Tradition · Ancient Near East
Minoan Religion
The religion of Bronze Age Crete, of goddesses, bulls and the double axe.
c. 3000 – 1100 BCE · Crete · Ancient Near East
Minoan Crete left no readable religious texts, but its art shows goddesses, sacred bulls, the double axe (labrys) and rites in caves and on mountain peaks. Women appear prominently as priestesses. Much is interpretation, and the famous “snake goddess” figurines were partly restored in the 20th century.
Key figures
- A great goddess
- The snake goddess figurines
- Priestesses
Texts
- Linear A (undeciphered)
- Frescoes and seals
Beliefs
- A powerful female deity was central
- Bulls and the double axe were sacred
- Peak sanctuaries and caves were holy
Rituals
- Bull-leaping
- Offerings in peak sanctuaries and caves
- Processions
Grew from
Connections in the atlas
- Arthur Evans
- The Phaistos Disc
- Horns of consecration
- ? Did the Thera eruption end Minoan Crete?
- ▶ When the Bronze Age fell
- The Greeks
- Labrys (double axe)
- ? Was Atlantis real?
- Labyrinth
- ? What caused the Late Bronze Age collapse?
- Bull