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APPENDIX A. RELIGION OF THE MINOANS
AN examination of the Gournia shrine {supra, p. 47) and of other data at hand at the time of
writing, reveals evidence of a developed worship of a goddess, with a system of shrines, idols,
attributes, altars, libation tables and cultus vases, which was maintained throughout Central
L and Eastern Crete. Much evidence has come from Knossos, the earliest being primitive figures
in a neolithic stratum.1 In a Middle Minoan deposit appeared remains of a pillar shrine with doves,
altars with horns, and a portable seat, perhaps for the divinity.2 The "Temple Repositories," dating
from the earlier period of the Second Palace, offer interesting problems. In cists
SHRINES sunk in the floor Dr. Evans found "a wholly unique collection of objets d'art
executed with extraordinary skill in an indigenous kind of porcelain."3 This
collection included figures of a "Snake Goddess" and votaries/ votive robes and girdles, cups, reliefs,
vases, copies of flowers, fruits, and seashells; also clay impressions, and "a marble cross of the orthodox
Greek shape." This cross Dr. Evans considered to be the central cult object of the shrine, but other
evidence has not appeared to strengthen the supposition that a cult of the cross existed in Crete.5 In the
Third Late Minoan Period the worship of the goddess still prevailed at Knossos. Dr. Evans excavated
a shrine of this period in three parts, the first of which contained vases; the second, a tripod table with
cups and jugs; and the third was a raised base on which were fixed terra-cotta horns, miniature double-
axes, and a series of terra-cotta figures, representing votaries and divinities.0 One figure, known as the
Dove Goddess, has a dove perched on her head; her arms are raised,7 and though details of dress and
adornment are painted, the figure in general resembles the Gournia goddess.8 Even to the very end, the
same worship continued, though in crude form, as is shown by the contents of a room in the House of
the Fetish Shrine, west of the Palace at Knossos. Here were placed on a ledge, plaster horns of con-
secration, fetish idols of archaic cult, merely "natural grotesque concretions," and fragments of clay
wild goats.9 This shrine belonged to the latest period of Bronze Age occupation, when the palace
was broken up into smaller abodes, and, therefore, Dr. Evans thinks that the presence of these crude
objects is due to a domestic revolution, which overthrew the kings and exalted the people.
At Phaestos, too, the religious evidence begins with female figures from the neolithic deposit.10
In the Earlier Palace, M. M. Ill, were cleared three small rooms and an annex—called by Dr. Pernier
a tripartite shrine 11—containing ' Kamares' sherds; tables of offering; a low bench covered with stucco
having a niche at one end in which were bowls, a rectangular stone table, and sealings; a conch-shell;
and a libation table decorated with a design of spirals and bulls. In another room of the Earlier Palace,
probably a small sanctuary, Dr. Pernier brought to light, together with ' Kamares' sherds, a figure of a
goddess with bell-shaped skirt like that of the Gournia goddess, but with the arms folded under the
full breasts. Other figures from the same room had the arms raised, and some were of very rude form.12
The principal object of a religious character from the Second Palace of Phaestos is a libation table with
six small vases fastened to it, which stood on an altar in the great court.13
The palace of Aghia Triadha has yielded two shrines. In one, the "sacello interno" of the Earlier
Palace, were found female figures with bell-shaped and cylindrical skirts, bare neck, prominent breasts,
arms sometimes raised, sometimes folded on the breast, of the same type as the goddess from Gournia.
There were also two or three little clay doves painted with red stripes. From the "sacello externo,"
which appeared to be later, came votive animals and human figures, some with Libyan characteristics.
Altars with horns were also among the furnishings of this shrine."
1 Evans, B. S. A., VI, 1899-1900, p. 6.
2 Evans, B. S. A., VIII, 1901-02, pp. 28 ff. Also supra, p. 3, note 44.
3 Evans, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, pp. 38 ff.
4 The goddess herself (h. 34 cm.) wears a high head-dress, a richly embroidered jacket laced in front, a skirt with hori-
zontal stripes, and a short double apron. Her hair falls over her shoulders and three snakes are twined about her, one
of which coils around her tiara and projects its head above it. The votaries are similarly dressed but are incomplete.
