Minoan Knossos Temple/Palace Texts and Items (after 1650 BCE)

Minoan Knossos Temple/Palace (after 1700 BCE)

Minoan Knossos Temple/Palace (after 1700 BCE)

An artistic rendering of the the temple palace at Knossos showing just how complex it was.
Image from Brown University at:https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/greekpast/4796.html
Sign Pillar Found at the Knossos Temple/Palace

Sign Pillar Found at the Knossos Temple/Palace

The signs on each block are a Pe meaning "Opening."  Presumably this pillar shows which hallway to take to an exit opening.
Photo in Evans, Arthur (1921) The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Vol 1 The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages. McMillian and Co. Limited, London
Minoan Storage Jar for Scented Oil use in Motion Magic Rituals

Minoan Storage Jar for Scented Oil use in Motion Magic Rituals

Example of a boxed letter is found on a storage pot from a Knossos vat room.  It’s X shaped sign represents the phoneme Gi meaning “energy.” This pot would have held scented oil for use in motion magic rituals. (water was used in the life rituals). 
Image is figure 25 in Evans, Arthur (1921) The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Vol 1 The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages. McMillian and Co. Limited, London
Image from Evans (1921)

References


Evans, Arthur (1921) The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Vol 1 The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages. McMillian and Co. Limited, London

Signs Found on Wall Foundation Blocks at Knossos (Minoan Text 2)

(July 12, 2022) Many wall foundation blocks at the pre-earthquake era temple-palace at Knossos had signs on them. As shown in figure on the left most of these were letters (some upside down) while some were letters attached to wall building maps. Identifications are: 

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  1. Axe head representing letter P meaning “for an Opening” 
  2. Axe head representing letter P meaning “for an Opening”
  3. Wall map attached to letter E meaning “not this”
  4. Wall map attached to letter E meaning “not this”
  5. Wall map attached to letter E meaning “not this”
  6. Wall map
  7. Wall map
  8. Wheat sign Ki meaning “due to this”
  9. Wall maps
  10. Wall maps
  11. Unknown
  12. Letter Ḫ meaning the sun god Hu
  13. Curved wall with letter S meaning the full moon god Su
  14. Probably a symbol for the eagle-vultures
  15. Sign Ši meaning “corresponding to” or “same as”
  16. Sign Zi meaning “to be eliminated”
  17. Letter N meaning “Revealer” which is the epithet for the manifestation god Yahu
  18. Sign Z meaning “eliminate”
  19. Sign Ya meaning “not this”
  20. Probably meant to be an axe head representing letter B meaning “opening.” Dash in 22b is likely meant to be a pointer
  21. Wall map
  22. Wall map
  23. Sign Gi meaning “to be the same”
  24. Wall map or letter T meaning magic-crafting
  25. Sign Gi meaning “to be the same.” The mark is likely a pointing arrow.
  26. Sign Ma meaning “for the fertility-fluids”
  27. An upside-down letter shin Ṣ meaning “for activities” (magic crafting or divination)
  28. Unknown
  29. Wall map attached to letter E meaning “not this”
  30. Two letters E and wheat sign Ki meaning “not this due to”
  31. Wall map
  32. Unknown
  33. Wall map
  34. Sign Ṣi with rounded top to not be seen as a wall map. It means “for activity powers” (magic crafting or divinations) An upside-down Qi meaning “for the thread powers” (life-growth powers)
Life source (snake) goddess figurines as they now appear in the Heraklion Museum in Crete.
Life (snake) goddess figurines as they now appear in the Heraklion Museum in Crete with the one on the right being the popular version. Yet the right one is fake and the one on the left is one of a kind and is likely an Egyptianized version of Hekate. Both were found in the Knossos temple-palace trash pit.
The right one was originally was missing its whole  left arm and whatever the right hand was holding was broken off. Consequently, the snakes as well as the cat on top were added by the “restorer.” (Olmsted personal photo)
The left version is the only one which survived almost whole. She is represented as being similar to the Egyptian goddess Wadet with the cobra on top of a hat. The Egyptians and Minoans had extensive trade connections at this time. The bare breasts and no wings indicate a non-connective life power. Snakes by themselves symbolized the power of life and death.
Wadjet was the name for the feminine life-growth source power in Lower Egypt (Nile delta region). The upper and lower river regions of Egypt had different religious traditions until around the iron age (1150 BCE). Each region had their own set of deities which were later merged often with new deity names, the name which are popular today. Knowledge about these early deities is only found on the funeral texts written in hieroglyphics on various pyramids (called the Pyramid Texts).
Wadjet (Egyptian Wzt) means “lady of the plant” or “lady of the green” in Egyptian. Her temple was at the city of Buto in the Nile Delta. Significantly, Buto was divided into two parts named Pe and Dep. Wadjet was associated with Pe in the Pyramid texts. In the Middle and New Egyptian Kingdoms, Wadjet was often shown with the eagle-vulture goddess Nekhbet on the headdresses of pharaohs to form the Uraeus.  

Hekate as a Snake Goddess is Not Representative of Minoan Culture

(July 12, 2022) The (two and only two) "Minoan" snake goddess were found in one of the Knossos palace's trash pit known as the east Knossos Temple repository. It contained various damaged ritual items used during this period.  (Sinclair 2013):

  1. many fragments of faience figurines 
  2. vessels with molded designs
  3. beads
  4. molded plaques of ‘votive robes’ 
  5. suckling goats
  6. cattle
  7. flowers
  8. leaves
  9. shells
  10. flying fish
  11. fruit 
  12. a figure of eight shields 

In addition, the repository contained stone libation bowls, a large quantity of colored sea shells, clay administrative sealings, a clay tablet, ivory inlays, bone, burnt maize and stag horns. All of which were placed under a jumble of soil, gold foil and some forty ceramic amphorae and jugs which were used to provide a date for the collection of between 1650 and 1600 BCE.

References

Sinclair, Andrea (2013) Enduring Fictions of Late Victoria Fantasies, Sir Arthur Evans and the Faience. ‘Goddesses’ from Minoan Crete. Ancient Planet, Vol. 5 Online at: https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:24487