Snake Goddess

Culture Ancient Aegean

-This and two other figurines of similar type were discovered in the so-called Temple Repositories at Knossos, which were votive burials (i.e. they were purposely buried in antiquity as religious act). -Like the bull, the snake was a sacred animal in Minoan religion as early as the Prepalatial period. Snakes appear to have been a prominent symbol in chthonic cults, and Arthur Evans, the excavator of the palace at Knossos, believed that they were the chthonic form of the Great Mother Goddess. Snakes have both associations with the dead and with eternal life (shedding their skins=rebirth). -This is possibly a borrowing from Egypt- snake goddess there known as Wadjyt. Sacred to her was the cobra that in the form of the uraeus became the distinctive emblem of Lower Egypt (Wadjyt's main cult site was in the Nile Delta). -As she does not appear on seals or in other contexts beyond the domestic realm, the "snake goddess" is usually considered to be a household divinity. -She appears to be almost drugged (perhaps participating in shamanistic activity?). -No male equivalent to these- from all surviving evidence, women played a key role in the practice of Minoan cult rituals. This is been interpreted by some scholars to mean that Minoan civilization was matriarchal in nature, rather than the clearly patriarchal society that we find on the Greek mainland in the Mycenaean world. -Note also the elaborate garments that female Minoans wore- the tight-fitted jacket that cinched in the waist and exposed the breasts, the long, heavy skirt with its patterned flounces, etc. Men, on the other hand, are often shown in much less restrictive clothing and in outdoor settings. There appears to be a relationship like that between a queen bee and her drones- men are valued for the work they do while women are valued for being the source of life and for tending the hearth.

 

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