5 Dussaud (Questions Myceniennes, p. 29), combats Dr. Evans's theory, and interprets the goddess as a snake-charmer,
and the cross as an ornament on a wooden box in which these " jouets" were originally kept. This theory is also adopted
by Dr. Thiersch (Furtwangler, Aegina, 1906, vol. I, p. 372). In the writer's opinion these objects belonged to a shrine of
the Snake Goddess.
6 Evans, B. S. A., VIII, 1901-02, pp. 95-105.
7 Supra, p. 48. Reinach (La Sculpture en Europe avant les influences greco-romaines, 1896, p. 73) denies the importance
of gesture in primitive civilization, yet in Chroniques d'Orient, II, p. 230, he explains a figure on an early Boeotian am-
phora as "faisant le geste de la benediction," a gesture which is exactly like that of the Gournia goddess. Dussaud (Ques-
tions Myceniennes, pp. 21 and 22) believes in ritualistic gestures and interprets the raising of two arms as benediction,
and of one arm as adoration, while Hogarth (/. H. S., XXII, p. 77, 5 and fig. 4) transposes the meanings. For further dis-
cussion, see Perrot and Chipiez, VI, p. 751; Paribeni, Mon, Ant., XIV, 1904, p. 742; Tsountas and Manatt, Mycenaean
Age, p. 304. Another gesture, common in Assyrian and Phoenician art, in which the hands are pressed against the
breasts, has been interpreted as meaning fecundity.
8 Supra, p. 48. Dr. Evans (B. S. A., VIII, 1901-02, p. 98) maintains that the figures are "semi-anthropomorphic,
the body in each case rising from a clay cylinder which looks like a survival from the columnar form of the earlier 'baetylic'
stones." Against this theory is arrayed Mr. Dawkins's argument for an exaggerated crinoline, B. S. A., X, 1903-04, p. 218.
0 Evans, B. S. A., XI, 1904-05, pp. 8-11. In the "matronly fetish," Dr. Evans sees the rude form of the Nature God-
dess, and in the contents of the shrine he reads the story of Rhea and the infancy of Zeus. The question of the probable roof-
ing of the shrine is discussed here.
111 Mosso, The Palaces of Crete, p. 270, fig. 131.
11 Mon. Art., XIV, 1904, pp. 341 ff, and p. 411; see also Evans, B. S. A., VI11, 1901-02, p. 28; Myc. Tree and Pillar
Cult, pp. 93-98, for explanation of the shrine fresco from Knossos and the gold plaque from Mycenae.
12 Pernier, Mon. Ant., XII, 1902, pp. 34 ff, p. 119; XIV, 1904, pp. 405 ff, and 477 ff, and illustrations.
13 Mon. Ant., XII, 1902, PI. VIII, 5.
14 Halbherr (Mon. Ant., XIII, 1903, pp. 71 ff, and illustrations) discusses the two shrines. Paribeni (Rendic. Lincei
ser. V, XII, 1903, p. 318) thinks that the "sacello externo" is L. M. Ill, and is perhaps a sign of the victory of the people
In a cemetery of the Third Late Minoan Period at Prinia, near Gortyna, were unearthed a figure
(h. 62 cm.) like the Gournia goddess, and fragments of others entwined with snakes, as well as cultus
vases of the same type as PI. XI 12, all of ruder workmanship than the objects from Gournia.15
The remains of a shrine of the Third Late Minoan Period with dancing figures and doves were dis-
covered at Palaikastro,10 and at Petsofa, in the vicinity, was unearthed a shrine of the Middle Minoan
Period that is, so far, unique. It appears to have been much used for votive offerings of human fig-
ures in extraordinary costumes, bisected human figures, arms and legs, cattle, wild animals, "partic-
ularly vermin," and small clay balls.17 No representation of the deity worshipped here was found,
but it may be assumed that such votive offerings were made to the Nature Goddess.
