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CHAPTER 5
DECIPHERMENT OF THE PHAISTOS DISC
“The Power of God Protects the King”

5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 CRETE AND THE NILE DELTA
5.3 GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION
5.4 THE SYMBOLS
5.5 DECIPHERMENT AND TRANSLATION
5.6 THE FRONT SIDE
5.7 THE BACK SIDE
5.8 REPEATED PASSAGES
5.9 ELUCIDATION OF THE TEXT
5.10 DISCUSSION

Dr. R.M. de Jonge ©, drsrmdejonge@hotmail.com


SUMMARY
The Phaistos Disc contains an ideographic script, independent of any language. The script
has been deciphered, and turns out to describe the religion of Crete. The front side
describes a first generation of 31 years, and the back side describes a second generation of
30 years. Religious symbols are identified for the suppreme God, the Cat-god, the Fish-
god, and the removal of the sin. The religion is closely related to that of Egypt. The disc
also deals with government. Its shape symbolizes the “wheel of the law”. The most
important passage reads: “the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt”. The
King, which occurs 19 times, is the most important symbol on the disc.

5.1 INTRODUCTION
On both sides of the disc the symbols are applied one after the other in the shape of a
spiral. The linear arrangement of the signs points directly to a script. The text appears to be
devided into passages. When looking from the edge towards the center of the disc, the
majority of the signs are in an upright position, so, we should consider the text in this
direction. When following the signs from the center along the spiral to the outside, the vast
majority of people and animals look to the front. So, we should read the text in this
direction. This is counterclockwise, against the daily movement of the Sun. In Figs.5.3 &
5.4 the passages are numbered in this direction.

At some passages, the first symbol is accented with a slanting piece of line at the bottom,
showing the start of a new paragraph. At the end of the text at each side is a vertical piece
of line with dots. Side A, with the flower, is probably the front side. It has 5 turns, and 5
dots at the end of the text. Side B is probably the back side. It has 4 turns, and 4 dots at the
end of the text. On side B is an extra dot at the end of the spiral shaped line, giving a total
of 4+1= 5 dots. It appears to indicate that side A with 5 dots is slightly more important,
suggesting that side A is the front side, indeed.

Because of an injury on the edge at the front side, one symbol in passage A24 cannot be
identified. In view of the many repetitions of symbols, it is probable that on this spot the
"lid" was situated (Fig.5.2, #17), because the series "lid, square, Queen" occurred earlier in
passage A8 on the disc. This conclusion is important for the translation.

The text of the disc is devided in a number of paragraphs (Table 2.1). Because of small
damages and obscurities the numbers of paragraphs on both sides are hard to establish. On
the edge of the front side (Fig.5.3), paragraph-lines are just visible at the "flower" in
passage A20, and with difficulty at the "glove" in passage A25 (see Ref.1). As a
consequence the number of paragraphs on this side (inner part and edge) amounts to 7+4=
11.

On the edge of the back side (Fig.5.4), a small paragraph-line is visible at the "messenger"
in passage B19 (see Ref.1), but because of damage there is some doubt whether the "boat"
in passage B22 has one or not. When reading the translated text of Table 5.5 of this
chapter, the preliminary conclusion is: probably not. As a consequence the number of
paragraphs on this side probably amounts to 6+3= 9. So, the total number of paragraphs on
the whole disc appears to be 11+9= 20. On side B the paragraph-line of the "cover" in
passage B11 points exactly to the end of passage 11+9= 20. This strongly confirms the
total number of paragraphs on the disk, of course: 20. So, it appears this problem has been
solved, which is of some importance for a number of chapters in this book.

5.2 CRETE AND THE NILE DELTA
The number of passages on side A is 31, corresponding to the latitude of the northern Nile
Delta, the center of the Northern Egyptian Empire, at 31°N. It is the economic center of
Egypt, the greatest civilization on Earth. The number of turns on side B amounts to 4,
confirming the northern Nile Delta, 4° below Crete, where the Phaistos Disc was made, at
35-4= 31°N (Refs.26-40).

The number of passages on side B is 30, corresponding to the latitude of the southern Nile
Delta, at 30°N. It is confirmed that the economic center of the civilization of Egypt is
located there. The number of turns on side A amounts to 5, confirming the southern Nile
Delta, 5° below Crete, where the Phaistos Disc was found, at 35-5= 30°N (Refs.41-48).

In total, the Phaistos Disc possesses 45 different symbols (Figs.4.3 & 5.2, Table 2.2),
corresponding to the sailing direction from the SE Cape of Crete to the northern Nile
Delta, 45°SE. The spiral on the front side contains 5 turns, encoding the sailing distance
involved, 5 moiras= 5°= 555km, or 5x60= 300 NM (1 Egyptian moira= 1 degree of lati-
tude= 111km, or 60 Nautical Miles). The megalithic monument of Barnénez in Brittany,
France, shows the first use of latitudes, already c.4700 BC. The passage grave of Kerca-
do, also in Brittany, shows the first use of moiras, between distance lines, dating from
c.4500 BC (Refs.26-28,45).

5.3 GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION
Table 2.2 provides a survey of the 45 different symbols shown in Figs.4.3 & 5.2, and the
frequency of occurrence on the disc (Refs.1-10). It can be calculated that symbols which
are related to government, like palace, King, Queen, crown, and scroll of the law, occur 33
times in total. This is (33/242)x100= 14% of the total number of signs. The symbols of
temple, grave, corpse, mummy, boat, waterway, and faith, which are all related to religion,
occur 43 times. However, like in Egypt, all animals, like cat, ram, falcon, dove, fish, and
bee, which occur 29 times, have a religious meaning, too. In total, this is 43+29= 72
symbols, or (72/242)x100= 17% of the total number of signs. In the old days, government
and religion were intimately interwoven. On the disc, 14%+17%= 31% of the symbols are
directly related to these subjects. In reality this percentage is even higher. From this it
turns out the disc deals with these issues in the first place. We should also realize that the
majority of the important ancient texts deal with government and religion, especially when
they are written in hieroglyphs. The disc was found in the Palace of Phaistos. This was a
political and religious center in the first place.

The whole disc consists of "circles and half-circles", the Egyptian hieroglyphs for "to
rule". Side A possesses 31 passages, corresponding to 31 years, or the duration of a first
government generation. Side B has 30 passages, corresponding to 30 years, or the duration
of a second government generation. The Disc of Phaistos shows, the headlines of govern-
ment in Crete extended over a period of 2 generations, or 31+30= 61 years. The important
symbols of the "kings grave" and the "palace" have two equal parts, and they both occur
twice, confirming this four times. The "temple" possesses a lower and a upper half, illu-
strating this too. The "waterway", or the “course of the law”, also has two equal parts,
confirming this again. Note, that this main devision equals that of the much later Bible, the
oldest book on Earth, consisting of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
CH.5: DECIPHERMENT OF DISC
Fig.5.1 The Front side (A) and the Back side (B) of the Phaistos Disc.
                    (Crete, c.1458 BC) (Courtesy A. Kofou, Ref.56)

5.4 THE SYMBOLS
Figure 5.2 shows a table of the 45 different symbols of the disc (Refs.11-22). We will
propose the meanings of these symbols by number in the list below (see also Table 5.1).
However, the different meanings do not only depend on the drawings of the individual
signs, but also on the context in which they occurr on the disc. This means, that not all
meanings can be fully understood at this stage.

1: This symbol appears to be a running man, a runner, in any case a man in movement. In
the text he often turns out to be a messenger, spreading news.
2: This symbol seems to be a plumed head, in the text of a King. However, it should be
translated by “the King”, sometimes “the new King”. It cannot be a warrior of the “Sea
People” (c.1190 BC), shown in the temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu, Upper Egypt,
as sometimes suggested (Refs.1-8), because the Cretan disc dates from c.1458 BC (Ch.2),
which is two and a half centuries earlier.
3: It is the head of a man, with a figure eight on his cheek. Later in this chapter we will
explain this is an ordinary man, a man of the people, just somebody, or someone.
4: This man has his hands tied behind his back, so he must be a captive, a prisoner, or a
criminal.
5: Due to the large head and short legs, it must be a child, a little boy. However, in the
text it turns out to be a King’s child, a Royal Son.
6: With the pendulous breasts and the long hair, it is a woman, a woman with lowered
dress in fighting trim. In the religious text it turns out to be a virgin, or the mother of God,
often best translated by “the Queen”.
7: It is a cover to preserve food, so it may be translated by abstractions related to it, like to
cover, contain, conserve, stick to, cling to, hold to, be tenacious of, take care of, provide
for, carefully, stimulate, supply, or even well got-up, to learn to, or to lead to.
8: Glove, gauntlet or bandaged hand, but also abstractions like to lead, learn, teacher,
school, education.
9: Tiara similar to those in Hittite petroglyphs (Refs.1-3); crown, crowning, nobility.
10: Pen, burin, engraving tool, such as for moist clay, to engrave in earthen-ware, to
engrave, or the abstractions to fix down, to show, or to proclaim.
11: Bow (to shoot an arrow), instrument (to give direction), or the abstraction, like
institute (for course of action), or even consciously.
12: Round shield, to protect, to defend, sovereignty, or holy.
13: It looks like a club with knobs, or a cudgel, but it is a scroll of the law (with five
ties), or abstractions like with the force of the law, by force, according to the law, or the
strong law.
14: Palace, in the text sometimes new palace, royal palace.
15: Mattock, pick, battle-axe, battle, to battle. Similar to bronze mattocks found in
Crete (Ref.1).
16: Saw, to saw, or to make. Egyptian saws look like this (Refs.1,11-14).
17: Lid, wooden lid of pan or vase, tool, tool for forming, cutting leather, but in the
text also abstractions related to it, like instrument for cultivation, or higher education.
18: Looks like boomerang, accolade, or arrow, but it is a carpenter’s square;
abstractions are leads to, that something happens, or to plan.
19: Carpenter’s plane, planed, to plane, to smooth, or to improve.
20: Looks like dolium (horn-shell), but is mummy-head, mummy, embalmed corpse,
dead body, prepared for afterlife, sometimes: sacred.
21: Groundplan of King’s burial chambers, with coffins in some of them, Egyptian
Royal tomb; Kingship theory, afterlife preparation. A clay seal from the first palace at
Phaistos has a similar impression (Ref.1).
22: This sign looks like a stool or stand, but it has the exact shape of the Cancer
Constellation. The Tropic of Cancer runs through Egypt at 23°N, and is a symbol of the
Egyptian Sunreligion. For that reason it is the symbol for religion or faith. In the text it
is sometimes translated by doubt, hesitation, or to waver.
23: Hammer, chisel, to hack, to chisel, hacked, chiseled, but also abstractions like heard
by the people, thorougly educate, or to raise.
24: It may look like a birdcage, coop, Lycian tomb, or Pagoda, but it represents an
exotic or mystic temple, a Punt hut, or new temple. It has some similarities to a cage-
like Linear B ideogram of a later time period (Ref.1).
25: Ship, boat, fishing, trading, journey, but also difficult abstractions like discussion,
argumentation, language, or sometimes education.
26: Horn, power, or authority.
27: Corpse, people's skin, dead body, ghost, the death, or the end, but in a religious
context also: takes away the sin, spreading knowledge. (In other Chapters it might mean
clothes, oxhide, or copper.)
28: Hoof, lower leg of bull, bull, or with the leg of the bull, so energetic, strong, with
great drive. Five seals with these bull’s legs have been found in Crete (Ref.1).
29: Cat, head of a cat, or Cat-god. Images of cats, made by impressing a seal, can be
seen on some vases at Malia, Crete (Refs.1-3).
30: Ram, head of a ram, as of a ram, to ram, or the abstraction: royalty.
31: Falcon (or eagle) with serpent in its talons, in many cultures abstraction for God, in
Egypt the SunGod, supreme over two lesser gods, Horus and Osiris. The Kings or
Pharoahs were substitutes for these two gods (Refs.26-28).
32: Dove, dove of peace, or its abstraction: peace.
33: Fish, tuna fish or porpoise, in the text often: Fish-god.
34: Bee, honey, or its abstractions: sweet, soft, mild.
35: Branch, branch with leaves, tree, wood, oar, or their difficult abstractions in the
text, like mature, full size, sedge, standing tall, good crops, rich, money, government.
Upper Egypt was called the Land of the Wood, or the Reed.
36: Vine-tendril, wine grapes, wine, or the abstractions like drunken, drunkenness,
merriment, or tipsy.
37: Papyrus stalk, papyrus, paper, but also grown-up, mature, or to rise. Lower Egypt was
called the Land of the Papyrus. This Papyrus looks like those on Theban wallpaintings
(Ref.1).
38: Flower, rosette, but also the abstraction: please. Parallels are common in Minoan
art.
39: Arrow with feathers, or the abstractions like directed, pointed, to direct, or on
purpose.
40: A movable screen, draught-screen, or the abstractions related to it, like secret, or
hidden.
41: Double flute, fluting, or the abstractions happy, free, in freedom, or to relax.
42: Scraper, tool to rasp, to rasp, to shape, to prickle, to tickle.
43: Grater, triangular rasp, special rasp, or the difficult abstraction in the text related to
it, like enthusiasm, or élan.
44: Chopper, little axe, or the abstractions in the text, like justice, the law, or authority.
45: (Double) waterway, water, pathway, travel, or the abstractions course of life,
curriculum vitae, course, the course of justice, the course of the law.
Fig.5.2 Table of the signs of the Phaistos Disc
                     (Crete, c.1458 BC) (Courtesy L. Godart, Ref.1)


TABLE 5.1

THE VARIOUS MEANINGS OF THE SYMBOLS ON THE PHAISTOS DISC
(Fig.5.2) (c.1458 BC)

