Minoan Religion: Did you mean...?

Government and religion in ancient Egypt were fully integrated beginning with the First Dynasty of Egypt (c. 3150 to c. 2890 BCE). The king was understood as a representative of a god, the specific deity sometimes changing with different...

Located on the fertile Mesara plain in central Crete, Phaistos has been inhabited since the Final Neolithic period (c. 3600-3000 BCE). The settlements greatest period of influence was from the 20th to 15th century BCE, during which time it...

One of the world's most famous works of Minoan pottery, this vessel shows five mollusks called nautili floating above the seafloor. The sinuous undulating lines of the water plans and nautili tentacles clearly demonstrate the Minoans' love...

The 'Ladies in Blue' fresco is a recreated fresco from the Palace of Knossos on the island of Crete. It shows three women richly dressed and lavishly bejeweled depicted against a blue background. This fresco (or rather, fragments of it) was...

New-Palace period (1500-1450 BCE) Cretan Clay askos with 'Marine Style' decoration, (Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete)

A fresco detail from a banquet scene (known as 'La Parisienne') from Knossos, 1400-1350 BCE. The figure, in a robe and with a sacral knot at her neck, is perhaps a priestess. (Archaeological Museum, Heraklion)

A map of Minoan Crete.

A fresco from the House of the Ladies in Akrotiri on the Aegean island of Thera (Santorini), c. 17th century BCE. The several women depicted on the walls of the room wear typical Minoan dress. Above the women is a representation of a starry...

A Minoan vase carved from rock-crystal, from Zakros on Crete, c. 1450 BCE. The collar includes gilded ivory discs and the handle is made from rock-crystal beads strung on bronze wire. The vessel was probably used to pour liquids in religious...

Minoan fresco depicting a bull leaping scene, found in Knossos, 1600-1400 BCE. Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete.