Matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete : A Perspective From Archaeomythology and Modern Matriarchal Studies

Matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete: A Perspective from Archaeomythology and Modern Matriarchal Studies offers a very different perspective of Crete than is usually found in academic writing; making a compelling case for a matriarchal Bronze Age Crete. Bronze Age Crete evokes for many the image of an exceptionally sophisticated civilization: peaceful, artistic, and refined; a society in which women were highly visible and important, and the supreme deity was a Goddess. Yet, despite the fact that authorities acknowledge that the preeminent deity of Crete was a Female Divine, and that women played a major role in Cretan society, there is a gap in the scholarly literature, and a lively, ongoing debate regarding the centrality of women and the existence of matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete. The purpose of this work is to fill that gap, and to advance the debate over whether or not ancient Crete was a woman-centered and matriarchal society toward a more complex, detailed, and certain conclusion. To that end this publication utilises the field of modern matriarchal studies, with its carefully elucidated definition of the term matriarchy, and employs the methodology of archaeomythology – the use of historical, mythological, linguistic, and folkloric as well as archaeological sources. Given its scope, the volume will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields encompassed by archaeomythology, as well as the fields of women’s studies, women’s history, women’s spirituality, and modern matriarchal studies. Joan Marie Cichon, a retired history professor and reference librarian, has a PhD in Philosophy and Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has published articles on the Cretan Mother Goddess, the origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and archaeomythology. For the past twenty-five years she has spent several months in Crete each year studying, visiting archaeological sites and museums, and exploring the island. This publication is a product of her ongoing research interests Cover 1 Title Page 3 Copyright Page 4 Contents 5 Contents Page 5 List of Figures 8 Figure 1. The Ierapetra Snake Goddess. Neolithic, c. 6000-5500 BC, 14.5cm x 9cm, clay, surface find, Ierapetra, Crete. Giamalakis Collection, Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by author. 127 Figure 2. The Mochlos Goddess (on the right). The Malia Goddess (on the left). Mochlos Goddess: Early Minoan III, c. 2300-2150 BC, 18cm in height, clay, found in Tomb XIII, Mochlos, Crete. Malia Goddess: Early Minoan III, c. 2300-2150 BC, 16.4cm in height 139 Figure 3. Small Snake Goddess, Temple-Palace of Knossos. LM I, c. 1580-1450 BC, 20cm. in height, faience, found in Knossos Temple Repositories. Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by author. 148 Figure 4. Large Snake Goddess, Temple-Palace of Knossos. LM I, c. 1580-1450 BC, 34cm. in height, faience, found in Knossos Temple Repositories. Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by author. 148 Figure 5. Shells, flying fish and argonauts. LM I, c. 1580-1450 BC, fish and argonauts of faience, shells are natural but painted, found with the Knossos Snake Goddesses in the Temple Repositories. Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by Dr. Mara Lynn Kell 149 Figure 6. Goat with kid (on the left), and cow with calf (on the right). LM I, c. 1580-1450 BC, faie 149 Figure 7. Faience dresses. LM I, c. 1580-1450 BC, faience, found with the Knossos Snake Goddesses in Temple Repositories. Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by author. 