MacGillivray Minoan Double Axe 2012

7/27/2019 MacGillivray Minoan Double Axe 2012

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This volume is dedicated toProfessor Vassos Karageorghis, Nestor of Cypriot Archaeology


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ISBN 978-960-7143-40-2

Copyright 2012

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UNIVERSITY OF CRETEDepartment of History & Archaeology

MINISTRY OF CULTUREArchaeological Institute of Aegean Studies

Archaeological Institute of Cretological Studies

MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY


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- C O N T R I BU T O RS

.

It is noted that each writer was responsible for the corrections of his/her paper.

Nicoletta Antognelli MichelDoctoral candidate (PhD) at theUniversity of Freiburg i. Bernau-Menzen-

schwanderstr. 16. D - 79837 St. [email protected]

Dr. Andrea BabbiAlexander von Humboldt Post-Doc.Ruprecht-Karls-Universitt HeidelbergZentrum fr AltertumswissenschaftenInstitut fr Ur- und Frhgeschichteund Vorderasiatische ArchologieMarstallhof 4. D-69117 [email protected]

. . [email protected]

Sabine Beckmann

University of Crete.Vigla Panagia Lakonia. 72100 [email protected]

Dr. Giorgos BourogiannisPostdoctoral Research Fellow. Medel-havsmuseet, Fredsgatan 2. Box 16008,103 21 [email protected]

. . [email protected]

. .

. KA. 71202, [email protected]

. . 23, . , [email protected]

Dr. Florentia Fragkopoulou 28100. [email protected]

Dr. Kostas Georgakopoulos

Archaeologist. 23d Ephorate ofPrehistoric and Classical Antiquities.Xanthoudidou and Chatzidaki 71202,[email protected]

Professor Antoine HermaryUniversit dAix-Marseille I. CentreCamille Jullian.

[email protected]. Reinhard JungFachbereich Altertumswissenschaften.Universitt Salzburg. Residenzplatz 1 /II. A-5010 [email protected]

Dr. Athanasia KantaDirector of the 23d Ephorate ofPrehistoric and Classical Antiquities.Xanthoudidou and Chatzidaki 71202,[email protected]

Professor Vassos [email protected]

Professor Litsa Kontorli-PapadopoulouAssociate professor of PrehistoricArchaeology. University of IoanninaThemistokleous 69, .Psychiko, 154 [email protected]

Dr. Konstantinos KopaniasLecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology.University of Athens. Department ofHistory and Archaeology - UniversityCampus. GR 157 84 Athens - [email protected]

Dr. Antonios KotsonasAmsterdam Archaeological CentreUniversity of Amsterdam. Turfdraag-

sterpad 9, 1012 XT. Amsterdam. [email protected]

Professor Panagiotis KousoulisAss. Professor of Egyptology. Depart-ment of Mediterranean Studies. Univer-sity of the Aegean. Rhodes, [email protected]

. () 33, 11257 [email protected]

.lebentakis_nikos@yahoo

Professor J. Alexander MacGillivrayPalaikastro Excavations. British Schoolat [email protected]

Dr. idem ManerKoc University. Department of Archae-ology and History of Art. Rumeli Feneri

34450 Sariyer. Istanbul [email protected]

Dr. Isabelle MartelliPhD. University IULM Milan-Paris IVSorbonneItalia [email protected]

Dr. Mathias MehoferArchaeometallurgy. VIAS - Vienna Insttute for Archaeological Science. FranzKlein-Gasse 1. A-1190 [email protected]

. . 10, 71305,

[email protected]

. [email protected]

Professor Thanassis PapadopoulosEmeritus professor of PrehistoricArchaeology. University of IoanninaThemistokleous 69, .Psychiko, 154 [email protected]

Dr. Laura-Concetta RizzottoAntikensammlung Staatliche Museenzu Berlin. Bodestr. 1-3 D- 10178 lrizzo-

[email protected]/[email protected]

. . . .. - 85 100 [email protected]

T . 4 GR - 302 00..

. . . [email protected]


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- C O N T E N T S

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8

N. Chr. Stampolidis

Introductory note 9

. 10

Angeliki Giannikouri

Greetings and Compliments 11

- Abbreviations 12

- The Earthly World

Vassos KarageorghisNotes on Music and Dance in Cyprus: The Archaeological Record, from the Late Bronze Age to the Cypro-Archaic Period. 15

Sabine Beckmann

Resin nd Ritual Purification: Terebinth n Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age Cult 27Nicoletta Antognelli MichelPalms And Papyruses in the Late Minoan/Helladic III: The Exotic World, the Fantastic World and the Afterworld 41

idem ManerA Comparative Study of Hittite and Mycenaean Fortification Architecture 53

Giorgos BourogiannisRhodes, Cos and the White Painted Ware of Cyprus: Introduction to Contacts in the Early Iron Age 65

83

. : ; 93

Florentia Fragkopoulou

Lakonia and Samos during the Early Iron Age: a Revised Look at the Messenian War Dates 101

- The Celestial World

Kostas GeorgakopoulosA Note on a Hittite Bull-Leaping Scene and its Minoan Perspectives 111

J. Alexander MacGillivrayThe Minoan Double Axe Goddess and Her Astral Realm 115

Panagiotis KousoulisEgyptian vs. Otherness and the Issue of Acculturation in the Egyptian Demonic Discourse of the Late Bronze Age 127

