Ο τόμος αυτός αφιερώνεται στο Νέστoρα της Κυπριακής Αρχαιολογίας καθηγητή Βάσο Καραγιώργη This volume is dedicated to Professor Vassos Karageorghis, Nestor of Cypriot Archaeology ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΚΡΗΤΗΣ Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας UNIVERSITY OF CRETE Department of History & Archaeology ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ Αρχαιολογικό Ινστιτούτο Αιγαιακών Σπουδών Αρχαιολογικό Ινστιτούτο Κρητολογικών Σπουδών MINISTRY OF CULTURE Archaeological Institute of Aegean Studies Archaeological Institute of Cretological Studies ΜΕΣΟΓΕΙΑΚΗ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΗ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑ MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY ISBN 978-960-7143-40-2 Copyright © 2012 Καθηγητής Ν. Χρ. Σταμπολίδης Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης, Ειδικός Λογαριασμός Ηράκλειο ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΣ - CONTRIBUTORS Nicoletta Antognelli Michel Doctoral candidate (PhD) at the University of Freiburg i. Bernau-Menzenschwanderstr. 16. D - 79837 St. Blasien. nicoletta_anto@yahoo.it Dr. Andrea Babbi Alexander von Humboldt Post-Doc. Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg Zentrum für Altertumswissenschaften Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie Marstallhof 4. D-69117 Heidelberg Deutschland andreababbi@tiscali.it Μαρία Ι. Βαϊοπούλου Αρχαιολόγος. ΛΔ΄ ΕΠΚΑ vaiopulu@otenet.gr Professor Antoine Hermary Université d’Aix-Marseille I. Centre Camille Jullian. hermary@mmsh.univ-aix.fr Dr. Reinhard Jung Fachbereich Altertumswissenschaften. Universität Salzburg. Residenzplatz 1 / II. A-5010 Salzburg reinjung@hotmail.com Dr. Athanasia Kanta Director of the 23d Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities. Xanthoudidou and Chatzidaki 71202, Heraklion. Athanasiaka@gmail.com Professor Vassos Karageorghis vassoskarageorghis@cytanet.com.cy Sabine Beckmann University of Crete. Vigla Panagia Lakonia. 72100 Agios Nikolaos. Beckmann@students.phl.uoc.gr Dr. Giorgos Bourogiannis Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Medelhavsmuseet, Fredsgatan 2. Box 16008, 103 21 Stockholm. gbourogiannis@thebritishmuseum.ac.u Δρ. Στέφανος Γιματζίδης Ακαδημία των Επιστημών της Αυστρίας. Βιέννη gimatzidis@gmail.com Δρ. Καλλιόπη Εμμ. Γκαλανάκη Αρχαιολόγος. ΚΓ΄ Εφορεία Προϊστορικών και Kλασικών Aρχαιοτήτων. Ξανθουδίδου και Χατζηδάκη 71202, Ηράκλειο. Calliopegk@gmail.com Ελένη Γούλα Γ. Υποψήφια Διδάκτωρ Κλασικής Αρχαιολογίας Πανεπιστημίου Κρήτης. Πεσόντων Μαχητών 23, Αγ. Γεώργιος Βοιωτίας, 32007 elgoula@sch.gr Dr. Florentia Fragkopoulou Μεταξάτα 28100. Κεφαλονιά florentiaf@googlemail.com Dr. Kostas Georgakopoulos Archaeologist. 23d Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities. Xanthoudidou and Chatzidaki 71202, Heraklion. kgeorgakopoulos@yahoo.com Professor Litsa Kontorli-Papadopoulou Associate professor of Prehistoric Archaeology. University of Ioannina Themistokleous 69, Ν.Psychiko, 154 51 Athens papadop7@gmail.com Dr. Çiğdem Maner Koc University. Department of Archaeology and History of Art. Rumeli Feneri 34450 Sariyer. Istanbul Turkey CMANER@ku.edu.tr Dr. Isabelle Martelli PhD. University IULM Milan-Paris IV SorbonneItalia m_isa@katamail.com Dr. Mathias Mehofer Archaeometallurgy. VIAS - Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science. Franz Klein-Gasse 1. A-1190 Wien mathias.mehofer@univie.ac.at Δρ. Ανδρονίκη Οικονομάκη Δρ Κλασικής Φιλολογίας Αριστοτελείου Πανεπιστημίου Θεσσαλονίκης. Θεοδοσίου Διακόνου 10, 71305, Ηράκλειο Κρήτης niki.ikon@gmail.com Χριστίνα Παπαδάκη. Υποψήφια Διδάκτωρ Προϊστορικής Αρχαιολογίας Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών. papadakichristina@gmail.com Dr. Konstantinos Kopanias Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology. University of Athens. Department of History and Archaeology - University Campus. GR 157 84 Athens - Greece kkopanias@arch.uoa.gr Professor Thanassis Papadopoulos Emeritus professor of Prehistoric Archaeology. University of Ioannina Themistokleous 69, Ν.Psychiko, 154 51 Athens papadop7@gmail.com Dr. Antonios Kotsonas Amsterdam Archaeological Centre University of Amsterdam. Turfdraagsterpad 9, 1012 XT. Amsterdam. The Netherlands a.kotsonas@uva.nl Dr. Laura-Concetta Rizzotto Antikensammlung Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Bodestr. 