NS OF THE PHAESTOS DISK

Two translations of the Phaestos disk have been put forward. The
first is by Professor George Hempl, of Stanford University, U.S.A.,
and appeared in _Harper's Magazine_ for January, 1911, under the
title, 'The Solving of an Ancient Riddle.' The second, by Miss F.
Melian Stawell, of Newnham College, appeared in the _Burlington
Magazine_ of April, 1911, under the title, 'An Interpretation of
the Phaistos Disk.'

Both are characterized by considerable ingenuity; but the trouble is
that they do not agree in the very least. Professor Hempl maintains
that the disk is the record of a dedication of oxen at a shrine in
Phaestos, in atonement of a robbery perpetrated by Cretan sea-rovers
on some shrine of the great goddess in Asia Minor. Miss Stawell, on
the other hand, believes that the disk is the matrix for casting
a pair of cymbals, and that the inscription is the invocation which
the worshippers had to chant to the goddess.

A comparison of portions of the two renderings will at least show
that certainty can scarcely be said to have been reached. Professor
Hempl thus renders the opening lines of Face A:

'Lo, Xipho the prophetess dedicates spoils from a spoiler of the
prophetess. Zeus, guard us. In silence put aside the most dainty
portions of the still unroasted animal. Athene Minerva, be gracious.
Silence! The victims have been put to death. Silence!'

Compare Miss Stawell's translation of the same lines:

'Lady, 0 hearken! Cunning one! Ah, Queen! I will sing, Lady, oh,
thou must deliver! Divine One, mighty Queen! Divine One, Giver of
Rain! Lady, Mistress, Come! Lady, be gracious! Goddess, be merciful!
Behold, Lady, I call on thee with the clash! Athena, behold, Warrior!
Help! Lady, come! Lady--keep silence, I sacrifice--Lady, come!'

INDEX

A

Aahmes, founder of Eighteenth Dynasty, 147
Abnub, 82, 155, 203
Abydos: First Dynasty graves at, 142, 191; Twelfth Dynasty
grave at, 150, 199
Achaeans: position of, in Homeric poems, 23; manners of, 26; invasion of
Greece, 62; influence of, on Cretan customs, 178; conquest of Mycenae,
182; modifications of Minoan religion by, 247
Achilles: arms of, 27; shield of, 27, 28, 58, 74
AEgean, 13
AEgeus, King of Athens, 10-13
Agamemnon, Tomb of, 37, 42, 43, 45, 46
Agriculture, Minoan, 226
Aigaios, Mount, 136
Aithra, mother of Theseus, 11
Akhenaten, 163, 173, 174, 185, 208
Alabastron of Khyan, 93
Alcinous, Palace of, 25, 26, 47, 49, 56
Al