Phaistos Disc Bow Sign

No securely deciphered ancient meaning is known; “bow” labels the pictured shape.

The sign is also listed as Phaistos sign 11 or Evans 11. The Unicode Standard describes the disc’s sign inventory as undeciphered; proposals range from linguistic readings to ritual or esoteric interpretations, but none establishes this sign as a word, sound, or deity.

When was the Phaistos Disc made, and what was it for?

Excavated in 1908, its age and purpose remain debated.

The Phaistos Disc is the only known example of this sign system. Archaeological comparisons place it at the end of the Protopalatial (first-palace) period or the beginning of the Neopalatial (second-palace) period, Middle Minoan IIB–IIIA, a phase of Minoan Crete’s Bronze Age.

The signs were stamped into wet clay with prepared stamp tools. A ritual or magical role has been proposed, while one archaeological assessment argues against treating the disc as routine administration. The bow’s shape has been compared with designs on Minoan seals (small objects used to stamp marks) and a Luwian winged-sun sign; resemblance does not prove shared ancestry or borrowing. Unicode's layout convention sets text left to right and shows representative signs mirrored relative to their orientation on the disc, whose spiral is conventionally read inward from the rim.

What does 𐇚 mean when someone sends it?

Start with a Phaistos Disc reference; ask what else they mean.

Unicode identifies the character, not the sender’s intent. Without extra context, “bow” is no reason to assume a reference to archery or an ancient ritual.