The Goddess With Snakes created c 1600 BCE in the Aegean region by a group of people who lived on th

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Minoan Snake Goddess
The Goddess With Snakes created c 1600 BCE in
the Aegean region by a group of people who lived
on the island of Crete and are referred to as the
Minoans.
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Three cultures thrived simultaneously in the
Aegean region between c. 3000-1100 BCE
Cycladic on smaller cluster of islands
3000-1600 Minoan on Thera and Crete
1900-1100 Helladic, including the Mycenaean, on
the mainland of Greece 1500-1100.
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Three Minoan Periods

• The Old Period 1900 1700 BCE
• The Second Period 1700 1450 BCE (Artwork was
  made)
• Late Period 1450 1100 BCE

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Other Flourishing Cultures

• Sumerian, Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian and
  Assyrians were flourishing throughout the
  Mesopotamia region
• Egypt was thriving through the Old Middle and New
  Kingdoms

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Social and Political Environment of Minoans
1900-1100 BCE

• Minoans Lived on Crete largest of the Aegean
  Islands (150 miles long 36 wide).
• The name Minoan comes from the legend of Minos
• Self-sufficient farmers and herders who produced
  their own grains, olives and other fruits.
• Heavily influenced by the sea that provided a
  link to each other and the rest of the world
• Became wealthy due to location and trade.
• Egypt and Near East civilizations were important
  trading partners.
• Using metal ores imported from Europe, Arabia and
  Anatolia the Ageans became master artisans most
  notably utilizing bronze.
• Written records exist, yet only one form of
  language is translatable and gives insight into
  the culture.

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Held Impressions of Minoans

• Elegant fashionable costumes and art imply
  physical gracefulness, sensitivity, sophisticated
  tastes, and love of luxury
• Perceived as having refined manners and worldly
  ways
• Thought to have high intelligence and love of
  beauty nature and peace
• Women played an important roll in Minoan society.
  May have been a matrilineal or even a
  matriarchal, society.

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No evidence of male dominated society or warlike
tendencies common to Eastern Mediterranean
cultures

• No Walled citadels, fortifications, no temples to
  the gods
• No large public sculptures
• No clear evidence of a hierarchically structured
  society ruled by kings and priest nor boastful
  inscriptions telling of wars or conquests.

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Utilizing dressed stone, great architectural
complexes were constructed and were the center of
Minoan culture
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Palace of Knossos

• Layout was so strange that in later Greek
  mythology it is referred to as the labyrinth
  (Spawned the legend of the Minatare)
• Judging from the huge storage areas and layout
  the palace of Knossos may have been used as a
  collection and distribution centers for
  agricultural production, local leaders, artists
  and artisans (leaders unknown) as well as a
  general meeting location (town square).

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Religion

• From evidence that has been uncovered
  archeologists believe that this was a
  polytheistic society, and early on many of their
  political beliefs were enforced by whom no one is
  certain, but influenced by these deities.
• They could have believed in mythology based on
  these
• gods
• It is theorized that the Minoans may have
  worshiped a
• mother Goddess that could have been
  represented by
• the Women With Snakes.
• They believed in mythological creatures, as shown
  
• in the Palace on Knossos.
• Griffins with flowers. Also other mythological
  beasts with
• lion bodies and bird heads and the
  Minotaure
• Archeological digs suggest that they may have
  believed in an afterlife. Graves were dug into
  the ground within a circular enclosure. Vast
  amounts of gold treasure- including death masks,
  jewelry, and weapons were found within grave
  sights.

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Influence and influencing Cultures

• Influenced by the Egyptians
• Aegean culture is known for the light it throws
  on later cultures
• Influenced much of the Greek Culture.
• Many of the gods and goddesses of the Aegeans
  may have influenced the Greek culture
• These mythological stories most likely traveled
  with those who traded along these areas of the
  Aegean Sea
• Many Greek Myths use Crete as a focal point. They
  tell tales in the Odyssey about Crete of a
  Hundred cities, which is a reference to the
  ruthless King Minos, who would sacrifice men
  and women to the Minotaur within the Labyrinth.

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Artwork Analysis
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Geographic Influences

• Discovered in 1903 by British Archaeologist Sir
  Arthur Evans
• Found in Temple Repositories on the site of the
  "Palace" of Knossos
• Found along side other ceremonial objects

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Geographic Influences

• Sculptures of the region during this period
  consists mainly of small, finely Executed works
  in wood, ivory, precious metals, stone and
  faience. This statue is a wonderful example of
  this technique
• Faïence is pottery glaze technique using ground
  quartz, which can be tinted.
• Much artwork, including painting and jewelry,
  appear to be for aesthetic purpose only.

