribed with the name of the Hyksos King Khyan,
the approximate date of which, as shown above, may be placed about 1600 b.c.
It is in this stratum, at Knossos so widely extended, that inscribed documents of
1 See above, pp. 22 seqq. 3 Op. tit., pp. 260-4.
See Dr. L. Pernier, Aitsonia, 1909, pp. 255 seqq. and ' Op. cit., p. 261, Figs. 3, 4; p. 262, Fig. 5; p. 263,
P- 257. Fig- 1. Figs. 6, 7.
fit m 2