An Alternate Translation
Fascinating, Mana.
Here is another proposed explanation/translation. I have not corrected spelling and grammatical errors.
"The Disk of Phaistos (Phaestos)
About 1750 B.C. somebody has given an account of the expedition of a group of people who lived in the mountains and went in search of flat land. This report has been preserved on a disk of clay and was found in Crete at the beginning of the 20th century during excavations of the palace of Phaistos. The fact that the disk was found in a room where also some sacred objects were stored, cannot be used as a solid proof that the disk itself is a sacred object, as long as we don't know who put
it there and when. It is quite possible that the disk was discovered many centuries later by a Greek ruler, who decided to put it in a special room together with other antiquities, or who himself, like some people now, thought the disk was a sacred object, because he also could not read the script of Hittite origen.
At the moment the disk is shown in the Archaeological Museum of Iraklion. The script consists of pictures in relief, arranged spirally. For a period of 90 years many attempts were made to decipher the script, alas without success, because, among other things, it was considered to be of Greek origin, (linear A script) and had to be read from the left to the right. It also was assumed that the pictures represented letters or syllables. The script probably comes from Asia Minor (Anatolia) and has to be read from the right to the left and from below upwards, the usual direction in the Middle East. That appears from some inscriptions found in Mallia (Crete) and dated to about 1700 B.C. The inscriptions are in Greek script and so they have to be read from the left to the right. On these inscriptions are 2 pictograms of the same meaning as those on the disk, but they are put in the reversed order. Here we are dealing with a simple form of picture-writing, a script composed of pictograms and used by the Hittites. Everybody could read it, independent of the language spoken. Probably this script was widely known and used in international
contacts. I found several pictures of the disk in the writings of the Aztecs, like that of the priest with a kind of cockscomb. Besides, the men seem to wear a close fitting cap that can also be seen in images from an old S. American (?) culture. (Picture script has to be read in the direction in which people are walking or looking,
so, in this case from the right to the left. Egyptian hieroglyphics are also read in that direction). It is quite possible that the author(s) of this report wrote it originally on the disk of a tree trunk or carved it in the wood and that it later on was copied on a disk of clay. The disk was baked, so that it could not be lost.
[The Philistines were not the original inhabitants of Crete. According to the Bible, Joshua 13: 1-3, they lived in the Middle-East and were chased away from their homelands by the Israelites. They (partly) fled to Crete about 1200 BC.]
I hope that at the beginning of this new millennium we shall succeed in resolving at least one problem of the past century, with the help of my translation.
The report starts in the center on the side that consists of 31 sections and continues on the reverse.
Translation.
1. In the royal house .... is a (young) prince who didn't yet come into power. His specialty is the scull.
2. We, a group of subjects, start by marching through the woods.
3. We have got with us metal ( ? ), a barbed spear of metal, fire and some idols of the god of the flat land which cannot yet take effect, because we are still without the protection of a priest.
4. The prince with the sculls becomes the head of the group.
5. He brings with him fire, a "fork" [that gives him access to the god Shamash] and a hammer.
6. We go on through the wood and now we have the protection of a priest.
7. He protects us indicating the best route by means of a horn and the flight of eagles. The route leads to the south with a slight deviation to the west.
8. A woman is accompanying us, she brings with her a "fork" and a "saucer", [both give her access to certain gods], and timber.
9. We need the god of the flat land to find flat land for timber (timber-work), for the poultry and for cages. The protection of the priest is a help to us.
10. The route leads to the east, as the priest, protecting us, indicates by means of a horn (horns) and the flight of eagles.
11. One group goes on through pasture-land (wet land).
12. They have timber, a hammer and sculls for a boat and cross the water. They go upstream. The water is smooth, the priest animates the god of the flat land.
13. The route leads west, as the priest, protecting us, indicates by means of a horn (horns) and the flight of eagles.
14. There is (wood for) a hammer and there is fish.
15. We have got with us metal ( ?) a barbed spear of metal, fire and some idols of the god of the flat land which now take effect, because there is the protection of the priest.
