Phaistos Disc decipherment claims
Encyclopedia
There are a large number of claims of decipherment of the Phaistos Disc
.
The claims may be categorized into linguistic decipherment
s, identifying the language of the inscription, and non-linguistic decipherments. A purely ideographical reading is not linguistic in the strict sense: while it may reveal the meaning of the inscription, it would not allow us to identify the underlying language.
A large part of the claims are clearly pseudoscientific
, if not bordering on the esoteric. Linguists are doubtful whether the inscription is sufficiently long to be unambiguously interpreted. It is possible that one of these decipherments is correct, and that, without further material in the same script, we will never know which. Mainstream consensus tends towards the assumption of a syllabic
script, possibly mixed with ideogram, like the known scripts of the epoch (Egyptian hieroglyphs, Anatolian hieroglyphs, Linear B
).
Some approaches attempt to establish a connection with known scripts, either the roughly contemporary Cretan hieroglyphs
or Linear A
native to Crete, or Egyptian or Anatolian hieroglyphics. Solutions postulating an independent Aegean script have also been proposed.
Hempls readings of side A: A-po-su-la-r
ke-si-po e-pe-t e-e-se a-po-le-is-tu te-pe-ta-po. (Lo, Xipho the
prophetess dedicates spoils from a spoiler of the prophetess.) Te-u-s,
a-po-ku-ra. (Zeus guard us.) Vi-ka-na a-po-ri-pi-na la-ri-si-ta
a-po-ko-me-nu so-to. (In silence put aside the most dainty portions of
the still unroasted animal.) A-te-ne-Mi-me-ra pu-l. (Athene Minerva,
be gracious.) A-po-vi-k. (Silence!) A-po-te-te-na-ni-si tu-me. (The
victims have been put to death.) A-po-vi-k. (Silence!)
http://digilander.libero.it/corsinistoria/genesi%20della%20decifrazione.htm
, who had picked up the idea of a syllabic acrophonic script from Egypt at the time of the VIth Dynasty. He interprets the text as "proto-Ionic" Greek in syllabic writing http://www.anistor.co.hol.gr/english/enback/v002 http://www.robotwisdom.com/science/phaistos/ http://www.iris-ward.com/DISK/2014-DISK.htm)
Reading A-side first, inwards, he deciphers a (funerary) hymn to one Arion, child of Argos, destroyer of Iasos. The language is a Greek dialect, written with considerable phonological ambiguities, comparable to the writing of Mycenean Greek in Linear B
, hand-crafted by Faucounau to suit his reading, among other things postulating change of digamma
to y and loss of labiovelars, but retention of Indo-European -sy- (in the genitive singular -osyo, Homeric -oio).
Faucounau has gathered evidence, which he asserts shows the existence of proto-Ionians
as early as the Early Bronze Age and of a proto-Ionic language with the required characteristics during the Late Bronze Age. He has presented this evidence in several papers and summarized it in his two books, of 1999 and 2001.
The text begins
Faucounau's solution was critically reviewed by Duhoux (2000), who in particular was sceptical about the consonantal sign s (D12) in the otherwise syllabic script, which appears word-finally in the sentence particle kas, but not in nominatives like ahamos. Most syllabaries would either omit s in both places, or use a syllable beginning with s in both places.
document of land ownership, addressed to one na-sa-tu ("Nestor
"; Dative na-sa-ti) of hi-ya-wa (Ahhiyawa). Toponyms read are pa-ya-tu (Phaistos), ra-su-ta (Lasithi
), mi-SARU (Mesara), ku-na-sa (Knossos
), sa3-har-wa (Scheria
), ri-ti-na (Rhytion
). Another personal name read is i-du-ma-na ("Idomeneus
"), governor of Mesara.
The strokes are read as a 46th glyph, expressing word-final ti. The text begins
Reading Side B first, Gordon gives the Minoan text, then the Basque:
Side A:
(literally "the coiled one") an example of the latter. It may be that the Phaistos disc is also an example of a race game board.
Evidence for this is as follows:
Phaistos Disc
The Phaistos Disc is a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the Greek island of Crete, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age . It is about 15 cm in diameter and covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols...