1-3 D- 10178 lrizzotto@yahoo.it/rizzotto@athen.dainst.org Professor Panagiotis Kousoulis Ass. Professor of Egyptology. Department of Mediterranean Studies. University of the Aegean. Rhodes, Greece. kousoulis@rhodes.aegean.gr Δρ. Ευθύμιος Λαζόγκας Διδάσκων Αρχαίας Τέχνης (ΑΣΚΤ) Επτανήσου 33, 11257 Αθήνα. lazonga1@otenet.gr Νίκος Λεβεντάκης Αρχιτέκτων. lebentakis_nikos@yahoo Φανή Κ. Σέρογλου Αρχαιολόγος. Αρχαιολογικό Ινστιτούτο Αιγαιακών Σπουδών. Πλ.Μ.Αλεξάνδρου Παλαιά Πόλη - 85 100 Ρόδος. serfani@aenaon.biz Μαρία Σταυροπούλου Γάτση Tέως Προϊσταμένη της ΛΣΤ’ ΕΠΚΑ. Αγίου Αθανασίου 4 GR - 302 00. Μεσολόγγι. Δρ. Κωνσταντούλα Χαβέλα Αρχαιολόγος. ΛΣΤ’ ΕΠΚΑ. Μεσολόγγι. konha71@yahoo.gr Professor J. Alexander MacGillivray Palaikastro Excavations. British School at Athens. macgillivrayalexander@yahoo.com Σημειώνεται ότι κάθε συγγραφέας ήταν υπεύθυνος για τις διορθώσεις του άρθρου του. It is noted that each writer was responsible for the corrections of his/her paper. ΠΕΡΙΕΧΟΜΕΝΑ - CONTENTS Ν. Χρ. Σταμπολίδης Εισαγωγικό σημείωμα 8 N. Chr. Stampolidis Introductory note 9 Αγγελική Γιαννικουρή Χαιρετισμοί και ευχαριστίες. 10 Angeliki Giannikouri Greetings and Compliments 11 Συντομογραφίες - Abbreviations 12 Ο Άνω Κόσμος - The Earthly World Vassos Karageorghis Notes on Music and Dance in Cyprus: The Archaeological Record, from the Late Bronze Age to the Cypro-Archaic Period. 15 Sabine Beckmann Resin αnd Ritual Purification: Terebinth ιn Eastern Mediterranean Bronze Age Cult 27 Nicoletta Antognelli Michel Palms And Papyruses in the Late Minoan/Helladic III: The Exotic World, the Fantastic World and the Afterworld 41 Çiğdem Maner A Comparative Study of Hittite and Mycenaean Fortification Architecture 53 Giorgos Bourogiannis Rhodes, Cos and the White Painted Ware of Cyprus: Introduction to Contacts in the Early Iron Age 65 Στέφανος Γιματζίδης Η Διακίνηση της Ελληνικής Κεραμικής και οι Ιδεολογικές Διαστάσεις της στη Μεσόγειο της Πρώιμης Εποχής του Σιδήρου 83 Οικονομάκη Ανδρονίκη Το Ταξίδι του Αλφαβήτου. Κρήτη: Σταθμός ή Αφετηρία; 93 Florentia Fragkopoulou Lakonia and Samos during the Early Iron Age: a Revised Look at the Messenian War Dates 101 Ο Υπεράνω Κόσμος - The Celestial World Kostas Georgakopoulos A Note on a Hittite Bull-Leaping Scene and its Minoan Perspectives 111 J. Alexander MacGillivray The Minoan Double Axe Goddess and Her Astral Realm 115 Panagiotis Kousoulis Egyptian vs. Otherness and the Issue of Acculturation in the Egyptian Demonic Discourse of the Late Bronze Age 127 Efthymios Lazongas Gates and Pillars of Heaven. The Architectural Structure of Cosmos in Greek, Egyptian and Near Eastern Tradition and Art 139 Μαρία Ι. Βαϊοπούλου Η λατρεία της Ιτωνίας Αθηνάς στην Ηπειρωτική και Νησιωτική Ελλάδα, μέσα από τα Ιερά της, τα Γραπτά Κείμενα και τους Μύθους 153 Γούλα Γ. Ελένη Mυστηριακές Λατρείες και Διαβατήριες Τελετές στον Χώρο του Aιγαίου: η Περίπτωση των Kαβιρίων 161 Antonios Kotsonas Three Early, Limestone Sculptures from Gortyn and their Mediterranean Profile 177 8 ATHANASIA Ο Κάτω Κόσμος - The Underworld Konstantinos Kopanias Paradise Lost. The Image of the Netherworld in the Near East 191 Νίκος Λεβεντάκης Από τον Ονειρικό Ίσκιο στην Απεικόνιση του Προσώπου 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 αnd Death in Late Bronze Age Aegean αnd Cyprus: the Evidence of Warrior-Graves and Painting 237 Μαρία Σταυροπούλου Γάτση - Reinhard Jung - Mathias Mehofer Τάφος «Μυκηναίου» Πολεμιστή στον Κουβαρά Αιτωλοακαρνανίας. Πρώτη Παρουσίαση 247 Laura-Concetta Rizzotto Spätbronzezeitliche und Früheisenzeitliche Steinerne Sarkophage auf Kreta und auf Zypern 265 Φανή Κ. Σέρογλου Προσδιορίζοντας τη Ζωή από τον Θάνατο. Διαπολιτισμικές Ανταλλαγές στη Μεσόγειο κατά την Πρώιμη Εποχή του Σιδήρου 275 Andrea Babbi Έλα, Ύπνε, και Πάρε το...Clay Human Figurines from Early Iron Age Italian Children’s Tombs and the Aegean Evidence 285 Κωνσταντούλα Χαβέλα Τα Ταφικά Έθιμα ως Δείκτης Διακοινοτικών και Διαπολιτισμικών Επαφών στο Χώρο της Κεντρικής Μακεδονίας κατά την Εποχή του Σιδήρου 305 Isabelle Martelli Women Go Further: Understanding the Handmade Globular Pyxis from Protogeometric Greece to Southern Italy 321 Χριστίνα Παπαδάκη - Καλλιόπη Εμμ. Γκαλανάκη Τό δένδρον ἴσα τῷ θεῷ σέβειν. Μία ΥΓ; – ΠρΑν Απεικόνιση “Δέντρου