Mycenaean Religion

Oxford Handbooks Online

Mycenaean Religion
Susan Lupack
The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean
Edited by Eric H. Cline

Print Publication Date: Jan 2012

Subject: Classical Studies, Classical Religions and Mythologies, Ancient Greek History
Online Publication Date: Sep 2012 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0020

Abstract and Keywords

The evidence for the Mycenaean period is different from that for the Minoan in two
important respects. First, in general the Mycenaean evidence is not as abundant as it is
for the Minoan culture. In light of this, scholars can be dismissive of the evidence
presented in this article, thereby giving the impression that not much can be said about
Mycenaean religion. However, the body of archaeological material is now not as scanty as
is often portrayed and positive information can be gleaned from the sites that have been
discovered. When the archaeological evidence is combined with the information provided
by the Linear B tablets, a fairly informative picture of Mycenaean religion results.
Evidence for communal sacrificial rites has been found on the Kynortion hilltop above
Epidauros. The types of bones and the associated pottery indicate that the sacrifices were
probably followed by communal feasts.

Keywords: Mycenaean religion, Linear B tablets, rites, Kynortion, bones, pottery, sacrifices, feasts

The Foundations of Mycenaean Religion

The evidence for the Mycenaean period is different from that for the Minoan in two
important respects. First, in general the Mycenaean evidence is not as abundant as it is
for the Minoan culture. Because of this, scholars can be dismissive of the evidence we do
have, thereby giving the impression that not much can be said about Mycenaean religion.
However, the body of archaeological material is now not as scanty as is often portrayed,
and positive information can be gleaned from the sites that have been discovered.
Furthermore, when the archaeological evidence is combined with the information

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Mycenaean Religion

provided by the Linear B tablets, a fairly informative picture of Mycenaean religion

results.

The second difference between Minoan and Mycenaean religion is that the archaeological
evidence for religious structures does not extend over as long a period as the Minoan,
which means that it is not possible to trace the origins and development of Mycenaean
religion with much precision or fullness. Many authors have remarked on the relative
dearth of evidence for religious practice on the mainland in the early periods (see, e.g.,
Dickinson 1994; Mylonas 1966, 137).

Nevertheless, Caskey 1990, 20) has found evidence for EH ritual in the large, decorated
hearths that are found in geographically diverse mainland sites and proposed that they at
least parallel and may even constitute the “remote but direct ancestors of the Megaron
hearth of Mycenaean times.” Unfortunately, nothing similar has been found in the MH
period, but evidence for communal sacrificial rites has been found on the Kynortion
hilltop above Epidauros (Lambrinudakis 1981) and on the island of Nisakouli near
Methoni (Choremis 1969). At both sites, MH sherds were found in layers of ash that
contained burnt animal bones, and those on Nisakouli were associated with an altar/
hearth structure. The types of bones and (p. 264) the associated pottery indicate that the
sacrifices were probably followed by communal feasting (Hägg 1997a; see Wright 1994,
39, and Kilian 1992 for other MH-LH II religious sites).

Another feature of ritual practice that Hägg thinks must have originated in the MH
period is the pouring of libations (Hägg 1990, 184; 1997a). He proposes that we have not
detected this cult practice archaeologically because specialized vessels, like rhyta, had
not yet been adopted. Whittaker 2001, in line with this proposal, sees the practice of
funerary libations in the jugs and cups found at gravesites in the MH period. Thus,
religion in the MH period may have been rather simple, but the traces of Helladic cult
that are extant foreshadow the cult practices of the later Mycenaeans. Whittaker 2001,
357) argues that the increasing complexity of Helladic religion can be seen in the
elaboration of early LH burial rituals, as the rising “Mycenaean elite was starting to
utilize ritual activity in order to reinforce its claims to sociopolitical power.” It was at this
point, she argues, that Helladic religion took on a social function that it had not had in
the MH period, one that fueled the development of its iconography and architecture.

When shrine buildings do appear on a significant scale, it is at the same time as the
earliest palace structures: in the LH IIIA period. Hence, Wright 1994, 38) has stated that
the “formalization of religious activity in Mycenaean society was largely a phenomenon of
the period of the palaces.” And indeed, religion is specifically associated with the rulers

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Mycenaean Religion

of the citadels through its practice in the physical and symbolic heart of the Mycenaean
palaces—the megaron.