16. The route leads to the west, as the priest, protecting us, indicates by means of a horn (horns) and the flight of eagles.
17. Our group (also) goes then through wetland (pasture-land).
18. We have timber, a hammer and sculls for a boat and cross the water. We go upstream. The water is smooth, the priest animates the god of the flat land.
19. A boat is shipwrecked due to the god of the weather.
20. The prince from our royal house has survived, just as the hammer and the poultry, we still have the protection of the priest.
21. There is land with a well and clay, we ramble through the neighborhood.
22. There is fire for a "fork" of clay [to get access to the god] and we are protected by the priest.
23. By means of fire, a horn and the flight of eagles is indicated the direccion. The route leads to the south with a slight deviation to the east.
24. [The first pictogram is illegible]. There is the timber (timber-work) of the woman and the protection of the priest.
25. After a fight we take possession of a peninsula of this shape. It is flat.
26. There is protection thanks to an island, [it is Chios], the water is smooth.
27. There is fish and there is a well. We dismiss the priest as our protector.
28. We call upon the god of the starry sky and are guided by the constellation Canis. This is its position. A few years pass by.
29. We are on an island. This is the position of Canis.
30. There is protection thanks to a well and there is a structure (pigeon-house).
31. There is (we need) timber and we go into the woods under protection of the priest.
32(1). We are on an island.
33(2). We take the boat and go downstream. The water hammers at the boat. We call upon the god of the starry sky and are guided by the constellation Canis.
34(3). We reach a piece of land. The water hammers at the land. There is fire thanks to the woman and she pushes the priest aside.
35(4). There is land with timber due to the god of the weather. The god of the vegetation is operating here, the land is very fertile (?).
36(5). The other group fights for the possession of land that isn't very accessible. This is the position of Canis. Here some settle down.
37(6). There is a structure (pigeon-house), there is timber and (wood for) a hammer. There is land.
38(7). We are on an island, there is land.
39(8). There is (wood for) fire and timber and land.
40(9). We take the boat and go upstream. The water hammers at the boat. We call upon the god of the starry sky and the god of the flat land.
41(10). Our group fights for the possession of land that isn't very accessible. We are not that strong. This is the position of Canis.
Here some settle down.
42(11). We are on an island. This is the position of Canis.
43(12). We go through a wood and after a fight we take possession of it. This is the position of Canis.
44(13). The other group fights for the possession of land that isn't very accessible. This is the position of Canis.
45(14). We go on through flat land that is very fertile (?), thanks to the priest.
46(15). There is fish due to the god of the weather. There is poultry and there is fire thanks to the woman.
47(16). We go on through water abounding in fish. This is the position of Canis.
48(17). There is timber and (wood for) cages and arrows.
49(18). There is flint to make fire. There are some structures ( pigeon-houses). This is the position of Canis.
50(19). We go through the territory of the prince and take the boat. We go upstream, the water is smooth.
51(20). There is a well in a place that isn't very accessible, the priest uses a horn.
52(21). There is fire at the well.. There is a structure (pigeon-house) and land.
53(22). The boat touches rocky ground. We use the barbed spear to make it float again. We decide to settle down.
54(23). There is (we need) timber and we go into the wood. We reach a piece of land with a cleft. [This is the cleft they call in the 20th century A.D. the gorge of Samaria ].
55(24). There is fish due to the god of the weather, we go on through the woods.
56(25). There is a piece of sandy soil. Take care, there is danger. There is timber (and wood) for the hammer and for arrows.
57(26). There is protection thanks to the flint, there is a structure (pigeon-house) and there is fish.
58(27). There is flat land to put ashore the boat (boats).
59(28). We have a male child, a hammer a spear and a priest.
60(29). There is (wood for) fire and (or on) the island, the water is smooth.
61(30). We are going to settle down on land with a well and we have the protection of the priest."
By Hedwig Roolvink. Taken from
this site.
