Transcript Minoan Religion

Minoan Religion
Minoan Crete Map
Cave of Eileithyia
• MM cult
centers
• Baetyl
• Animal
Bones
• Animal
Figurines
• Bronze
artifacts
Peak Shrines
• Link to MM
protopalatial elites
through artifacts
• Linear A, Kamares
Ware
• Ash layer, no bones
• Many figurines
Tripartite Shrine
Domestic Shrines
• Town,
Palace,
House
• Bench
Sanctuary
• Lustral
Baisin
• Pillar Crypt
Snake
Goddess/Priestess
Goddess of the Mountain
Goddess of the Beasts
Goddesses
Minoan Pantheon
The Male Consort
Male Divinity?
• Male figures rarer
• Usually smaller
stature
• Lesser Male
Divinity?
• Rural Matriarchy?
• Urban Patriarchy?
Ayia Triadha Sarcophagus:
LMIIIA (14thC)
Painted Plaster over Stone
Celestial vs Chthonic Gods
• “Chthon”
= earth
Sacrifice
Human Sacrifice
• Anemospilia
• Near Archanes &
Heraklion
• Bound male on altar
• 2 others killed in room by
earthquake
• 1 killed in anteroom with
krater (of blood?)
Child Sacrifice & Cannibalism?
• Children’s
bones with
butchering
marks in
North
House,
Knossos
• Caravaggio
Child Sacrifice in Myth?
Theseus & the
Minotaur
• Athenians send
human tribute to bull
crazy Minoans
• Palace at Knossos
like Labyrinth to
simpler Mycenaean
Greeks
The Labyrinthine Palace
• Note
dismembered
bodies
Hero Story
• Miraculous Conception/Birth
• Hiding of/Threat to Child
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Aegeus/Poseidon
Troezen, with Aethra
Medea?
No more sacrifice!
Ummmm
Ummm
Trip to Athens
Killing Minotaur
Club, thread,
Society’s Desire for Change
Withdrawal & Initiation
Resistance of Hero Role
Search for Lost Father
Quest
Magical Tools/Weapons
sword
• Impossible Adversaries
Numerous
• Journey to Underworld
Rape of Persephone
• Return (in Disguise) to Save Beloved Ummmm
Early Exploits
• Father’s
Tokens
• Heroic Journey
• Periphetes’
Club
• Crommyonian
Sow
• Sinis & tree
• Sciron’s turtle
• Procrustes’ bed
• Daughters?
• Herculean hero
Aegeus, Medea, & Theseus
• Medea the
Colchian
witch
• Murderer of
brother &
children by
Jason
• Marathonian
Bull
Marathonian/Cretan Bull
• Brought to
Greece as one of
12 labors of
Herakles…
• Bull of Poseidon
• Pasiphae & Bull
• Minotaur’s father!
• Good Credentials
for facing Minotaur
Revenge of Minos
• Androgeos at Panathenaic
games
• Victorious Cretan murdered
by envious Athenian athletes
or by Aegeus
• Athenian compensation:
• 7 boys & 7 girls every 9 years
Cretan
“Games”
Theseus’ trip
to Crete
• Theseus as 1 of 7
boys
• White Sails for
Success
• Black/Red Sails for
Failure (death of
Theseus)
Theseus’ edge:
Inside Woman
Victory!
• Theseus slays
Minotaur
• Theseus & Ariadne
sail off into the
sunset…
Homeymoon on Naxos
Dionysus to
the Rescue
• Dionysus finds
Ariadne
• They drink happily
ever after…
Theseus sails home to
celebrate victory…& freedom
• Aegeus watches for
beloved son
• Ooops - black sails
• Aegeus leaps to
death
• Oh well, Theseus
becomes king of
Athens
Theseus & Herakles:
Fratboy Heroes
• Herakles’ 12 labors
• Girdle of Hippolyte
• Theseus & Pirithous
carry off
Antiope/Hippolyte
Amazon Invasion of Attica
• Amazons defeated, Antiope slain fighting beside Theseus
• Amazonomachy artform comparable to contemporary Miller Lite
commercial “tastes great; less filling”
Theseus, Phaedra &
Hippolytus
• Child of Antiope
• Stepmother
Phaedra
• False accusation
of rape
• Bull from
Poseidon causes
death of
Hipploytus in
chariot crash
• Phaedra hangs
herself
More bad behavior
• Theseus abducts
12 year old Helen
• Theseus &
Pirithous go to
underworld to
abduct
Persephone
• Trapped in Chair
of Oblivion
• Rescued by
Herakles
Death of
Theseus
• Helen rescued by
her brothers, the
Dioscuri: Castor
and Polydeuces
(Pollux)
• Theseus in exile
• Murdered/fell of a
cliff