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 01 A 304 01 KA ??
02 02 AB28 01 I D39
03 03 AB01 01 DA
04 04 D02
05 05
06 06 AB05 01 TO ??
07 07 cf. 04 D02
08 08 AB80 01 MA
09 09 AB04 01 TE ? D35
10 10 cf. 04 D02
11 11 AB31 01 SA ?? D19
12 08 cf. 08 AB80 01 MA
13 13 AB06 01 NA ?? D23
14 14 Root?
15 15 A338 01 ?
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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.

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