.
The claims may be categorized into linguistic decipherment
Decipherment
Decipherment is the analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost....
s, identifying the language of the inscription, and non-linguistic decipherments. A purely ideographical reading is not linguistic in the strict sense: while it may reveal the meaning of the inscription, it would not allow us to identify the underlying language.
A large part of the claims are clearly pseudoscientific
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
, if not bordering on the esoteric. Linguists are doubtful whether the inscription is sufficiently long to be unambiguously interpreted. It is possible that one of these decipherments is correct, and that, without further material in the same script, we will never know which. Mainstream consensus tends towards the assumption of a syllabic
Syllabic
Syllabic may refer to:*Canadian Aboriginal syllabics, a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages.*Syllabary, writing system using symbols for syllables...
script, possibly mixed with ideogram, like the known scripts of the epoch (Egyptian hieroglyphs, Anatolian hieroglyphs, Linear B
Linear B
Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...
).
Some approaches attempt to establish a connection with known scripts, either the roughly contemporary Cretan hieroglyphs
Cretan hieroglyphs
Cretan hieroglyphs are hieroglyphs found on artifacts of Bronze Age Minoan Crete . Symbol inventories have been compiled by Evans , Meijer , Olivier/Godart...
or Linear A
Linear A
Linear A is one of two scripts used in ancient Crete before Mycenaean Greek Linear B; Cretan hieroglyphs is the second script. In Minoan times, before the Mycenaean Greek dominion, Linear A was the official script for the palaces and religious activities, and hieroglyphs were mainly used on seals....
native to Crete, or Egyptian or Anatolian hieroglyphics. Solutions postulating an independent Aegean script have also been proposed.
Greek
- George Hempl, 1911 (interpretation as Ionic GreekIonic GreekIonic Greek was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek .-History:Ionic dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C.By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 5th Century...
, syllabic writing)- A-side first; reading inwards; A-side begins ...
Hempls readings of side A: A-po-su-la-r
ke-si-po e-pe-t e-e-se a-po-le-is-tu te-pe-ta-po. (Lo, Xipho the
prophetess dedicates spoils from a spoiler of the prophetess.) Te-u-s,
a-po-ku-ra. (Zeus guard us.) Vi-ka-na a-po-ri-pi-na la-ri-si-ta
a-po-ko-me-nu so-to. (In silence put aside the most dainty portions of
the still unroasted animal.) A-te-ne-Mi-me-ra pu-l. (Athene Minerva,
be gracious.) A-po-vi-k. (Silence!) A-po-te-te-na-ni-si tu-me. (The
victims have been put to death.) A-po-vi-k. (Silence!)
- Florence StawellFlorence StawellFlorence Melian Stawell was a classical scholar.Florence Melian Stawell, youngest daughter of Sir William Foster Stawell, was born at Melbourne on 2 May 1869...
, 1911 (interpretation as Homeric GreekHomeric GreekHomeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. It is an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain other dialects, such as Aeolic Greek. It later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry, typically in...
, syllabic writing);- B-side first; reading inward: A-side begins ....
- Not Ionic; B30 is non-sigmatic ; B6 is , with four long alphaAlphaAlpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Alpha or ALPHA may also refer to:-Science:*Alpha , the highest ranking individuals in a community of social animals...
s.
- Steven R. Fischer, 1988 (interpretation as a Greek dialect, syllabic writing);
- A-side first; reading inwards; 02-12 reads E-qe 'hear ye'.[See book Glyph Breaker (1997) for full account]
- Derk Ohlenroth, 1996 (interpretation as a Greek dialect, alphabetic writing);
- A-side first; reading outwards; numerous homophonic signs
- Benjamin Schwarz, 1959 (interpretation as Mycenean Greek, syllabic writing)
- A-side first; reading inwards.
- comparison with Linear BLinear BLinear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...
as starting point.
