DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0699
THE PHAESTOS DISK
653
fish, No. 33, the tree, No. 36, or the flower, No. 39, in themselves count for
much.
Neither is it possible, except in one or two cases, to establish any close
comparison between the characters on the Disk and what may be supposed
to have been the root-forms of signs of the Linear Script, prototypes of which
are discernible among the Minoan hieroglyphics. The flying bird, No. 31,
bears an analogy indeed with Cretan types, but it either shows very prominent
talons, wanting in these, or is holding a serpent in its claws. The hide
(No. 27) recurs on a M. M. II hieroglyphic seal.1 Of special interest, more-
over, is the resemblance presented between No. 14 of the characters on the
Disk (here set on end), which I have elsewhere compared with 'manacles',2
Fig. 484 a ; and No. 62 of the Linear Signary of which Fig. 484 b seems to be
the earlier form. A very early comparison with this sign is supplied, however,
as pointed out above," by a seal-stone of a primitive class.
The fist wound round with a Cestus, No. 8, also receives illustration
from a feature of Minoan sports. So, too,
No. 16, so far as its general outline goes, re-
calls the Minoan hieroglyph, No. 25, repre-
senting a saw, but the most distinctive feature
of this the teeth—preserved to the last in its
linear-derivatives—are wanting in the imple-
ment shown on the Disk. It must rather
be regarded as a knife or chopper.
Certain resemblances in artistic execution
between the figures on the Disk and Minoan works may also here be noted.
The feline head, No. 29, bears much the same character as the cat's head of
the Hagia Triada fresco. The ram's head, No. 30, also evidences a
sympathetic natural treatment worthy of a Minoan gem-engraver. Close
comparisons may also be found in the foliage of No. 35. But the parallelism
shown in these cases is not more than might have been expected in the
productions of some field of culture in close touch with the Minoan world.
It is clear that at the time when this Disk was deposited in the Palace
archives at Phaestos, side by side with a clay tablet of the advanced linear
script, the indigenous hieroglyphic system had long fallen into disuse in
9
Fig. 484.
c
c
' Mana-
cles' Sign.
' Manacles ' on Disk
compared with slgn of linear
Class A.
Artistic
execution
of Signs
compared
with
Minoan.
At date of
Disk
Hiero-
glyphs
1 Seager collection: grouped with bull's head of manacles, the slots being for the attachment
and hand. of thongs.' Dr. Pernier's view, Ansonia, p. 287,
2 Scripta Minoa, i. p. 277. ' The flat tops that we have here a version of the ' mountains '
of the two prominences in this figure as well as or regional sign can hardly be accepted.
the slots in the base are characteristic features 3 See above p. 640, Fig. 475.
653
fish, No. 33, the tree, No. 36, or the flower, No. 39, in themselves count for
much.
Neither is it possible, except in one or two cases, to establish any close
comparison between the characters on the Disk and what may be supposed
to have been the root-forms of signs of the Linear Script, prototypes of which
are discernible among the Minoan hieroglyphics. The flying bird, No. 31,
bears an analogy indeed with Cretan types, but it either shows very prominent
talons, wanting in these, or is holding a serpent in its claws. The hide
(No. 27) recurs on a M. M. II hieroglyphic seal.1 Of special interest, more-
over, is the resemblance presented between No. 14 of the characters on the
Disk (here set on end), which I have elsewhere compared with 'manacles',2
Fig. 484 a ; and No. 62 of the Linear Signary of which Fig. 484 b seems to be
the earlier form. A very early comparison with this sign is supplied, however,
as pointed out above," by a seal-stone of a primitive class.
The fist wound round with a Cestus, No. 8, also receives illustration
from a feature of Minoan sports. So, too,
No. 16, so far as its general outline goes, re-
calls the Minoan hieroglyph, No. 25, repre-
senting a saw, but the most distinctive feature
of this the teeth—preserved to the last in its
linear-derivatives—are wanting in the imple-
ment shown on the Disk. It must rather
be regarded as a knife or chopper.
Certain resemblances in artistic execution
between the figures on the Disk and Minoan works may also here be noted.
The feline head, No. 29, bears much the same character as the cat's head of
the Hagia Triada fresco. The ram's head, No. 30, also evidences a
sympathetic natural treatment worthy of a Minoan gem-engraver. Close
comparisons may also be found in the foliage of No. 35. But the parallelism
shown in these cases is not more than might have been expected in the
productions of some field of culture in close touch with the Minoan world.
It is clear that at the time when this Disk was deposited in the Palace
archives at Phaestos, side by side with a clay tablet of the advanced linear
script, the indigenous hieroglyphic system had long fallen into disuse in
9
Fig. 484.
c
c
' Mana-
cles' Sign.
' Manacles ' on Disk
compared with slgn of linear
Class A.
Artistic
execution
of Signs
compared
with
Minoan.
At date of
Disk
Hiero-
glyphs
1 Seager collection: grouped with bull's head of manacles, the slots being for the attachment
and hand. of thongs.' Dr. Pernier's view, Ansonia, p. 287,
2 Scripta Minoa, i. p. 277. ' The flat tops that we have here a version of the ' mountains '
of the two prominences in this figure as well as or regional sign can hardly be accepted.
the slots in the base are characteristic features 3 See above p. 640, Fig. 475.