A predominant feature of Minoan culture was their affiliation with nature and the worship of a female goddess. Through their art, archaeologists have been able to identify the multiple roles the goddess represented. The Minoans also worshipped a male god, represented by the bull and the sun otherwise known as the ‘Earthshaker’. In later mythology, this was linked to Poseidon, Greek god of the sea, and the bull was his symbol as were horses. He did after all gift King Minos with a white bull to sacrifice in exchange for rulership of Crete and surrounding islands. For those familiar with the myth will know the outcome of the decision King Minos made by not sacrificing the bull to Poseidon.
The Minoans, as evidenced in their artwork, held nature in high esteem and believed it to be the manifestation of the Mother Goddess. She was worshipped as a Fertility Goddess, a Mistress of the Animals, a protector of cities, the home, the harvest and the underworld. Many of the statues of the Mother Goddess have her holding serpents, hence the title the Serpent or Snake Goddess. As I was researching for my book, I found an intriguing fact regarding the snakes: it was a symbol of both birth and death. This was considered important as snakes were born from the earth and returned there. The Minoans saw this a symbolic struggle between life and death.
Priestesses had a significant role in Minoan rites and festivals of which some were worshipped as goddesses or at least a representation of a goddess. Many of the rituals performed were in caves, on mountains and around trees that involved dancing. The cave was seen as the womb of the earth and where initiation rites were held. Trees were sacred and there’s art to show trees were potted. Not a new concept at all! People would bring offerings to these places such as a pot of honey, spices, jugs of oil, wool, cheese and wine. Animals were sacrificed during initiation rites and there has been human bones found that indicated the Minoans also practiced human sacrifice. From resources read, the ritualistic killing of humans took place when a catastrophic event happened or to prevent one.
Mountains and hills were used as sites for sanctuaries and two have been excavated so far: Petsofa, east of Crete and Iuktas, south of Knossos. At these sites archaeologists have found human and clay animal figurines, and layers of ash. Blood sacrifices were not practiced at these sanctuaries and the offering of the figurines may have been placed as substitutes. It may be possible animals were killed elsewhere to preserve the sanctity of the mountains.
There has been no evidence of a temple found on Crete, though domestic sanctuaries were identified in the palaces and in homes. The palaces were the focal point for Minoan religion and it has been suggested the lustral basin found at Knossos was used for some ritualistic purpose, though as Linear A hasn’t been deciphered, we won’t know for a while yet.
It would appear Minoan religion was dominated by goddesses and the few gods represented played a secondary role. This changed when Zeus and his siblings were introduced into Greek mythology/religion who was hidden as a babe in the Idaean cave on Crete. The Mother Goddess was supplanted and the role of female deities relegated to secondary roles.
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Historical fiction novelist and a secondary teacher, Luciana Cavallaro, likes to meander from contemporary life to the realms of mythology and history. Subscribe to her free short story at http://eepurl.com/bhESs1
Bury, JB and Meiggs, Russell A history of Greece
Minoan Civilisation www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/History/Minoans.html
Minoan culture and its women www.rwaag.org.minoan
The “Mistress” Po-ti-ni-ja http://inanna.virtalave.net/snakegoddess.html#cult