Notes on patterns on side "B" of the Phaistos Disk.
![[patterns on side B]](Gif2/noteph.gif)
Copyright (c) Craig Welch 1997. All rights reserved.
The pattern illustrated above, even with minor failings in the
drawing, can easily be found. The dots represent four symbols that
vary with each instance. The bird flies in a different direction in the
first instance. The illustrated note is the second instance; the name
or whatever it is shows the fleeces inverted in its final instance. All
of this is too methodical to be chance. The meaning remains illusive but
intent toward meaning seems evident.
The following sorting of the symbols of side "B" is by frequency of
the final pictogram in each array of symbols. Sorting in this manner will
group like endings together and will show duplicate "words" together.
Notice the double and in one case triple occurrance of array patterns.
A beginning of some JavaScript to test
phonetic values for the symbols on side "B". (This was constructed
to enable substitutions for values. Only a beginning.
a1,c8 *
a1,c8 *
a1,d7 *
a1,d7,b2,a2 *
a7,e0,e1,a1 *
a7,e5,c9 *
b1,d9 *
b2,a7,e5,c7 *
b2,c6,d1 *
b2,e0,c4 *
b7,b8,a6,b2,a2,a8,e4,c7 *
b8,a1,d7,b2,a2 *
b8,c3,d7,c5,c7,a2 *
b8,c3,d7,c5,c7,a2 *
b9,b7,b8,a6 *
c1,d7,d5,c7,c7,b2,a2 *
c1,d7,d5,c7,c7,b2,a2 *
c3,d3 *
c6,d1,b2,a2 *
c6,d1,b2,a2 *
c6,d1,b2,a2 *
c7,b8,d2,b4,c7,b2,a2 *
d3,e0,a4,b2,a2 *
d4,e4,d4 *
d5,b9,e1,b2,a2 *
d5,c6,d1 *
d5,d7,c3 *
d8,a3,d9 *
d8,a3,d9 *
d8,c3,d2,b2,a2 *
I came across an interesting discussion of the decipherment of the disk.
The author gave a detailed and fascinationg account of the meaning of the
pictograms as individual hieroglyphs. With regard to this I will draw
attention to the fact that while symbols themselves have meaning and
context, it is through the use of
streams of symbol arrays that we convey the meaning of the content.
It is by the stream of the words of these sentences that I convey my
content and not just the meaning of the individual letters. If I
am unable to read a Swedish sentence, it does not follow that there is
no meaning contained in the sentence; the meaning might be perfectly
clear to a Swede. Even if I know the origin of the letter-symbols, I
would still be in the dark as to the meaning of the sentence if I
am unfamiliar with the symbol arrays we know to be Swedish syntax
and vocabulary. It is analogous with the Phaistos Disk: if I knew the
meaning of the individual hieroglyphic symbols but failed to understand
the symbol arrays, I could well be in the dark as to the meaning of
any language content that might be present. If I do not understand a
language it does not follow that the language doesn't exist or that a
knowledge of the meaning of the symbol units is to understand the
language.
Return to the Phaistos page.
View the second side "B" of the disk.