DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0510
GODDESS SAME, WITH VARIANT ATTRIBUTES 457
divinity of both of which is here marked by the elaborate tiaras, brings us
face to face with the most interesting and, in some respects, the most difficult
problem in Minoan Religion.
It is certain that, however much the male element had asserted itself in Matri-
the domain of government by the great days of Minoan Civilization, the stamp 0f
Religion still continued to reflect the older matriarchal stage of social Minoan
& ° Religion.
development. Clearly, the Goddess was supreme, whether we are to regard
her as substantially one being of varied aspects, celestial, terrestrial, or
infernal, or whether we have to deal with separate,1 or partly differentiated
divine entities. As a working hypothesis the former view has been here
preferred, and it has been assumed that the same GreatGoddess is represented.
In the one case doves may alight on her from the sky above, or in the other
she may grasp the encircling snakes that mark her as Mistress of the Nether Various
World; at times she bears the Sacred Double Axe that was the special 0fGod-
emblem of Minoan Cult; or she may hold out a primitive anchor2 as dess-
Mistress of the Sea. Or, again, she appears with the sword of temporal
dominion in one hand and the aspergillum of purificatory sprinkling in the
other symbolizing her spiritual power. In one case her sacred animals may
be exotic lions, in another the Cretan wild goat, while at other times she
hunts the stag like Artemis or, like her, again, holds wild-fowl by their necks.
That one or other of these shapes may have been specialized enough But in the
to rank as a separate divinity is quite possible, but it might still be regarded "ndsanie
as the Great Goddess under some particular physical or local aspect.
The Semitic Astarte —like Baal—had the same multiplicity of symbols in
different places,3 yet the Dove Goddess of Ascalon is essentially the same
as the Cow Goddess of Sidon, and other varieties of attributes such as the
fish, the ram, or, at Carthage, the horse, do not change her fundamental
character. Elsewhere4 I have brought into comparison the variant attri-
butes of local Madonnas, who, indeed, incorporate the elements of more than
one divinity as judged from the Classical standard. But it is dangerously
misleading to regard the Minoan Goddess from the standpoint of Greek
and Roman Religion.5 What is certain is that in the cult-places of the
divinity attributes such as the dove, the serpent, and the Double Axes are
1 Professor Martin P. Nilsson, in The 4 P. of M., ii, Pt. I, p. 277, and cf. pp. 251,
Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and its Survival 252.
in Greek Religion, prefers this view. 5 This criticism applies in part to the atti-
2 See P. of M., ii, Pt. I, pp. 248, 249. tude adopted by Prof. Nilsson in his valuable
3 See, especially, W. Robertson Smith, work on the Minoan-Mycenaeati Religion and
Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, p. 477. its Survival in Greek Religion (Lund, 1927).
divinity of both of which is here marked by the elaborate tiaras, brings us
face to face with the most interesting and, in some respects, the most difficult
problem in Minoan Religion.
It is certain that, however much the male element had asserted itself in Matri-
the domain of government by the great days of Minoan Civilization, the stamp 0f
Religion still continued to reflect the older matriarchal stage of social Minoan
& ° Religion.
development. Clearly, the Goddess was supreme, whether we are to regard
her as substantially one being of varied aspects, celestial, terrestrial, or
infernal, or whether we have to deal with separate,1 or partly differentiated
divine entities. As a working hypothesis the former view has been here
preferred, and it has been assumed that the same GreatGoddess is represented.
In the one case doves may alight on her from the sky above, or in the other
she may grasp the encircling snakes that mark her as Mistress of the Nether Various
World; at times she bears the Sacred Double Axe that was the special 0fGod-
emblem of Minoan Cult; or she may hold out a primitive anchor2 as dess-
Mistress of the Sea. Or, again, she appears with the sword of temporal
dominion in one hand and the aspergillum of purificatory sprinkling in the
other symbolizing her spiritual power. In one case her sacred animals may
be exotic lions, in another the Cretan wild goat, while at other times she
hunts the stag like Artemis or, like her, again, holds wild-fowl by their necks.
That one or other of these shapes may have been specialized enough But in the
to rank as a separate divinity is quite possible, but it might still be regarded "ndsanie
as the Great Goddess under some particular physical or local aspect.
The Semitic Astarte —like Baal—had the same multiplicity of symbols in
different places,3 yet the Dove Goddess of Ascalon is essentially the same
as the Cow Goddess of Sidon, and other varieties of attributes such as the
fish, the ram, or, at Carthage, the horse, do not change her fundamental
character. Elsewhere4 I have brought into comparison the variant attri-
butes of local Madonnas, who, indeed, incorporate the elements of more than
one divinity as judged from the Classical standard. But it is dangerously
misleading to regard the Minoan Goddess from the standpoint of Greek
and Roman Religion.5 What is certain is that in the cult-places of the
divinity attributes such as the dove, the serpent, and the Double Axes are
1 Professor Martin P. Nilsson, in The 4 P. of M., ii, Pt. I, p. 277, and cf. pp. 251,
Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and its Survival 252.
in Greek Religion, prefers this view. 5 This criticism applies in part to the atti-
2 See P. of M., ii, Pt. I, pp. 248, 249. tude adopted by Prof. Nilsson in his valuable
3 See, especially, W. Robertson Smith, work on the Minoan-Mycenaeati Religion and
Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, p. 477. its Survival in Greek Religion (Lund, 1927).