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Art for Arts sake
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Art for Arts sake
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Art for Arts sake
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Geographic Influences

• Materials for this sculpture were found on the
  Island. Other materials used in various artwork
  such as metals were imported (Well known
  for their bronze work)
• Possibly influenced by nearby Egyptian art
  (Snake Goddess in Egyptian Art)

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Social/Political Influences

• Female figurines holding serpents were fashioned
  on Crete as far back as 6000 BC
• Stands out as an object central to the
  understanding of Minoan culture (whether or not
  this is warranted is left to debate).
• In the same way that the Venus of Willendorf,
  has come to epitomize Paleolithic sculpture, the
  Snake Goddess is regarded as a particularly
  important manifestation of Minoan society.
• According to some scholars, including Arthur
  Evans, one of the prime pieces of evidence that
  women dominated Minoan culture
• Basis for the argument that Minoans lived in a
  matrilineal or even a matriarchal society

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Examples of Snake Goddesses
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Social/Political Influences

• Goddess and other art found nearby are some of
  the best examples of Minoan art. Can be
  interpreted as giving insight and embodying many
  of the perceived, and admired, characteristics of
  the Minoans
• Elegant, fashionable costumes
• Dressed in the typical Minoan clothes with a long
  skirt (flounced, or with an apron)
• Tight open bodice (can be seen in many other
  works of Minoan art)
• Crystallizes idea that Minoans were artistic and
  enjoyed creating art simply as an object of beauty

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Tight open bodice common in Minoan Fashion
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Social/Political Influences - Perceived
Characteristics

• Physical gracefulness
• Represented in more sinuous and naturalistic form
  
• Figure is both lively and dauntingly, almost
  hypnotically powerful (A combination that has led
  scholars to disagree whether statues such as this
  represent deities or their human attendants.)

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Social/Political Influences - Perceived
Characteristics - Physical Gracefulness
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Social/Political Influences - Perceived
Characteristics - Physical Gracefulness
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Social/Political Influences - Perceived
Characteristics - Physical Gracefulness
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Social/Political Influences - Perceived
Characteristics - Physical Gracefulness
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Social/Political Influences - Perceived
Characteristics - Sensitive yet forthright
personalities

• A bear breasted women is somewhat obvious and
  forthright yet sensitive in the possibility that
  the object represents fertility and protection

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Sophisticated tastes and love of luxury
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Sophisticated tastes and love of luxury
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Sophisticated tastes and love of luxury
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Sophisticated tastes and love of luxury

• Clothing reflects the Minoan preference for
  bright colors, patterns and fancy edgings.

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Refined Manners and Worldly Ways

• Nothing threatening or demanding reflected in
  artwork

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Seemingly high intelligence and innocence

• Understanding of the world and ecology
• Master craftsman especially with metals and
  faience
• Artwork/architecture suggests that they are
  unlike other warlike and male dominated societies.

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Apparent love of beauty, nature, and peace.

• Represented in sinuous naturalistic form
• Well ornamented
• One figurine is decorated with a saffron-flower
  pattern
• No evidence of domination or war or desire to
  conquer
• Bare breasted, arms extended with snakes perhaps
  a symbol of protection
• A leopard or a cat rests on the head perhaps a
  symbol of protection.

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Religious/Mythological Influences

• Debate as to what this object symbolized or
  represented
• There is little archaeological evidence to
  support the existence in the Minoan religion of a
  snake deity. (Although could have Egyptian or
  Mesopotamia influence)
• Among the many examples of cult objects such as
  the double-axe, the sacral knot, the sacral
  horns, sacred pillars, sacred trees, birds
  (doves), and beasts (bulls, lions, goats) seen
  painted in frescoes or on pottery, sculpted in
  reliefs, and engraved in seals, the snake appears
  only rarely.

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Religious/Mythological Influences
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Religious/Mythological Influences
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Religious/Mythological Influences
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Could have several symbolic meanings

• Minoan religion, constructed by some historians,
  reflects prehistoric religion centered on a
  dominant goddess of fertility May have
  represented maternity as well as fertility
  including agricultural re-growth and rebirth.

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Goddess of Fertility

• In the Sumerian and the Old-Babylonian literary
  tradition the snake was a wise creature and an
  expert for miraculous herbs of the eternal youth
  and immortality.
• A similar idea is contained in the Cretan myth
  about Glaukos, where the snake knows the herb of
  rebirth and resurrection
• Invoked to ensure abundant crops, or the
  plentiful production of lambs and kids among the
  herds of sheep and goat.
• the planting of crops and tending of animals were
  principally male activities, the "Snake Goddess"
  may have served primarily the male population.

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A sort of domestic goddess or goddess of the
house

• A kind of guardian angelin many regions of the
  world, including Greece, the household snake was
  worshipped and fed as a domestic guardian angel.
• In the Egyptian mythology the snake was a
  personification of the goddess Kebechet,
  symbolized the purification by water in the
  funeral cult, so the snake became a protector of
  the pharaohs in their death.
• A leopard or a cat rests on the head perhaps a
  symbol of protection.

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Found alongside other artifacts put together by
Evens as a shrine
The faïence objects included fragments of three
figurines, as well as votive robes and girdles,
cups and vases, shells in the round, quantities
of beads, a variety of plaques for inlay, and two
small reliefs, one of a cow suckling a calf and
another of a wild goat (or agrimi) suckling a kid
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Evidence suggests there was some level of
religious significance

• Due to the lack of decipherable written history
  we can only speculate, based on surrounding
  cultures influence combined with interpretation
  of the artifacts found at Knossos and surrounding
  Aegean areas, as to what the figure may have
  represented. However, we can be sure that in some
  way Minoan religious/mythological,
  social/political, and geographic influences are
  reflected in the art piece. Hopefully historians
  will be able to unravel the unreadable forms of
  writing of the time and gain greater insight into
  this very interesting culture.