DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0709
THE PHAESTOS DISK
663
the form of spoils, captives, as well as the manacles with which they were
secured. The plumed head recurs nineteen times, in fourteen cases followed
by the round shield,1 which itself appears in seventeen places ; the ship with
its armed prow is found seven times, the fish, which at least has a marine
significance, six, the arrow four times. It seems probable that the marching
figure, which occurs eleven times, should be taken in the same connexion.
It will be found that this small but homogeneous group of pictographic signs
makes up about a quarter of the total number of separate hieroglyphs con-
tained by the two sides of the Disk, namely 58 out of 244.
A definite geographical indication is supplied by the architectural figure, Connec-
No. 24, so reminiscent of the timbered dwellings of Lykia. At the same time, s.wT"
as has been already noted, the crested headpiece of the warrior and the Anatolia.
round shield are characteristic of a group of peoples from the Southern
coastlands of Asia Minor whose descents on the Nile-mouth are illustrated
by later Egyptian monuments. The ship with the arrow at its prow
suggests that we have here, in part at least, the celebration of a similar
sea raid.
In view of the architectural parallel it is interesting to note that the Compari-
pioneers among the sea rovers from the North, referred to by the Egyptian fater^'
records, were the Luku or Lykians, who already in the days of Amenhotep 111 Egyptian
/ J J 1 records of
and his son—early, that is, in the fourteenth century b. c.—had extended their sea raids
descents from the shores of Alashia,2 South of the lower bend of the Orontes, Lykians
to the mouths of the Nile. In these and other similar piratic enterprises and con-
federates
we see them associated with tribes like the Dardeny,3 identified with the later
Dardanians, and the Pidasa, whose name suggests a transcription of that of the
Pisidians. In this latter name and in other cases, as in that of the Shakalasha
and Akaiuasha, we note the typically Asianic name-ending, which in Lykian
takes the form of -azi and in Greek -asis, -assos* The first of these names
1 It is interesting to observe that in A. 5 the by Mr. G. A. Wainwright (Klio. xiv, 1914,
plumed head and shield had been originally pp. 1-36.) See, too, Hall, P. S. B. A., xxx,
omitted and afterwards inserted for the sake of 1909, p. 228.
clearness, the necessary space for this being 3 The identification of the Dardeny with
gained by erasing the original boundary line the Dardanians has been generally accepted,
at the beginning of the section and carrying it W. Max Miiller suggests that Pidasa is
back within the space at first allotted to A. 4. a transcription of the name of the Pisidians.
See on this Delia Seta, op. at., pp. 17, 18, and He also cites TIrjSaaos on the Satnioeis (//. xxi.
30, 31. 87) and the Carian IT/Sao-ees. The Karakisha
2 Tell el Amarna Letters, 28, from the King who appear with these he identifies with the
of Alashia. The mainland location of Alashia, Kilikians.
as opposed to its identification with Cyprus, 4 Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte
has now been re-affirmed, with new arguments, der griechischen Sprache, p. 311 seqq.
663
the form of spoils, captives, as well as the manacles with which they were
secured. The plumed head recurs nineteen times, in fourteen cases followed
by the round shield,1 which itself appears in seventeen places ; the ship with
its armed prow is found seven times, the fish, which at least has a marine
significance, six, the arrow four times. It seems probable that the marching
figure, which occurs eleven times, should be taken in the same connexion.
It will be found that this small but homogeneous group of pictographic signs
makes up about a quarter of the total number of separate hieroglyphs con-
tained by the two sides of the Disk, namely 58 out of 244.
A definite geographical indication is supplied by the architectural figure, Connec-
No. 24, so reminiscent of the timbered dwellings of Lykia. At the same time, s.wT"
as has been already noted, the crested headpiece of the warrior and the Anatolia.
round shield are characteristic of a group of peoples from the Southern
coastlands of Asia Minor whose descents on the Nile-mouth are illustrated
by later Egyptian monuments. The ship with the arrow at its prow
suggests that we have here, in part at least, the celebration of a similar
sea raid.
In view of the architectural parallel it is interesting to note that the Compari-
pioneers among the sea rovers from the North, referred to by the Egyptian fater^'
records, were the Luku or Lykians, who already in the days of Amenhotep 111 Egyptian
/ J J 1 records of
and his son—early, that is, in the fourteenth century b. c.—had extended their sea raids
descents from the shores of Alashia,2 South of the lower bend of the Orontes, Lykians
to the mouths of the Nile. In these and other similar piratic enterprises and con-
federates
we see them associated with tribes like the Dardeny,3 identified with the later
Dardanians, and the Pidasa, whose name suggests a transcription of that of the
Pisidians. In this latter name and in other cases, as in that of the Shakalasha
and Akaiuasha, we note the typically Asianic name-ending, which in Lykian
takes the form of -azi and in Greek -asis, -assos* The first of these names
1 It is interesting to observe that in A. 5 the by Mr. G. A. Wainwright (Klio. xiv, 1914,
plumed head and shield had been originally pp. 1-36.) See, too, Hall, P. S. B. A., xxx,
omitted and afterwards inserted for the sake of 1909, p. 228.
clearness, the necessary space for this being 3 The identification of the Dardeny with
gained by erasing the original boundary line the Dardanians has been generally accepted,
at the beginning of the section and carrying it W. Max Miiller suggests that Pidasa is
back within the space at first allotted to A. 4. a transcription of the name of the Pisidians.
See on this Delia Seta, op. at., pp. 17, 18, and He also cites TIrjSaaos on the Satnioeis (//. xxi.
30, 31. 87) and the Carian IT/Sao-ees. The Karakisha
2 Tell el Amarna Letters, 28, from the King who appear with these he identifies with the
of Alashia. The mainland location of Alashia, Kilikians.
as opposed to its identification with Cyprus, 4 Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte
has now been re-affirmed, with new arguments, der griechischen Sprache, p. 311 seqq.