This volume sheds new light on the religion of Minoan Crete through the presentation of thirteen articles by specialists in this field. The contributions provide important new information on ritual places and archaeological contexts, votive offerings and iconographic depictions of rituals and deities, as well as reconstructions of religious ceremonies, the meaning of symbols, and reflections of the spirituality of Minoan religion. Additionally, contributions deal with the nature of the deities, the debate on monotheism versus polytheism, and the interrelation of religion and political power. Although the focus of the book is on Neopalatial Crete, the collection also includes material from other periods and Aegean regions under Minoan influence. Through a dialogue with past interpretations and by using manifold methods and approaches, it reflects the progress made in the field of Minoan religion.
Price: £75.00
Pages: 276
Publisher: INSTAP Academic Press
Imprint: INSTAP Academic Press
Series: Prehistory Monographs
Publication Date:
31 October 2026
ISBN: 9781931534451
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
ART / History / Prehistoric, Archaeology, HISTORY / Ancient / Greece, RELIGION / Antiquities & Archaeology, Ancient Greek religion and mythology, Ancient history
Nanno Marinatos is emerita distinguished professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research has been focused mainly on the religion of Minoan Crete and Thera of the Bronze Age (c. 1600 B.C.E.) with Thucydides as a second area of interest. She is the author of nine books dealing mostly with Minoan religion and ritual, one of them a biography of the excavator of Knossos, Sir Arthur Evans.
Fritz Blakolmer is associate professor in the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Vienna where he teaches Minoan and Mycenaean Archaeology. He has participated in archaeological fieldwork in Turkey and Greece, but his main research interests are the arts and iconograph of the Aegean Bronze Age.
1. Introduction; 2. From Evans to Heavens: New Light on Minoan Religion from Knossos and Its Area; 3. Aspects of Ritual at the Juktas Peak Sanctuary and Knossian Palatial Involvement; 4. Cult Idols in Minoan Neopalatial Settlements 5. The Lady with the Ivory Pyxis at Mochlos; 6. Worship of Eileithyia in Bronze Age Crete; 7. A Tale of Two Cities? Images, Space, and Religion at Neopalatial and Final Palatial Hagia Triada; 8. Rethinking the Priest King Stucco Relief from Knossos, Minoan Kingship, and Gods; 9. Axes and Rosettes: The Gold Bracelet from Shaft Grave IV at Mycenae; 10. Divine Epiphany Scenes in Minoan Clay Larnax Iconography; 11. Light and Movement in Minoan Religion; 12.The Place of Alterity in Neopalatial Iconography; 13. Polytheism vs. Monotheism: A False Dichotomy? The Case for Henotheism; 14. Why Are We Unable to Identify Individual Minoan Deities? The Comparative Model of a Religious State Policy in Neopalatial Crete