Megaron (Throne Room)

There are several indications that the megara of the Mycenaean palaces were used for
religious rituals. At Tiryns, an altar was located in the porticoed courtyard in front of the
megaron complex (Kilian 1990; Maran 2000, 2001). At Mycenae, the remains of an altar,
an offering table, and an alabaster basin set into the floor were found in the porch of the
megaron (Papadimitriou 1955). At Pylos, the miniature kylikes found on an offering table
next to the hearth and the circular depressions linked by a channel in the floor next to the
throne indicate that libations were an important part of the rituals conducted in the
megaron (Blegen and Rawson 1966, 88–89). Also, the hearth of the megaron, which was
larger than necessary, was probably seen as the heart of the Mycenaean state (Wright
1994). The religious nature of the megaron is also demonstrated by the frescoes found at
Pylos (Lang 1969; McCallum 1987a, 1987b). On the walls of the megaron's vestibule was
a procession in which a bull was being led to a shrine, and in the megaron the succeeding
ceremonial banquet was depicted.

Most scholars believe that the wanax, the Mycenaean ruler, derived much of his power
from his position within the religious realm (Kilian 1988; Palaima 1995; (p. 265)

Whittaker 2001; Wright 1995b) and that he presided over sacrificial feasts conducted in
the palace (cf. Rehak 1995, who proposed that it was actually a priestess who sat on the
throne). The wanax's strong ties to religion seem to be demonstrated by the Lion Gate at
Mycenae: The lions rest their paws on incurved altars, showing that the power of the
ruler is founded upon religion (Mylonas 1966, 175). In addition, at Pylos, painted lions
and griffins guard the throne, symbolizing the divine protection bestowed upon the
wanax. The tablet PY Un 2 seems to support this, in that it refers to the celebration of the
wanax's initiation, which was to be held at Pa-ki-ja-ne, the prime sanctuary for the
Pylians. Thus, the religious officials of Pa-ki-ja-ne may have had a role to play in
legitimizing the power of the wanax (Lupack 2008b, 47–48).

It must be true, though, that while cult activities took place in the megaron, it did not
constitute an actual sanctuary (Albers 2001, 133). Sanctuaries that were devoted to the
worship of deities are found in close proximity to the citadels of Mycenae, Tiryns,
Phylakopi, Midea, and possibly Pylos, but also at smaller settlements such as Asine,

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Mycenaean Religion

Methana, and Berbati, while there was a hilltop sanctuary near Epidauros on the heights
of Kynortion. (This list is meant to be representative but is not exhaustive.)

Religious Sites in Mycenaean Citadels

Cult Center of Mycenae

The Cult Center of Mycenae is the most impressive Mycenaean sanctuary. As such it has
been described elsewhere in great detail (see most recently French 2002; French and
Taylour 2007; Moore and Taylour 1999). Therefore, we need here only touch briefly on its
most important attributes.

The Cult Center was connected to the palace by a Processional Way (French 2002, 85;
Mylonas 1972, 1983), one portion of which was roofed and decorated with a chariot
procession fresco (French 2002, 85). Its five main buildings, the Megaron, the Temple,
the Room with the Fresco Complex, Tsountas's House Shrine (now Shrine Gamma), and
Tsountas's House produced a wealth of religious artifacts and various types of cult
installations. Tsountas's House Shrine had an unusual horseshoe-shaped altar with an
installation attached for libations, and a large unworked stone was sunk into the floor.

In its main room (18), the

Temple had three columns
that ran along a staircase,
which led to room 19. In
the middle of room 18 was
a plaster-coated platform,
and at its northern end
was a series of benches on
which were found an
offering table and a “Type
B” figure. Type B figures,
which have been found
Figure 20.1 Two Type-A figures, both from the only at Mycenae, are
Cult Center of Mycenae. The one on the left was
found in room 19 of the Temple, while the one generally large (0.35 to
on the right was found in shrine room 32 of the 0.69 m) and painted black
Room with the Fresco Complex (copyright
all over the body and face
Mycenae Archive).
except for some reserved

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Mycenaean Religion

areas around the face. They are thought to represent cult celebrants, (p. 266) while the
more finely decorated Type A figures (figure 20.1) are thought to represent deities
(Moore and Taylour 1999, 93–101). The handmade anthropomorphic “psi” and “phi”
figurines, along with the zoomorphic figurines, are smaller than both of these and have a
much wider distribution (French 1981).

