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 and 2000 b.c., are mostly undecipherable. The symbol on the right is similar to the symbol for "no" in the Linear B (Mycenaean) syllabary.

Eteo-Cretan

     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.