Many people have claimed to have deciphered the

Phaistos Disc The Phaistos Disc (also spelled Phaistos Disk, Phaestos Disc) is a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the island of Crete, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age (second millennium BC). The disk is about ...

. The claims may be categorized into linguistic

decipherment In philology, decipherment is the discovery of the meaning of texts written in ancient or obscure languages or scripts. Decipherment in cryptography refers to decryption. The term is used sardonically in everyday language to describe attempts to ...

s, identifying the language of the inscription, and non-linguistic decipherments. A purely ideographical reading is ''semantic'' but not ''linguistic'' in the strict sense: While a ''semantic'' decipherment may reveal the intended meaning of the symbols in the inscription, it would not allow us to identify the underlying words or their language. A large part of the claims are clearly

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

, if not bordering on the

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

. 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 may refer to: *Syllable, a unit of speech sound, considered the building block of words **Syllabic consonant, a consonant that forms the nucleus of a syllable *Syllabary, writing system using symbols for syllables *Abugida, writing system ...

script, possibly mixed with ideogram, like the known scripts of the epoch (

Egyptian hieroglyph Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

Anatolian hieroglyph Anatolian hieroglyphs are an indigenous logographic script native to central Anatolia, consisting of some 500 signs. They were once commonly known as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language they encode proved to be Luwian, not Hittite, and the ter ...

Linear B Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...

). Some approaches attempt to establish a connection with known scripts, either the roughly contemporary

Cretan hieroglyphs Cretan hieroglyphs are a hieroglyphic writing system used in early Bronze Age Crete, during the Minoan era. They predate Linear A by about a century, but the two writing systems continued to be used in parallel for most of their history. , they ...

Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 to 1450 BC to write the hypothesized Minoan language or languages. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civil ...

native to Crete, or

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

Anatolian Anatolian or anatolica may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the region Anatolia * Anatolians, ancient Indo-European peoples who spoke the Anatolian languages * Anatolian High School, a type of Turkish educational institution * Anatol ...

hieroglyphics. Solutions postulating an independent Aegean script have also been proposed.

Linguistic interpretations

Greek

* George Hempl (1911) (interpretation as

Ionic Greek Ionic Greek ( grc, Ἑλληνικὴ Ἰωνική, Hellēnikē Iōnikē) was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic or Eastern dialect group of Ancient Greek. History The Ionic dialect appears to have originally spread from the Greek mainland ac ...

, syllabic writing) ** side A first; reading inwards; side A 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!) * F.M. Stawell (1911) (interpretation as

Homeric Greek Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the ''Iliad'', ''Odyssey'', and Homeric Hymns. It is a literary dialect of Ancient Greek consisting mainly of Ionic, with some Aeolic forms, a few from Arcadocypriot, and ...

, syllabic writing); ** side B first; reading inward: side A begins ... ** Not Ionic; B30 is non-sigmatic ; B6 is , with four long

alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...

s. * Steven R. Fischer (1988) (interpretation as a Greek dialect, syllabic writing); ** side A first; reading inwards; 02-12 reads E-qe 'hear ye'. ee book ''Glyph Breaker'' (1997) for full account* D. Ohlenroth (1996) (interpretation as a Greek dialect, alphabetic writing); ** side A first; reading outwards; numerous homophonic signs * B. Schwarz (1959) (interpretation as

Mycenean Greek Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient attested form of the Greek language, on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC), before the hypothesised Dorian invasion, often cited as the ''terminus ad quem'' for the ...

, syllabic writing) ** side A first; reading inwards. ** comparison with

as starting point. * A. 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 * K. & K. Massey (1998) (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 * M.G. Corsini (2008, 2010) (interpretation as proto-Ionic language, syllabic writing); side A first; reading outwards; (Italian) 1348 a.C. Apoteosi di Radamanto.

Unknown language

* G. Owens & J. Coleman (2014) (based on Cretan hieroglyphics, Minoan Linear A and Mycenaean Linear B); possibly prayer to a Minoan goddess.

"Proto-Ionic"

J. Faucounau (1975) considers the script as the original invention of a Cycladic and maritime Aegean people, the proto-Ionians, who had picked up the idea of a syllabic acrophonic script from Egypt at the time of the VI Dynasty. He interprets the text as " proto-Ionic" Greek in syllabic writing. Reading side A 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

in hand-crafted by Faucounau to suit his reading, among other things postulating change of

digamma Digamma or wau (uppercase: Ϝ, lowercase: ϝ, numeral: ϛ) is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet. It originally stood for the sound but it has remained in use principally as a Greek numeral for 6. Whereas it was originally called ''waw' ...