But the earliest remaining records of religious life have come from graves. Even before excava-
tions in Crete had brought the civilization and customs of a remote antiquity nearer our vision, Myce-
nae and other sites in Greece and the islands had yielded evidence of an extensive cult of the dead, by
the witness of well-constructed tombs and their rich furnishings. Pottery and bronze vessels to con-
tain food and drink for the dead, arms for his use, jewelry for his adornment, idols for his protection,
sacrificial braziers and animals' bones from the sacrifice, all indicated the respect paid by the living
to the dead. The deep layer of sacrificial remains and the hollow altar in the circle above the acropolis
graves at Mycenae testified to the continued observance of the rites.18 And now the graves of Crete
tell the same tale. Cemeteries at Phaestos,19 Aghia Triadha,20 Aghios Onouphrios,21 Knossos,22 Palai-
kastro,23 Gournia, and other sites have not only repeated the finds from the mainland, but have also
yielded objects peculiar to Crete from Early to Late Minoan times. From the painted sarcophagus
of Aghia Triadha24 may be read some of the rites connected with burial: scenes of adoration and sac-
rifice; an altar with a vase; men playing on a xcHdfia and a double pipe; the representation of the dead in
whose honor are performed these mysteries; and the symbolism of flowers, trees, birds, and double-axes.
In some manner not yet clear to us there seems to have been a peculiarly close connection between
the worship of an Earth Goddess and the honors paid to the dead who had descended to her realm.25
Perhaps the most noteworthy fact derived from a study of these data is the prominence of a
goddess under various aspects. The figures from the neolithic deposits of Knossos and Phaestos are of
squat steatopygous form, and may be considered primitive representations of the
TFIE GREAT Great Mother. Early Minoan burials at Aghia Triadha yielded small steatite and
GODDESS alabaster statuettes of the goddess, some of which resemble types from upper
Egypt in Libyan tombs.28 From the Aghios Onouphrios graves came representa-
tions of the goddess in fiddle-shaped figures, and others of more human aspect, like those from
graves in the Cyclades and in contemporary deposits at Hissarlik.27 In the Middle Minoan Period
the goddess appears at Phaestos in a much more advanced and peculiarly Cretan form, with large
bell-skirt. The earlier palace at Knossos also knew her at this time, accompanied by snakes, which
typify her underworld associations.28 Cows and goats suckling their young, flowers, fruits, shells,
and flying fish were found with her, perhaps as offerings of first-fruits, perhaps merely as decorations
suggestive of the different gifts of the Earth Goddess, the mother of all, and of her functions in con-
nection with the production of life and the nourishment of all young things.
In the Gournia shrine the " Snake Goddess " is attended by doves. May they not symbolize her con-
nection with the upper air, the cause of her fertility? 29 Throughout the Late Minoan Period either with
over a tyrant (cf. the Fetish Shrine at Knossos). Halbherr (Mem. R. 1st. Lomb., XXI, Fasc. V) gives a fuller account of
these shrines and of the large double-axes and standards found at Aghia Triadha.
" Wide, Alh. Mill., XXVI, pp. 247-257. The figures Wide assumes to be goddesses, and such they are in the opinion
of the writer, being only a later form of the idols so generally found in graves of Early Minoan times. The theory is also
advanced that such figures are praeftcae (furtwangler, Aegina, I, p. 371), or worshippers (Paribeni, Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904,
p. 744, n.2),on the supposition that the raised arms denote prayer or adoration. Other proof, however, is necessary to
be convincing. Wide's theory that the cultus vases represent a male divinity appears untenable.
1,1 In B.S.A., IX, 1902-03, p. 217, Dawkins describes the remains at Palaikastro of a goddess with a snake surrounded
by a ring of votaries. Since they were found, the discovery of the Aghia Triadha sarcophagus with a picture of a musi-
cian playing a lyre has led some archaeologists (see Burrows, Discoveries in Crete, p. 244) to interpret the Palaikastro god-
dess as such a musician. The writer can give no opinion, not having been able to compare the two, but in any case the
presence of the doves indicates some connection with the goddess.