Efthymios LazongasGates and Pillars of Heaven. The Architectural Structure of Cosmos in Greek, Egyptian and Near Eastern Tradition and Art 139

. , , 153

. M A: K 161

Antonios Kotsonas

Three Early, Limestone Sculptures from Gortyn and their Mediterranean Profile 177

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- The Underworld

Konstantinos Kopanias

Paradise Lost. The Image of the Netherworld in the Near East 191

203

Athanasia Kanta

A Minoan Version of the Djed Pillar and Other Borrowed Ideas About the Afterlife in the Cretan Late Bronze Age 229

Thanasis Papadopoulos - Litsa Kontorli-Papadopoulou

Power, Troubles nd Death in Late Bronze Age Aegean nd Cyprus: the Evidence of Warrior-Graves and Painting 237

- Reinhard Jung - Mathias Mehofer

. 247

Laura-Concetta Rizzotto

Sptbronzezeitliche und Frheisenzeitliche Steinerne Sarkophage auf Kreta und auf Zypern 265

.

. 275

Andrea Babbi

, , ...Clay Human Figurines from Early Iron Age Italian Childrens Tombs and the Aegean Evidence 285

305

Isabelle Martelli

Women Go Further: Understanding the Handmade Globular Pyxis from Protogeometric Greece to Southern Italy 321

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. ; 335

Antoine HermaryThe Cypriot Kourotrophoi : Remarks on the Mother with Child Theme 341

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I N T RO DU C T O RY N O T E

An arduous effort which we made in 1997 had two aspects: first a series of international conferences and

symposia and second extensive archaeological exhibitions, both focusing on the relations developed betweenthe peoples of the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The present Internationa

Archaeological Conference entitled Immortality; The Earthly, the Celestial and the Underworld in the

Mediterranean from the Late Bronze and the Early Iron Age is included among them.

The Athanasia conference was preceded by: 1. The International Conference Eastern Mediterranean

Cyprus Dodecanese Crete, 16th-6th c. BC, 1997 Proceedings of which were published in English in 1998

2. The International Conference PLOES - Sea Routes; Interconnections in the Mediterranean, 16th - 6th c. BC in

2002, whose Proceedings were published in English in 2003.

In the interval from 1997 to 2003 the following great archaeological exhibitions with the same name as the above

conferences took place. The first exhibition was in Heraklion, Crete in 1998. This exhibition was taken to Italy, to

the Musei Capitolini of Rome in 2001, with the title Sulle Rotte di Omero. The second exhibition, Ploes, too

place at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens in 2003. At the same time as the exhibitions detailed catalogue

pertaining to them in Greek and English (1998), Italian (2001) and in Greek and English (2003) respectively, were

published.

Parallel to this overall investigation, a series of symposia on more specific topics began. Their aim was to cove

gaps in various sectors of our knowledge. Thus, the International Symposium Cremation in the Bronze Age and

Early Iron Age was held in 1999 and its proceedings were published 2001; also, The Aegean in the Early Iron

Age took place in 2002 and its proceedings were released in 2004.

In conclusion, the continuous effort to understand the relations of peoples, groups or individuals in the Ancien

Mediterranean in an ideological frame, is focusing now on issues related to the Earthly, the Celestial and the

Underworld aspects of culture. This focus, through discussion and papers hopefully will produce new knowledge

and conclusions which will help move research one step further.

Unfortunately, various problems concerning the collection of the papers, their corrections and other externa

causes, delayed the printing of the proceedings of this conference, three years after its realization. This is an

unusual occurance for us in all our previous editions. We apologize for this and we hope that it will not be

repeated in our future efforts.

Warmest thanks are once again due to the Ministries of Culture and of Merchant Marine, Aegean and Island

Policy, not only for their financial but also their moral support. The University of Crete is always willing to suppor

similar initiatives and for this we offer our thanks. We are also grateful to the Institute of Aegean Archaeologica

Studies and its Director Angeliki Giannikouri and to the Institute of Cretological Studies and its former directo

Dr. Athanasia Kanta (former Head of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion and now Director of the 23rd

Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities) and to the staff of both Institutes. Special thanks are due to

archaeologists Alexia Speliotopoulou and Danai Kontopodi for their efforts towards the organization of the

Conference. The difficult task of producing this volume of the Proceedings was taken over by Athanasia Kanta

and by Danai Kontopodi who was responsible for the layout, organization and graphics design. Finally, sincerethanks are offered to the Mediterranean Archaeological Society, which through the selfless work of its member

has become a major sponsor of this volume.

Nicholas Chr. Stampolidi

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G RE E T I N G S A N D C O M P L I M E N T S

It was a great pleasure and honour for me to welcome the delegates to the International Archaeologica

Conference Immortality: The Earthly, the Celestial and the Underworld in the Mediterranean from the Late

Bronze and the Early Iron Age.

The Institute of Aegean Studies has always worked constructively with the Ephorates of the Dodecanese and

with universities, research centres and other organizations. Among them were the Technical University of Bar

the Universities of Molise and Palermo, the University of Crete, the National Technical University of Athens, the

Institute of Historical Research: Department of Greek and Roman Antiquity, the Democritus Institute and others

The present conference, organized with the productive cooperation between the Archaeological Institute

of Aegean Studies, the University of Crete and the Archaeological Institute of Cretological Studies, falls in this

context.