1   Messenger, runner, man in movement, execution, to spread, (to feed)
2   King, head of a King, new King
3   Man, head of a man, ordinary man, somebody, someone
4   Prisoner
5   Child, little boy, King's child, Royal Son
6   Queen, woman with lowered dress in fighting trim, virgin, mother of God
7   Cover, conserve, stimulate, stick to, cling to, hold to, be tenacious of, take care of,
    provide for, supply, well got-up, to learn to, to lead to, (mountain)
8 Glove, gauntlet, lead, learn, teacher, school, education
9 Tiara, crown, crowning
10 Burin (also for moist clay), to engrave in earthenware, to engrave, to fix down, to
   show, to proclaim
11 Bow (to shoot an arrow), instrument (to give direction), institute (for course of action),
   consciously
12 Round shield, to protect, to defend, sovereignty, holy
13 Scroll of the law, with the force of the law, by force of law, according to the law, the
   strong law
14 Palace, new palace
15 Mattock, pick, battle-axe, battle, to battle
16 Saw, to saw, to make
17 Lid, wooden lid, best instrument for forming, best instrument for cultivation, higher
   education
18 Carpenter's square, arrow, leads to, that something happens
19 Plane, planed, to plane, to smooth, to improve
20 Mummy, mummy-head, dolium (horn-shell), embalmed corpse, dead body
21 (Groundplan of) Cretan (Kings-)grave, Egyptian (Kings-)grave, theory
22 Religion, doubt, hesitation, to waver, Cancer Constellation
23 Hammer, chisel, to hack, to chisel, hacked, chiseled, heard by the people, thorougly
   educate, to raise
24 Temple (exotic, mystic, of Punt), new temple
25 Boat, ship, discussion, argumentation, language, education
26 Horn, power, authority
27 Corpse, people's skin, dead body, gost, the death, takes away the sin, the end
28 Hoof, lower leg of bull, bull, with the leg of the bull, energetic, with great drive
29 Cat, head of a cat, Cat-god
30 Ram, head of a ram, as of a ram, to ram
31 Falcon (or eagle) with serpent in its talons, God, SunGod
32 Dove, dove of peace, peace
33 Fish, tuna-fish, Fish-god
34 Bee, honey, sweet, soft, mild
35 Branch, branch with leaves, tree, wood, oar, government, money, full size, mature,
   sedge, of Upper Egypt
36 Vine-tendril, wine grapes, wine, drunken, drunkenness
37 Papyrus stalk, papyrus, paper, grown-up, mature, to rise, of Lower Egypt
38 Flower, rosette, please
39 Arrow with stabilisation feathers, directed, pointed, to direct, on purpose
40 Draught-screen, secret, hidden
41 (Double) flute, fluting, happy, free, in freedom, to relax
42 Scraper, rasp, to rasp, to shape, to prickle, to tickle
43 Grater, triangular rasp, special rasp, enthousiasm, élan
44 Chopper, little axe, justice, the law
45 (Double) waterway, course of life, curriculum vitae, course, the course of justice, the
   course of the law


Some important symbols
The King, portrayed with hair on the head, has the highest frequency of occurrence (Table
2.2), 19 times, so he is the most important symbol of the disc (Figs.5.2-5.4). In all cases he
is the last sign of the passages involved, and he is the last one mentioned on both front and
back side. Literally, he has the last word. The Queen, occurring 4 times, is also portrayed
with hair on the head. Together they occur 19+4= 23 times, encoding the Southern
Egyptian Empire, at the holy Tropic of Cancer, at 23°N. This is the center of the
Sunreligion (Refs.26-40).

In many cultures the falcon (or eagle), with a serpent in its talons, is God. This symbol
occurs in passage A23, confirming the center of the Sunreligion, at 23°N. The serpent has
the shape of the two sides of the Phaistos Disc. This circular disc is a representation of
Maat, the Egyptian god for law and order in the universe. It symbolizes the “wheel of the
law”. On the disc the god Maat is represented by the sign of the circular “shield”,
occurring 17 times, but also by the “course of the law”, occurring 6 times, together
forming 17+6= 23 units, again symbolizing the center of the Sunreligion, at 23°N
(Refs.41-48).

The serpent in the talons of the falcon has been painted or tatood on the head of the "man"
(another sign, #3). It means this man is subjected to both God and Maat. For this reason he
represents an “ordinary man” of the people, portrayed bold, without hair, just like the
“messenger”, and the “prisoner”. The importance of Maat is emphasized by the presence
of the "scroll of the law", depicted in the shape of a club with five ties. The ties have been
layed in the cords, that keep the scroll together. Such cords have been retrieved during
excavations. According to Aristoteles, the Kings of Crete were very enlightened rulers and
capable layers. The laws of Crete even had some fame (Refs.17-25).

5.5 DECIPHERMENT AND TRANSLATION
The secret for a successful decipherment is to approach the problem from as many sides as
possible, to rearrange the whole process in the right order, and to hope to find a solution in
the end. First we discovered the importance of Egypt from the number of passages at both
sides. By studying the individual symbols, we discovered that government and religion are
the major topics of the disc. This combination is a logical one, because nearby Egypt
possessed an older, and more important civilization than Crete.

Keeping this in mind, the next thing to do is to give a literal translation of all symbols
(Tables 5.2 and 5.4), starting in the center on the front side (Refs.15,16,20). If we have to
make decisions, we choose for meanings in the mentioned areas of government and
religion, related to Egypt. It is important to have some general knowlegde of these areas,
of course. Typical Egyptian symbols are not present on the disc, confirming its origin from
Crete. When the primary meanings of the signs are placed in the right order of the disc, it
does not lead to a comprehensible text. However, this changes for the better when taking
into account the abstractions related to these symbols (from Table 5.1), as shown in Tables
5.3 and 5.5.

Front side
During this process an important discovery was made. There is one passage, ocurring to
the tune of three times, which must be very important. Passages A10, A13, and A16 each
contain the identical combination of "horn, falcon, shield, King", where the “falcon”
means “God”. This combination does not immediately lead to a comprehensible sentence.
However, when the two new symbols, besides those of “God” and the “King”, are
replaced by suitable abstractions, it does. The "horn of a bull" may mean "power", and the
"shield" may mean "to protect". So, the correct translation will be: "The power of God
protects the King".
This is a major step in the right direction, because it is an important, complete, and signifi-
cant sentence within one passage. It suggests that each passage on the disc will be one sen-
tence, which makes sense. This result is encouraging, because we are making progress.
However, most important is the confirmation that the chosen read-direction on the disc
was the right one. It also confirms the disc is about government and religion.

After this first sentence, other sentences may be constructed. Passage A7 contains the
similar series of symbols "shield, horn, falcon", which can be translated by the sentence
"Protect the power of God". Passage A30 contains the symbols "shield, screen, temple". A
"draught-screen" is used to hide yourself when changing clothes. Probably, the suitable
abstraction related to this symbol is "hidden". So, the correct translation will be: "Protect
the hidden temple". Note, we now obtained two other sentences, each in one passage.

Back side
Passage B16 on the back side contains the symbols "messenger, fish, cat". The so-called
"messenger" can be an ordinary, active man, and everybody knows a cat likes to eat fish.
So the correct translation will be: "Give the cat the fish to eat". Passage B20 contains the
symbols "screen, vine-tendril, horn, King". The appropriate abstraction related to the
"vine-tendril" is more difficult, but the word "merriment" will probably do the job. The
other symbols have already been used, so the whole process of translation does not
become increasingly difficult. The correct translation will be: "The hidden merriment is
the power of the King".

Passage B25 contains the symbols "grater, square, hammer, saw". In this passage it is
important to recognise, that the "carpenter’s square" resembles a kind of "arrow" or
"accolade". It should be translated by combinations like "leads to" or "results in". So, the
correct translation will be: "The grater is used to make the hammer and the saw". Next
passage B26 contains the symbols of "shield, mummy, temple, fish". The "mummy" is a
new symbol, and should be translated by "death", also because it fits religious meanings.
The symbol of the "fish" is kind of special here. In passage B16 it meant plain "fish", but
here it turns out to have the meaning of "Fish-god". Even today some people associate
God with a fish. This meaning cannot be predicted in advance, but turns out to be probable
after translation of the whole disc. So, the correct meaning of the passage turns out to be:
"Protect the death-temple of the Fish-god".

The focus of the text
The identical passages A3 and A15 on the front side are the most important ones of the
disc. A3 is placed right in the center of the first paragraph. The symbol sequence "grave,
papyrus, branch, corpse, corpse, shield, King" can only be translated using abstractions.
The "papyrus" is the official symbol of Lower Egypt, and the "branch" is the symbol of
"Upper Egypt". The "shield" means "to protect", as we have seen before, but it can also
mean "holy", in other words "which should be protected at all costs". The primary
translation reads: "The grave of the holy dead Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt".
However, the abstraction related to “grave” is “theory”, and a people cannot live in peace
with a dead King; it needs a living King, of course. So, when taking into account the
resurrection of both Kings, we arrive at the final translation: "The Theory of the Holy
Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt".

The orientation of side A, within Figure 5.3, is a logical one, also geographically. So, the
last passage A31 finishes in the south. Note, that both important and equal passages A3
and A15 point “to the west, to the other side of the waters, to the land where the Sun sets”.
It is the location of the Realm of the Dead. It emphasizes the resurrection of the Kings, and
the religious meaning of the text on the disc (Refs.26-28).

The first paragraph
Passage A1 has the combination "flower, man, burin". When a husband gives a bunch of
flowers to his wife, he always starts his comment with the word "Please, ...". So, this is the
correct abstraction related to the first symbol. The "burin" is an instrument to engrave, for
instance in earthenware, but here we prefer a more general expression for the engraving in
the hearts of the people. So, the best translation reads: "Please, proclaim loudly".

Passage A2 has the combination "messenger, scroll of the law". The "messenger" clearly
runs around spreading a message, and the "scroll of the law" looks like a club. So, the
correct translation will be: "Spread by force of law". We now arrive at the correct
translation of the first, important paragraph: "Please proclaim loudly, and spread by force
of law, the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt. Please, proclaim it
loudly." This paragraph is by far the most important one of the whole disc. (So far, we
have translated 14 passages in total.)

Some symbols are turned over, others are even upside down, in both cases to clearify the
text. On the front side the different positions of the "falcon" illustrate that only "God" is
able to see things from all perpectives. In passage A28 two cats are still in normal position,
but in the next passage A29 the cat is upside down. This is because the text deals with his
course of life, where the cat endures a lot. On the back side in passage B13 the cat is
toppled over, because the text deals with his merriment. In passages B16 and B18 the cats
are upside down, because the text deals with the mature Fish-god and his temple, where
the cat endures a lot, again.

When continuing in this way, it turns out the back side is more difficult to translate than
the front side. The abstractions related to the symbols are here more difficult to establish.
A script based upon abstractions of symbols is called an ideographic script, and the
symbols are called ideograms (Refs.1-14). So, the script of the Phaistos Disc is universal,
not related to any language. This is a very important conclusion. In fact, it contains the
message that the religion of Crete was not considered to be a local religion, but a universal
religion, of importance for the whole of mankind. Many researchers, trying to decipher the
Phaistos Disc, started with the assumption that the symbols are related to a language. Soon
they gave up, because in that case the total number of symbols on the disc turns out to be
far too low to be successful.

5.6 THE FRONT SIDE
The literal decipherment of the front side (side A) is shown in Table 5.2, and the correct
translation of it is shown in Table 5.3. Here, we will show both processes, decipherment
and translation, for all the individual passages.

§1: Passage 1 of paragraph 1 contains the symbols “flower, man, burin”, which means
“Please, engrave in earthenware/”, or better “Please, proclaim loudly,”.
Passage 2 contains the symbols “messenger, scroll of the law”, which means “and spread
by force of law,” which is correct.
Passage 3 contains the symbols “grave, papyrus, branch, corpse, corpse, shield, King”,
which means “the grave of the holy paper and wooden King's deads/”, or better, “the
Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt.”
Passage 4 contains the symbols “flower, man, burin”, which means “please, engrave it in
earthenware/”, or better, “Please, proclaim it loudly.”

§2: Passage 5 of paragraph 2 contains the symbols “branch, plane, hammer”, which means
“Cut it in shaved wood/”, or better, “Fix it down in writing,”
Passage 6 contains the symbols “messenger, scroll of the law, shield, King”, which means
“and spread by force of law the sovereignty of the King.”, which is correct.
Passage 7 contains the symbols “shield, horn, falcon”, which means “defend the power of
the SunGod.”, or better “Defend the power of God.”
Passage 8 contains the symbols “plane, lid, square, Queen”, which means “shave the
wooden lid that leads to the Queen/”, or better “Improve higher education for raising the
Queen.”
Passage 9 contains the symbols “corpse, square, dove, palace, corpse, shield, King”, which
means “the death leads to the dove of peace in the dead palace of the holy King/”, or better
“Taking away the sin leads to peace in the Palace of the Holy King.”, or still better
“Spreading knowledge leads to peace in the Palace of the Holy King”.

§3: Passage 10 of paragraph 3 contains the symbols “horn, falcon, shield, King”, which
means “The power of the SunGod protects the King/”, or better “The power of God
protects the King.”

§4: Passage 11 of paragraph 4 contains the symbols “messenger, hoof”, which means
“Spread it with great drive,”, which is correct.
Passage 12 contains the symbols “square, hammer, burin, boat, corpse, King”, which
means “in such a manner that the dead boat of the King will be chiseled and engraved/”, or
better “in such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be loudly proclaimed
and heard by the people.”