17 Myres, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, pp. 356 ff. 18 Perrot and Chipiez, VI, pp. 323 ff.
19 Savignoni, Mon. Ant. XIV, 1904, pp. 501-661.
20 Halbherr, Mem. R. 1st. Lomb., XXI, Fasc. V. In Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904, pp. 724 ff, Paribeni describes female stat-
uettes from the L. M. tombs near Aghia Triadha. This type is to be compared with the figures from Gournia, Prinia,
Phaestos, Knossos, and the palace at Aghia Triadha. Paribeni admits the difficulty of determining whether a figure may
represent a goddess, an adorant, or a praefica, yet he seems to believe that the figures with snakes are goddesses.
21 Evans, Cretan Piciographs, pp. 124 ft, f'gs- 124—134.
22 Evans, Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos; Hogarth, B. S. A., VI, 1899-1900, pp. 70-85.
23 Bosanquet, B. S. A., VIII, 1901-02, p. 290.
24 See Paribeni, Rendic. Lincei ser. V, XII, pp. 243 ff, for full description of this sarcophagus, which is not yet published.
25 Savignoni (Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904, p. 583) proposes that since all engraved gold rings come from graves they are,
therefore, objects offered to the dead, and a certain connection between the scenes on them and their funereal purpose may
be assumed.
2" Halbherr, Mem. R. 1st. Lomb., XXI, Fasc. V, Figs. 27 ff. 27 For references, vide supra, p. 3, note 38.
28 The snake as an accompaniment or manifestation of divinity is familiar in Egyptian and Greek religions. For the
snake as showing the chthonic character of worship, see Evans, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, pp. 81-84.
29 For the significance of the dove in Assyrian, Phoenician, and Greek religions, see Perrot and Chipiez, 111, p. 20on.2;
for the dove cult of primitive Greece, Evans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 7; for the association of the chthonic aspect of the
goddess with the "celestial typified by the dove," Evans, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, p. 85. In Cyprus the dove appears in
a sepulchral connection, Ohnefalsch-Richter, Kypros, die Bibel und Homer, p. 283, figs. 181, 182, 186.
51
AN examination of the Gournia shrine {supra, p. 47) and of other data at hand at the time of
writing, reveals evidence of a developed worship of a goddess, with a system of shrines, idols,
attributes, altars, libation tables and cultus vases, which was maintained throughout Central
L and Eastern Crete. Much evidence has come from Knossos, the earliest being primitive figures
in a neolithic stratum.1 In a Middle Minoan deposit appeared remains of a pillar shrine with doves,
altars with horns, and a portable seat, perhaps for the divinity.2 The "Temple Repositories," dating
from the earlier period of the Second Palace, offer interesting problems. In cists
SHRINES sunk in the floor Dr. Evans found "a wholly unique collection of objets d'art
executed with extraordinary skill in an indigenous kind of porcelain."3 This
collection included figures of a "Snake Goddess" and votaries/ votive robes and girdles, cups, reliefs,
vases, copies of flowers, fruits, and seashells; also clay impressions, and "a marble cross of the orthodox
Greek shape." This cross Dr. Evans considered to be the central cult object of the shrine, but other
evidence has not appeared to strengthen the supposition that a cult of the cross existed in Crete.5 In the
Third Late Minoan Period the worship of the goddess still prevailed at Knossos. Dr. Evans excavated
a shrine of this period in three parts, the first of which contained vases; the second, a tripod table with
cups and jugs; and the third was a raised base on which were fixed terra-cotta horns, miniature double-
axes, and a series of terra-cotta figures, representing votaries and divinities.0 One figure, known as the
Dove Goddess, has a dove perched on her head; her arms are raised,7 and though details of dress and
adornment are painted, the figure in general resembles the Gournia goddess.8 Even to the very end, the
same worship continued, though in crude form, as is shown by the contents of a room in the House of
the Fetish Shrine, west of the Palace at Knossos. Here were placed on a ledge, plaster horns of con-
secration, fetish idols of archaic cult, merely "natural grotesque concretions," and fragments of clay
wild goats.9 This shrine belonged to the latest period of Bronze Age occupation, when the palace
was broken up into smaller abodes, and, therefore, Dr. Evans thinks that the presence of these crude
objects is due to a domestic revolution, which overthrew the kings and exalted the people.
