Arkalochori Axe

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.

Arkalochori Axe
The central portion of the bronze labrys bears inscriptions
MaterialBronze
Createdc. 1650 BC
Discovered1934
Arkalochori, Crete, Greece
Discovered bySpyridon Marinatos
Present locationHeraklion, Crete, Greece

It has been suggested that these symbols might be Linear A, although some scholars disagree.[3]

The Arkalochori axe and the Phaistos Disc are exhibited at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum (Galleries V and VII, respectively). 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  ?
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Axe of Arkalochori.

Note that reading top to bottom, right to left after turning the inscription counterclockwise gives a different sequence and numbering of the glyphs.

See also

References
  1. Best, Jan G. P.; Woudhuizen, Fred (31 December 1989). Lost Languages from the Mediterranean. Brill. p. 97. ISBN 978-90-04-08934-1.
  2. Whittaker, Helène (2005). "Social and Symbolic Aspects of Minoan writing". European Journal of Archaeology. 8 (2): 157–181. doi:10.1177/1461957105058207. S2CID 162881074.
  3. Price, Glanville (2000). Encyclopedia of the languages of Europe. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-631-22039-8.
  4. 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)

6. Flouda, Georgia (2015). "Materiality and script: constructing a narrative on the Minoan inscribed axe from the Arkalochori cave", SMEA Nuova Serie 1: 43-56.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.