Minoan Religious Symbols
a) With reference to source A and your own knowledge, describe Minoan religious symbols.
Religion played a fundamental role in the lives of the Minoan Crete, illustrated amongst reoccurring religious symbols eminent throughout their everyday life. A vast majority of Minoan religion remains unknown or unable to interpret, yet facts such as the religion being of polytheistic nature and possible cult practices existing within the religion is interpreted from evidence recovered archaeologically. Based on these archaeological findings, many recurrent symbols have been discovered to be of varying significance to Minoan religion – the bull and its horns of consecration, the labrys (as depicted in source A), baetyl stones, trees and the serpent.
The bull featured centrally within Minoan religion. A dominant symbol of masculinity, the bull was the symbol of Zeus, the most powerful of all the gods. The bull additionally appears within Minoan mythological recounts as the most important of sacrificial animals. Evidence that the Minoans had religious practices involving bull sacrifices exists upon the Aghia Triadha Sarcophagus, which depicts a bulls blood being drained, and a priestess placing it under an alter, allowing for archaeologists to conclude that the majority of religious sacrifices involved libation offerings. The horns of the bull, referred to as ‘horns of consecration’, were of equal importance to the Minoans. Many historians have presented various theories regarding their meaning and what they represent. Nanno Marinatos states the most likely explanation for the symbol was that it commemorated bull sacrifice, serving to elucidate the importance of the bull within their religion. In 1934, Joseph Hazzidakis suggested that the Minoan ‘horns of consecration’ derived from the Egyptian symbol of the mountain or the horizon, and may have represented the symbol of a Minoan sun deity.
The Labrys was a double-headed axe used for carpentry, military and religious
Religion played a fundamental role in the lives of the Minoan Crete, illustrated amongst reoccurring religious symbols eminent throughout their everyday life. A vast majority of Minoan religion remains unknown or unable to interpret, yet facts such as the religion being of polytheistic nature and possible cult practices existing within the religion is interpreted from evidence recovered archaeologically. Based on these archaeological findings, many recurrent symbols have been discovered to be of varying significance to Minoan religion – the bull and its horns of consecration, the labrys (as depicted in source A), baetyl stones, trees and the serpent.
The bull featured centrally within Minoan religion. A dominant symbol of masculinity, the bull was the symbol of Zeus, the most powerful of all the gods. The bull additionally appears within Minoan mythological recounts as the most important of sacrificial animals. Evidence that the Minoans had religious practices involving bull sacrifices exists upon the Aghia Triadha Sarcophagus, which depicts a bulls blood being drained, and a priestess placing it under an alter, allowing for archaeologists to conclude that the majority of religious sacrifices involved libation offerings. The horns of the bull, referred to as ‘horns of consecration’, were of equal importance to the Minoans. Many historians have presented various theories regarding their meaning and what they represent. Nanno Marinatos states the most likely explanation for the symbol was that it commemorated bull sacrifice, serving to elucidate the importance of the bull within their religion. In 1934, Joseph Hazzidakis suggested that the Minoan ‘horns of consecration’ derived from the Egyptian symbol of the mountain or the horizon, and may have represented the symbol of a Minoan sun deity.
The Labrys was a double-headed axe used for carpentry, military and religious