The Phaistos Disk

[Chris Scott]

Very glad to see a thread has been started on the Voynich manuscript which has long interested me
I find intriguing any undeciphered script, such as Etruscan, the Rongorongo boards of Easter Island and the Indus Valley script of Mohenjo Daro.
Any thoughts on the Phaistos Disk, which again I find facinating?
Some links for those unacquianted with this object:

http://www.crystalinks.com/phaistosdisc.html

http://www.interkriti.org/culture/festos/phaist2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaistos_Disc_decipherment_claims

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaistos_Disc

and one suggesting it is a hoax or fake

http://archaeology.about.com/b/2008/06/27/is-the-phaistos-disk-a-hoax.htm

[Chris Scott]

Just to clarify (!) things, I found this explanation of the disk:

The Disk is a mathematical lemma of parallel lines, surely arising originally from the use of astronomy for geodetic purposes, where convergence of longitudes toward the poles is a problem for geodetic survey.

So now you know!

[Dan Norder]

I think the last time this came up I posted that I lean toward the idea that it was meant as a game board. The Minoans and the Ancient Egyptians had a lot of contact, and the Egyptians had many examples of game boards in the shape of a serpent spiral.

Here's a photo of one such board I took at the Oriental Institute in Chicago:



The basic shape of it does bear some resemblance to the Phaistos Disk, and the images on the Disk seem kind of pictorial or perhaps even faux hieroglyphic:



Of course the serpent shape was used for variety of things at the time, as it was of extreme religious significance to many of these ancient cultures, so the idea that it was a calendar (the snake frquently represented the path of the sun in the sky) also could work.

[Mike Covell]

I lean towards the idea that it is a form of calendar, but read somewhere, that it was a tablet recording who owned what, like an ancient census.

The only thing that bothered me about that theory, was "Why go to all the bother?"

[sdreid]

I think it's a fruitcake left over from some ancient holiday.

[The Good Michael]

I want to compare this with Aboriginal art for some reason. It doesn't look like it, but it looks like a map of landmarks and camps and trails and such, much like Aboriginal Art and songs include. An Aboriginal painting of territory wouldn't look like a map as we know it, but would need the oral traditions set in song to really understand it. If we can get some wax cylinders that match up with the disc, we may have something.

Cheers,

Mike

[Bob Hinton]

Disc

This is weird. I wear a silver copy of this disc around my neck. I think it's an early form of Monopoly. I've got three pyramids and a palace on the Nile Delta pay up!