- Adam Martin, 2000 (interpretation as a Greek-Minoan bilingual text, alphabetic writing)
- reading outwards;
- reads only Side A as Greek and says Side B is Minoan
- Kevin and Keith Massey, (partial decipherment - interpretation as a Greek dialect, syllabic writing)
- reading outwards
- suggest, based on comparisons with Linear B, and a suggestion by linguist Miguel Carrasquer Vidal, that the words marked by slashes are numbers spelled out, so the disk would be a form of receipt for goods, designed to be easily destroyed
- Marco Corsini, 2008 (interpretation as Proto-Ionic language, syllabic writing); A-side first; reading outwards; (Italian) 1348 a.C. Apoteosi di Radamanto http://digilander.libero.it/corsinistoria/centdiscofesto.htm
- Marco G. Corsini, 2010 (genesis of my Phaistos Disk decypherment with an abstract in English)
http://digilander.libero.it/corsinistoria/genesi%20della%20decifrazione.htm
"Proto-Ionic"
Jean Faucounau, 1975 considers the script as the original invention of a Cycladic and maritime Aegean people, the proto-IoniansProto-Ionians
The Proto-Ionians are the hypothetical earliest speakers of the Ionic dialects of Ancient Greek, chiefly in the works of Jean Faucounau.The relation of Ionic to the other Greek dialects has been subject to some debate...
, who had picked up the idea of a syllabic acrophonic script from Egypt at the time of the VIth Dynasty. He interprets the text as "proto-Ionic" Greek in syllabic writing http://www.anistor.co.hol.gr/english/enback/v002 http://www.robotwisdom.com/science/phaistos/ http://www.iris-ward.com/DISK/2014-DISK.htm)
Reading A-side first, inwards, he deciphers a (funerary) hymn to one Arion, child of Argos, destroyer of Iasos. The language is a Greek dialect, written with considerable phonological ambiguities, comparable to the writing of Mycenean Greek in Linear B
Linear B
Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...
, hand-crafted by Faucounau to suit his reading, among other things postulating change of digamma
Digamma
Digamma is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet which originally stood for the sound /w/ and later remained in use only as a numeral symbol for the number "6"...
to y and loss of labiovelars, but retention of Indo-European -sy- (in the genitive singular -osyo, Homeric -oio).
Faucounau has gathered evidence, which he asserts shows the existence of proto-Ionians
Proto-Ionians
The Proto-Ionians are the hypothetical earliest speakers of the Ionic dialects of Ancient Greek, chiefly in the works of Jean Faucounau.The relation of Ionic to the other Greek dialects has been subject to some debate...
as early as the Early Bronze Age and of a proto-Ionic language with the required characteristics during the Late Bronze Age. He has presented this evidence in several papers and summarized it in his two books, of 1999 and 2001.
The text begins
- ka-s (a)r-ko-syo / pa-yi-s / a-ri-o / a-a-mo / ka-s læ-yi-to / te-ri-o-s / te-tmæ-næ
- kas Argoio payis Arion ahamos. kas læi(s)ton dærios tetmænai
- "Arion, the son of Argos, is without equal. He has distributed the spoil of battle."
Faucounau's solution was critically reviewed by Duhoux (2000), who in particular was sceptical about the consonantal sign s (D12) in the otherwise syllabic script, which appears word-finally in the sentence particle kas, but not in nominatives like ahamos. Most syllabaries would either omit s in both places, or use a syllable beginning with s in both places.
Luwian
Achterberg et al., 2004 interpreted the text as Anatolian hieroglyphic, reading inwards, A-side first. The research group proposes a 14th century date, based on a dating of PH 1, the associated Linear A tablet. The resulting text is a LuwianLuwian language
Luwian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Luwian is closely related to Hittite, and was among the languages spoken during the second and first millennia BC by population groups in central and western Anatolia and northern Syria...
document of land ownership, addressed to one na-sa-tu ("Nestor
Nestor (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Nestor of Gerenia was the son of Neleus and Chloris and the King of Pylos. He became king after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor's siblings...
"; Dative na-sa-ti) of hi-ya-wa (Ahhiyawa). Toponyms read are pa-ya-tu (Phaistos), ra-su-ta (Lasithi
Lasithi
Lasithi is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra, Sitia and Neapoli. The mountains include the Dikte to the west and the Sitia Mountains to the east...