§5: Passage 13 of paragraph 5 contains the symbols “horn, falcon, shield, King”, which
means “The power of the SunGod protects the King.”, or better “The power of God
protects the King.”
Passage 14 contains the symbols “hammer, fish”, which means “cut the Fish-god/”, or
better “Thoroughly educate the Fish-god,”.
Passage 15 contains the symbols “grave, papyrus, branch, corpse, corpse, shield, King”,
which means “the grave of the holy paper and wooden King's deads/”, or better “according
to the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt.”

§6: Passage 16 of paragraph 6 contains the symbols “horn, falcon, shield, King”, which
means “The power of the SunGod protects the King/”, or better “The power of God
protects the King.”

§7: Passage 17 of paragraph 7 contains the symbols “messenger, hoof”, which means
“Spread it with great drive,”, which is correct.
Passage 18 contains the symbols “square, hammer, burin, boat, corpse, King”, which
means “in such a manner that the dead boat of the King will be chiseled and engraved/”, or
better “in such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be loudly proclaimed
and heard by the people.”
Passage 19 contains the symbols “bow, arrow”, which means “use bow and arrow/”, or
better “Do it consciously and on purpose.”

§8: Passage 20 of paragraph 8 contains the symbols “flower, hammer, dove, shield, King”,
which means “Please, cut the dove of peace for the protection of the King/”, or better
“Please, maintain peace for the protection of the King.”
Passage 21 contains the symbols “cover, screen, flute, messenger”, which means
“stimulate it secretly when one goes round fluting/”, or better “Take secretly care that
people are able to relax.”
Passage 22 contains the symbols “branch, plane, flute, shield, King”, which means “shave
from wood a flute to protect the King/”, or better “Take care for the necessary provisions,
protecting the King.”
Passage 23 contains the symbols “branch, horn, falcon”, which means “the wood is the
power of the SunGod/”or better “The possibilities to do so come from the power of God.”
Passage 24 contains the symbols “lid(?), square, Queen, shield, King,”, which means “the
wooden lid leads to the Queen who protects the King/”, or better “Higher education raises
the Queen who protects the King.”

§9: Passage 25 of paragraph 9 contains the symbols “glove, chopper, corpse”, which
means “The glove handles the chopper until death/”, or better “The teacher takes away the
sin.”, or still better “The teacher is spreading the knowledge”.
Passage 26 contains the symbols “shield, cover, waterway, corpse”, which means “protect
and hold on to the waterway of death/”, or better “Protect and hold on to the course of the
law until the end.”
Passage 27 contains the symbols “fish, screen, prisoner, shield, King”, which means “the
Fish-god keeps people secretly in prison to protect the King/”, or better “The young Fish-
god secretly captivates people protecting the King,”
Passage 28 contains the symbols “bee, cat, cat”, which means “because of the honey
cats/”, or better “because of the sweet Cat-gods.”

§10: Passage 29 of paragraph 10 contains the symbols “cover, waterway, cat”, which
means “Stimulate the course of the Cat-god/”, or better “Take care of the course of life of
the Cat-god,”
Passage 30 contains the symbols “shield, screen, temple”, which means “and protect the
hidden temple/”, or better “and protect his secret Temple.”

§11: Finally, passage 31 of paragraph 11 contains the symbols “square, messenger, scroll
of the law, shield, King”, which means “That leads to powerful, legal spreading that
protects the King!//”, or better “This leads to execution of the law which strongly protects
the King!”


TABLE 5.2

LITERAL DECIPHERMENT OF THE FRONT SIDE OF THE PHAISTOS DISC
(SIDE A, Fig.5.3) (c.1458 BC)

Please, engrave in earthenware/ and spread by force of law/ the grave of the holy paper
and wooden King's deads/ please, engrave it in earthenware/

Cut it in shaved wood/ and spread by force of law the sovereignty of the King/ defend the
power of the SunGod/ shave the wooden lid that leads to the Queen/ the death leads to the
dove of peace in the dead palace of the holy King/

The power of the SunGod protects the King/
Spread it with great drive/ in such a manner that the dead boat of the King will be chiseled
and engraved/

The power of the SunGod protects the King/ cut the Fish-god/ the grave of the holy paper
and wooden King's deads/

The power of the SunGod protects the King/

Spread it with great drive/ in such a manner that the dead boat of the King will be chiseled
and engraved/ use bow and arrow/

Please, cut the dove of peace for the protection of the King/ stimulate it secretly when one
goes round fluting/ shave from wood a flute to protect the King/ the wood is the power of
the SunGod/ the wooden lid(?) leads to the Queen who protects the King/

The glove handles the chopper until death/ protect and hold on to the waterway of death/
the Fish-god keeps people secretly in prison to protect the King/ because of the honey cats/

Stimulate the course of the Cat-god/ and protect the hidden temple/

That leads to powerful, legal spreading that protects the King!//
Fig.5.3 Front side A of the Phaistos Disc
(Crete, c.1458 BC) (Courtesy L. Godart, Ref.1)


TABLE 5.3

TRANSLATION OF THE FRONT SIDE OF THE PHAISTOS DISC
(SIDE A, Fig.5.3) (c.1458 BC)

Please, proclaim loudly, and spread by force of law, the Theory of the Holy Kings of
Lower and Upper Egypt. Please, proclaim it loudly.

Fix it down in writing, and spread by force of law the sovereignty of the King. Defend the
power of God. Improve higher education for raising the Queen. Spreading knowledge
leads to peace in the Palace of the Holy King.

The power of God protects the King.
Spread it with great drive, in such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be
loudly proclaimed and heard by the people.

The power of God protects the King. Thoroughly educate the Fish-god, according to the
Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt.

The power of God protects the King.

Spread it with great drive, in such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be
loudly proclaimed and heard by the people. Do it consciously and on purpose.

Please, maintain peace for the protection of the King. Take secretly care that people are
able to relax. Take care for the necessary provisions, protecting the King. The possibilities
to do so come from the power of God. Higher education raises the Queen who protects the
King.

The teacher is spreading the knowledge. Protect and hold on to the course of the law until
the end. The young Fish-god secretly captivates people protecting the King, because of the
sweet Cat-gods.

Take care of the course of life of the Cat-god, and protect his secret Temple.

This leads to execution of the law which strongly protects the King!


5.7 THE BACK SIDE
The literal decipherment of the back side (side B) is shown in Table 5.4, and the correct
translation of it is shown in Table 5.5. Here, we will show both processes, decipherment
and translation, for all the individual passages.

§1: Passage 1 of paragraph 1 contains the symbols “cover, waterway”, which means “Take
care for the course of the law.”, which is correct.
Passage 2 contains the symbols “boat, hammer, bee, cat”, which means “the boat cuts the
honey cat/”, or better “The language of the teacher educates the sweet Cat-god,” or still
better “The teacher educates the sweet Cat-god”. (A “boat” is also a kind of “high level
conversation”.)
Passage 3 contains the symbols “cover, hammer, branch, Queen, King”, which means “and
looks after cutting in wood the King's virgin/”, or better “and takes care for raising the
King's Virgin to maturity.”
Passage 4 contains the symbols “cover, square, arrow, ram, tiara”, which means “this care
leads to a well-directed ram-crowning/”, or better “This care will lead to a well-directed
crowning of this Queen.”

§2: Passage 5 of paragraph 2 contains the symbols “glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat,
religion”, which means “The glove provides for doubt of the drunken cat/”, or better
“Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt.”
Passage 6 contains the symbols “temple, square, hammer, cover”, which means “the new
temple leads to chiseled care/”, or better “The New Temple leads to an extensive state of
care.”

§3: Passage 7 of paragraph 3 contains the symbols “cover, waterway, cover”, which means
“Take care for a careful course of the law.”, which is correct.
Passage 8 contains the symbols “branch, square, cover”, which means “the wood leads to
this care/”, or better “The government should stimulate this care.”
Passage 9 contains the symbols “boat, hammer, bee, corpse”, which means “the boat cuts
until the honey death/”, or better “The language of the teacher softly takes away the sin.”,
or still better, “The teacher is softly explaining the full truth”.

§4: Passage 10 of paragraph 4 contains the symbols “glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat,
religion”, which means “The glove provides for doubt of the drunken cat/”, or better
“Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt.”

5: Passage 11 of paragraph 5 contains the symbols “cover, waterway, cat”, which means
“Take care for the course of life of the Cat-god/”, or slightly better, “Take care for the
course of life of the young Cat-god.”
Passage 12 contains the symbols “scroll of the law, glove, cat”, which means “the force of
the law leads the cat/”, or better “The law educates the Cat-god.”

§6: Passage 13 of paragraph 6 contains the symbols “glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat”,
which means “The glove provides for the drunkenness of the cat/”, or better “Education
leads to the merriment of the young Cat-god.”
Passage 14 contains the symbols “messenger, corpse, tiara, King”, which means “spread
death until the crowning of the new King/”, or better “Take away the sin till the crowning
of the New King.”, or still better, “Spread knowledge till the crowning of the New King”.
Passage 15 contains the symbols “fish, arrow, dove, branch, Queen”, which means “the
Fish-god points his arrow on the dove of peace, because of the wooden virgin/”, or better
“The Fish-god maintains peace because of the influence of the Queen.”
Passage 16 contains the symbols “messenger, fish, cat”, which means “give the cat the fish
to eat!/”, or slightly better “Give the Cat the Fish to eat!”
Passage 17 contains the symbols “square, palace, saw”, which means “in this way one
saws the new palace/”, or better “In this way the New Palace will be created,”
Passage 18 contains the symbols “branch, mummy, temple, temple, cat”, which means
“the new wooden death-temples of the Cat-god/”, or better “the full size Holy Temples of
the Cat-god.”

§7: Passage 19 of paragraph 7 contains the symbols “messenger, flower, boat, corpse”,
which means “Please, spread the boat of death/”, or better “Please, spread the language
that takes away the sin.”
Passage 20 contains the symbols “screen, vine-tendril, horn, King”, which means “this
hidden drunkenness is the power of the King/”, or better “This hidden merriment is the
power of the King,”
Passage 21 contains the symbols “branch, screen, temple, cover”, which means “the
hidden wood of the welfare temple/”, or better “the hidden force behind the welfare
temple.”
Passage 22 contains the symbols “boat, scraper, papyrus, religion”, which means “The
boat rasps the paper faith/”, or better “The language of the teacher stimulates the rise of
faith.”, or still better “The teacher stimulates the rise of faith”.
Passage 23 contains the symbols “square, messenger, scroll of the law, cover, mattock”,
which means “This leads to a powerfull, legal stimulation of the struggle.”, which is
correct.
Passage 24 contains the symbols “fish, arrow, messenger, scroll of the law”, which means
“the Fish-god will direct to the execution of the law/”, or better “while the Fish-god
promotes execution of the law.”

§8: Passage 25 of paragraph 8 contains the symbols “grater, square, hammer, saw”, which
means “With the special rasp hammer and saw are made/”, or better “The élan so created
provides the tools”
Passage 26 contains the symbols “shield, mummy, temple, fish”, which means “these
protect the death-temple of the Fish-god/”, or better “to protect the Holy Temple of the
Fish-god,”
Passage 27 contains the symbols “corpse, boat, religion”, which means “the boat of death
of the faith/”, or better “the deadly language of our Religion.”

§9: Passage 28 of paragraph 9 contains the symbols “child, hammer, papyrus, King”,
which means “The chiseled child becomes the paper King/”, or better “The educated child
will be the upgrowing King.”
Passage 29 contains the symbols “branch, cover, waterway, corpse”, which means “the
wood takes care for the course to death/”, or better “The government provides for the
course of the law till the end.”
Finally, passage 30 contains the symbols “cover, screen, religion, shield, King”, which
means “It takes care for the hidden faith which protects the King!”, which is correct.


TABLE 5.4

LITERAL DECIPHERMENT OF THE BACK SIDE OF THE PHAISTOS DISC
(SIDE B, Fig.5.4) (c.1458 BC)

Take care for the course of the law/ the boat cuts the honey cat/ and looks after cutting in
wood the King's virgin/ this care leads to a well-directed ram-crowning/

The glove provides for doubt of the drunken cat/ the new temple leads to chiseled care/

Take care for a careful course of the law/ the wood leads to this care/ the boat cuts until
the honey death/

The glove provides for doubt of the drunken cat/

Take care for the course of life of the Cat-god/ the force of the law leads the cat/

The glove provides for the drunkenness of the cat/ spread death until the crowning of the
new King/ the Fish-god points his arrow on the dove of peace, because of the wooden
virgin/ give the cat the fish to eat!/ in this way one saws the new palace/ the new wooden
death-temples of the Cat-god/

Please, spread the boat of death/ this hidden drunkenness is the power of the King/ the
hidden wood of the welfare temple/ The boat rasps the paper faith/ this leads to a
powerful, legal stimulation of the struggle/ the Fish-god will direct to the execution of the
law/

With the special rasp hammer and saw are made/ these protect the death-temple of the
Fish-god/ the boat of death of the faith/
The chiseled child becomes the paper King/ the wood takes care for the course to death/ it
takes care for the hidden faith which protects the King!//




Fig.5.4 Back side B of the Phaistos Disc
(Crete, c.1458 BC) (Courtesy L. Godart, Ref.1)


TABLE 5.5

TRANSLATION OF THE BACK SIDE OF THE PHAISTOS DISC
(SIDE B, Fig.5.4) (c.1458 BC)

Take care for the course of the law. The teacher educates the sweet Cat-god, and takes care
for raising the King's Virgin to maturity. This care will lead to a well-directed crowning of
this Queen.

Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt. The New Temple leads to an extensive state
of care.

Take care for a careful course of the law. The government should stimulate this care. The
teacher is softly explaining the full truth.

Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt.

Take care for the course of life of the young Cat-god. The law educates the Cat-god.

