Phaistos

Φαιστός

Greece · Crete, Heraklion

PalaceIntermittent excavationUNESCO · 2025
Approximate period1,900 BCE — 1,450 BCEOld and New Palace periods; approximate See on the map ↓

In brief

Phaistos comprises a Minoan palace on a hill overlooking the Mesara plain and the surrounding ancient settlement. Successive palace phases have provided important evidence for investigating Minoan architecture and administrative practices.

What was found?

  • 1Faistos Disc

    A fired-clay disc with signs impressed in a spiral arrangement on both sides. Specialists have not reached a definitive conclusion about the inscription's content.

  • 2Kamares pottery

    Vessels known for their multicolored decoration. Examples from the palace of Faistos document pottery production and tableware of the palatial period.

  • 3Clay seal impressions

    Pieces of clay bearing seal impressions. They are among the palace finds from Faistos and provide concrete examples of seal use.

  • 4Remains of the Old and New Palaces

    Remains of successive palace buildings. They show that a larger palace was built after the earthquake destruction of 1700 BC.

What does it point to?

Faistos is a palace center where monumental buildings, finely crafted vessels and the use of signs are found together. Although it is known how the signs on the disc were impressed, what the text says remains uncertain; it cannot be assigned a particular prayer or story.

What did it teach us?

  1. Showed that the palace was rebuilt on a larger scale after its destruction.
  2. The Faistos Disc documented the reproduction of signs by pressing small stamps into wet clay.
  3. Pottery and seal impressions enabled palace life to be studied through portable finds as well as architecture.

Images

Phaistos Disc Souvenir
Dmitry Rozhkov · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Decorated cups Phaistos archmus Heraklion
Jebulon · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Phaistos Palace Layout Scan
Crete: The Forerunner of Greece. This book was written by Ch · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Record

Culture
Minoan
First modern dig
1894
Team / historical
Italian Archaeological School at Athens; Phaistos Project
Coordinates
35.0514°, 24.8136°

Sources

  1. whc.unesco.org
  2. hh.gr
  3. heraklion.gr
  4. en.wikipedia.org
  5. Heraklion Arkeoloji Müzesi — Faistos Diski

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