150 Figure 8. Front of Ayia Triadha sarcophagus. Third Temple Palace/Postpalatial period, LM IB-LM IIIB c. 1450-1350/1300 BC, sarcophagus is 0.895m in height, 1.373-1.385m in length, and 0.45m in width, limestone, found inside a tomb, Ayia Triadha, Crete. Her 164 Figure 9. Back of Ayia Triadha sarcophagus. Third Temple Palace/Postpalatial period, LM IB-LM IIIB c. 1450-1350/1300 BC, sarcophagus is 0.895m in height, 1.373-1.385m in length, and 0.45m in width, limestone, found inside a tomb, Ayia Triadha, Crete. Hera 165 Figure 10. Side panel of Ayia Triadha sarcophagus with two Goddesses being pulled by griffins. Third Temple Palace/Postpalatial period, LM IB-LM IIIB c. 1450-1350/1300 BC, sarcophagus is 0.895m in height, 1.373-1.385m in length, and 0.45m in width, limest 166 Figure 11. Goddesses with Upraised Arms. The Goddesses depicted here are from the sites of Karphi, Kannia, and Gazi. Postpalatial period, c. 1350/1300-1000 BC, clay. Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by Dr. Mara Lynn Keller. Reprinted with permission. 171 Figure 12. Goddesses with Upraised Arms from Kannia, Crete. Postpalatial period, LM IIIB c. 1360-1325 BC. The figure on the left is 52cm. in height, the one on the right is 32cm. in height, clay, found in Kannia Sanctuary Complex. Heraklion Museum, Crete. 172 Figure 13. Bull-leaper or ‘Taureador’ Fresco. LM IA, c. 1600/1580-1480, or LM IB, c. 1480-1425 BC, 78.2cm x 104.5cm, fresco, found in east wing of Temple-Palace of Knossos. Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by author. 179 Figure 14. Clanmother, Priestess, or Goddess (‘La Parisienne’) from the Campstool Fresco. LM IIIA/B, c. 1450-1300 BC, fresco, found in west wing, Temple-Palace of Knossos. Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by author. 197 Figure 15. Fresco of Goddess descending from the sky. LM IA, c. 1600/1580-1480, or LM IB, c. 1480-1425 BC, fresco, found in east wing Temple-Palace of Knossos. Heraklion Museum, Crete. Photograph by author. 199 Figure 16. Isopata ring: Epiphany of the Goddess witnessed by female worshippers. Dated to c. 1575-1450 BC on stylistic grounds, 2.25cm long and 1.16cm wide, gold seal ring, found in a chamber–tomb at Isopata, near Knossos, Crete. Heraklion Museum, Crete. 209 Preface 9 Introduction 10 Topic and inquiry questions 10 Personal relationship to topic 12 Scope and limitations of the study 13 Key definitions 14 Explanation of capitalization of Goddess 21 Significance of the study: academic, social, personal, and spiritual 22 Academic significance 22 Personal and spiritual significance 23 Social significance 23 Conclusion 23 Literature review 25 Women’s spirituality 25 Anthropological, archaeological, and historical evidence for matriarchy 26 Archaeological and mythological evidence for Bronze Age Crete as a Goddess-centered society 27 Archaeological, archaeomythological, and historical evidence for Bronze Age Crete as a woman-centered society 32 Bull-leaping 32 Women and/or the Goddess in frescoes, statues, and seals 33 Women’s legal rights in marriage, divorce, and property 35 Archaeologists divided on Crete as a matriarchy 35 Evidence for male rulership? 38 Conclusion 40 Methodology 41 Archaeomythology 42 Components of archaeomythology: archaeology 43 Components of archaeomythology: mythology 52 Components of archaeomythology: linguistics 55 Dating system used within this work 56 Conclusion 58 Theoretical context: matriarchy / patriarchy debates 60 Historical background to the debates over matriarchy 60 The twentieth century debates over matriarchy 64 The late twentieth century/early twenty-first century debates over matriarchy 73 The Mother Goddess of Crete 82 Attributes and iconographic forms of the Minoan Mother Goddess 89 The character of Minoan religion and the Minoan Mother Goddess 95 The pantheon of deities: one Goddess or many? Minoan gods 109 The Minoan Mother Goddess defined 116 Conclusion 117 Analysis of the iconography of the Mother Goddess in Crete 118 Cretan neolithic Mother Goddess figurines 118 The controversy surrounding the interpretation of Neolithic female figurines 119 A new interpretation of Ucko’s ‘sexless’ figurines 122 The Ierapetra Snake Goddess 127 The Goddess at the Eileithyia cave at Amnisos 129 The early Minoan period 133 The Goddess of Myrtos 134 The Koumasa I Goddess 135 The Mochlos Goddess 138 Conclusion: early Minoan Mother Goddesses 140 The Old Palace Period, c. 2100-1700 BC 141 The bowl of the Snake Goddess and the fruitstand of the Goddess of the lilies 142 The New Palace Period, c. 1700-1450 BC 147 The