), mi-SARU (Mesara), ku-na-sa (Knossos
Knossos
Knossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
), sa3-har-wa (Scheria
Scheria
Scheria –also known as Scherie or Phaeacia– was a geographical region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as the home of the Phaiakians and the last destination of Odysseus before returning home to Ithaca.-Odysseus meets Nausikaa:In the Odyssey, after Odysseus sails...
), ri-ti-na (Rhytion
Rhytion
Rhytion is an ancient city of Crete, one of the seven cities of Crete that participated in the Trojan War according to the Iliad ....
). Another personal name read is i-du-ma-na ("Idomeneus
Idomeneus
In Greek mythology, Idomeneus , "strength of Ida") was a Cretan warrior, father of Orsilochus and Chalkiope, son of Deucalion, grandson of Minos and king of Crete. He led the Cretan armies to the Trojan War and was also one of Helen's suitors. Meriones was his charioteer and brother-in-arms...
"), governor of Mesara.
The strokes are read as a 46th glyph, expressing word-final ti. The text begins
- a-tu mi1-SARU sa+ti / pa-ya-tu / u Nna-sa2-ti / u u-ri / a-tu hi-ya-wa
- atu Misari sati Payatu. u Nasati, u uri atu Hiyawa.
- "In Mesara is Phaistos. To Nestor, to the great [man] in Ahhiyawa."
Hittite
- Vladimir Georgiev, 1976 (interpretation as Hittite languageHittite languageHittite is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia...
, syllabic writing);- A-side first; reading outwards;
Egyptian
- Albert Cuny, 1914 (interpretation as an ancient EgyptianEgyptian languageEgyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
document, syllabic-ideographic writing);
Semitic
- Kjell Aartun, 1992 (interpretation as a Semitic language, syllabic writing);
- A-side first; reading outwards;
- Cyrus Herzl Gordon;
- Jan G.P. Best.
Basque
- F. G. Gordon 1931. (interpretation as Basque: Through Basque to Minoan: transliterations and translations of the Minoan tablets. London: Oxford University Press.)
Reading Side B first, Gordon gives the Minoan text, then the Basque:
- Minoan: Yadz(ua) ubalbidiaq adzal iqidzu y(a) uqeduq(i) ubald(u) adzal | Iadubidz(ua) equd/equdze iqqaliyasuiad iqaliyasali | Ubaluqald(u), iaqubidadzu; Ya (a)dalbid(a) adzald(u), izalyasa | Ulubi bidz(u) eqezibyil(i), uliadyasa byulidzuluiad | Y(a) iadz adzalyas(a), ul adalbid(a) iquđ, ul uđiqqal(i) ulzaliaq | Ubaladalbid(a) iquđ, adzal eduqald(u) iqilidzu | Iqzaleaq, iqqu(d) ub(i); ubaladalbid(a) iquđ, adzuiliaq; | Ya byulidzu eduqiaq, ul eduq(i) aldu zaleaq
- Basque: *Jachoa ubalbideak achal igitu *Ja ukeduki ubeldu achal | Inyubitua egon/egotze *ikgarijasoian *ekarrijasarri | Ubal *ukaldu, akobitu; *Ja adarbidea atsartu, *izarjasa | Urobi bitsu igesibilli or—jasa *bulitzuloian | *Ja aitz achaljasa or adarbidea ikon, or oñegari *urzaleak | Ubaladarbidea ikon, achal edukardo igertu | Ikzareak, ik—obi; ubaladarbidea ikon, ach soilleak; | *Ja *bulichu? echukak, or eduki artu/ardo zareak
- Translation: The lordling skimming the girdle-tracks; the lord clenching the fist, bruising the skin | with delight, hewing at the flower of the teeth, | smiting with cestus, driving home; the lord walking on wings the breathless path, the star-smiter, | the foaming gulf of waters, dogfish smiter on the creeping flower; | the lord, smiter of the horse-hide (or the surface of the rock), the dog climbing the path, the dog emptying with the foot the water-pitchers, | climbing the circling path, parching the wine-skin, | the tall jars, the high-stemmed vessel, climbing the circling path, the solitary rocks; | the lord clasping to the breast the pillars; the dog holding and seizing the pitchers.