Our cooperation with the University of Crete is an old, successful recipe, which dates from 2001. With my dea

friend Nicolas Chr. Stampolidis we have organized four conferences, the Proceedings of which have bee

published.

However, I am delighted, for the launch of collaboration with the Institute of Cretological Studies, which hopefull

will not be limited only in terms of conferences and research activities. Let this be the beginning of activation

and cooperation among the institutes of the Ministry of Culture on common goals, in order to develop into an

active research area of the Ministry.

The conference was organized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Mercantile

Marine, Aegean and Island Policy and the University of Crete. Our gratitude is expressed to the Ministries and

rector authorities. It would be remiss not to mention the important facilitation of our efforts by the officers o

the Department of Culture - Ministry of Mercantile Marine, Aegean and Island Policy. I refer in particular to Mr

Magda Alvanou, who always finds a way to support our efforts.

My heartfelt thanks are due to the Mayor of Rhodes Mr. Hatzis Hatziefthimiou who demonstrated once again hi

sensitivity and interest for the cultural matters of our region, which for him are a top priority.

Thanks are also due to the KAIR company and Mr Pontikakis, owner of Pane Di Capo for their support.

I would like to express my thanks to Nicholas Stampolidis and Athanasia Kanta, as well as to the people wh

helped and contributed to the success of this conference. These include the staff of the Archaeological Institute

of Aegean Studies and especially Anna Karavokyrou and Fani Seroglou. Also, many thanks are due to Danae

Kontopodi and Alexia Spiliotopoulou, archaeologists of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.

Finally, we owe many thanks to the Ephors Mrs. Melina Philemonos and Eleni Papavasiliou, as well as to the

colleagues of the 22nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and of the 4rth Ephorate of Byzantine

Antiquities, who guided us to museums, archaeological sites and monuments of the city of Rhodes.

Angeliki Giannikouri

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J. Alexander MacGillivray

The Minoan Double Axe Goddess and Her Astral Realm*

ABSTRACT

The origin of the Minoan double-axe symbol could be a combination of the very similar Proto-Elamite motif, as Hood argues, an

the Egyptian X the five stars with Sothis at the center, which mark the years wend in both the civic and Sothic calendars in Egyp

Although Evans first presumes that it symbolizes Cretan Zeus and his bull cult, he eventually gives it to his Great Goddess because sh

is depicted consistently either in close association with it, or actually holding it. I explore the astral origin of the double axe symbo

and speculate how it became such an important attribute to a chthonic Minoan goddess, perhaps called Ashera, whose aspects of th

Hathor and Isis cults in the Cretan palatial periods are reflected in the merging of their sacred attributes with the Minoan double-axe

I suspect that she is the original Minoan Demeter whom the Greeks associated later with Egyptian Isis. As such, she plays an importanpart in the Minoan renewal rites that are very similar to those of Isis-Osiris and form the basis for the Eleusinian mysteries.

-

, Hood, X - ,

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, ,

, .

Ashera.

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. ,

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* I am most grateful to Athanasia Kanta, Angeliki Giannikouri and Nikos Stamboulidis for their invitation to participate in this stimulating conference. The theme oimmortality and the dedication to Vassos Karageorghis, whose great, Orion-like strides across the ancient world have made him one of Aegean archaeologys immortalshave inspired me to search the heavens to explain one of Minoan Cretes most prominent icons. It gives me great pleasure to offer here some early thoughts as I embarkon a full study of the double axe symbol.

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Introduction

Of all the religious symbols and emblems that appear in the Minoan civilization the double axe is the most conspicuous, the

real sign of Minoan religion and as omnipresent as the cross in Christianity and the crescent in Islam, declares Martin Nilsson

in his fundamental study of the Minoan-Mycenaean religion.1 How, we ask, could a Mesopotamian tool become such a

prominent Cretan icon, and what could it represent?

In Crete, effigies of the common lumberjacks tool, with or without the haft, are first found in burials, caves and on mountain

peaks. These contexts suggest funerary, chthonic and celestial functions for the double axe symbol in the Pre- and

Protopalatial periods from EM IIA to MM IIB. In the Neopalatial period, MM III to LM I, the symbol appears throughout Crete

and Aegean artists combine it with others, such as the bucranium, stylized mountain, vegetation, rosette/star, garment/

knot, and multiple bows (snake frame). Birds and the horizon sign (horns of consecration) are added to this repertory

in the Postpalatial period, LM II-III, to create complex emblems. But, of what? Despite the symbols widespread Cretan

popularity, there is little agreement as to its meaning and no full study of its transformation during the Bronze Age.2

Sir Arthur Evans, who gave us the first modern re-creation of the Bronze Age Cretans, our Minoans, initially saw the double

axe as their most sacred symbol, which he thought represented bull sacrifices. This view, bolstered by bucrania incised on

axe heads and double-bitted axes depicted with bovine heads, is still very much prevalent.3 But, these bucrania are bovine,

as likely to be cows as bulls. And, a quick look at Minoan iconography shows that daggers, not axes, cut victims throats in

the sacrifice scenes that appear under Greek influence in the Late Bronze Age.