Education leads to the merriment of the young Cat-god. Spread knowledge till the
crowning of the New King. The Fish-god maintains peace because of the influence of the
Queen. Give the Cat the Fish to eat! In this way the New Palace will be created, the full
size Holy Temples of the Cat-god.

Please, spread the language that takes away the sin. This hidden merriment is the power of
the King, the hidden force behind the welfare temple. The teacher stimulates the rise of
faith. This leads to a powerful, legal stimulation of the struggle, while the Fish-god
promotes execution of the law.

The élan so created provides the tools to protect the Holy Temple of the Fish-god, the
deadly language of our Religion.

The educated child will be the upgrowing King. The government provides for the course
of the law till the end. It takes care for the hidden faith which protects the King!
Fig.5.5 The Throne of the King of Crete
                (Knossos, Crete, c.2000 BC, Courtesy A. Kofou, Ref.56)

5.8 REPEATED PASSAGES
Repetitions often occur on the Phaistos Disc. These include repetitions of whole passages,
of combinations of symbols, and of separate symbols. However, the most important
repetition is the series of passages A10, A11, A12 on the front side, which is repeated by
the series of A16, A17, A18. In Chapter 9 it will be shown this whole combination deals
with boat voyages of discovery (Refs.49-51). Passages which are repeated as a whole must
be very important, too; these are shown in Table 5.6. The exclamation: "The power of God
protects the King!" is repeated to the tune of three times. These repetitions emphasize the
importance of the written text.

Repetitions of combinations of symbols are also important. The expression: "Protect the
King!" occurs to the tune of 13 times on the disc, and "The power of God" is repeated 5
times. The expressions "Take care for the course of the law" and "Spread by force of law"
occur 6 times and 5 times, respectively.

Repetitions of separate symbols are less illustrative. These have already been shown in
Table 2.2. The "King" occurs 19x in total, and is with this score the most important
symbol. The "shield" occurs 15x on the front side, which indicates that political struggle is
important in the first governmental period. The "cover" occurs 15x on the back side,
which indicates that adherence to the welfare state was considered of importance in the
second governmental period. The symbol of the "corpse" occurs 15x in total, which clearly
confirms the faith in a Realm of the Dead, and in a resurrection (Refs.20-25,41-48).


TABLE 5.6

REPEATED PASSAGES ON THE PHAISTOS DISC (c.1458 BC) (Figs.5.3 & 5.4)
SYMBOLS (TEXT)                      FREQUENCY
SIDE A ………………………..………………………. A+B

flower, man, burin (Please, proclaim loudly)(1,4)……….2+0

grave, papyrus, branch, corpse, corpse, shield, king
(The Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper
Egypt)(3,15) ……………..….…………………………..2+0

[... messenger, scroll, shield, king (Spread by force of
law the sovereignty of the King)](6,31)* ………………[2+0]

horn, falcon, shield, king (The power of God protects
the King)(10,13,16) …………………………………….3+0

messenger, hoof (Spread with great drive)(11,17)………2+0

square, hammer, burin, boat, corpse, king (In such a
manner that the powerful language of the King will be
loudly proclaimed and heard by the people)(12,18)……. 2+0

Side B………………………………..…………………A+B

glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat, faith (Education
learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt)(5,10) ………………..0+2
[glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat ... (Education leads
to the merriment of the Cat-god)](13)* ………………..[0+1]

Sides A+B……..…………………………………….…A+B

cover, waterway, cat (Protect the course of life of
the Cat-god (A29,B11)……..…………………………...1+1

* almost repeated passages


5.9 ELUCIDATION OF THE TEXT
Difficult abstractions
The symbol of the “corpse” plays an important role on the disc. In passage B19 we had to
translate it with the biblical expression of “taking away the sin”. We apologize for it, but
there is hardly any other appropriate translation possible. Clearly, it was the intention of
the makers of the disc. In passages A9, A25, and B14 we could use the expression of
“spreading knowledge”. Sometimes the symbol can be translated by “deadly” in passage
B27, by “holy”, together with the “shield”, in A3, A9 and A15, or by “at the end“ in A26
and B29, all of which are rather easy to understand, within the local context. In passages
A12 and A18 the combination “boat, corpse” should be translated by the “powerful
language”, which is used by the “King”, the next symbol. A “boat” is also a high level
conversation, a so-called knowledge negotiation.

Crete possessed a high culture, which could not exist without good education
(Refs.17-22). The “glove” in A25, B5, B10, B12, and B13 should be translated by the
“teacher”, or by “education”, while the symbol also shows the great influence of it. The
“hammer” in passages A14, B3, and B28 acts as a similar symbol with an analogous
translation.

Apparently, the religion in Crete resembled the one in Egypt. The “falcon”, with the
serpent in its talons, represents the suppreme God. In the hierarchy below this God are two
other gods, the Cat-god and the Fish-god, both indicated by appropriate symbols on the
disc. The two Kings, a.o. mentioned in important passages A3 and A15, are considered the
substitutes of these two gods. Note, that the symbols of these three important gods are
placed between the other animals in a more or less invisible manner. The only important
visible person is the King, shown to the tune of 19 times, or in the absence of him, the
Queen, shown 4 times.

The symbol for “religion” or “faith” is a drawing of the Cancer Constellation, as shown in
passages B22, B27, and B30. The holy Tropic of Cancer, named after this star
constellation, marks the Southern Egyptian Empire, the center of the Sunreligion, at 23°N.
On midsummer day the Sun is there at right angles above. In passages B5 and B10 the
same symbol should be translated by the less important abstraction of “doubt”, because the
Cat-god is still in a process of learning.

Meaning of the text
The greatest problem of the Phaistos Disc is not the decipherment of the hieroglyphic
script, and it is not writing down the text in good English, either. The greatest problem is
the interpretation and explanation of the difficult text.

From all evidence it turns out, that religion in Crete was greatly influenced by that of
Egypt. Lower Egypt, the Nile Delta, was called the Land of the "Papyrus", and Upper
Egypt was called the Land of the Reed or the "Wood". Both symbols are shown on the
disc, the last one also in passage A23. The holy Tropic of Cancer through the center of
Upper Egypt, at 23°N, is the usual symbol of the Egyptian Sunreligion. For that reason the
sign of the "Cancer Constellation" on the disc is the symbol for "Religion" in Crete. The
number 23 is the symbol for the same religion in the Megalithic Culture of Western
Europe (Refs.26-40).

In Egypt one believed in the SunGod Ra. Below this suppreme God were two other gods,
Horus and Osiris. The Kings or Pharaohs of Egypt were the substitutes of these two gods.
So, the entire Phaistos Disc should be considered in the light of this religion (Refs.-
23-25,41-48).

The front side of the disc deals with a first period of government during one generation of
c.31 years, with a King on the throne, who is the substitute of the Cat-god, possessing a
secret temple (Table 5.3). The falcon (or eagle) with the serpent in its talons is God, who
protects the King. Emphasis is laid on spreading the Religion, on good education, and on
the influential language of the King. Thoughts are going out to the process of growing to
maturity of a future King, who is called the young Fish-god, and his later wife.

The back side of the disc deals with a second period of government during one generation
of c.30 years, with a King on the throne, who is the substitute of the Fish-god, and who
also possesses a temple (Table 5.5). Emphasis is laid on good education, again, on the
course of the law, and on maintaining the welfare state. Thoughts are going out to the
process of growing to maturity of a future King, who is called the young Cat-god, and his
later wife.

The text of side B turns out to be a continuation of the script on side A, and not the other
way around. So the initial thoughts on this issue are confirmed: side A is the front side,
and side B is the back side.

5.10 DISCUSSION
The difficult text of the Phaistos Disc (Tables 5.3 and 5.5), which sounds quite familiar to
insiders, deals from the beginning to the end with the headlines of government and
religion. This result is very important, because almost nothing was known about the
religion of Crete at the end of the New Palace Culture (c.1458 BC) (Refs.20-22). It turns
out to be the Bible of Crete. It is a political religious text derived from ancient Egyptian
religion. Both religions are precursers of the present Christian religion, where the Father
and the Son are the main gods below the suppreme God Jahwe. The round disc symbolizes
Maat, the Egyptian goddes of law and order in the universe, who should be compared to
the Holy Gost. The obtained text is also like a page from the Bible: besides very high
abstractions it contains a lot of less important sentences. Some will judge the whole text of
considerable importance, others don’t care very much.

Our translation proves the approach for the decipherment followed here is the right one.
The majority of the symbols form easily sentences within the passages. It fits best the
interpretation of the symbols given by Sokolinsky (Refs.11,12). For a better understanding
of the text we prefer to give no further explanations. It was our goal to decipher and
translate the text on the disc. It is not our intention to comment on this religion, or to
explain it in detail. For people interested in this subject, we would like to refer to experts
in old religions in general, in ancient Egyptian religion, and in the present Christian
religion.

In this chapter we tried to decipher and translate the complete, original text. This is partly
because everybody wants to know it. It is where so many people were waiting for, for
about a century, since the disc was found, in 1908. However, this mysterious, religious
text is just one aspect of the Phaistos Disc, and it is probably not the most important one.
Other aspects are even more interesting, as will be shown in the following chapters
(Chs.6-11). (Refs.52-55)


LITERATURE (Ch.5)
1. Godart, L., The Phaistos Disc, The Enigma of an Aegean Script, Editions Itanos, 1995, pgs. 62,76,90,92
(ISBN 960-7549-02-3).
2. Duhoux, Y., Le disque de Phaistos, Louvain-le-Neuve, 1978. (French)
3. Pernier, L., Il disco di Phaestos con caratteri pittografici, Ausonia III (1908), 255-302. (Italian)
4. Poutsat, J.-C., Figurines et reliefs d'applique, Fouilles executees a Mallia. Le Quartier MU II, Etudes
Cretoises XXVI, Paris 1980, 118-119. (French)
5. Mackay, A., On the Type-found of the Phaistos Disk, Statistical Methods in Linguistics, no.4, 15-25.
6. Neumann, G., Zum Forschungsstand beim 'Diskos van Phaestos', Kadmos 7, 1968, 27-44. (German)
7. Kober, A.E., The Minoan Scripts: Fact and Theory, American Journal of Archaeology 52, 1948, 82-103.
8. Yule, P., Early Cretan Seals: A Study of Chronology, Marburger Studien zur vor- und fruhgeschichte,
Vol 4, Mainz am Rhein, 1981. (German)
9. The Tablet of Vladikavkaz, Journal L'archeologue, Nr.55, Aout-Septembre 2001, "Une enigme archeolo-
gique du Caucase Septentrional". (French)
10. D'Ossetie et d'alentour nr.9, Paris, 2001, par V.A. Kouznetsov traduit du russe par Iaroslav Lebedynsky.
(French)
11. Miller, J., Ancient American, The Phaistos Disk, March/April 1994, p.37.
12. Grimes, J.P., Ancient American, Vol.2, Nr.12, p.35.
13. Covey, C., Fischer vs. Fell Phaistos Disk Decipherments, Midw. Epigr. Newsl., Vol.19, Nr.4 (2002).
14. Best, J.G.P., and Woudhuizen, F., Lost Languages from the Mediterranean, Leiden, the Netherlands
(1989).
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CH.5: DECIPHERMENT OF DISC

