  In Minoan art, symbols for celestial objects were depicted frequently and
often in a religious context. The most common were various solar and stellar
symbols. The palace of Knossos was amply decorated with these symbols. The
rituals performed in Knossos and other Minoan palaces included the alteration
of light and darkness, as well as the use of reflection. The Minoan primary
goddess was a solar goddess, the 'Minoan Demeter'. A Late Minoan clay disk has
been identified as a ritual calendrical object showing the most important
celestial cycles, especially the lunar octaeteris. The disk, as well as the
Minoan stone kernoi, were probably used in relation to the Minoan festival
calendar. The orientations of the central courts of the palaces of Knossos,
Phaistos, Mallia and Gournia were to the rising sun, whereas the Eastern
palaces Zakros and Petras were oriented to the southernmost and the
northernmost risings of the moon, respectively. The E-W axes of the courts of
Knossos and Phaistos were oriented to the sunrise five days before the vernal
equinox. This orientation is related to the five epagomenal days in the end of
a year, which was probably the time of a Minoan festival. One of the
orientations of the Knossian Throne Room is towards the heliacal rising of
Spica in 2000-1000 BCE. Spica rose heliacally at the time of vintage in Minoan
times. The time near the date of the heliacal rising of Spica was the time of
an important festival related to ctchonic deities, the Minoan predecessor of
the Eleusinian Mysteries. The myths of Minos, Demeter and Persephone probably
have an astronomical origin, related to Minoan observations of the periods of
the moon, Venus and Spica. These celestial events were related to the idea of
renewal, which was central in the Minoan religion.