της Ζωής” από τα Αϊτάνια Πεδιάδος 335 Antoine Hermary The Cypriot Kourotrophoi : Remarks on the ‘Mother with Child’ Theme 341 ATHANASIA 9 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 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 between the peoples of the Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. The present International 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”, took place at the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens in 2003. At the same time as the exhibitions detailed catalogues 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 cover 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 Ancient 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 external 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 support similar initiatives and for this we offer our thanks. We are also grateful to the Institute of Aegean Archaeological Studies and its Director Angeliki Giannikouri and to the Institute of Cretological Studies and its former director 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, sincere thanks are offered to the Mediterranean Archaeological Society, which through the selfless work of its members has become a major sponsor of this volume. Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis ATHANASIA 11 GREETINGS AND COMPLIMENTS It was a great pleasure and honour for me to welcome the delegates to the International Archaeological 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 Bari, 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 dear friend Nicolas Chr. Stampolidis we have organized four conferences, the Proceedings of which have been published. However, I am delighted, for the launch of collaboration with the Institute of Cretological Studies, which hopefully 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 of the Department of Culture - Ministry of Mercantile Marine, Aegean and Island Policy. I refer in particular to Mrs 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 his 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 who 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 ATHANASIA 13 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, and the Egyptian X – the five stars with Sothis at the center, which mark the year’s wend in both the civic and Sothic calendars in Egypt. Although Evans first presumes that it symbolizes Cretan Zeus and his bull cult, he eventually gives it to his Great Goddess because she is depicted consistently either in close association with it, or actually holding it. I explore the astral origin of the “double axe” symbol and speculate how it became such an important attribute to a chthonic Minoan goddess, perhaps called Ashera, whose aspects of the 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 important part in the Minoan “renewal” rites that are very similar to those of Isis-Osiris and form the basis for the Eleusinian mysteries. Η προέλευση του Μινωικού συμβόλου του Διπλού Πέλεκυ θα μπορούσε να είναι ένας συνδυασμός του παρόμοιου Πρωτο-Ελαμικού μοτίβου, όπως ισχυρίζεται ο Hood, με το Αιγυπτιακό X - τα πέντε αστέρια με τον Σώθι στο κέντρο, που σηματοδοτούν την πορεία του έτους τόσο στα πολιτικά όσο και στα Σωθιακά ημερολόγια στην Αίγυπτο. Αν και ο Έβανς πρώτος εικάζει ότι ο Διπλός Πέλεκυς συμβολίζει τον Κρητικό Δία και τη λατρεία του, που σχετίζεται με ταύρο, τον αποδίδει τελικά στη Μεγάλη Θεά του γιατί απεικονίζεται με συνέπεια είτε σε στενή σχέση με αυτόν, είτε κρατώντας τον. Διερευνώ την αστρική καταγωγή του συμβόλου του “διπλού πέλεκυ» και κάνω εικασίες ως προς το πως έγινε ένα τόσο σημαντικό χαρακτηριστικό μίας χθόνιας Μινωικής θεότητας που ίσως ονομάζεται Ashera. Τα χαρακτηριστικά της θεότητας αυτής που σχετίζονται με τη λατρεία της Αθώρ και της Ίσιδας, κατά τις κρητικές ανακτορικές περιόδους αντικατοπτρίζονται στη συγχώνευση των ιερών τους στοιχείων με το Μινωικό Διπλό Πέλεκυ. Υποψιάζομαι ότι αυτή είναι η αρχική μινωική Δήμητρα την οποία οι Έλληνες συνδέουν αργότερα με την Αγυπτιακή Ίσιδα. Ως εκ τούτου, παίζει σημαντικό ρόλο στις Μινωικές ιεροτελεστίες “ανανέωσης” που ομοιάζουν πολύ με αυτές της Ίσιδας-Όσιρι και αποτελούν τη βάση για τα Ελευσίνια μυστήρια. * I am most grateful to Athanasia Kanta, Angeliki Giannikouri and Nikos Stamboulidis for their invitation to participate in this stimulating