  • 1. CHAPTER 5 DECIPHERMENT OF THE PHAISTOS DISC “The Power of God Protects the King” 5.1 INTRODUCTION 5.2 CRETE AND THE NILE DELTA 5.3 GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION 5.4 THE SYMBOLS 5.5 DECIPHERMENT AND TRANSLATION 5.6 THE FRONT SIDE 5.7 THE BACK SIDE 5.8 REPEATED PASSAGES 5.9 ELUCIDATION OF THE TEXT 5.10 DISCUSSION Dr. R.M. de Jonge ©, drsrmdejonge@hotmail.com SUMMARY The Phaistos Disc contains an ideographic script, independent of any language. The script has been deciphered, and turns out to describe the religion of Crete. The front side describes a first generation of 31 years, and the back side describes a second generation of 30 years. Religious symbols are identified for the suppreme God, the Cat-god, the Fish- god, and the removal of the sin. The religion is closely related to that of Egypt. The disc also deals with government. Its shape symbolizes the “wheel of the law”. The most important passage reads: “the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt”. The King, which occurs 19 times, is the most important symbol on the disc. 5.1 INTRODUCTION On both sides of the disc the symbols are applied one after the other in the shape of a spiral. The linear arrangement of the signs points directly to a script. The text appears to be devided into passages. When looking from the edge towards the center of the disc, the majority of the signs are in an upright position, so, we should consider the text in this direction. When following the signs from the center along the spiral to the outside, the vast majority of people and animals look to the front. So, we should read the text in this direction. This is counterclockwise, against the daily movement of the Sun. In Figs.5.3 & 5.4 the passages are numbered in this direction. At some passages, the first symbol is accented with a slanting piece of line at the bottom, showing the start of a new paragraph. At the end of the text at each side is a vertical piece of line with dots. Side A, with the flower, is probably the front side. It has 5 turns, and 5 dots at the end of the text. Side B is probably the back side. It has 4 turns, and 4 dots at the end of the text. On side B is an extra dot at the end of the spiral shaped line, giving a total of 4+1= 5 dots. It appears to indicate that side A with 5 dots is slightly more important, suggesting that side A is the front side, indeed. Because of an injury on the edge at the front side, one symbol in passage A24 cannot be identified. In view of the many repetitions of symbols, it is probable that on this spot the "lid" was situated (Fig.5.2, #17), because the series "lid, square, Queen" occurred earlier in
  • 2. passage A8 on the disc. This conclusion is important for the translation. The text of the disc is devided in a number of paragraphs (Table 2.1). Because of small damages and obscurities the numbers of paragraphs on both sides are hard to establish. On the edge of the front side (Fig.5.3), paragraph-lines are just visible at the "flower" in passage A20, and with difficulty at the "glove" in passage A25 (see Ref.1). As a consequence the number of paragraphs on this side (inner part and edge) amounts to 7+4= 11. On the edge of the back side (Fig.5.4), a small paragraph-line is visible at the "messenger" in passage B19 (see Ref.1), but because of damage there is some doubt whether the "boat" in passage B22 has one or not. When reading the translated text of Table 5.5 of this chapter, the preliminary conclusion is: probably not. As a consequence the number of paragraphs on this side probably amounts to 6+3= 9. So, the total number of paragraphs on the whole disc appears to be 11+9= 20. On side B the paragraph-line of the "cover" in passage B11 points exactly to the end of passage 11+9= 20. This strongly confirms the total number of paragraphs on the disk, of course: 20. So, it appears this problem has been solved, which is of some importance for a number of chapters in this book. 5.2 CRETE AND THE NILE DELTA The number of passages on side A is 31, corresponding to the latitude of the northern Nile Delta, the center of the Northern Egyptian Empire, at 31°N. It is the economic center of Egypt, the greatest civilization on Earth. The number of turns on side B amounts to 4, confirming the northern Nile Delta, 4° below Crete, where the Phaistos Disc was made, at 35-4= 31°N (Refs.26-40). The number of passages on side B is 30, corresponding to the latitude of the southern Nile Delta, at 30°N. It is confirmed that the economic center of the civilization of Egypt is located there. The number of turns on side A amounts to 5, confirming the southern Nile Delta, 5° below Crete, where the Phaistos Disc was found, at 35-5= 30°N (Refs.41-48). In total, the Phaistos Disc possesses 45 different symbols (Figs.4.3 & 5.2, Table 2.2), corresponding to the sailing direction from the SE Cape of Crete to the northern Nile Delta, 45°SE. The spiral on the front side contains 5 turns, encoding the sailing distance involved, 5 moiras= 5°= 555km, or 5x60= 300 NM (1 Egyptian moira= 1 degree of lati- tude= 111km, or 60 Nautical Miles). The megalithic monument of Barnénez in Brittany, France, shows the first use of latitudes, already c.4700 BC. The passage grave of Kerca- do, also in Brittany, shows the first use of moiras, between distance lines, dating from c.4500 BC (Refs.26-28,45). 5.3 GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION Table 2.2 provides a survey of the 45 different symbols shown in Figs.4.3 & 5.2, and the frequency of occurrence on the disc (Refs.1-10). It can be calculated that symbols which are related to government, like palace, King, Queen, crown, and scroll of the law, occur 33 times in total. This is (33/242)x100= 14% of the total number of signs. The symbols of temple, grave, corpse, mummy, boat, waterway, and faith, which are all related to religion, occur 43 times. However, like in Egypt, all animals, like cat, ram, falcon, dove, fish, and bee, which occur 29 times, have a religious meaning, too. In total, this is 43+29= 72 symbols, or (72/242)x100= 17% of the total number of signs. In the old days, government and religion were intimately interwoven. On the disc, 14%+17%= 31% of the symbols are directly related to these subjects. In reality this percentage is even higher. From this it
  • 3. turns out the disc deals with these issues in the first place. We should also realize that the majority of the important ancient texts deal with government and religion, especially when they are written in hieroglyphs. The disc was found in the Palace of Phaistos. This was a political and religious center in the first place. The whole disc consists of "circles and half-circles", the Egyptian hieroglyphs for "to rule". Side A possesses 31 passages, corresponding to 31 years, or the duration of a first government generation. Side B has 30 passages, corresponding to 30 years, or the duration of a second government generation. The Disc of Phaistos shows, the headlines of govern- ment in Crete extended over a period of 2 generations, or 31+30= 61 years. The important symbols of the "kings grave" and the "palace" have two equal parts, and they both occur twice, confirming this four times. The "temple" possesses a lower and a upper half, illu- strating this too. The "waterway", or the “course of the law”, also has two equal parts, confirming this again. Note, that this main devision equals that of the much later Bible, the oldest book on Earth, consisting of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
  • 5. Fig.5.1 The Front side (A) and the Back side (B) of the Phaistos Disc. (Crete, c.1458 BC) (Courtesy A. Kofou, Ref.56) 5.4 THE SYMBOLS Figure 5.2 shows a table of the 45 different symbols of the disc (Refs.11-22). We will propose the meanings of these symbols by number in the list below (see also Table 5.1). However, the different meanings do not only depend on the drawings of the individual signs, but also on the context in which they occurr on the disc. This means, that not all meanings can be fully understood at this stage. 1: This symbol appears to be a running man, a runner, in any case a man in movement. In the text he often turns out to be a messenger, spreading news. 2: This symbol seems to be a plumed head, in the text of a King. However, it should be translated by “the King”, sometimes “the new King”. It cannot be a warrior of the “Sea People” (c.1190 BC), shown in the temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu, Upper Egypt, as sometimes suggested (Refs.1-8), because the Cretan disc dates from c.1458 BC (Ch.2), which is two and a half centuries earlier. 3: It is the head of a man, with a figure eight on his cheek. Later in this chapter we will explain this is an ordinary man, a man of the people, just somebody, or someone. 4: This man has his hands tied behind his back, so he must be a captive, a prisoner, or a criminal. 5: Due to the large head and short legs, it must be a child, a little boy. However, in the text it turns out to be a King’s child, a Royal Son. 6: With the pendulous breasts and the long hair, it is a woman, a woman with lowered dress in fighting trim. In the religious text it turns out to be a virgin, or the mother of God, often best translated by “the Queen”. 7: It is a cover to preserve food, so it may be translated by abstractions related to it, like to cover, contain, conserve, stick to, cling to, hold to, be tenacious of, take care of, provide for, carefully, stimulate, supply, or even well got-up, to learn to, or to lead to. 8: Glove, gauntlet or bandaged hand, but also abstractions like to lead, learn, teacher, school, education. 9: Tiara similar to those in Hittite petroglyphs (Refs.1-3); crown, crowning, nobility. 10: Pen, burin, engraving tool, such as for moist clay, to engrave in earthen-ware, to engrave, or the abstractions to fix down, to show, or to proclaim. 11: Bow (to shoot an arrow), instrument (to give direction), or the abstraction, like institute (for course of action), or even consciously. 12: Round shield, to protect, to defend, sovereignty, or holy. 13: It looks like a club with knobs, or a cudgel, but it is a scroll of the law (with five ties), or abstractions like with the force of the law, by force, according to the law, or the strong law. 14: Palace, in the text sometimes new palace, royal palace. 15: Mattock, pick, battle-axe, battle, to battle. Similar to bronze mattocks found in Crete (Ref.1). 16: Saw, to saw, or to make. Egyptian saws look like this (Refs.1,11-14). 17: Lid, wooden lid of pan or vase, tool, tool for forming, cutting leather, but in the text also abstractions related to it, like instrument for cultivation, or higher education. 18: Looks like boomerang, accolade, or arrow, but it is a carpenter’s square; abstractions are leads to, that something happens, or to plan. 19: Carpenter’s plane, planed, to plane, to smooth, or to improve. 20: Looks like dolium (horn-shell), but is mummy-head, mummy, embalmed corpse, dead body, prepared for afterlife, sometimes: sacred.
  • 6. 21: Groundplan of King’s burial chambers, with coffins in some of them, Egyptian Royal tomb; Kingship theory, afterlife preparation. A clay seal from the first palace at Phaistos has a similar impression (Ref.1). 22: This sign looks like a stool or stand, but it has the exact shape of the Cancer Constellation. The Tropic of Cancer runs through Egypt at 23°N, and is a symbol of the Egyptian Sunreligion. For that reason it is the symbol for religion or faith. In the text it is sometimes translated by doubt, hesitation, or to waver. 23: Hammer, chisel, to hack, to chisel, hacked, chiseled, but also abstractions like heard by the people, thorougly educate, or to raise. 24: It may look like a birdcage, coop, Lycian tomb, or Pagoda, but it represents an exotic or mystic temple, a Punt hut, or new temple. It has some similarities to a cage- like Linear B ideogram of a later time period (Ref.1). 25: Ship, boat, fishing, trading, journey, but also difficult abstractions like discussion, argumentation, language, or sometimes education. 26: Horn, power, or authority. 27: Corpse, people's skin, dead body, ghost, the death, or the end, but in a religious context also: takes away the sin, spreading knowledge. (In other Chapters it might mean clothes, oxhide, or copper.) 28: Hoof, lower leg of bull, bull, or with the leg of the bull, so energetic, strong, with great drive. Five seals with these bull’s legs have been found in Crete (Ref.1). 29: Cat, head of a cat, or Cat-god. Images of cats, made by impressing a seal, can be seen on some vases at Malia, Crete (Refs.1-3). 30: Ram, head of a ram, as of a ram, to ram, or the abstraction: royalty. 31: Falcon (or eagle) with serpent in its talons, in many cultures abstraction for God, in Egypt the SunGod, supreme over two lesser gods, Horus and Osiris. The Kings or Pharoahs were substitutes for these two gods (Refs.26-28). 32: Dove, dove of peace, or its abstraction: peace. 33: Fish, tuna fish or porpoise, in the text often: Fish-god. 34: Bee, honey, or its abstractions: sweet, soft, mild. 35: Branch, branch with leaves, tree, wood, oar, or their difficult abstractions in the text, like mature, full size, sedge, standing tall, good crops, rich, money, government. Upper Egypt was called the Land of the Wood, or the Reed. 36: Vine-tendril, wine grapes, wine, or the abstractions like drunken, drunkenness, merriment, or tipsy. 37: Papyrus stalk, papyrus, paper, but also grown-up, mature, or to rise. Lower Egypt was called the Land of the Papyrus. This Papyrus looks like those on Theban wallpaintings (Ref.1). 38: Flower, rosette, but also the abstraction: please. Parallels are common in Minoan art. 39: Arrow with feathers, or the abstractions like directed, pointed, to direct, or on purpose. 40: A movable screen, draught-screen, or the abstractions related to it, like secret, or hidden. 41: Double flute, fluting, or the abstractions happy, free, in freedom, or to relax. 42: Scraper, tool to rasp, to rasp, to shape, to prickle, to tickle. 43: Grater, triangular rasp, special rasp, or the difficult abstraction in the text related to it, like enthusiasm, or élan. 44: Chopper, little axe, or the abstractions in the text, like justice, the law, or authority. 45: (Double) waterway, water, pathway, travel, or the abstractions course of life, curriculum vitae, course, the course of justice, the course of the law.
  • 7. Fig.5.2 Table of the signs of the Phaistos Disc (Crete, c.1458 BC) (Courtesy L. Godart, Ref.1) TABLE 5.1 THE VARIOUS MEANINGS OF THE SYMBOLS ON THE PHAISTOS DISC (Fig.5.2) (c.1458 BC) 1 Messenger, runner, man in movement, execution, to spread, (to feed) 2 King, head of a King, new King 3 Man, head of a man, ordinary man, somebody, someone 4 Prisoner 5 Child, little boy, King's child, Royal Son 6 Queen, woman with lowered dress in fighting trim, virgin, mother of God 7 Cover, conserve, stimulate, stick to, cling to, hold to, be tenacious of, take care of, provide for, supply, well got-up, to learn to, to lead to, (mountain)