Evans first placed the double-bitted axe, Homers peleke, in the hands of a Minoan god on the basis of its later association

to Zeus Labraundos in Lycia.4 But the Phrygian mother goddess Cybele, venerated as the Idaian Mountain Mother and akin

to Greek Rhea and Egyptian Aset (Isis), was also associated with the double axe - Hesychius relates that was another

name for .5 This goddess association better suits the Bronze Age iconography, which shows the tool almost exclusively

in close proximity to women, and never seen in the hands of a male god, as Nilsson observes.6 Thus, Evans concluded that it

was the special iconic form of the supreme Minoan divinity, the Great Mother, and her male satellite.7 But, can we assume

that the double axe carried the same meaning throughout the Cretan Bronze Age, and how might this relate to its meaning

in Egypt and Mesopotamia, where it originates? And, how does an axe come to symbolize the Great Mother?

Here, I review briefly the double-bitted axe symbols Aegean, Mesopotamian and Egyptian history, consider its likely

inspiration, and then return to Evanss Great Mother interpretation with a fuller appreciation and understanding.

1. History

1.1. Prepalatial Crete

The double-bitted axe, a well-balanced lumberjacks tool, first appears in Crete with metallurgy near the start of the Bronze

Age.8 Cast in moulds like most other bronze implements in the Minoan tool kit, the double-bitted axe was ideal for felling the

trees essential to builders, wainwrights and shipwrights.9 As such, it remained popular throughout the Bronze Age. But, the

double-bitted axe also appears in effigy alongside the tool. Non-utilitarian double axes in copper, lead and stone are found

at the Early Minoan funerary complexes in the Mesara and Mochlos in approximately 2800-2600 BC. Three are pendants,

perhaps amulets worn in life and/or attached to the deceased.10 Votive examples come from Mochlos Tomb II and Kamilari

II. Large examples, probably for display, are found outside the tombs at Apesokari II and Platanos B. The votives from the

1 Nilsson 1950, 194.

2 Buchholz 1959 looks at their origin but not their development.

3 Nilsson 1950, 227; Mavriyannaki 1978; Dietrich 1988.

4 Evans 1901.

5 Wace 1949, 53, 115.

6 Nilsson 1950, 226.

7 Evans 1921, 447; maintained by Nilsson 1950, 226-7.

8 Branigan 1961; 1974; Evely 1993; Lowe Fri 2007.

9 Jager 1999.

10 Branigan 1970a, 111; 1970b, 118-20.

J. ALEXANDER MACGILLIVRAY

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Chamazi peak sanctuary also belong to this time, and two broken examples come from possible ritual contexts at Vasiliki.

The symbols funerary use, both as grave offering, and for display in adjacent open areas where funerary rituals likely took

place, firmly link the double axe to the early Cretans eschatology, and Branigan believes that this is the Early Minoan origi

of the Minoan double axe goddess depicted often in Late Minoan art.12

The symbol may also appear as a design on pottery, if we regard the butterfly motif painted on Koumasa Style EM IIA

pottery from Koumasa, Knossos, the Eileithiea cave, Myrtos-Pyrgos and Pseira, as shorthand for the double axe.13

The butterfly/double axe design is also found on four juglets from the EM III-MM IA Vat Room Deposit at Knossos,14 and

appears in EM III-MM IA East Cretan Light-on-dark Ware.15 These are contemporary with the double axes appearance in

Cretes earliest scripts: on a sealing from the Monolithic Pillar Basement, at Knossos,16 and in the so-called Archanes script

at the Fourni cemetery at Archanes, where it is part of what is later recognized as the Minoan Linear A libation formula.

This strongly suggests that the Cretans assigned the double axe sign a phonetic value when developing their first scripts.

1.2 Protopalatial Crete

The double axe is the most frequent sign incised onto blocks when the Minoans, starting in MM IB, build Cretes first grea

buildings with central courts, known to archaeologists as palaces.18 It appears in the Minoan Hieroglyphic script,19 and also a

an individual sign, mark, or graffito on pottery.20 It also appears on its own in Minoan glyptic, as we see in the Malia atelier de

sceaux,21 and on sealings from Knossos, and Phaistos.22 One of the latter, from the MM I I Phaistos sealing deposit, is particularlinteresting as it preserves the impression of an Egyptian-style scarab engraved with at least two double axe heads eac

combined with a loop in place of the haft.23 This combination is quite common in the late Neopalatial period, where we

see an Egyptian inspiration, discussed below, which fits well with its scarab support here. Another motif combination, whic

is quite common in the next phase but appears now, is the oval or disc centred above the head, evident on a ring sealing

from Knossos and a sealing from Phaistos.24

The double axes continued votive and/or ritual role is shown by the deposit of two large and thirty-two small bronze example

in a Protopalatial (MM I-II) stratum high atop Mt Juktas, designated by Evans, who first explored the site, as the ash altar.

Their excavator, Alexandra Karetsou, believes that the Juktas cult was similar to that on Mt Petsophas near Palaikastro, and

that it was to the mountain mother and her male consort.26

The six small bronze examples from the MH I tumuli at Kastroulia in Messenia are unique in the Greek Peloponnese and ma

indicate a unique Cretan presence there.27

The double axe does not figure on Protopalatial pottery, unless we consider the reserved zone left when a circle has two

dots placed at the top and bottom,28 and the principal motif on an unusual vase from Phaistos.29

