The stamp shows the
development of Cretan from pictograph to hieroglyph. This alphabet was
used to write the Minoan language. The texts, written between 3000
b.c., are mostly undecipherable. The symbol on the right is
similar to the symbol for "no" in the Linear B (Mycenaean) syllabary.
From 1500 to 300
b.c. a non-Greek, non-alphabetic script, similar to Linear A,
was used for funerary and dedicatory texts, as well as longer,
historical texts later in the period. When Greek settlers colonized
Cyprus in the 12th century b.c.
they adopted the script, and continued to use it until the time of
Alexander the Great.
The stamp, issued in 1976, is identified as "Tablet
from Cyprus, 5th Century b.c.
Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris," and appears to be in the
eteo-Cretan or Cypro-Minoan script.