At Phaestos, too, the religious evidence begins with female figures from the neolithic deposit.10
In the Earlier Palace, M. M. Ill, were cleared three small rooms and an annex—called by Dr. Pernier
a tripartite shrine 11—containing ' Kamares' sherds; tables of offering; a low bench covered with stucco
having a niche at one end in which were bowls, a rectangular stone table, and sealings; a conch-shell;
and a libation table decorated with a design of spirals and bulls. In another room of the Earlier Palace,
probably a small sanctuary, Dr. Pernier brought to light, together with ' Kamares' sherds, a figure of a
goddess with bell-shaped skirt like that of the Gournia goddess, but with the arms folded under the
full breasts. Other figures from the same room had the arms raised, and some were of very rude form.12
The principal object of a religious character from the Second Palace of Phaestos is a libation table with
six small vases fastened to it, which stood on an altar in the great court.13
The palace of Aghia Triadha has yielded two shrines. In one, the "sacello interno" of the Earlier
Palace, were found female figures with bell-shaped and cylindrical skirts, bare neck, prominent breasts,
arms sometimes raised, sometimes folded on the breast, of the same type as the goddess from Gournia.
There were also two or three little clay doves painted with red stripes. From the "sacello externo,"
which appeared to be later, came votive animals and human figures, some with Libyan characteristics.
Altars with horns were also among the furnishings of this shrine."
1 Evans, B. S. A., VI, 1899-1900, p. 6.
2 Evans, B. S. A., VIII, 1901-02, pp. 28 ff. Also supra, p. 3, note 44.
3 Evans, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, pp. 38 ff.
4 The goddess herself (h. 34 cm.) wears a high head-dress, a richly embroidered jacket laced in front, a skirt with hori-
zontal stripes, and a short double apron. Her hair falls over her shoulders and three snakes are twined about her, one
of which coils around her tiara and projects its head above it. The votaries are similarly dressed but are incomplete.
5 Dussaud (Questions Myceniennes, p. 29), combats Dr. Evans's theory, and interprets the goddess as a snake-charmer,
and the cross as an ornament on a wooden box in which these " jouets" were originally kept. This theory is also adopted
by Dr. Thiersch (Furtwangler, Aegina, 1906, vol. I, p. 372). In the writer's opinion these objects belonged to a shrine of
the Snake Goddess.
6 Evans, B. S. A., VIII, 1901-02, pp. 95-105.
7 Supra, p. 48. Reinach (La Sculpture en Europe avant les influences greco-romaines, 1896, p. 73) denies the importance
of gesture in primitive civilization, yet in Chroniques d'Orient, II, p. 230, he explains a figure on an early Boeotian am-
phora as "faisant le geste de la benediction," a gesture which is exactly like that of the Gournia goddess. Dussaud (Ques-
tions Myceniennes, pp. 21 and 22) believes in ritualistic gestures and interprets the raising of two arms as benediction,
and of one arm as adoration, while Hogarth (/. H. S., XXII, p. 77, 5 and fig. 4) transposes the meanings. For further dis-
cussion, see Perrot and Chipiez, VI, p. 751; Paribeni, Mon, Ant., XIV, 1904, p. 742; Tsountas and Manatt, Mycenaean
Age, p. 304. Another gesture, common in Assyrian and Phoenician art, in which the hands are pressed against the
breasts, has been interpreted as meaning fecundity.
8 Supra, p. 48. Dr. Evans (B. S. A., VIII, 1901-02, p. 98) maintains that the figures are "semi-anthropomorphic,
the body in each case rising from a clay cylinder which looks like a survival from the columnar form of the earlier 'baetylic'
stones." Against this theory is arrayed Mr. Dawkins's argument for an exaggerated crinoline, B. S. A., X, 1903-04, p. 218.