Side A:
- Translation: The lordling threshing the back of the vessels, the water-pitchers, the wine-holding olpe; | the lordling, fish with a pair of thongs, foul-skinned, leather scourge footed; | the lordling, horned reptile, the lordling of (or plying) the shuttle, | who smites the threads; the lordling, star holding a fowl | covertly (or in a bunch of flowers); the panting lord of the arrow, Rain-lord; | the lordling, little-horn, the lordling with plenteous-foaming hide, holding a fish; | the lordling, little-horn, the panting lord of the arrow, Rain-lord; | the lordling, little-horn; the lordling walking on a horseman (or hide), flaxen-coated; | the little horned one, sucking at the teat; the lordling, the thresher, | who holds a dewy spray, twin horse-head star; | the lordling with plenteous-foaming hide, the thresher, twin horse-head star.
Ideographic
- Paolo Ballotta, 1974 (interpretation as ideographic writing);
- Harald HaarmannHarald HaarmannHarald Haarmann is a German linguist and cultural scientist who lives and works in Finland. Haarmann studied general linguistics, various philological disciplines and prehistory at the universities of Hamburg, Bonn, Coimbra and Bangor. He obtained his PhD in Bonn and his habilitation in Trier...
, 1990 (interpretation as ideographic writing);
Non-linguistic
- Leon Pomerance, 1976 (interpretation as astronomical document);
- Peter Aleff, 1982 (interpretation as ancient gameboard);
- Ole Hagen, 1988 (interpretation as calendar);
- Claire Watson, M.S.T., 1993 (interpretation as pattern recognition maze);
- Hermann Wenzel, 1998 (astronomical interpretation);
- Alan Butler, 1999 (interpretation as a calendar);
- Friedhelm Will, 2000 (interpretation as number-philosophically-document of "Atlantean" origin);
- Rosario Vieni, 2005 (interpretation as a calendar http://www.misteria.org/Il%20Disco%20di%20Festo%20-%20Un%20calendario%20vecchio%20di%204000%20anni.htm);
- Iurii Mosenkis, 2010 (interpretation as star compass).
As game board
It has been observed that the disc has similarities to a category of ancient game board. Ancient games tended towards two categories, either "battle" games, or "race" (chase) games. Chess is an example of the former, MehenMehen (game)
Mehen is a board game that was played in ancient Egypt. The game was named in reference to Mehen, a serpent god protecting Ra during his night-time underworld journey. Nothing else is known about it than that paintings and equipment found suggest that it is a game.-History of the game:Evidence of...
(literally "the coiled one") an example of the latter. It may be that the Phaistos disc is also an example of a race game board.
Evidence for this is as follows:
- The 8 leafed rosette appears four times (sign number 38). This is of significance because that sign has also been found frequently on other recovered ancient game boards. These include discoveries in Ur of Sumer (2500 BCE), of Egyptian games during the HyksosHyksosThe Hyksos were an Asiatic people who took over the eastern Nile Delta during the twelfth dynasty, initiating the Second Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt....
era, and from Megiddo circa 1200 BCE. As observed by Timothy Kendall in "Passing through the Netherworld", "Although each board is decorated differently with squares displaying geometric patterns, arrangements of dots, eyes, or scenes of animal combat, the one feature they all have in common are the rosettes on the squares indicated. Thus it is apparent that only those had a special significance in play." From surviving ancient games where the rules are still known, it appears the rosettes marked the beginning and end points of tracks where direction changes could be made; and/or for chase games these marked "safe" squares where one's piece could not be captured. - Egyptian civilization during and previous to the period to which the Phaistos disc is dated had board "racing" games (SenetSenetSenet is a board game from predynastic and ancient Egypt. The oldest hieroglyph representing a Senet game dates to around 3100 BC. The full name of the game in Egyptian was zn.t n.t ḥˁb meaning the "game of passing."- History :...
