DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0302
Initial
strokes,
incised at
intervals.
These
strokes not
designed
to mark
ideo-
graphs.
Strokes
indicate
beginning
of sen-
tences.
288 SCRIPTA MINOA
on both faces. Adopting this as a working hypothesis, Face B really contains the first
part of the inscription and Face A the second, and the body of the Whole inscription is
divided into exactly equal parts of thirty sign-groups apiece.
A distinctive feature which at once strikes us in examining the Phaestos Disk is
the strokes, generally sloping to the right but sometimes vertical, which recur at
intervals under certain signs. These are evidently engraved by a hand accustomed to
write from left to right, after the stamping of the characters themselves and while the
clay was still moist.
The following signs are distinguished in the above manner:—
The female breast (No. 7); three times.1 The 'carpenter's angle* (No. 18); once.5
The marching figure (No. 1); twice.2 The ox-horn (No. 26); three times.8
The male child (No. 5); once.3 The tree (No. 35); once.7
The fist wound with the cesius thong The triangle (No. 43); once.8
(No. 8); three times.4
Such marks are always appended to the initial sign of a group, and there are 15 in
all—9 on Face A9 and 7 on Face B.10 Since the upright cross lines that divide
the inscription on both sides into sections must be reasonably taken to indicate the
beginning and ending of the several sign-groups,11 it is obvious that some other explana-
tion must be sought for these more intermittent marks. 3
At first sight it seemed natural to suppose that these strokes below certain
characters might perform an analogous function to the short lines or dots which
occasionally mark off a single sign of a group both in the hieroglyphic and the linear
class of inscriptions belonging to the regular Minoan series.12 In that case there would
be good reason for assuming that the strokes in question indicated that the signs with
which they were connected stood alone, with an independent ideographic meaning, and
not simply as a syllable or letter, forming part of a word.
But further examination of the material shows that this explanation will not hold.
The same signs, which in some places appear with the mark attached to them, recur
elsewhere (as shown in Table XXV), in a similar or" identical collocation but without
the distinguishing stroke. - .
What then is the meaning of these distinguishing marks, intermittently recurring)
always at the beginning of sign-groups ?
The most reasonable explanation that offers itself is that these strokes indicate the
beginning of separate sentences or sections of the inscription. In the case of the first
group on either face they are not wanted, as the beginning of the whole inscription is
clearly shown, and they therefore do not appear.
' A 29,1
'B5,ic
1 A 31.
'Bag.
10,13,16.
9 The lower part of the 'fist and cestus' sign in A 25
is broken away and the evidence in this case is therefore
uncertain: as, however, in the other cases where this
sign appears at the beginning of a group (B 10, 13)
the stroke is added below, it seems best to
that it was so here.
'• The faint line that crosses a corner of the 'breast'
sign in B 1 seems to be an accidental scratch rather than
a deliberate incision as in other cases under this sign- It
is therefore omitted from the enumeration.
" This is Dr. Pernier's' conclusion, op. cit., pp- ^94>
295.
12 An example of this wiJl be-seen in P. 110 f above..
strokes,
incised at
intervals.
These
strokes not
designed
to mark
ideo-
graphs.
Strokes
indicate
beginning
of sen-
tences.
288 SCRIPTA MINOA
on both faces. Adopting this as a working hypothesis, Face B really contains the first
part of the inscription and Face A the second, and the body of the Whole inscription is
divided into exactly equal parts of thirty sign-groups apiece.
A distinctive feature which at once strikes us in examining the Phaestos Disk is
the strokes, generally sloping to the right but sometimes vertical, which recur at
intervals under certain signs. These are evidently engraved by a hand accustomed to
write from left to right, after the stamping of the characters themselves and while the
clay was still moist.
The following signs are distinguished in the above manner:—
The female breast (No. 7); three times.1 The 'carpenter's angle* (No. 18); once.5
The marching figure (No. 1); twice.2 The ox-horn (No. 26); three times.8
The male child (No. 5); once.3 The tree (No. 35); once.7
The fist wound with the cesius thong The triangle (No. 43); once.8
(No. 8); three times.4
Such marks are always appended to the initial sign of a group, and there are 15 in
all—9 on Face A9 and 7 on Face B.10 Since the upright cross lines that divide
the inscription on both sides into sections must be reasonably taken to indicate the
beginning and ending of the several sign-groups,11 it is obvious that some other explana-
tion must be sought for these more intermittent marks. 3
At first sight it seemed natural to suppose that these strokes below certain
characters might perform an analogous function to the short lines or dots which
occasionally mark off a single sign of a group both in the hieroglyphic and the linear
class of inscriptions belonging to the regular Minoan series.12 In that case there would
be good reason for assuming that the strokes in question indicated that the signs with
which they were connected stood alone, with an independent ideographic meaning, and
not simply as a syllable or letter, forming part of a word.
But further examination of the material shows that this explanation will not hold.
The same signs, which in some places appear with the mark attached to them, recur
elsewhere (as shown in Table XXV), in a similar or" identical collocation but without
the distinguishing stroke. - .
What then is the meaning of these distinguishing marks, intermittently recurring)
always at the beginning of sign-groups ?
The most reasonable explanation that offers itself is that these strokes indicate the
beginning of separate sentences or sections of the inscription. In the case of the first
group on either face they are not wanted, as the beginning of the whole inscription is
clearly shown, and they therefore do not appear.
' A 29,1
'B5,ic
1 A 31.
'Bag.
10,13,16.
9 The lower part of the 'fist and cestus' sign in A 25
is broken away and the evidence in this case is therefore
uncertain: as, however, in the other cases where this
sign appears at the beginning of a group (B 10, 13)
the stroke is added below, it seems best to
that it was so here.
'• The faint line that crosses a corner of the 'breast'
sign in B 1 seems to be an accidental scratch rather than
a deliberate incision as in other cases under this sign- It
is therefore omitted from the enumeration.
" This is Dr. Pernier's' conclusion, op. cit., pp- ^94>
295.
12 An example of this wiJl be-seen in P. 110 f above..