Minoan Goddesses

Sir Arthur Evans, the discoverer and excavator of the Minoan palace of Knossos, was the first to ponder aspects of the Minoan religion. Based on a series of female figurines found at the site and analogy with the cults of the ancient Near East, Evans hypothesized that the Minoans worshipped the Great Mother, a female goddess who embodied fertility, fertility of the earth, of the animal world and of humans. In addition to being a fertility goddess, she was a protector of the people. Her cult also involved two other figures that of her youthful consort, and her daughter, though neither appear with the same prominence or frequency as the Mother. Evans envisioned an almost monotheistic worship of the “Goddess,” who possessed different natures each depicted in a different way. As a protector of house and home she was depicted with snakes, as the “Mistress of Animals” she appeared flanked by two beasts, sometimes lions and other times deer. She also appeared as a goddess of the land, often shown with crocuses and/or poppies. Evans interpreted these different depictions as different aspects of the same goddess, who encompassed all parts of life among the Minoans. Later scholars disagreed with Evans’ interpretation of the Minoan material. Martin Nilsson viewed the religion of Bronze Age Crete as a fusion of Near Eastern influences, such as the “Mother Goddess,” and Indo-European influences from mainland Greece and beyond. His examination of the various iconographic images from Minoan context led to the division of the “Great Mother” into several other goddesses, each one corresponding to one aspect of the goddess’ nature. There were the Snake Goddess, the protector of the house and palace, the Mistress of Animals, a vegetation goddess, The Mistress of Nature. The Minoan pantheon that Nilsson described consisted primarily of these goddesses, along with a few lesser male gods, the Master of Animals, only secondary to the Mistress, the young lover of one of the goddesses, and... [continues]

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