Snake Goddesses from the temple repositories at Knossos 147 The Minoan frescoes 153 The fresco in room 14 of Ayia Triadha 154 The frescoes at Xeste 3 at Thera, Akrotiri 157 The eruption at Thera and the arrival of the Mycenaeans 161 The Third Palatial and Postpalatial Periods, c. 1450-1070 BC 162 The Ayia Triadha Sarcophagus 163 The Mountain Mother seal impression 167 The Goddesses with Upraised Arms 170 Conclusion 176 The role of women in Bronze Age Crete 178 Women in Minoan frescoes 182 Mythology and the position of women in Minoan society 189 The law code of Gortyn and the position of women in Minoan and post-Minoan society 190 Women’s preeminence in Minoan art 194 Glyptic art and what it reveals about women in Minoan society 205 Models of rulership: the paucity of images of male rulers; the images of female rulers 215 Possible candidates for the title of Priest-King 215 The Lily Prince 219 Shared rulership 220 A Hittite storm god as representative of the Minoan king? 223 Male figures in spirally wound garments 229 The Naster Impression 231 Minoan art shows no male ruler, but rather, important women, priestesses or Goddesses 236 Was Bronze Age Crete a matriarchy? 240 Does a definition of patriarchy apply to Minoan Crete? 240 Sanday’s, Eisler’s, Gimbutas’s, and Du’s definitions and their application to Minoan Crete 241 Goettner-Abendroth’s definition of matriarchy at the economic level and its application to Minoan Crete 243 Goettner-Abendroth’s definition of matriarchy at the political level and its application to Minoan Crete 255 Goettner-Abendroth’s definition of matriarchy at the social level and its application to Minoan Crete 258 Goettner-Abendroth’s definition of matriarchy at the spiritual level and its application to Minoan Crete 261 Conclusion: based on Goettner-Abendroth’s definition of matriarchy, Minoan Crete was a matriarchal society 262 References 265 Matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete: A Perspective from Archaeomythology and Modern Matriarchal Studies offers a very different perspective of Crete than is usually found in academic writing; making a compelling case for a matriarchal Bronze Age Crete.0Bronze Age Crete evokes for many the image of an exceptionally sophisticated civilization: peaceful, artistic, and refined; a society in which women were highly visible and important, and the supreme deity was a Goddess. Yet, despite the fact that authorities acknowledge that the preeminent deity of Crete was a Female Divine, and that women played a major role in Cretan society, there is a gap in the scholarly literature, and a lively, ongoing debate regarding the centrality of women and the existence of matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete.0The purpose of this work is to fill that gap, and to advance the debate over whether or not ancient Crete was a woman-centered and matriarchal society toward a more complex, detailed, and certain conclusion. To that end this publication utilises the field of modern matriarchal studies, with its carefully elucidated definition of the term matriarchy, and employs the methodology of archaeomythology - the use of historical, mythological, linguistic, and folkloric as well as archaeological sources.0Given its scope, the volume will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields encompassed by archaeomythology, as well as the fields of women's studies, women's history, women's spirituality, and modern matriarchal studies This book makes a compelling case for a matriarchal Bronze Age Crete. It is acknowledged that the preeminent deity was a Female Divine, and that women played a major role in Cretan society, but there is a lively, ongoing debate regarding the centrality of women in Bronze Age Crete. a gap in the scholarly literature which this book seeks to fill. This text makes a compelling case for a matriarchal Bronze Age Crete. It is acknowledged that the preeminent deity was a Female Divine, and that women played a major role in Cretan society, but there is a lively, ongoing debate regarding the centrality of women in Bronze Age Crete. a gap in the scholarly literature which this book seeks to fill