conference. The theme of immortality and the dedication to Vassos Karageorghis, whose great, Orion-like strides across the ancient world have made him one of Aegean archaeology’s immortals, have inspired me to search the heavens to explain one of Minoan Crete’s most prominent icons. It gives me great pleasure to offer here some early thoughts as I embark on a full study of the double axe symbol. ATHANASIA 117 J. ALEXANDER MACGILLIVRAY 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 lumberjack’s 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 symbol’s 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 victim’s throats in the sacrifice scenes that appear under Greek influence in the Late Bronze Age. Evans first placed the double-bitted axe, Homer’s 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 κυβελις was another name for πελεκυς.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 symbol’s Aegean, Mesopotamian and Egyptian history, consider its likely inspiration, and then return to Evans’s Great Mother interpretation with a fuller appreciation and understanding. 1. History 1.1. Prepalatial Crete The double-bitted axe, a well-balanced lumberjack’s 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. 118 ATHANASIA THE MINOAN DOUBLE AXE GODDESS AND HER ASTRAL REALM Chamazi peak sanctuary also belong to this time, and two broken examples come from possible ritual contexts at Vasiliki.11 The symbol’s 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 Cretan’s eschatology, and Branigan believes that this is the Early Minoan origin 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 axe’s appearance in Crete’s 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’.17 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 Crete’s first great buildings with central courts, known to archaeologists as palaces.18 It appears in the Minoan Hieroglyphic script,19 and also as 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 des sceaux,21 and on sealings from Knossos, and Phaistos.22 One of the latter, from the MM II Phaistos sealing deposit, is particularly interesting as it preserves the impression of an Egyptian-style scarab engraved with at least two double axe heads each 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, which 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 axe’s continued votive and/or ritual role is shown by the deposit of two large and thirty-two small bronze examples in a Protopalatial (MM I-II) stratum high atop Mt Juktas, designated by Evans, who first explored the site, as the ash altar.25 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 may 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, CMS II5, 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. ATHANASIA 119 J. ALEXANDER MACGILLIVRAY 1.3. Early Neopalatial Crete Fig. 1. Bowl PK Za4 inscribed with Linear A a-sa-sa-ra from Palaikastro (Bosanquet and Dawkins 1923 Fig. 126). Fig. 2. Inscribed gold votive axe AR Zf1 from Arkalochori (Brice 1961 Pl. 31). 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.31 Spyridon Marinatos, who excavated the Arkalochori rock shelter, placed these votives in the MM III-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 axe’s 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 divinity’s 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 start functions like the Egyptian introductory interjection ‘i’ in religious texts,40 we could read ‘O Demeter’. This works well with the DAMA-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 Cybele’s 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. 120 ATHANASIA THE MINOAN DOUBLE AXE GODDESS AND HER ASTRAL REALM Fig. 3. MM III Bucket vase from Palaikastro (Bosanquet and Dawkins 1923 Pl. 12). 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 building’s 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 direct 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. ATHANASIA 121 J. ALEXANDER MACGILLIVRAY Fig. 4. Detail of Ayia Triada sarcophagus painting (Evans 1921 Fig. 317). 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 axe’s emblematic appearance on signet rings, these pyramidal stands show how the symbol emerges in LM IA as one of the Minoans’s 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 its rarity 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 Crete’s 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 Müller 1997, 253-7. 