  • 8. 8 Glove, gauntlet, lead, learn, teacher, school, education 9 Tiara, crown, crowning 10 Burin (also for moist clay), to engrave in earthenware, to engrave, to fix down, to show, to proclaim 11 Bow (to shoot an arrow), instrument (to give direction), institute (for course of action), consciously 12 Round shield, to protect, to defend, sovereignty, holy 13 Scroll of the law, with the force of the law, by force of law, according to the law, the strong law 14 Palace, new palace 15 Mattock, pick, battle-axe, battle, to battle 16 Saw, to saw, to make 17 Lid, wooden lid, best instrument for forming, best instrument for cultivation, higher education 18 Carpenter's square, arrow, leads to, that something happens 19 Plane, planed, to plane, to smooth, to improve 20 Mummy, mummy-head, dolium (horn-shell), embalmed corpse, dead body 21 (Groundplan of) Cretan (Kings-)grave, Egyptian (Kings-)grave, theory 22 Religion, doubt, hesitation, to waver, Cancer Constellation 23 Hammer, chisel, to hack, to chisel, hacked, chiseled, heard by the people, thorougly educate, to raise 24 Temple (exotic, mystic, of Punt), new temple 25 Boat, ship, discussion, argumentation, language, education 26 Horn, power, authority 27 Corpse, people's skin, dead body, gost, the death, takes away the sin, the end 28 Hoof, lower leg of bull, bull, with the leg of the bull, energetic, with great drive 29 Cat, head of a cat, Cat-god 30 Ram, head of a ram, as of a ram, to ram 31 Falcon (or eagle) with serpent in its talons, God, SunGod 32 Dove, dove of peace, peace 33 Fish, tuna-fish, Fish-god 34 Bee, honey, sweet, soft, mild 35 Branch, branch with leaves, tree, wood, oar, government, money, full size, mature, sedge, of Upper Egypt 36 Vine-tendril, wine grapes, wine, drunken, drunkenness 37 Papyrus stalk, papyrus, paper, grown-up, mature, to rise, of Lower Egypt 38 Flower, rosette, please 39 Arrow with stabilisation feathers, directed, pointed, to direct, on purpose 40 Draught-screen, secret, hidden 41 (Double) flute, fluting, happy, free, in freedom, to relax 42 Scraper, rasp, to rasp, to shape, to prickle, to tickle 43 Grater, triangular rasp, special rasp, enthousiasm, élan 44 Chopper, little axe, justice, the law 45 (Double) waterway, course of life, curriculum vitae, course, the course of justice, the course of the law Some important symbols The King, portrayed with hair on the head, has the highest frequency of occurrence (Table 2.2), 19 times, so he is the most important symbol of the disc (Figs.5.2-5.4). In all cases he is the last sign of the passages involved, and he is the last one mentioned on both front and
  • 9. back side. Literally, he has the last word. The Queen, occurring 4 times, is also portrayed with hair on the head. Together they occur 19+4= 23 times, encoding the Southern Egyptian Empire, at the holy Tropic of Cancer, at 23°N. This is the center of the Sunreligion (Refs.26-40). In many cultures the falcon (or eagle), with a serpent in its talons, is God. This symbol occurs in passage A23, confirming the center of the Sunreligion, at 23°N. The serpent has the shape of the two sides of the Phaistos Disc. This circular disc is a representation of Maat, the Egyptian god for law and order in the universe. It symbolizes the “wheel of the law”. On the disc the god Maat is represented by the sign of the circular “shield”, occurring 17 times, but also by the “course of the law”, occurring 6 times, together forming 17+6= 23 units, again symbolizing the center of the Sunreligion, at 23°N (Refs.41-48). The serpent in the talons of the falcon has been painted or tatood on the head of the "man" (another sign, #3). It means this man is subjected to both God and Maat. For this reason he represents an “ordinary man” of the people, portrayed bold, without hair, just like the “messenger”, and the “prisoner”. The importance of Maat is emphasized by the presence of the "scroll of the law", depicted in the shape of a club with five ties. The ties have been layed in the cords, that keep the scroll together. Such cords have been retrieved during excavations. According to Aristoteles, the Kings of Crete were very enlightened rulers and capable layers. The laws of Crete even had some fame (Refs.17-25). 5.5 DECIPHERMENT AND TRANSLATION The secret for a successful decipherment is to approach the problem from as many sides as possible, to rearrange the whole process in the right order, and to hope to find a solution in the end. First we discovered the importance of Egypt from the number of passages at both sides. By studying the individual symbols, we discovered that government and religion are the major topics of the disc. This combination is a logical one, because nearby Egypt possessed an older, and more important civilization than Crete. Keeping this in mind, the next thing to do is to give a literal translation of all symbols (Tables 5.2 and 5.4), starting in the center on the front side (Refs.15,16,20). If we have to make decisions, we choose for meanings in the mentioned areas of government and religion, related to Egypt. It is important to have some general knowlegde of these areas, of course. Typical Egyptian symbols are not present on the disc, confirming its origin from Crete. When the primary meanings of the signs are placed in the right order of the disc, it does not lead to a comprehensible text. However, this changes for the better when taking into account the abstractions related to these symbols (from Table 5.1), as shown in Tables 5.3 and 5.5. Front side During this process an important discovery was made. There is one passage, ocurring to the tune of three times, which must be very important. Passages A10, A13, and A16 each contain the identical combination of "horn, falcon, shield, King", where the “falcon” means “God”. This combination does not immediately lead to a comprehensible sentence. However, when the two new symbols, besides those of “God” and the “King”, are replaced by suitable abstractions, it does. The "horn of a bull" may mean "power", and the "shield" may mean "to protect". So, the correct translation will be: "The power of God protects the King".
  • 10. This is a major step in the right direction, because it is an important, complete, and signifi- cant sentence within one passage. It suggests that each passage on the disc will be one sen- tence, which makes sense. This result is encouraging, because we are making progress. However, most important is the confirmation that the chosen read-direction on the disc was the right one. It also confirms the disc is about government and religion. After this first sentence, other sentences may be constructed. Passage A7 contains the similar series of symbols "shield, horn, falcon", which can be translated by the sentence "Protect the power of God". Passage A30 contains the symbols "shield, screen, temple". A "draught-screen" is used to hide yourself when changing clothes. Probably, the suitable abstraction related to this symbol is "hidden". So, the correct translation will be: "Protect the hidden temple". Note, we now obtained two other sentences, each in one passage. Back side Passage B16 on the back side contains the symbols "messenger, fish, cat". The so-called "messenger" can be an ordinary, active man, and everybody knows a cat likes to eat fish. So the correct translation will be: "Give the cat the fish to eat". Passage B20 contains the symbols "screen, vine-tendril, horn, King". The appropriate abstraction related to the "vine-tendril" is more difficult, but the word "merriment" will probably do the job. The other symbols have already been used, so the whole process of translation does not become increasingly difficult. The correct translation will be: "The hidden merriment is the power of the King". Passage B25 contains the symbols "grater, square, hammer, saw". In this passage it is important to recognise, that the "carpenter’s square" resembles a kind of "arrow" or "accolade". It should be translated by combinations like "leads to" or "results in". So, the correct translation will be: "The grater is used to make the hammer and the saw". Next passage B26 contains the symbols of "shield, mummy, temple, fish". The "mummy" is a new symbol, and should be translated by "death", also because it fits religious meanings. The symbol of the "fish" is kind of special here. In passage B16 it meant plain "fish", but here it turns out to have the meaning of "Fish-god". Even today some people associate God with a fish. This meaning cannot be predicted in advance, but turns out to be probable after translation of the whole disc. So, the correct meaning of the passage turns out to be: "Protect the death-temple of the Fish-god". The focus of the text The identical passages A3 and A15 on the front side are the most important ones of the disc. A3 is placed right in the center of the first paragraph. The symbol sequence "grave, papyrus, branch, corpse, corpse, shield, King" can only be translated using abstractions. The "papyrus" is the official symbol of Lower Egypt, and the "branch" is the symbol of "Upper Egypt". The "shield" means "to protect", as we have seen before, but it can also mean "holy", in other words "which should be protected at all costs". The primary translation reads: "The grave of the holy dead Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt". However, the abstraction related to “grave” is “theory”, and a people cannot live in peace with a dead King; it needs a living King, of course. So, when taking into account the resurrection of both Kings, we arrive at the final translation: "The Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt". The orientation of side A, within Figure 5.3, is a logical one, also geographically. So, the last passage A31 finishes in the south. Note, that both important and equal passages A3 and A15 point “to the west, to the other side of the waters, to the land where the Sun sets”.
  • 11. It is the location of the Realm of the Dead. It emphasizes the resurrection of the Kings, and the religious meaning of the text on the disc (Refs.26-28). The first paragraph Passage A1 has the combination "flower, man, burin". When a husband gives a bunch of flowers to his wife, he always starts his comment with the word "Please, ...". So, this is the correct abstraction related to the first symbol. The "burin" is an instrument to engrave, for instance in earthenware, but here we prefer a more general expression for the engraving in the hearts of the people. So, the best translation reads: "Please, proclaim loudly". Passage A2 has the combination "messenger, scroll of the law". The "messenger" clearly runs around spreading a message, and the "scroll of the law" looks like a club. So, the correct translation will be: "Spread by force of law". We now arrive at the correct translation of the first, important paragraph: "Please proclaim loudly, and spread by force of law, the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt. Please, proclaim it loudly." This paragraph is by far the most important one of the whole disc. (So far, we have translated 14 passages in total.) Some symbols are turned over, others are even upside down, in both cases to clearify the text. On the front side the different positions of the "falcon" illustrate that only "God" is able to see things from all perpectives. In passage A28 two cats are still in normal position, but in the next passage A29 the cat is upside down. This is because the text deals with his course of life, where the cat endures a lot. On the back side in passage B13 the cat is toppled over, because the text deals with his merriment. In passages B16 and B18 the cats are upside down, because the text deals with the mature Fish-god and his temple, where the cat endures a lot, again. When continuing in this way, it turns out the back side is more difficult to translate than the front side. The abstractions related to the symbols are here more difficult to establish. A script based upon abstractions of symbols is called an ideographic script, and the symbols are called ideograms (Refs.1-14). So, the script of the Phaistos Disc is universal, not related to any language. This is a very important conclusion. In fact, it contains the message that the religion of Crete was not considered to be a local religion, but a universal religion, of importance for the whole of mankind. Many researchers, trying to decipher the Phaistos Disc, started with the assumption that the symbols are related to a language. Soon they gave up, because in that case the total number of symbols on the disc turns out to be far too low to be successful. 5.6 THE FRONT SIDE The literal decipherment of the front side (side A) is shown in Table 5.2, and the correct translation of it is shown in Table 5.3. Here, we will show both processes, decipherment and translation, for all the individual passages. §1: Passage 1 of paragraph 1 contains the symbols “flower, man, burin”, which means “Please, engrave in earthenware/”, or better “Please, proclaim loudly,”. Passage 2 contains the symbols “messenger, scroll of the law”, which means “and spread by force of law,” which is correct. Passage 3 contains the symbols “grave, papyrus, branch, corpse, corpse, shield, King”, which means “the grave of the holy paper and wooden King's deads/”, or better, “the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt.” Passage 4 contains the symbols “flower, man, burin”, which means “please, engrave it in
  • 12. earthenware/”, or better, “Please, proclaim it loudly.” §2: Passage 5 of paragraph 2 contains the symbols “branch, plane, hammer”, which means “Cut it in shaved wood/”, or better, “Fix it down in writing,” Passage 6 contains the symbols “messenger, scroll of the law, shield, King”, which means “and spread by force of law the sovereignty of the King.”, which is correct. Passage 7 contains the symbols “shield, horn, falcon”, which means “defend the power of the SunGod.”, or better “Defend the power of God.” Passage 8 contains the symbols “plane, lid, square, Queen”, which means “shave the wooden lid that leads to the Queen/”, or better “Improve higher education for raising the Queen.” Passage 9 contains the symbols “corpse, square, dove, palace, corpse, shield, King”, which means “the death leads to the dove of peace in the dead palace of the holy King/”, or better “Taking away the sin leads to peace in the Palace of the Holy King.”, or still better “Spreading knowledge leads to peace in the Palace of the Holy King”. §3: Passage 10 of paragraph 3 contains the symbols “horn, falcon, shield, King”, which means “The power of the SunGod protects the King/”, or better “The power of God protects the King.” §4: Passage 11 of paragraph 4 contains the symbols “messenger, hoof”, which means “Spread it with great drive,”, which is correct. Passage 12 contains the symbols “square, hammer, burin, boat, corpse, King”, which means “in such a manner that the dead boat of the King will be chiseled and engraved/”, or better “in such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be loudly proclaimed and heard by the people.” §5: Passage 13 of paragraph 5 contains the symbols “horn, falcon, shield, King”, which means “The power of the SunGod protects the King.”, or better “The power of God protects the King.” Passage 14 contains the symbols “hammer, fish”, which means “cut the Fish-god/”, or better “Thoroughly educate the Fish-god,”. Passage 15 contains the symbols “grave, papyrus, branch, corpse, corpse, shield, King”, which means “the grave of the holy paper and wooden King's deads/”, or better “according to the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt.” §6: Passage 16 of paragraph 6 contains the symbols “horn, falcon, shield, King”, which means “The power of the SunGod protects the King/”, or better “The power of God protects the King.” §7: Passage 17 of paragraph 7 contains the symbols “messenger, hoof”, which means “Spread it with great drive,”, which is correct. Passage 18 contains the symbols “square, hammer, burin, boat, corpse, King”, which means “in such a manner that the dead boat of the King will be chiseled and engraved/”, or better “in such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be loudly proclaimed and heard by the people.” Passage 19 contains the symbols “bow, arrow”, which means “use bow and arrow/”, or better “Do it consciously and on purpose.” §8: Passage 20 of paragraph 8 contains the symbols “flower, hammer, dove, shield, King”, which means “Please, cut the dove of peace for the protection of the King/”, or better
