terracotta Phaistos Disc

The original piece, now in the Heraklion Museum in Crete, was found at the palace at Phaistos and dates to ca 1500 BCE. It was made of fired clay and is about 15cm in diameter, covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols.

The 241 pictograms on the disc comprise 45 symbols, including Man, Woman, Child, Bow, Arrow, Shield, and Dove - mostly representations of easily identifiable everyday things. Its purpose and meaning, even its original place of manufacture, remain disputed, making it one of the most famous mysteries of archaeology.

Suggested interpretations include prayers, a narrative or an adventure story, a call to arms, a board game, even a geometric theorem.

A continuing enigma!

Flourishing on Bronze Age Crete ca 3000–1100 BCE, the Minoans were a vibrant, colourful and innovative civilization that celebrated the beauty of life, nature's rhythms, and the sea which surrounded them.

Their extraordinary artistic output reflects their love of the natural world. Their sprawling palaces, most famously Knossos, Malia, and Phaistos, were adorned with breathtaking frescoes characterized by fluid lines and vivid colors. Instead of grim battle scenes, these murals depicted graceful leaping bulls, blue monkeys, and delicate saffron crocuses. Their creativity extended to their exquisite pottery, which featured dynamic motifs of octopus and coral wrapping around clay vessels, reflecting a sophisticated society deeply in tune with its environment.

This intimate connection with nature was inextricably linked to their mastery of the sea. Developing a formidable thalassocracy, the Minoans dominated the Aegean as unparalleled seafarers. Their advanced sailing vessels, elegantly depicted in frescoes at Akrotiri on Santorini/Thera, carried olive oil and fine ceramics across lucrative trade networks across the Mediterranean world, returning with exotic ivory and gold.

Sturdy terracotta, mounted on a lightweight resin base. Made in Greece in the workshop of the Lioulias family, with whom It's All Greek is proud to have been working since 2004.