Minoan Religion
New Material and Interpretations
Edited by Nanno Marinatos Edited by Fritz Blakolmer
Hardback (Published)
(August 2026)
ISBN: 9781931534451
8.5 x 11.02 inches
Price: $95.00
In stock
This volume is a collection of 13 specialist articles that advance understanding of Minoan religion by examining rituals, deities, symbols, and their social and political contexts across Neopalatial Crete and related regions using diverse modern approaches.
This volume sheds new light on the religion of Minoan Crete through the presentation 13 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 this volume is on Neopalatial Crete, the collection includes also material from other periods and Aegean regions under Minoan influence. Through a dialogue with past interpretations and by using manifold methods and approaches, this volume reflects the progress made in the field of Minoan religion.
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
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, and one of them is abiography of the excavator of Knossos, Sir Arthur Evans. She has edited or coedited 10 volumes and has written about 90 scholarly articles and book reviews.
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. Additional topics of scholarly interest are religion and ritual iconography in the Aegean, the history of research and modern artistic reception of the Aegean Bronze Age, and tomb forms in Classical Lycia. He has published widely on these subjects.
- Edited by Nanno Marinatos
- Edited by Fritz Blakolmer
Other Titles in this Series
Mochlos IIC
Period IV. The Mycenaean Settlement and Cemetery: The Human Remains and Other Finds
Volume 32
Neolithic Settlement of Knossos in Crete
New Evidence for the Early Occupation of Crete and the Aegean Islands
Volume 42
Petras, Siteia II
A Minoan Palatial Settlement in Eastern Crete: Late Bronze Age Pottery from Houses I.1 and I.2
Volume 67
Mochlos IC
Period III. Neopalatial Settlement on the Coast: The Artisans' Quarter and the Farmhouse at Chalinomouri: The Small Finds
Volume 9
AMILLA
The Quest for Excellence: Studies Presented to Guenter Kopcke in Celebration of His 75th Birthday
Volume 43
Ayioryitika
The 1928 Excavations of Carl Blegen at a Neolithic to Early Helladic Settlement in Arcadia
Volume 3
An Archaeological Survey of the Gournia Landscape
A Regional History of the Mirabello Bay, Crete, in Antiquity
Volume 37
Kleronomia
Legacy and Inheritance. Studies on the Aegean Bronze Age in Honor of Jeffrey S. Soles
Volume 61
Mochlos IC
Period III. Neopalatial Settlement on the Coast: The Artisans' Quarter and the Farmhouse at Chalinomouri: The Small Finds
Volume 9
Mochlos IVA
Period III. The House of the Metal Merchant and Other Buildings in the Neopalatial Town
Volume 68
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