  • 13. “Please, maintain peace for the protection of the King.” Passage 21 contains the symbols “cover, screen, flute, messenger”, which means “stimulate it secretly when one goes round fluting/”, or better “Take secretly care that people are able to relax.” Passage 22 contains the symbols “branch, plane, flute, shield, King”, which means “shave from wood a flute to protect the King/”, or better “Take care for the necessary provisions, protecting the King.” Passage 23 contains the symbols “branch, horn, falcon”, which means “the wood is the power of the SunGod/”or better “The possibilities to do so come from the power of God.” Passage 24 contains the symbols “lid(?), square, Queen, shield, King,”, which means “the wooden lid leads to the Queen who protects the King/”, or better “Higher education raises the Queen who protects the King.” §9: Passage 25 of paragraph 9 contains the symbols “glove, chopper, corpse”, which means “The glove handles the chopper until death/”, or better “The teacher takes away the sin.”, or still better “The teacher is spreading the knowledge”. Passage 26 contains the symbols “shield, cover, waterway, corpse”, which means “protect and hold on to the waterway of death/”, or better “Protect and hold on to the course of the law until the end.” Passage 27 contains the symbols “fish, screen, prisoner, shield, King”, which means “the Fish-god keeps people secretly in prison to protect the King/”, or better “The young Fish- god secretly captivates people protecting the King,” Passage 28 contains the symbols “bee, cat, cat”, which means “because of the honey cats/”, or better “because of the sweet Cat-gods.” §10: Passage 29 of paragraph 10 contains the symbols “cover, waterway, cat”, which means “Stimulate the course of the Cat-god/”, or better “Take care of the course of life of the Cat-god,” Passage 30 contains the symbols “shield, screen, temple”, which means “and protect the hidden temple/”, or better “and protect his secret Temple.” §11: Finally, passage 31 of paragraph 11 contains the symbols “square, messenger, scroll of the law, shield, King”, which means “That leads to powerful, legal spreading that protects the King!//”, or better “This leads to execution of the law which strongly protects the King!” TABLE 5.2 LITERAL DECIPHERMENT OF THE FRONT SIDE OF THE PHAISTOS DISC (SIDE A, Fig.5.3) (c.1458 BC) Please, engrave in earthenware/ and spread by force of law/ the grave of the holy paper and wooden King's deads/ please, engrave it in earthenware/ Cut it in shaved wood/ and spread by force of law the sovereignty of the King/ defend the power of the SunGod/ shave the wooden lid that leads to the Queen/ the death leads to the dove of peace in the dead palace of the holy King/ The power of the SunGod protects the King/
  • 14. Spread it with great drive/ in such a manner that the dead boat of the King will be chiseled and engraved/ The power of the SunGod protects the King/ cut the Fish-god/ the grave of the holy paper and wooden King's deads/ The power of the SunGod protects the King/ Spread it with great drive/ in such a manner that the dead boat of the King will be chiseled and engraved/ use bow and arrow/ Please, cut the dove of peace for the protection of the King/ stimulate it secretly when one goes round fluting/ shave from wood a flute to protect the King/ the wood is the power of the SunGod/ the wooden lid(?) leads to the Queen who protects the King/ The glove handles the chopper until death/ protect and hold on to the waterway of death/ the Fish-god keeps people secretly in prison to protect the King/ because of the honey cats/ Stimulate the course of the Cat-god/ and protect the hidden temple/ That leads to powerful, legal spreading that protects the King!//
  • 15. Fig.5.3 Front side A of the Phaistos Disc (Crete, c.1458 BC) (Courtesy L. Godart, Ref.1) TABLE 5.3 TRANSLATION OF THE FRONT SIDE OF THE PHAISTOS DISC (SIDE A, Fig.5.3) (c.1458 BC) Please, proclaim loudly, and spread by force of law, the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt. Please, proclaim it loudly. Fix it down in writing, and spread by force of law the sovereignty of the King. Defend the power of God. Improve higher education for raising the Queen. Spreading knowledge leads to peace in the Palace of the Holy King. The power of God protects the King.
  • 16. Spread it with great drive, in such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be loudly proclaimed and heard by the people. The power of God protects the King. Thoroughly educate the Fish-god, according to the Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt. The power of God protects the King. Spread it with great drive, in such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be loudly proclaimed and heard by the people. Do it consciously and on purpose. Please, maintain peace for the protection of the King. Take secretly care that people are able to relax. Take care for the necessary provisions, protecting the King. The possibilities to do so come from the power of God. Higher education raises the Queen who protects the King. The teacher is spreading the knowledge. Protect and hold on to the course of the law until the end. The young Fish-god secretly captivates people protecting the King, because of the sweet Cat-gods. Take care of the course of life of the Cat-god, and protect his secret Temple. This leads to execution of the law which strongly protects the King! 5.7 THE BACK SIDE The literal decipherment of the back side (side B) is shown in Table 5.4, and the correct translation of it is shown in Table 5.5. Here, we will show both processes, decipherment and translation, for all the individual passages. §1: Passage 1 of paragraph 1 contains the symbols “cover, waterway”, which means “Take care for the course of the law.”, which is correct. Passage 2 contains the symbols “boat, hammer, bee, cat”, which means “the boat cuts the honey cat/”, or better “The language of the teacher educates the sweet Cat-god,” or still better “The teacher educates the sweet Cat-god”. (A “boat” is also a kind of “high level conversation”.) Passage 3 contains the symbols “cover, hammer, branch, Queen, King”, which means “and looks after cutting in wood the King's virgin/”, or better “and takes care for raising the King's Virgin to maturity.” Passage 4 contains the symbols “cover, square, arrow, ram, tiara”, which means “this care leads to a well-directed ram-crowning/”, or better “This care will lead to a well-directed crowning of this Queen.” §2: Passage 5 of paragraph 2 contains the symbols “glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat, religion”, which means “The glove provides for doubt of the drunken cat/”, or better “Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt.” Passage 6 contains the symbols “temple, square, hammer, cover”, which means “the new temple leads to chiseled care/”, or better “The New Temple leads to an extensive state of care.” §3: Passage 7 of paragraph 3 contains the symbols “cover, waterway, cover”, which means
  • 17. “Take care for a careful course of the law.”, which is correct. Passage 8 contains the symbols “branch, square, cover”, which means “the wood leads to this care/”, or better “The government should stimulate this care.” Passage 9 contains the symbols “boat, hammer, bee, corpse”, which means “the boat cuts until the honey death/”, or better “The language of the teacher softly takes away the sin.”, or still better, “The teacher is softly explaining the full truth”. §4: Passage 10 of paragraph 4 contains the symbols “glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat, religion”, which means “The glove provides for doubt of the drunken cat/”, or better “Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt.” 5: Passage 11 of paragraph 5 contains the symbols “cover, waterway, cat”, which means “Take care for the course of life of the Cat-god/”, or slightly better, “Take care for the course of life of the young Cat-god.” Passage 12 contains the symbols “scroll of the law, glove, cat”, which means “the force of the law leads the cat/”, or better “The law educates the Cat-god.” §6: Passage 13 of paragraph 6 contains the symbols “glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat”, which means “The glove provides for the drunkenness of the cat/”, or better “Education leads to the merriment of the young Cat-god.” Passage 14 contains the symbols “messenger, corpse, tiara, King”, which means “spread death until the crowning of the new King/”, or better “Take away the sin till the crowning of the New King.”, or still better, “Spread knowledge till the crowning of the New King”. Passage 15 contains the symbols “fish, arrow, dove, branch, Queen”, which means “the Fish-god points his arrow on the dove of peace, because of the wooden virgin/”, or better “The Fish-god maintains peace because of the influence of the Queen.” Passage 16 contains the symbols “messenger, fish, cat”, which means “give the cat the fish to eat!/”, or slightly better “Give the Cat the Fish to eat!” Passage 17 contains the symbols “square, palace, saw”, which means “in this way one saws the new palace/”, or better “In this way the New Palace will be created,” Passage 18 contains the symbols “branch, mummy, temple, temple, cat”, which means “the new wooden death-temples of the Cat-god/”, or better “the full size Holy Temples of the Cat-god.” §7: Passage 19 of paragraph 7 contains the symbols “messenger, flower, boat, corpse”, which means “Please, spread the boat of death/”, or better “Please, spread the language that takes away the sin.” Passage 20 contains the symbols “screen, vine-tendril, horn, King”, which means “this hidden drunkenness is the power of the King/”, or better “This hidden merriment is the power of the King,” Passage 21 contains the symbols “branch, screen, temple, cover”, which means “the hidden wood of the welfare temple/”, or better “the hidden force behind the welfare temple.” Passage 22 contains the symbols “boat, scraper, papyrus, religion”, which means “The boat rasps the paper faith/”, or better “The language of the teacher stimulates the rise of faith.”, or still better “The teacher stimulates the rise of faith”. Passage 23 contains the symbols “square, messenger, scroll of the law, cover, mattock”, which means “This leads to a powerfull, legal stimulation of the struggle.”, which is correct. Passage 24 contains the symbols “fish, arrow, messenger, scroll of the law”, which means “the Fish-god will direct to the execution of the law/”, or better “while the Fish-god
  • 18. promotes execution of the law.” §8: Passage 25 of paragraph 8 contains the symbols “grater, square, hammer, saw”, which means “With the special rasp hammer and saw are made/”, or better “The élan so created provides the tools” Passage 26 contains the symbols “shield, mummy, temple, fish”, which means “these protect the death-temple of the Fish-god/”, or better “to protect the Holy Temple of the Fish-god,” Passage 27 contains the symbols “corpse, boat, religion”, which means “the boat of death of the faith/”, or better “the deadly language of our Religion.” §9: Passage 28 of paragraph 9 contains the symbols “child, hammer, papyrus, King”, which means “The chiseled child becomes the paper King/”, or better “The educated child will be the upgrowing King.” Passage 29 contains the symbols “branch, cover, waterway, corpse”, which means “the wood takes care for the course to death/”, or better “The government provides for the course of the law till the end.” Finally, passage 30 contains the symbols “cover, screen, religion, shield, King”, which means “It takes care for the hidden faith which protects the King!”, which is correct. TABLE 5.4 LITERAL DECIPHERMENT OF THE BACK SIDE OF THE PHAISTOS DISC (SIDE B, Fig.5.4) (c.1458 BC) Take care for the course of the law/ the boat cuts the honey cat/ and looks after cutting in wood the King's virgin/ this care leads to a well-directed ram-crowning/ The glove provides for doubt of the drunken cat/ the new temple leads to chiseled care/ Take care for a careful course of the law/ the wood leads to this care/ the boat cuts until the honey death/ The glove provides for doubt of the drunken cat/ Take care for the course of life of the Cat-god/ the force of the law leads the cat/ The glove provides for the drunkenness of the cat/ spread death until the crowning of the new King/ the Fish-god points his arrow on the dove of peace, because of the wooden virgin/ give the cat the fish to eat!/ in this way one saws the new palace/ the new wooden death-temples of the Cat-god/ Please, spread the boat of death/ this hidden drunkenness is the power of the King/ the hidden wood of the welfare temple/ The boat rasps the paper faith/ this leads to a powerful, legal stimulation of the struggle/ the Fish-god will direct to the execution of the law/ With the special rasp hammer and saw are made/ these protect the death-temple of the Fish-god/ the boat of death of the faith/
  • 19. The chiseled child becomes the paper King/ the wood takes care for the course to death/ it takes care for the hidden faith which protects the King!// Fig.5.4 Back side B of the Phaistos Disc (Crete, c.1458 BC) (Courtesy L. Godart, Ref.1) TABLE 5.5 TRANSLATION OF THE BACK SIDE OF THE PHAISTOS DISC (SIDE B, Fig.5.4) (c.1458 BC) Take care for the course of the law. The teacher educates the sweet Cat-god, and takes care for raising the King's Virgin to maturity. This care will lead to a well-directed crowning of this Queen. Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt. The New Temple leads to an extensive state
  • 20. of care. Take care for a careful course of the law. The government should stimulate this care. The teacher is softly explaining the full truth. Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt. Take care for the course of life of the young Cat-god. The law educates the Cat-god. Education leads to the merriment of the young Cat-god. Spread knowledge till the crowning of the New King. The Fish-god maintains peace because of the influence of the Queen. Give the Cat the Fish to eat! In this way the New Palace will be created, the full size Holy Temples of the Cat-god. Please, spread the language that takes away the sin. This hidden merriment is the power of the King, the hidden force behind the welfare temple. The teacher stimulates the rise of faith. This leads to a powerful, legal stimulation of the struggle, while the Fish-god promotes execution of the law. The élan so created provides the tools to protect the Holy Temple of the Fish-god, the deadly language of our Religion. The educated child will be the upgrowing King. The government provides for the course of the law till the end. It takes care for the hidden faith which protects the King!
  • 21. Fig.5.5 The Throne of the King of Crete (Knossos, Crete, c.2000 BC, Courtesy A. Kofou, Ref.56) 5.8 REPEATED PASSAGES Repetitions often occur on the Phaistos Disc. These include repetitions of whole passages, of combinations of symbols, and of separate symbols. However, the most important repetition is the series of passages A10, A11, A12 on the front side, which is repeated by the series of A16, A17, A18. In Chapter 9 it will be shown this whole combination deals with boat voyages of discovery (Refs.49-51). Passages which are repeated as a whole must be very important, too; these are shown in Table 5.6. The exclamation: "The power of God protects the King!" is repeated to the tune of three times. These repetitions emphasize the importance of the written text. Repetitions of combinations of symbols are also important. The expression: "Protect the King!" occurs to the tune of 13 times on the disc, and "The power of God" is repeated 5 times. The expressions "Take care for the course of the law" and "Spread by force of law" occur 6 times and 5 times, respectively. Repetitions of separate symbols are less illustrative. These have already been shown in Table 2.2. The "King" occurs 19x in total, and is with this score the most important
