Our replica of the Phaistos Disc is part of our classics centre collection.
The Phaistos Disc is made of clay and is about 15 centimetres wide. It was found on 3 July, 1908 during a dig in the Minoan palace of Phaistos, which is on an island called Crete. The disc is one of the most famous Bronze Age finds and it is very mysterious. It shows over 240 human, animal and plant symbols going round it in a circle. They were all printed with individual stamps.
People on Crete during the Bronze Age (2600 to 1100 BC) did very well and their society thrived. An archaeologist called Arthur Evans discovered the civilisation and called them "Minoans". They were very advanced, possessing a writing system, sophisticated plumbing and vast palaces.
The word "Minoan" refers to the mythical King Minos. People know King Minos from the Greek myth of the minotaur, a monstrous beast which is half-human and half-bull, who was trapped inside a labyrinth. The archaeologist Arthur Evans found a large site called Knossos which he connected to the mythical labyrinth. According to Homer (an ancient Greek writer several hundred years later), Crete once had 90 cities during the Bronze Age.
Text by Elsie Steane, Year 12