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 two books. 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

ic, reading inwards, side A 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

Luwian The Luwians were a group of Anatolian peoples who lived in central, western, and southern Anatolia, in present-day Turkey, during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. They spoke the Luwian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian sub-fa ...

document of land ownership, addressed to one ''na-sa-tu'' (" Nestor"; Dative ''na-sa-ti'') of ''hi-ya-wa'' (

Ahhiyawa The Achaeans (; grc, Ἀχαιοί ''Akhaioí,'' "the Achaeans" or "of Achaea") is one of the names in Homer which is used to refer to the Greeks collectively. The term "Achaean" is believed to be related to the Hittite term Ahhiyawa and t ...

). Toponyms read are ''pa-ya-tu'' (Phaistos), ''ra-su-ta'' (

Lasithi Lasithi ( el, Λασίθι) 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 and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the Thr ...

), ''mi-SARU'' (

Mesara The Messara Plain or simply Messara ( el, Μεσσαρά) is an alluvial plain in southern Crete, stretching about 50 km west-to-east and 7 km north-to-south, making it the largest plain in Crete. On a hill at its west end are the ruin ...

), ''ku-na-sa'' (

Knossos Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...

), ''sa₃-har-wa'' (

Scheria Scheria or Scherie (; grc, Σχερία or ), also known as Phaeacia () or Faiakia was a region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's ''Odyssey'' as the home of the Phaeacians and the last destination of Odysseus in his 10-year journey b ...

), ''ri-ti-na'' (

Rhytion Rhytium or Rhytion ( grc, Ῥύτιον), also called Rhytiassus or Rhytiassos, was a town of ancient Crete which Homer couples with Phaestus in the Catalogue of Ships in the ''Iliad'' as "well-peopled cities." The city belonged to the Gortynians. ...

). Another personal name read is ''i-du-ma-na'' ("

Idomeneus In Greek mythology, Idomeneus (; el, Ἰδομενεύς) was a Cretan king and commander who led the Cretan armies to the Trojan War, in eighty black ships. He was also one of the suitors of Helen, as well as a comrade of the Telamonian Ajax. ...

"), 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 anin Ahhiyawa."

Hittite

* Vladimir Georgiev (1976) (interpretation as

Hittite language Hittite (natively / "the language of Neša", or ''nešumnili'' / "the language of the people of Neša"), also known as Nesite (''Nešite'' / Neshite, Nessite), is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people ...

, syllabic writing); ** side A first; reading outwards;

Egyptian

Albert Cuny __NOTOC__ Albert Cuny (16 May 1869 – 21 March 1947) was a French linguist known for his attempts to establish phonological correspondences between the Indo-European and Semitic languages and for his contributions to the laryngeal theory. He w ...

(1914) (interpretation as an ancient

document, syllabic-ideographic writing);

Semitic

* K. Aartun (1992) (interpretation as a

Semitic language The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigrant a ...

, syllabic writing); ** side A first; reading outwards; * C.H. Gordon; *

J.G.P. Best Jan Gijsbert Pieter Best (born 29 August 1941, Grou, in the province Friesland of the Netherlands - 19-01-2023) is a Dutch pre- and protohistorian, comparative linguist, archaeologist, and author. For about 30 years, he was Professor at the Unive ...

Ugric

* Peter Z. Revesz (2016) (interpretation as an Ugric branch language within the family of

Finno-Ugric languages Finno-Ugric ( or ; ''Fenno-Ugric'') or Finno-Ugrian (''Fenno-Ugrian''), is a traditional grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except the Samoyedic languages. Its formerly commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is ba ...

); ** side A first; reading outwards; ** Interpretation as a hymn to a solar goddess.

Ideographic

* F.G. Gordon (1931) (interpretation as ideographic writing, translated into "Basque" Reading side B first. * Paolo Ballotta (1974) (interpretation as ideographic writing); * H. Haarmann (1990) (interpretation as ideographic writing);

References

Sources

* * * — describes Aarten's and Ohlenroth's decipherments. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Inscriptions in undeciphered writing systems Languages of Greece Minoan archaeology Pseudolinguistics