  • 22. symbol. The "shield" occurs 15x on the front side, which indicates that political struggle is important in the first governmental period. The "cover" occurs 15x on the back side, which indicates that adherence to the welfare state was considered of importance in the second governmental period. The symbol of the "corpse" occurs 15x in total, which clearly confirms the faith in a Realm of the Dead, and in a resurrection (Refs.20-25,41-48). TABLE 5.6 REPEATED PASSAGES ON THE PHAISTOS DISC (c.1458 BC) (Figs.5.3 & 5.4) SYMBOLS (TEXT) FREQUENCY SIDE A ………………………..………………………. A+B flower, man, burin (Please, proclaim loudly)(1,4)……….2+0 grave, papyrus, branch, corpse, corpse, shield, king (The Theory of the Holy Kings of Lower and Upper Egypt)(3,15) ……………..….…………………………..2+0 [... messenger, scroll, shield, king (Spread by force of law the sovereignty of the King)](6,31)* ………………[2+0] horn, falcon, shield, king (The power of God protects the King)(10,13,16) …………………………………….3+0 messenger, hoof (Spread with great drive)(11,17)………2+0 square, hammer, burin, boat, corpse, king (In such a manner that the powerful language of the King will be loudly proclaimed and heard by the people)(12,18)……. 2+0 Side B………………………………..…………………A+B glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat, faith (Education learns the tipsy Cat-god to doubt)(5,10) ………………..0+2 [glove, cover, vine-tendril, cat ... (Education leads to the merriment of the Cat-god)](13)* ………………..[0+1] Sides A+B……..…………………………………….…A+B cover, waterway, cat (Protect the course of life of the Cat-god (A29,B11)……..…………………………...1+1 * almost repeated passages 5.9 ELUCIDATION OF THE TEXT Difficult abstractions The symbol of the “corpse” plays an important role on the disc. In passage B19 we had to translate it with the biblical expression of “taking away the sin”. We apologize for it, but there is hardly any other appropriate translation possible. Clearly, it was the intention of
  • 23. the makers of the disc. In passages A9, A25, and B14 we could use the expression of “spreading knowledge”. Sometimes the symbol can be translated by “deadly” in passage B27, by “holy”, together with the “shield”, in A3, A9 and A15, or by “at the end“ in A26 and B29, all of which are rather easy to understand, within the local context. In passages A12 and A18 the combination “boat, corpse” should be translated by the “powerful language”, which is used by the “King”, the next symbol. A “boat” is also a high level conversation, a so-called knowledge negotiation. Crete possessed a high culture, which could not exist without good education (Refs.17-22). The “glove” in A25, B5, B10, B12, and B13 should be translated by the “teacher”, or by “education”, while the symbol also shows the great influence of it. The “hammer” in passages A14, B3, and B28 acts as a similar symbol with an analogous translation. Apparently, the religion in Crete resembled the one in Egypt. The “falcon”, with the serpent in its talons, represents the suppreme God. In the hierarchy below this God are two other gods, the Cat-god and the Fish-god, both indicated by appropriate symbols on the disc. The two Kings, a.o. mentioned in important passages A3 and A15, are considered the substitutes of these two gods. Note, that the symbols of these three important gods are placed between the other animals in a more or less invisible manner. The only important visible person is the King, shown to the tune of 19 times, or in the absence of him, the Queen, shown 4 times. The symbol for “religion” or “faith” is a drawing of the Cancer Constellation, as shown in passages B22, B27, and B30. The holy Tropic of Cancer, named after this star constellation, marks the Southern Egyptian Empire, the center of the Sunreligion, at 23°N. On midsummer day the Sun is there at right angles above. In passages B5 and B10 the same symbol should be translated by the less important abstraction of “doubt”, because the Cat-god is still in a process of learning. Meaning of the text The greatest problem of the Phaistos Disc is not the decipherment of the hieroglyphic script, and it is not writing down the text in good English, either. The greatest problem is the interpretation and explanation of the difficult text. From all evidence it turns out, that religion in Crete was greatly influenced by that of Egypt. Lower Egypt, the Nile Delta, was called the Land of the "Papyrus", and Upper Egypt was called the Land of the Reed or the "Wood". Both symbols are shown on the disc, the last one also in passage A23. The holy Tropic of Cancer through the center of Upper Egypt, at 23°N, is the usual symbol of the Egyptian Sunreligion. For that reason the sign of the "Cancer Constellation" on the disc is the symbol for "Religion" in Crete. The number 23 is the symbol for the same religion in the Megalithic Culture of Western Europe (Refs.26-40). In Egypt one believed in the SunGod Ra. Below this suppreme God were two other gods, Horus and Osiris. The Kings or Pharaohs of Egypt were the substitutes of these two gods. So, the entire Phaistos Disc should be considered in the light of this religion (Refs.- 23-25,41-48). The front side of the disc deals with a first period of government during one generation of c.31 years, with a King on the throne, who is the substitute of the Cat-god, possessing a
  • 24. secret temple (Table 5.3). The falcon (or eagle) with the serpent in its talons is God, who protects the King. Emphasis is laid on spreading the Religion, on good education, and on the influential language of the King. Thoughts are going out to the process of growing to maturity of a future King, who is called the young Fish-god, and his later wife. The back side of the disc deals with a second period of government during one generation of c.30 years, with a King on the throne, who is the substitute of the Fish-god, and who also possesses a temple (Table 5.5). Emphasis is laid on good education, again, on the course of the law, and on maintaining the welfare state. Thoughts are going out to the process of growing to maturity of a future King, who is called the young Cat-god, and his later wife. The text of side B turns out to be a continuation of the script on side A, and not the other way around. So the initial thoughts on this issue are confirmed: side A is the front side, and side B is the back side. 5.10 DISCUSSION The difficult text of the Phaistos Disc (Tables 5.3 and 5.5), which sounds quite familiar to insiders, deals from the beginning to the end with the headlines of government and religion. This result is very important, because almost nothing was known about the religion of Crete at the end of the New Palace Culture (c.1458 BC) (Refs.20-22). It turns out to be the Bible of Crete. It is a political religious text derived from ancient Egyptian religion. Both religions are precursers of the present Christian religion, where the Father and the Son are the main gods below the suppreme God Jahwe. The round disc symbolizes Maat, the Egyptian goddes of law and order in the universe, who should be compared to the Holy Gost. The obtained text is also like a page from the Bible: besides very high abstractions it contains a lot of less important sentences. Some will judge the whole text of considerable importance, others don’t care very much. Our translation proves the approach for the decipherment followed here is the right one. The majority of the symbols form easily sentences within the passages. It fits best the interpretation of the symbols given by Sokolinsky (Refs.11,12). For a better understanding of the text we prefer to give no further explanations. It was our goal to decipher and translate the text on the disc. It is not our intention to comment on this religion, or to explain it in detail. For people interested in this subject, we would like to refer to experts in old religions in general, in ancient Egyptian religion, and in the present Christian religion. In this chapter we tried to decipher and translate the complete, original text. This is partly because everybody wants to know it. It is where so many people were waiting for, for about a century, since the disc was found, in 1908. However, this mysterious, religious text is just one aspect of the Phaistos Disc, and it is probably not the most important one. Other aspects are even more interesting, as will be shown in the following chapters (Chs.6-11). (Refs.52-55) LITERATURE (Ch.5) 1. Godart, L., The Phaistos Disc, The Enigma of an Aegean Script, Editions Itanos, 1995, pgs. 62,76,90,92 (ISBN 960-7549-02-3). 2. Duhoux, Y., Le disque de Phaistos, Louvain-le-Neuve, 1978. (French) 3. Pernier, L., Il disco di Phaestos con caratteri pittografici, Ausonia III (1908), 255-302. (Italian) 4. Poutsat, J.-C., Figurines et reliefs d'applique, Fouilles executees a Mallia. Le Quartier MU II, Etudes Cretoises XXVI, Paris 1980, 118-119. (French)
  • 25. 5. Mackay, A., On the Type-found of the Phaistos Disk, Statistical Methods in Linguistics, no.4, 15-25. 6. Neumann, G., Zum Forschungsstand beim 'Diskos van Phaestos', Kadmos 7, 1968, 27-44. (German) 7. Kober, A.E., The Minoan Scripts: Fact and Theory, American Journal of Archaeology 52, 1948, 82-103. 8. Yule, P., Early Cretan Seals: A Study of Chronology, Marburger Studien zur vor- und fruhgeschichte, Vol 4, Mainz am Rhein, 1981. (German) 9. The Tablet of Vladikavkaz, Journal L'archeologue, Nr.55, Aout-Septembre 2001, "Une enigme archeolo- gique du Caucase Septentrional". (French) 10. D'Ossetie et d'alentour nr.9, Paris, 2001, par V.A. Kouznetsov traduit du russe par Iaroslav Lebedynsky. (French) 11. Miller, J., Ancient American, The Phaistos Disk, March/April 1994, p.37. 12. Grimes, J.P., Ancient American, Vol.2, Nr.12, p.35. 13. Covey, C., Fischer vs. Fell Phaistos Disk Decipherments, Midw. Epigr. Newsl., Vol.19, Nr.4 (2002). 14. Best, J.G.P., and Woudhuizen, F., Lost Languages from the Mediterranean, Leiden, the Netherlands (1989). 15. Bayley, H., The Lost Language of Symbolism, Citadel Press, 1990, reprint (ISBN 0-8065-1100-1). 16. Cirlot, J.E., A Dictionary of Symbols, Ed. Routledge, 1971 (ISBN 0-8022-2083-5). 17. Homer, The Iliad and the Odyssey, transl. Murray, Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann, London (1919). 18. Homer, The Odyssey, transl. E.V. Rieu, Harmondsworth, Penguin (1954). 19. Strabo, Complete Works, Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann, London (1923-32). 20. Willetts, R.F., The Civilization of Ancient Crete, Phoenix Press, New York (1976) (ISBN 1-84212-746-2). 21. Mohen, J.-P., and Eluère, C., The Bronze Age in Europe. Gods, Hero’s and Treasures, Thames and Hud-son, 2000 (ISBN 0-500-30101-8). 22. Herberger, C.F., The Minoan Cultural Response: the Feminine Emphasis, Midwestern Epigraphic Jour-nal, Vol.18/9, pgs. 47-55, 2004-5 (ISSN 1932-5703). 23. People of the Stone Age: Hunter-gatherers and Early Farmers, Weldon Owen Pty Limited, McMahons Point, Australia.(1995). 24. Old World Civilizations, The Rise of Cities and States, The Illustrated History of Humankind, Weldon Owen Pty Limited, McMahons Point, Australia. (1995). 25. Zwart, A.H. e.a., De Oude Grieken, 7000 Jaar Wereldgeschiedenis, Lekturama, Rotterdam, 1977. (Dutch) 26. De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield, J.S, How the Sungod Reached America, A Guide to Megalithic Sites, MCS Inc., 2002 (ISBN 0-917054-19-9). Available: MCS Inc., Box 3392, Kirkland, Wa 98083-33-92, also on CD. 27. De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield, J.S, Website: www.howthesungod.com. 28. De Jonge, R.M., and IJzereef, G.F., De Stenen Spreken, Kosmos Z&K, Utrecht/ Antwerpen, 1996 (ISBN 90-215-2846-0). (Dutch) 29. Joseph, F., Book Review: “How the SunGod Reached America, c.2500 BC”, Ancient America, Vol.7, No.45, pg.36 (2002). 30. Parnell, R., Book Review: “How the SunGod Reached America, c.2500 BC”, Nexus Magazine, Vol.9, No.4, pg.73 and/or pg.77 (2002). 31. Tiffany, J., “Coded Messages of the Megalith Builders”, The Barnes Review, Vol.VIII, No.5, pg.53 (2002). 32. Lichtenberg, L., “Gids van Megalithische Monumenten”, Archeologie Magazine, Nr.1, pg.63 (2004). (Dutch) 33 De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield J.S., “The Discovery of the Atlantic Islands”, Migration & Diffusion, Vol.3, No.11, pgs.69-109 (2002). 34 De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield J.S., “The Three Rivers Petroglyph, A Guidepost for River Travel in America”, Migration & Diffusion, Vol.3, No.12, pgs.74-100 (2002). 35 De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield J.S., “A Nautical Center for Crossing the Ocean, America’s Stonehenge”, New Hampshire, c.2200 BC, Migration & Diffusion, Vol.4, No.15, pgs.60-100 (2002). 36 De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield, J.S., “Germany’s Bronze Age Disc Reveals Transatlantic Seafaring”, Ancient American, Vol.9, No.55, pgs.18-20 (2004). 37. De Jonge, R.M., “Great Circle Mound: An Indiana Temple to the Egyptian SunGod?”, Ancient Ameri-can, Vol.9, No.60, pgs.31-32 (2004) 38. De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield, J.S., “Greenland, Bridge between the Old and New World, c.2500 BC”, Ancient American, Vol.11, No.67, pgs.12-20 (2006). 39. De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield, J.S., “The Stone Rows of Tormsdale: A Voyage to Central America, the Realm of the Dead” (Caithness, NE Scotland, c.1600 BC), Ancient American, Vol.11, No.70, pgs.28-34 (2006). 40. De Jonge, R.M., and Wakefield, J.S., “The Embden Dragon Petroglyph, A Copper Trading Route of the Bronze Age”, Midwestern Epigraphic Journal, Vol.18/9, pgs. 56-82, 2004-5 (ISSN 1932-5703).
  • 26. 41. Siliotti, A., Egypt, Temples, People and Gods, Bergamo, Italy, 1997. 42. Kemp, B.J., Ancient Egypt, Anatomy of a Civilization, London, Routledge, 1991. 43. Ancient Egypt, National Geographic Maps, Supplement to the National Geographic Magazine, April, 2001. 44. Adams, B., and Cialowicz, K., Protodynastic Egypt, Shire Egyptology, Princes Risborough, 1997. 45. Tompkins, P., Secrets of the Great Pyramid, Harper & Row, London, 1971 (ISBN 0-06-090631-6). (Dr. Stecchini) 46. Hart, G., A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddes ses, Routledge, London, 1986 (ISBN 0-7102-0167 -2). 47. Breasted, J.H., Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol.2: The Eighteenth Dynasty, London, 1988. 48. Wallis Budge, E.A., Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrec tion, 2 Vol., Dover Pub., N.Y., 1973 (ISBN 0-486-22780-4). 49. Casson, L., Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times, British Museum Press, 1994 (ISBN 0-525-47545-1). 50. Wachsmann, S., Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Bronze Age, Levant, College Station, Texas, 1998. 51. Heyerdahl, T., The Ra Expeditions, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1971. 52. Wakefield, J.S., and De Jonge, R.M., Rocks & Rows, Sailing Routes across the Atlantic and the Copper Trade, MCS Inc, 2010 (ISBN 0-917054-20-2). Available: MCS Inc, Box 3392, Kirkland, Wa USA 98033. 53. De Jonge, R.M., Website: www.slideshare.net/rmdejonge 54. De Jonge, R.M., Minoan Pendant (Cleveland, Ohio, c.1690 BC), Ref.53. 55. De Jonge, R.M., The Phaistos Disc Decoded, Website: www.slideshare.net/drsrmdejonge 56. Kofoú, A., Kreta, met alle musea en archeologische opgravingen, Ekdotike Athenon, Athene, 1994 (ISBN 960-213-060-1). (Dutch)