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

For translation methodology see: How to Translate Alphabetic Akkadian Texts

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

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

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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Axe head representing letter P meaning “for an Opening”
Axe head representing letter P meaning “for an Opening”
Wall map attached to letter E meaning “not this”
Wall map attached to letter E meaning “not this”
Wall map attached to letter E meaning “not this”
Wall map
Wall map
Wheat sign Ki meaning “due to this”
Wall maps
Wall maps
Unknown
Letter Ḫ meaning the sun god Hu
Curved wall with letter S meaning the full moon god Su
Probably a symbol for the eagle-vultures
Sign Ši meaning “corresponding to” or “same as”
Sign Zi meaning “to be eliminated”
Letter N meaning “Revealer” which is the epithet for the manifestation god Yahu
Sign Z meaning “eliminate”
Sign Ya meaning “not this”
Probably meant to be an axe head representing letter B meaning “opening.” Dash in 22b is likely meant to be a pointer
Wall map
Wall map
Sign Gi meaning “to be the same”
Wall map or letter T meaning magic-crafting
Sign Gi meaning “to be the same.” The mark is likely a pointing arrow.
Sign Ma meaning “for the fertility-fluids”
An upside-down letter shin Ṣ meaning “for activities” (magic crafting or divination)
Unknown
Wall map attached to letter E meaning “not this”
Two letters E and wheat sign Ki meaning “not this due to”
Wall map
Unknown
Wall map
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):

many fragments of faience figurines
vessels with molded designs
beads
molded plaques of ‘votive robes’
suckling goats
cattle
flowers
leaves
shells
flying fish
fruit
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

Top image shows ash amounts in cm that fell from the Thera (Santorini) volcanic eruption in 1562 BCE. Bottom image of Crete shows where tsunami evidence has been found prior to its discovery on Malia. The height of the Tsunami which hit Crete was probably around 5 meters (15 feet so it did not go far inland.
Image from: Lespez and all (July 29, 1921) Discovery of a Tsunami deposit from the Bronze Age Santorini eruption at Malia (Crete): impact, chronology, extension. Online at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-94859-1#Sec2

Thera Eruption in 1562 BCE Ended Minoan Trading Power and Allowed the Rise of Greeks and Phoenicians

(April 15, 2022) In 2021 the dating of the Thera eruption was resolved into two possibilities by Erlich, Regev, and Boaretto, (2021). They show that calibrated radio carbon dating for the event has two probability peaks, one at 1628 BCE and the other at 1567 BCE.

By 2023 a very significant dating methodology had matured which identified spikes of radioactive Carbon 14 in tree rings from solar flare events to anchor isolated tree ring data. These carbon 14 spikes are called Miyake events after the researcher, Fusa Miyake, who developed the procedure. This determined that the Thera eruption occurred in 1562 BCE.

References

Erlich, Y., Regev, L., and Boaretto, E. (2021) Discovery of annual growth in a modern olive branch based on carbon isotopes and implications for the Bronze Age volcanic eruption of Santorini. Online at: https://www.pubfacts.com/detail/33436660/Discovery-of-annual-growth-in-a-modern-olive-branch-based-on-carbon-isotopes-and-implications-for-th
Price, Michael (13 April 2023) Marking time - Radiocarbon timestamps left in ancient tree rings by cosmic ray bombardments can date historical events with unprecedented precision. Science. Online at: https://www.science.org/content/article/marking-time-cosmic-ray-storms-can-pin-precise-dates-history-ancient-egypt-vikings

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