0 Evans, B. S. A., XI, 1904-05, pp. 8-11. In the "matronly fetish," Dr. Evans sees the rude form of the Nature God-
dess, and in the contents of the shrine he reads the story of Rhea and the infancy of Zeus. The question of the probable roof-
ing of the shrine is discussed here.
111 Mosso, The Palaces of Crete, p. 270, fig. 131.
11 Mon. Art., XIV, 1904, pp. 341 ff, and p. 411; see also Evans, B. S. A., VI11, 1901-02, p. 28; Myc. Tree and Pillar
Cult, pp. 93-98, for explanation of the shrine fresco from Knossos and the gold plaque from Mycenae.
12 Pernier, Mon. Ant., XII, 1902, pp. 34 ff, p. 119; XIV, 1904, pp. 405 ff, and 477 ff, and illustrations.
13 Mon. Ant., XII, 1902, PI. VIII, 5.
14 Halbherr (Mon. Ant., XIII, 1903, pp. 71 ff, and illustrations) discusses the two shrines. Paribeni (Rendic. Lincei
ser. V, XII, 1903, p. 318) thinks that the "sacello externo" is L. M. Ill, and is perhaps a sign of the victory of the people
In a cemetery of the Third Late Minoan Period at Prinia, near Gortyna, were unearthed a figure
(h. 62 cm.) like the Gournia goddess, and fragments of others entwined with snakes, as well as cultus
vases of the same type as PI. XI 12, all of ruder workmanship than the objects from Gournia.15
The remains of a shrine of the Third Late Minoan Period with dancing figures and doves were dis-
covered at Palaikastro,10 and at Petsofa, in the vicinity, was unearthed a shrine of the Middle Minoan
Period that is, so far, unique. It appears to have been much used for votive offerings of human fig-
ures in extraordinary costumes, bisected human figures, arms and legs, cattle, wild animals, "partic-
ularly vermin," and small clay balls.17 No representation of the deity worshipped here was found,
but it may be assumed that such votive offerings were made to the Nature Goddess.
But the earliest remaining records of religious life have come from graves. Even before excava-
tions in Crete had brought the civilization and customs of a remote antiquity nearer our vision, Myce-
nae and other sites in Greece and the islands had yielded evidence of an extensive cult of the dead, by
the witness of well-constructed tombs and their rich furnishings. Pottery and bronze vessels to con-
tain food and drink for the dead, arms for his use, jewelry for his adornment, idols for his protection,
sacrificial braziers and animals' bones from the sacrifice, all indicated the respect paid by the living
to the dead. The deep layer of sacrificial remains and the hollow altar in the circle above the acropolis
graves at Mycenae testified to the continued observance of the rites.18 And now the graves of Crete
tell the same tale. Cemeteries at Phaestos,19 Aghia Triadha,20 Aghios Onouphrios,21 Knossos,22 Palai-
kastro,23 Gournia, and other sites have not only repeated the finds from the mainland, but have also
yielded objects peculiar to Crete from Early to Late Minoan times. From the painted sarcophagus
of Aghia Triadha24 may be read some of the rites connected with burial: scenes of adoration and sac-
rifice; an altar with a vase; men playing on a xcHdfia and a double pipe; the representation of the dead in
whose honor are performed these mysteries; and the symbolism of flowers, trees, birds, and double-axes.
In some manner not yet clear to us there seems to have been a peculiarly close connection between
the worship of an Earth Goddess and the honors paid to the dead who had descended to her realm.25
Perhaps the most noteworthy fact derived from a study of these data is the prominence of a
goddess under various aspects. The figures from the neolithic deposits of Knossos and Phaestos are of
squat steatopygous form, and may be considered primitive representations of the
TFIE GREAT Great Mother. Early Minoan burials at Aghia Triadha yielded small steatite and
GODDESS alabaster statuettes of the goddess, some of which resemble types from upper
Egypt in Libyan tombs.28 From the Aghios Onouphrios graves came representa-
tions of the goddess in fiddle-shaped figures, and others of more human aspect, like those from
graves in the Cyclades and in contemporary deposits at Hissarlik.27 In the Middle Minoan Period
the goddess appears at Phaestos in a much more advanced and peculiarly Cretan form, with large
bell-skirt. The earlier palace at Knossos also knew her at this time, accompanied by snakes, which
typify her underworld associations.28 Cows and goats suckling their young, flowers, fruits, shells,
and flying fish were found with her, perhaps as offerings of first-fruits, perhaps merely as decorations
suggestive of the different gifts of the Earth Goddess, the mother of all, and of her functions in con-
nection with the production of life and the nourishment of all young things.
