Stone Altar from Malia

Altar from Malia

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The stone altar from Malia is a cultural monument of the Minoan culture . It is a stone slab with Cretan hieroglyphs inscribed on it, dating from about 1600 BC. e. The plate was discovered in Malia , on the island of Crete , by the French archaeologist Fernand Chapoutier (1899-1953). There is a depression in the stone, it is assumed that it served as an altar ( altar ) in the Minoan culture . The inscription contains 16 characters, of which three are repeated twice. The altar is the only case known to science to write Cretan hieroglyphs on stone.

In the early works of Cretan writing, the altar from Malia, along with the Phaistos disc and the bronze ax from Arkalohori , was considered as a monument to a more or less isolated writing system, not built up to Linear A. At present, the writing of the altar is considered as classic Cretan hieroglyphs .