Arkalochori Axe

As ax of Arkalochori a bronze double ax ( Labrys ) is called with an engraved inscription, which probably dates from the 17th century BC. It was discovered in 1934 during excavations by Spyridon Marinatos in Arkalochori on the Greek island of Crete. The archaeologist Louis Godart adopted the transitional period of the Minoan periods MM IIIB to LM I A for the preparation of the ax. The Bronze Age found object is now in the showcase 91 of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.

Fund Description

Coordinates of reference: 35 ° 8 ' 38.7 "N, 25 ° 15' 37.0 " O35.14408333333325.260277777778

The ax of Arkalochori was found with many other votive offerings in a 30 -meter-long cave that was the end of the Minoan period SM I possibly buried by an earthquake. The 1.60 meter high and 0.70 meter wide entrance to the BC has been used since about 2500 " Holy Cave " is located about 400 meters above sea level near the village of Arkalochori ( Αρκαλοχώρι; katharevousa on Arkalochorion ) northeast of Messara. It is located on the flat hill Agios Ilias ( Άγιος Ηλίας ) on the southwest side of the Prophet Elias Church ( Προφήτης Ηλίας ) on the western edge of Arkalochori towards Zinda ( Ζίντα ).

Already in 1912 were Joseph Chatzidakis in the cave at Arkalochori 53 bronze sword blade without handle, and 19 Votivdoppeläxte, including a silver, discovered and recovered during archaeological excavations. Votivdoppeläxte often appear on Minoan and Mycenaean pictorial representations, for example, three times on the sarcophagus from Agia Triada, which is dated to the 14th century BC.

Among the much richer finds Spyridon Marinatos ' in Arkalochori was in when his investigation of the cave in 1934, a larger bronze ax, whose special characteristic is an inscription. On the head of the cutting edge to about 30 centimeters wide double ax are located underneath the eye three columns with engraved characters. They have been associated with both the linear and the letters A stamp impressions on the Phaistos Disc and could not be deciphered so far.

Besides the described ax Marinatos could involve hundreds of long swords, knives and double axes of bronze, as votive offerings, as in a usable form, as well as 25 small gold and silver 7 double axes. Among the latter is a gold and a silver Votivaxt (AR Zf Zf 1 and AR 2 ), both wide only about 5 centimeters, who wore a similar Linear A inscription of a word were:

The phonetic pronunciation of these characters of the two small double axes is I- DA -MA -TE, with a phonetic resemblance to the goddess Demeter / Damater is, the "Mother As " or "Mother Earth ". All four Linear A signs resemble certain characters on the much larger bronze Votivdoppelaxt with the inscription columns. Overall, the findings and other remains have in the cave indicate a former military sanctuary at this point.

The inscription

The inscription on the bronze ax of Arkalochori consists of 15 characters, arranged in three columns under each other. Some of these characters are similar to each other, so that it is considered from 10 to 12 different characters. In this case, the head in profile appears at the beginning of the first column and the first and fourth position in the second column, the head in frontal view at the third position of the first column is almost identical to the fifth position of the second column and the character with three points in the fourth position of the first column slightly modified also at position three of the second column. Furthermore, the third sign of the third column is a mirrored representation of the second character in the first column, but a meaning equality or similarity does not imply this.

Although there are similarities of characters on the ax of Arkalochori with characters of the Minoan Linear A script, the text on the ax is too short to connect to this document conclusive. Some of the signs occur because of their universality in other writings that the cultural area of Crete had no relationship. Other characters have no equivalent in the linear script, however, resemble the signs on the Phaistos Disk. In contrast, in four characters parallels were drawn to both the linear script A and the Phaistos Disk. Louis Godart graduated in 1995 from the arrangement of the characters that they are not more than a pseudo - inscription of an illiterate in uncomprehending imitation of authentic Linear A characters represented on other similar axes. This prevented authors after him no intention to venture attempts at deciphering the inscription on the ax of Arkalochori.

Entzifferungsversuche

• Friedrich Dürrenmatt, 2000 ( interpretation as a North West Semitic syllabary )