122 ATHANASIA THE MINOAN DOUBLE AXE GODDESS AND HER ASTRAL REALM Fig. 5. Detail of ivory relief from Palaikastro (Evans 1921 Fig. 310d). Fig. 6. Hathor depicted at the horizon on the Dendara ceiling (Chassinat 1935 Pl. 315). wall painting,54 glyptic,55 ivory,56 and metal votives.57 Significantly, the haft instead of the head is doubled on LH IIA pottery.58 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 symbol’s 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 underscores 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 is often combined with the sistrum in Hathor icons, because Isis and Hathor are largely merged in Egypt’s New Kingdom. This possible link with Egypt’s 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 Egyptian Aset(Isis)/Hathor. One of Hathor’s 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 archaeologist’s as Evans’s ‘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. ATHANASIA 123 J. ALEXANDER MACGILLIVRAY 1.5. Postpalatial Crete Fig. 7. Detail from Giofyrakia larnax (Kanta 1980 Pl. 63) 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 were decorated with scenes from the deceased’s 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 Hathor’s 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 or tree 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 Fig. 8. Hathor Pallete from Gerzean (Hassan 1998 Fig. 48) 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 Iraq’s Khabur valley, and again in the Late Halaf period (c. 5600 to 5300 BC) from Chagar Bazar in the Khabur area of Syria.69 Relevant 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. 124 ATHANASIA THE MINOAN DOUBLE AXE GODDESS AND HER ASTRAL REALM 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,76 where we see the bucranium with the five stars that make up what archaeo-astronomers call the Egyptian X,77 which Evans knew as Hathor’s 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 of 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 cow’s head constellation. Thus Evans’s ‘bull’s head rhyta’ would have to be changed to cow’s 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 constellation’s axis, is fundamental to understanding the ancient Egyptian’s notion of time and immortality. They viewed time as cyclical. Their year started with the ‘Year Opener’, when the heliacal rising of Sirius coincided with New Year’s 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. This solar and astral event coincides every 1,461 years in what we call the ‘Sothic cycle’. The Egyptians purposefully did not 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 accession and the start of Egypt’s 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 Crete’s 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 Crete’s EM IIA period when we see the double axe’s 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 Year was in 4243 BC, approximately when the Hathor Palette was made. 2. Comment We might now re-consider Evans’s view of the double axe as a symbol for his Great Goddess. If indeed the symbol represents 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 Egypt’s sway in the Neopalatial period. This is when we see the axe set above the bucranium (cow’s 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 Minoan 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. ATHANASIA 125 J. ALEXANDER MACGILLIVRAY 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 mistress of plants and animals Ashera, later adopted by the Hebrews, and their counterpart to Egyptian Aset/Hether(Isis/Hathor).86 Thus, the double axe’s 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, Evans’s ‘Great Mother’, who had numerous counterparts in each of the ancient world’s 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 Crete’s 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 for netcher, 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. 126 ATHANASIA THE MINOAN DOUBLE AXE GODDESS AND HER ASTRAL REALM B I B L I O Allen, R. H. 1963. Star Names and their Meanings, London 1899, republished as Star Names their Lore and Meaning, New York: Dover Publication 1963. Betancourt, P. P. 1984. 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