In the Gournia shrine the " Snake Goddess " is attended by doves. May they not symbolize her con-
nection with the upper air, the cause of her fertility? 29 Throughout the Late Minoan Period either with
over a tyrant (cf. the Fetish Shrine at Knossos). Halbherr (Mem. R. 1st. Lomb., XXI, Fasc. V) gives a fuller account of
these shrines and of the large double-axes and standards found at Aghia Triadha.
" Wide, Alh. Mill., XXVI, pp. 247-257. The figures Wide assumes to be goddesses, and such they are in the opinion
of the writer, being only a later form of the idols so generally found in graves of Early Minoan times. The theory is also
advanced that such figures are praeftcae (furtwangler, Aegina, I, p. 371), or worshippers (Paribeni, Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904,
p. 744, n.2),on the supposition that the raised arms denote prayer or adoration. Other proof, however, is necessary to
be convincing. Wide's theory that the cultus vases represent a male divinity appears untenable.
1,1 In B.S.A., IX, 1902-03, p. 217, Dawkins describes the remains at Palaikastro of a goddess with a snake surrounded
by a ring of votaries. Since they were found, the discovery of the Aghia Triadha sarcophagus with a picture of a musi-
cian playing a lyre has led some archaeologists (see Burrows, Discoveries in Crete, p. 244) to interpret the Palaikastro god-
dess as such a musician. The writer can give no opinion, not having been able to compare the two, but in any case the
presence of the doves indicates some connection with the goddess.
17 Myres, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, pp. 356 ff. 18 Perrot and Chipiez, VI, pp. 323 ff.
19 Savignoni, Mon. Ant. XIV, 1904, pp. 501-661.
20 Halbherr, Mem. R. 1st. Lomb., XXI, Fasc. V. In Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904, pp. 724 ff, Paribeni describes female stat-
uettes from the L. M. tombs near Aghia Triadha. This type is to be compared with the figures from Gournia, Prinia,
Phaestos, Knossos, and the palace at Aghia Triadha. Paribeni admits the difficulty of determining whether a figure may
represent a goddess, an adorant, or a praefica, yet he seems to believe that the figures with snakes are goddesses.
21 Evans, Cretan Piciographs, pp. 124 ft, f'gs- 124—134.
22 Evans, Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos; Hogarth, B. S. A., VI, 1899-1900, pp. 70-85.
23 Bosanquet, B. S. A., VIII, 1901-02, p. 290.
24 See Paribeni, Rendic. Lincei ser. V, XII, pp. 243 ff, for full description of this sarcophagus, which is not yet published.
25 Savignoni (Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904, p. 583) proposes that since all engraved gold rings come from graves they are,
therefore, objects offered to the dead, and a certain connection between the scenes on them and their funereal purpose may
be assumed.
2" Halbherr, Mem. R. 1st. Lomb., XXI, Fasc. V, Figs. 27 ff. 27 For references, vide supra, p. 3, note 38.
28 The snake as an accompaniment or manifestation of divinity is familiar in Egyptian and Greek religions. For the
snake as showing the chthonic character of worship, see Evans, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, pp. 81-84.
29 For the significance of the dove in Assyrian, Phoenician, and Greek religions, see Perrot and Chipiez, 111, p. 20on.2;
for the dove cult of primitive Greece, Evans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 7; for the association of the chthonic aspect of the
goddess with the "celestial typified by the dove," Evans, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, p. 85. In Cyprus the dove appears in
a sepulchral connection, Ohnefalsch-Richter, Kypros, die Bibel und Homer, p. 283, figs. 181, 182, 186.
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