11 Branigan 1966; 1970a, 111.

12 Branigan 1969; 1970a, 111.

13 Nilsson 1950, 213; Betancourt 1985, 42.

14 Panagiotaki 1999, 15 Figs. 3, 4 Pl. 1.

15 Betancourt 1984, 32 Fig. 3.8.

16 Evans 1921, 196 Fig. 144.

17 Sakellarakis and Sapouna-Sakellaraki 1997, 326-30.

18 Hood 1987.

19 Olivier and Godard 1996, sign 042.

20 Poursat 1966, 534 ff. Fig. 22 n.5 and fig 23; Van Effenterres 1963, 95 Pl. XI and XXXV).

21 Van Effenterre 1980, 438 Fig. 588.

22 Yule 1980, 167-8.

23 Yule 1980, 167-8, CMSII5, 234.

24 Yule 1980, 167 nos. 6 and 8.

25 Karetsou 1981, 145-6, 148 Fig. 14.

26 Karetsou 1981, 151-3.

27 Rambach 2007.

28 Levi 1976, 48, 118 Pl. 132c (F.1446).

29 Betancourt 1985, Pl. 9B.

THE MINOAN DOUBLE AXE GODDESS AND HER ASTRAL REALM

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Fig. 1. Bowl PK Za4 inscribed with Linear A a-sa-sa-ra fromPalaikastro (Bosanquet and Dawkins 1923 Fig. 126).

Fig. 2. Inscribed gold votive axe AR Zf1 fromArkalochori (Brice 1961 Pl. 31).

1.3. Early Neopalatial Crete

Unmistakable depictions of the double axe, often elaborated

and embellished with vegetal, astral/solar and bucranium motifs,

appear suddenly on pottery in MM IIIB and LM IA.30 Votive axes are

also embellished with elaborate designs that recall vegetation,

as we see on numerous examples from the Arkalochori hoard. 31Spyridon Marinatos, who excavated the Arkalochori rock shelter,

placed these votives in the MM II I-LM I periods. A specific LM IA date

for their manufacture may be proposed for two reasons. The first

is their very close similarity to the double axes early appearance

in wall painting at Akroriti in Thera.32 The second is that none of

the Arkalochori axes has the double bit doubled or extended, a

feature not seen until LM IB.

The Linear A script also uses the double axe sign (08) and a clue to

its phonetic value of a comes from Cypro-Minoan and Linear B.33 If

this value is inherited unchanged from the earlier Cretan scripts, as

Olivier believes,34 the double axe sign, which appears at the start of

the Linear A libation formula, so called because of its frequency

on stone libation tables,35 and believed to denote a divinity,36 may

be the first sign in a divine name or title. Already in the Archanes

and Hieroglyphic scripts, we see juxtaposed the double axe (042)

and sepia sign (019), essential elements in the common libation

formula that most read as A-SA-SA-RA and take to be a female

divinitys name (Fig. 1).37 The double axe icon, then, could be

shorthand for a Minoan goddess whose name begins with a and

is called something like Ashera.

Two Arkalochori votive axes have Linear A inscriptions (Fig. 2),

which some read as either I-DA-MA-TE,38 or I-DA-PHA-TE.39 The

latter reading suggests a male god called Itar, father of the gods

after whom the Mt Ida is called. The former appeals more here

and may be read in two ways. If sign 28, read as i, at the startfunctions like the Egyptian introductory interjection i in religious

texts,40 we could read O Demeter. This works well with the DA-

MA-TE inscription on a stone bowl from Kythera. 41 Another reading

could be Ida Mate - Idaian Mother - the name for the Anatolian

goddess whom the Phrygians called Cybele, their Mountain

Mother of Ida, comparable to Egyptian Aset (Isis), equivalent to

Demeter and Rhea for the ancient Greeks. As we have seen, one

of Cybeles attributes is the double axe, or peleke. Another is the

30 Niemeier 1985, 116-21 Fig. 57.

31 Marinatos 1935; Evans 1935, 346-7 Figs. 290, 315bis.

32 Boulotis 2005, 31 Fig. 8.

33 La Marle 1996, 39-42.

34 Olivier 1975.

35 Grumach 1968.

36 Palmer 1958; Furumark 1960, 97.

37 Furumark 1960, 97; pace Pope 1961.

38 Pope 1956; Boufidis 1958; Vermeule 1959.

39 La Marle 1998, 97.

40 Gardiner 1957, 67.

41 Olivier and Sakellarakis 1994.


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wild feline, and one is struck by the possibility, if we read back from Linear B, that the Minoans used the feline head (sign 80

to denote the phonetic ma. Either of the latter readings gives us a votive offering to the Minoan equivalent of Aset (Isis)

Demeter, Rhea, and Cybele called, either Mate, mother, or Demeter.

One Arkalochori axe has an inscription in a singular pictographic script that could represent an earlier offering than the

majority, and perhaps be from a group that wrote a script and spoke a language different to that/those in the more

common Cretan scripts.42

The Theran fresco examples from Xeste 4 are two double axes painted to represent gold with incised lines suspended from

an elaborate offering stand, which also has the multiple - triple in this case - archery bows that Evans called the snake

frame, possibly a bovine bucranium and Egyptian djew sign that Evans called the horns of consecration, held by a red

haired male in a procession that climbs the buildings stairs. 43 This is the earliest securely dated association of the multiple

bow with the double axe, and perhaps bucranium and djew motif, all together in the same composition. There is a direc

association with the bovine head as the double axe icon now appears frequently between the horns of a bucranium (Fig