, MehenMehenIn Ancient Egypt the name Mehen meaning 'coiled one' refers to a mythological snake-god and to a game.-Snake god:The earliest references to Mehen occur in the Coffin Texts. Mehen is a protective deity who is depicted as a snake which coils around the sun god Ra during his journey through the...
). The oldest known reference to Senet is a painting from the tomb of Hesy circa 2600 BCE. (However, the game appears older than that because "Senet-like" boards have been recovered from burials dated as early as 3500 to 3100 BCE.) There was extensive communication between the Egyptian culture and the Minoan culture at this time (known because of Egyptian artifacts in the Minoan palace.) Geographically they were close, only a few days of sailing. Several of the occupation levels at Knossos are dated by the Egyptian artifacts in them (see Trude Dothan and Moshe Dothan: "People of the Sea - The Search for the Philistines".) - The spiral shape was also used for the race or chase games. 14 surviving examples of Mehen all display this game board format. Mehen may date to as early as 3000 BCE, and is referenced in the Coffin and Pyramid Texts.
- Printing of games on both sides of gameboards was not unknown. Some surviving Senet boards also have the game of "20 squares" (the Royal Game of UrRoyal Game of UrThe Royal Game of Ur, also known as the Game of Twenty Squares, refers to two game boards found in the Royal Tombs of Ur in Iraq by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. The two boards date from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BC, thus making the Royal Game of Ur probably the oldest set of board...
) on the reverse side. If the Phaistos disc is a game board, then that it has both sides imprinted is therefore not that unusual. - The use of "imprinting" for the disc implies (although it does not require) that this may have been one of multiple copies, if so this approach was used for other ancient games. "On some of the Senet boards made from faience, these signs were impressed into the clay-like soft mass before firing, and they were impressed there with stamps."
- The size of the disc, if it is a game board, implies that either it was a "travel board", or possibly it was meant for burial. Including Senet boards in Egyptian burials was common as there was a ritual aspect to the game that had developed religious significance.
Articles
- Aartun, Kjell, 'Der Diskos von Phaistos; Die beschriftete Bronzeaxt; Die Inschrift der Taragona-tafel' in Die minoische Schrift : Sprache und Texte vol. 1, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz (1992) ISBN 3-447-03273-1
- Achterberg, Winfried; Best, Jan; Enzler, Kees; Rietveld, Lia; Woudhuizen, Fred, The Phaistos Disc: A Luwian Letter to Nestor, Publications of the Henry Frankfort Foundation vol XIII , Dutch Archeological and Historical Society, Amsterdam 2004
- Balistier, Thomas, The Phaistos Disc - an account of its unsolved mystery, Verlag Thomas Balistier, 2000 (as above); describes Aarten's and Ohlenroth's decipherments.
- Faucounau, Jean, Le déchiffrement du Disque de Phaistos & Les Proto-Ioniens : histoire d'un peuple oublié, Paris 1999 & 2001.
- Fischer, Steven R., Evidence for Hellenic Dialect in the Phaistos Disk, Herbert Lang (1988), ISBN 3-261-03703-2
- Hausmann, Axel, Der Diskus von Phaistos. Ein Dokument aus Atlantis, BoD GmbH (2002), ISBN 3-8311-4548-2.
- Martin, Adam, Der Diskos von Phaistos - Ein zweisprachiges Dokument geschrieben in einer frühgriechischen Alphabetschrift, Ludwig Auer Verlag (2000), ISBN 3-9807169-1-0.
- Ohlenroth, Derk, Das Abaton des lykäischen Zeus und der Hain der Elaia: Zum Diskos von Phaistos und zur frühen griechischen Schriftkultur, M. Niemeyer (1996), ISBN 3-484-80008-9.
- Polygiannakis, Efi, Ο Δισκος της Φαιστού Μιλάει Ελληνικά, Georgiadis, Athens, T. Antikas (trans.)
- Pomerance, Leon, The Phaistos Disk: An Interpretation of Astro- nomical Symbols, Paul Astroms forlag, Göteborg (1976). reviewed by D. H. Kelley in The Journal of Archeoastronomy (Vol II, number 3, Summer 1979) JSTOR URL