 Phaistos disk was
found in 1908 at the ruins of the earlier Minoan palace of Phaistos in
Crete (Greece). It is dated to 1700 BC, approximately. Its average diameter is 16 cm, it is 2.1 cm thick and it was made of clay. |
| Its mysterious
inscription constitute 241 symbols, 122 on side A and 119 on side B, in
spiral order. The 45 different symbols were actually printed on the clay and then the disk was fire-hardened. For that the Phaistos disk constitutes the most ancient piece of typography. |
| Numberless
attempts have been made so far to decipher the Phaistos disk, using the most diverse methods of study, leading to the most diverge conclusions about the purpose, the contents of its inscription and its creators. |
| The Phaistos
disk inscription was written in the syllabic writing system of an ancient
Greek dialect. According to many historians, the content of the text is
religious. |
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| The Palace
of Phaistos lies on the East end of Kastri hill at the end of the Mesara
plain in Central Southern Crete. To the north lies Psiloritis, the highest mountain in Crete. |
| The Palace was excavated
by the Italian archaeologist Halbherr at the beginning of the 20th century. The Old Palace was built on the site at the beginning of the Protopalatial Period (c.1900-1700 BCE). |
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| Twice
it was severely damaged by earthquakes and rebuilt so three distinct phases
are visible to archaeologists. When the Old Palace was finally destroyed, almost certainly by an earthquake, a new palace was built on the site. |
| Fortunately for us,
the builders of the new palace did not destroy all traces of the old.
In fact much of the old palace was covered over at the time of the building of the new palace in order to level the ground. The Palace of Phaistos, like all the other palaces except for Zakros, is oriented north-south. To the south of the Propylaia is to be found the Palace storage area. |
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