3),44 perhaps most famously on the niello Dendra cup.45

The earliest firm evidence for metal signet rings with representations of double axes with people, common in LM IB and

later, is on a LM IA sealing from Akrotiri in Thera.46 Here we see a figure, perhaps male, in an elaborate garment holding the

emblem on its haft. This sort of large emblematic axe in the art coincides with the appearance of what Evans called double

42 Marinatos 1935; Boufidis 1958; Davaras 1976, 73 Fig. 41.

43 Boulotis 2005, 31 Fig. 8.

44 Betancourt 1985, Pl. 19D; Bosanquet, R. C. and R. M. Dawkins 1923, Pl. 12; Schliemann 1878, 290 Fig. 368.

45 Xenaki-Sakellariou and Chatziliou 1989, Cat. No. 22.

46 Boulotis 2005, 54 Fig. 35.

Fig. 3. MM III Bucket vase from Palaikastro (Bosanquet and Dawkins 1923 Pl. 12)


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axe stands - stone pyramidal bases, perhaps symbolizing mountains, with sockets at the top designed to receive just such a

stout haft with double axe at the top, as clearly depicted in Minoan glyptic and later on the LM III Agia Triada sarcophagus

(Fig. 4).47 These stands are found at Knossos and elsewhere starting in LM IA. Taken with the double axes emblematic

appearance on signet rings, these pyramidal stands show how the symbol emerges in LM IA as one of the Minoanss most

prominent icons, no longer restricted to peaks, caves and cemeteries. To judge from where double axe stands are found at

Palaikastro, this icon may have been displayed in upper story shrines, perhaps even on the roof.48 Such a prominent display

function helps to explain the four huge and striking double axes from Nirou Khani which, when polished would shine brightly

and be visible from afar.49

A variant of the double axe appears on LH I pottery, contemporary with LM IA, on the Greek mainland, where the votive

examples in bronze from the hilltop sanctuary at Kynortion, beneath the shrine of Apollo Maleatas overlooking Epidauros,

suggest either that the Achaeans also had a ritual use for it, perhaps similar to that of the Cretans, or, more likely given itsrarity there, that this sanctuary was founded and frequented by Minoans, who also established their peak sanctuary in

Kythera.50

1.4. Late Neopalatial Crete

The LM IB period following the cataclysmic Thera eruption sees the construction of Cretes grandest buildings during the

Minoan Renaissance, or what Nicolas Coldstream and George Huxley aptly termed the Minoan Indian Summer.51 This is

when Mycenae rises to Aegean prominence and Tuthmose III renders the Levant firmly under his control. 52 The double axe

emblem takes on even greater prominence and elaboration with a number of significant innovations.

The double-bitted axe head is itself doubled so that the head has four bits. This is evident on Minoan Marine Style pottery,53 in

47 Evans 1935, 211-3.

48 Sackett and Popham 1965, 257.

49 Evans 1921, 437 Fig. 313.

50 Lambrinudakis 1981.

51 Coldstream and Huxley 1984.

52 MacGillivray 2009.

53 Mller 1997, 253-7.

Fig. 4. Detail of Ayia Triada sarcophagus painting

(Evans 1921 Fig. 317).


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wall painting,54 glyptic,55 ivory,56 and metal votives.57 Significantly, the haft instead of the head is doubled on LH IIA pottery.

This doubling may indicate a doubling of the divinities represented by the icon.59

The decorative motif on LM IB pottery often has a small horizontal stroke above the staff, which links it directly to Linear A

sign 08b. This sign could signify, either a long a, or aspirated, ha, and, significantly, appears at the start of the divine name

a-sa-sa-ra.60

Perhaps most striking is the symbols incorporation of new elements, such as the length of cloth or rope that Evans dubbed the

Sacral Knot motif in place of the haft (Fig. 5).61 This Sacral Knot is also reproduced in faience and ivory, which underscore

its importance.62 Evans compared it to the Egyptian ankh, symbol for eternal life, but a closer likeness may be found in the

Egyptian tiet, also known as the Blood of Isis, or the Isis Knot, the length of cloth that secures the gods garments. 63 The tiet

often combined with the sistrum in Hathor icons, because Isis and Hathor are largely merged in Egypts New Kingdom.

This possible link with Egypts tiet, or Isis Knot, permits us to read the familiar scenes in many LM IB and later seals and signets

where the axe, the garment, the knot and the bovine head, may be attributes of the Minoan equivalent to Egyptia

Aset(Isis)/Hathor. One of Hathors many guises is the great primeval cow goddess who suckles and protects pharaoh, so she

is often shown as a cow or woman with bovine ears. Another is as Lady of the West who welcomed the deceased to the

afterlife with purifying and refreshing water.64 On the ceiling of her temple at Dendera we see Hathor with her cow ears rising

between the twin sycamore trees on the horizon symbolized by the djew, well known to Aegean archaeologists as Evans

horns of consecration. (Fig. 6)65

54 Evans 1921, 443 Fig. 319.

55 Evans 1921, 435 Fig. 312.

56 Platon 1971, 131.

57 Platon 1971, 146.

58 Mountjoy 1993, 50.

59 Waites 1923, 37 n.4.

60 La Marle 1996, 41-2.

61 Evans 1921, 430.

62 Evans 1921, 430-1 Figs. 308, 309.

63 Lurker 1980, 72; Wilkinson 1992, 201.

64 Wilkinson 2003, 139-45.

65 Chassinat 1935, Pl. 315.


Fig. 5. Detail of ivory relief from Palaikastro(Evans 1921 Fig. 310d).

