Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T15:54:20.318Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

12 - Minoan and Mycenaean religion

from PART II - ANCIENT EUROPE IN THE HISTORICAL PERIOD

David A. Warburton
Affiliation:
American University
Lisbeth Bredholt Christensen
Affiliation:
University of Freiburg, Germany
Olav Hammer
Affiliation:
University of Southern Denmark
David A. Warburton
Affiliation:
Aarhus University, Denmark
Get access

Summary

The earliest historical religions in Europe were those of the Bronze Age Aegean. Although “historical” in the sense that there are texts, the administrative texts which are preserved refer only incidentally to religion and do not throw much light on larger issues; myths, hymns and rituals were not recorded in the material preserved. It is thus hardly surprising that this era is frequently understood as being “prehistoric”: our evidence consists for the most part of archaeological materials, mostly figurines, seals, votive objects, offerings, paintings and so forth, from shrines, tombs and palaces. These are, however, complemented by a few details that can be gleaned from the contemporary texts, offering information that would otherwise be unavailable in the mute world of prehistoric archaeology.

We distinguish these civilizations of the second millennium BCE as the “Minoans” and the “Mycenaeans”. Although the terms are misleading (in the sense that the Ancients will never have understood them as we use them), both are retained here as they are widely recognized. By (a) “Minoan”, we understand the culture of the Middle and early Late Bronze Age Aegean islands (effectively Middle Minoan IB–Late Minoan IB, ca. 1900–1500 BCE), most particularly Crete, before and partially overlapping with (b) the Mycenaeans of the Greek mainland in the Late Bronze Age (Middle Helladic III/Late Helladic I–Late Helladic III, ca. 1700/1600–1050 BCE). Obviously, Mycenaean materials are prominent on Crete, and Minoan materials appear on the mainland, but the division is as clear as are the links.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×