[SunkenCiv]

pic from another article (click)

If you can read the writing on either side of the Phaistos Disc, you have the mind of either a brilliant scholar or a clever hoaxster. (Photos by Judith Lange)

[SunkenCiv]

Okay.. originally I'd found an article about this on About.com, but the very day I'd tried to post it, a complaint had been filed, and content became unusable here. Then I forgot about it until today, and tracked down those, and this.

In my Amazon review of "Lost Languages" I quoted this:

As an amusement, the author reproduces a letter to _The Economist_ magazine regarding its article on the Phaistos Disk. The letter calls it a century old fraud (the disk, not the magazine) that could be exposed as such using thermoluminescence. [p 298].

(turns out to be from the Jan 14th 1999 issue)

[SunkenCiv]

Lost Languages: The Enigma Of The World's Undeciphered Scripts by Andrew Robinson

[SunkenCiv]

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[dighton]

... the forger’s error in creating a terracotta “pancake” with a cleanly cut edge.

Wanted, pseudo-antique bunnies.

[SunkenCiv]

Barry Fell published a translation, excerpted below, each side of the disk in a separate paragraph. His conclusion was that the text of the Phaistos Disk represented a language related to Hittite (Neshili or Khattili?), as was the Linear A texts. [Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, Volume 4, No. 79, September 1976]

The omens that you seek are explained in this tablet, every one. The omens that are sent forth for man's destiny, every one. Whatever you may ask, great or small, if you are worried, is given (an answer), every one. Seek an omen by offering a sacrifice to the birds, that the Gods may be well disposed. Ask anything you wish, on this tablet is explained everything. You may ask anything by sacrificing an offering to the birds, that the Gods may from Heaven send forth an omen; everything is (answered) above the earth, deceiving never, everything. And so men may ask for protection, everyone. Should they (the Gods) be angered by something, or by the sacrifice, ill omens are released, all of them, signifying death or disaster; which appear upon asking, all of them.

(reverse side follows)

Let a substitute sacrifice be exposed, designated as an offering to take the place of the man. If birds are attracted then, it is a lucky sign. Should the birds remain hidden, it stands for death, and the man will die. Should they approach to peck at the sacrifice, it is a lucky sign. If they continue to feed and crowd in, it is lucky and moreover a sign of great favor (or, that the sacrifice is favored), and the man may go and pour a libation for his success. The kid satisfied and was pleasing to the high gods. To the priest, for averting death and danger, a recompense is to be paid, and a measure for bird-seed for good fortune. The measure scattered for the birds is to be wheat which has been coarsely milled, and is to be scattered abroad by the man's own hands, or he may die. Perform all these things as the tablet instructs."

[Impy]

The real one is in my basement.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Archaeo-pajamahadeen will decide if it is authentic or “fake but accurate.”

[beebuster2000]

interesting. thanks

[Towed_Jumper]

I took a look at this disc again and my translation comes out to approximate “Eat More Ovaltine”...not sure about the date.

[shibumi]

"The perfect omelet is made with two eggs, not three. Many beginners use milk or water in the whisk - this is a mistake....."

[Yardstick]

I’ll have a large Phaistos Disc with pepperoni, black olives, and cryptic runes.