Fig. 6. Hathor depicted at the horizon on the Dendaraceiling (Chassinat 1935 Pl. 315).

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1.5. Postpalatial Crete

The supremacy of the Danae and their arrival in Crete coincident with the drawn out

violent military campaigns from the LM IB to LM IIIA1 periods sees the introduction of

new burial practices in Crete. Single inhumations in boxes, or larnakes appear in large

cemeteries. Vance Watrous believes that the Minoan-Mycenaean larnax is based on

the Egyptian linen chests that were buried with their owners.66 These linen chests weredecorated with scenes from the deceaseds afterlife and emblems from mortuary

ritual. In Crete, we see afterworld depictions based on Nilotic prototypes probably

the result of Cretan contacts with Egypt, Watrous suggests.67 The Minoan painters

substitute Hathors head rising above the horizon sign, as shown on the ceiling of her

Dendara temple, with the double axe. (Fig. 7)

Best known of these LM III larnakes is the finely painted plastered example from Ayia

Triada.68 Here we see doubled double-bitted axes atop vegetal shafts set into stepped

pyramidal stands with birds perched on top (Fig. 4). The bird, which first appears

with the double axe in LM III, stands atop single posts or columns in the protopalatial

period, and so it may be associated here with the haft rather than the axe head. This

bird could symbolize a host of concepts, but one attractive explanation comes from

the Egyptian story that Aset (Isis) became a swallow and fluttered around the pillar ortree that contained the body of her dead brother/husband Osiris.

The double axe, bird and djew remain together in Cretan art, especially in funerary

art on larnakes, until the end of the Bronze Age (Fig. 7). The horizon sign and the bird

on the tree or pillar have convincing Egyptian parallels. Could the double axe also

have a related meaning in Egypt?

1.6. Mesopotamian origins

The double-bitted axe symbol first appears as amulets, along with those of a goddess,

bucrania and birds, in the Early Halaf period (c. 6500 to 5600 BC) from Tell Dahab in

the Amuq, and Arpachiyah near Nineveh in Iraqs Khabur valley, and again in the

Late Halaf period (c. 5600 to 5300 BC) from Chagar Bazar in the Khabur area of Syria.69Relevant here is that the horizon sign, Egyptian djew, Aegean horns of consecration,

is also found in Mesopotamia earlier than in Crete in the Jemdet Nasr period (c.3000

BC) at Tell Brak in Syria, Nuzi and Tepe Hissar in Iraq.70 Hood demonstrates the Elamite

origin of the double-bitted axe tool, the oldest surviving example of which dates to

Susa I, the Early Uruk period c. 4,000 BC.71 Inscribed double-axe signs appear in Uruk

IV (3300-3100 BC) and III (3100 3000 BC) and at Fara at the same time; important to

note here are the central dots.72 The written and inscribed Proto-Elamite double axes

belong to approximately 2250 BC in the Early Bronze Age, and so quite close to when

they first appear in the Cretan scripts.73

66 Watrous 1991, 287-8.

67 Watrous 1991, 305.

68 Parabeni 1908; Long 1974; Hiller 1999.

69 Mallowan 1935, Figs. 45, 46 and 51; Hutchinson 1962, 225.

70 Hutchinson 1962, 226.

71 Hood 2003.

72 Hood 2003.

73 Hood 2003.


Fig. 7. Detail from Giofyrakia larnax(Kanta 1980 Pl. 63)

Fig. 8. Hathor Pallete from Gerzean(Hassan 1998 Fig. 48)

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1.7. Early Egypt

In Egypt, we find that certain pre-dynastic cults studied by Percy Newberry show that the X, djew (horizon sign) and bovine

were grouped together already in c.5000 BC, and there is the record of priest of the double-axe in the fifth dynasty. 74 The

combination of two of these emblems is found on the pre-dynastic Hathor palette (Fig. 8) 75 and first dynasty Hathor bowl,

where we see the bucranium with the five stars that make up what archaeo-astronomers call the Egyptian X,77 which Evan

knew as Hathors cross.78

This X consists of two triangles formed by the stars we call Procyon, Betelguese and Sirius on one side and Naos, Phaet and

Sirius on the other. Sirius is at the vertices of the two triangles and thus at the centre of the X.

The pre- and early dynastic starry bucrania most likely depict the earliest representations of the cow head constellation

centred around their Sopdet, our Sirius, which is the thirty-sixth and last star in their decans - the thirty-six stars that rise

at ten degree intervals used to chart time.79 Newberry suggests that the Minoan double axe head symbol derived from

this Egyptian X.80 The symbol becomes obsolete in Egypt, but flourishes in Crete, where it appears between the horns o

bucrania, reminiscent of the Hathor palette and bowl. And, the swirling tufts or starburts on the foreheads of Aegean bovine

head rhyta could be read as stars, specifically the star Sirius at the centre of the cows head constellation. Thus Evanss bull

head rhyta would have to be changed to cows heads, which is how Schliemann first interpreted the silver example he

found at Mycenae and likened to the goddess Rhea.

Sirius, or Sopdet, at the X and constellations axis, is fundamental to understanding the ancient Egyptians notion of timeand immortality. They viewed time as cyclical. Their year started with the Year Opener, when the heliacal rising of Sirius

coincided with New Years day on the Summer Solstice. This was celebrated on July 19 (in the Julian calendar) in AD 139

and Antoninus Pius, who had just the previous year become Roman emperor, marked it with a commemorative coin. Thi

solar and astral event coincides every 1,461 years in what we call the Sothic cycle. The Egyptians purposefully did no

adjust the discrepancy in the solar calendar of one day every four years (as we do with our leap year) so that the festivals

linked to their civic calendar could be celebrated across the seasons of the year, the original moveable feasts, which

then come around again to the grand Year Opener every 1,461 years. This gave them a calendar that would never need

adjusting, an eternal timepiece.81 July 19, 1321 BC was the Year Opener that coincided with Rameses I and Seti I accessio

and the start of Egypts 19th dynasty; ancient historians referred to it as a time of Repeating of Births.82 Could the resurgence

of this symbol in Crete refer to this monumental Egyptian event? The event itself was during Cretes LM IIIA2 period, when

most of the larnakes were painted, but the anticipation (there had not been a Great New Year since 2,782 BC, during

Cretes EM IIA period when we see the double axes first symbolic appearance there) may have resembled the AD 1967

dawning of the Age of Aquarius, which we may not enter for another century. Interestingly, the previous Sothic New Yea

was in 4243 BC, approximately when the Hathor Palette was made.

2. Comment

We might now re-consider Evanss view of the double axe as a symbol for his Great Goddess. If indeed the symbol represent

the divine cow whose star marks the changing of the year, we may see her as a major Cretan bovine creator goddess, akin

to Hathor and Aset(Isis), as Evans suspected,83 when Crete fell under New Kingdom Egypts sway in the Neopalatial period

This is when we see the axe set above the bucranium (cows head), merged with the Isis Knot and eventually set between

the peaks of the horizon with the bird perched on the haft. This unity of divine symbols, and perhaps divinities, the Minoa

74 Newberry 1908; 1910; Evans 1928, 28-9.

75 Flinders Petrie and others 1912, pl. VI, 7; Hassan 1998, 110 Fig. 48.

76 Martin Burgess and Arkell 1958, Pl. 9,3; Hendrickx, S. 2002.

77 Allen 1963, 125.

78 Evans 1903, 89.

79 Clagett 1995.

80 Newberry 1908.

81 Von Bomhard 1999.

82 Hayes 1970, 190.

83 Evans 1903, 71.


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and the Egyptian, could be commemorated in the doubling of the double axe, in which two separate but identical divinities

are symbolized. This union may have been possible because they both had similar functions, closely related to the life cycle:

birth and death, fertility and regeneration.

The Minoan divinity in the most common libation formula is A-SA-SA-RA, according to most readings. This closely resembles

the names of the Luvian goddess Ashassarasmes,84 the Hittite goddess Ishassaramis, meaning my Lady or my Queen,85

Ishara, the very ancient Hurrian goddess of oaths, Vedic Ishwara, and the great Canaanite mother-of-gods and mistressof plants and animals Ashera, later adopted by the Hebrews, and their counterpart to Egyptian Aset/Hether(Isis/Hathor).86

Thus, the double axes living haft might be comparable to the Ashera tree, akin to the tree in which Aset (Isis) in the form of

a swallow found her dead brother/husband Asir (Osiris) in Egyptian myth.

We might view the Minoan double axe, then, as shorthand for the female divinity venerated as the source of life, Evanss

Great Mother, who had numerous counterparts in each of the ancient worlds societies. She resembles closely Phrygian

Cybele, also known as Pelekes the double axe. Like Cybele, to judge from where the Minoan symbol often appears, she

was venerated on mountaintops, where she joined the sky god who fertilized her to ensure the life cycle, and in caverns.

And, like Egyptian Hathor, she had a bovine aspect and was supplicated at funerals.

The Minoans may have known her as Ashera, whose similarities in both name and function to Ashassarames, Ishassaramis,

Ishara, and Canaanite Ashera suggest that she may have arrived, along with metallurgy, with the colonists from Anatolia and

the Levant at the outset of Cretes Bronze Age,87 just before her double axe symbol first appears in Crete. Her responsibilities

include birth, fertility and regeneration, and so she played a central role in Minoan eschatology. She was the essence of

the earth from which all life was reborn in cycles. Her Cretan cult enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in popularity when the

Minoans came under strong Egyptian sway in LM I, especially after the Thera eruption, when they may have incorporated

her worship with that of Aset(Isis)/Hathor. It cannot be coincidental that Minoan Ashera and Egyptian Aset also shared their

first initial, written in the Cretan scripts with a double axe.

In the end, we may view the double axe as a metaphor for many things. It begins its symbolic life as the astral X at the

crossroads of time, the changing of the year in ancient calendars. This great X with Sirius at its heart was personified as the

head of a cow and identified with the early agrarians most fertile symbol, the cow goddess who gives birth to life. But the

early farmers also see something else in the joined triangles the well-balanced double bitted axe ideal for felling trees and

cutting wood. Did the inspiration for this tool come from the stars? Could this be why the tool is regarded as divinely inspired

and the axe, albeit single bitted, is the Egyptian hieroglyph fornetcher, or divine essence, loosely translated as god? These

notions help explain why the double axe became such a prominent and powerful icon in Neopalatial Crete, where we find

much goddess iconography, and then why it waned when Cretan-born Zeus rose to prominence after the Bronze Age.

84 Palmer 1958.

85 Furumark 1960, 97.

86 Maier 1986, 217-21.

87 Hood 1990.

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