Twenty-seven Type B figures were found along with fifteen coiled clay snakes and three
Type A figures in room 19 and in a small alcove behind room 18. In several instances
fragments of the same figures were found separately in the two rooms. Room 19 was
sealed up, and the cult objects effectively decommissioned, presumably after the early LH
IIIB disaster (probably an earthquake). The Temple opened onto the Cult Center's central
court, within which stood a round altar, near which was a pit of burnt offerings (French
2002, 87; French and Taylour 2007, 10; Mylonas 1972).

The Room with the Fresco

Complex is so named for
the fresco painted over an
altar in the main room
(31). An ivory head lay in
front of the altar, which
may have represented a
deity. Another cult image,
a Type A female figure,
was found on a bench
shrine in room 32 to the
east of room 31 (Taylour
Figure 20.2 Reconstruction of the fresco from
1970). The fresco (figure
Room 31 of the Room with the Fresco Complex.
The altar with the horns of consecration is 20.2), with its two female
positioned underneath the main part of the figures and two small,
fresco (copyright Diana Wardle).
floating male figures, is
also thought to depict the
deities of the sanctuary (Marinatos 1988; Rehak 1992). The woman on the left holds a
sword and may be a War Goddess (Rehak 1984), while the woman facing her, dressed in a
Minoan-style flounced skirt and holding a staff, may be her daughter (Moore and Taylour
forthcoming). On the lower register a priestess or goddess, who is holding a sheaf of
wheat in each of her hands, appears with a griffin. The wheat here may indicate that one
of the female figures in the fresco is the “Mistress of the Grains,” who is recorded on a
Linear B tablet found nearby. (p. 267)

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Mycenaean Religion

Pylos

The Northeast Building of Pylos was predominantly a storage facility and an

administrative clearinghouse, but one of its rooms, 93, was identified as a shrine (Blegen
and Rawson 1966, 301–305). No objects of a definite cultic nature were found within the
room, but standing outside it was a frescoed altar. The façade of the room also indicates
its special nature with its decorative antae. Textual evidence found within the building
also indicates that the occupants had a religious association. Thus, the “seat of Potnia
Hippeia” referred to on Linear B tablet An 1281 may be the Northeast Building itself
(Lupack 2008a, 2008b). It is also possible that a sanctuary will be found once the Lower
Town is excavated.

Tiryns

The shrine, Room 117, found in the Lower Town of Tiryns dates to the LH IIIC period, but
there is evidence that the area was used for cult practice in the LH IIIB period (Kilian
1981). Inside Room 117 were a bench-altar and typical Mycenaean (p. 268)

anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, two large female figures, and a bullshaped
rhyton. To the north of Room 117 was an oval altar with traces of ash (Kilian 1979).
Various bones show that animal sacrifice was practiced.

Phylakopi

In the LH IIIA1 period, a megaron-centered structure replaced the earlier Minoan

“mansion.” At this time, the West Shrine of Phylakopi was built (Renfrew 1981b, 1985).
This Shrine was in use for approximately 260 years. In the LH IIIB period, the East
Shrine was built, which, with the West shrine, created a courtyard within which a
rounded baetyl was found. The figurines found associated with the two altars in the West
Shrine were separated by gender. The Lady of Phylakopi, a Type A figure and probably
the main cult image of the sanctuary, was found in one of the two adyta/storage rooms
behind the main room. Wheel-made bovid figures and ten seal stones were found around
the altar in the East Shrine. Other cult equipment included a male gold facemask, conch
shells, and a tortoise-shell lyre, which shows that music was part of the shrine's cult.

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Mycenaean Religion

Midea

The LH IIIB sanctuary found on the lower terraces of Midea (Walberg 1998, 177; 2007,
196) consisted of several rooms. Room XXXII had an elliptical hearth and a tripod
offering table, while parts of two wheel-made figures, a female and a bull, were found in
room VIII with a stirrup jar decorated with double axes and horns of consecration.
Further evidence for cult practice at Midea is provided by the more than two hundred
figurines found near the West Gate (Demakopoulou and Divari-Valakou 2001). The most
outstanding of these is a complete LH IIIB Type A female figure, whose polos hat has a
hole that runs through her body. She may have been used for libations or carried in
processions.

Town and Open-Air Religious Sites

Asine

House G of Asine, which dates to the LH IIIC period, was located at the northern edge of
a Mycenaean town (Hägg 1981a). Its main cult room (XXXII) had two columns along its
central axis and a cult bench in the northeast corner, around which were found a kernos,
an inverted jug whose bottom had been deliberately broken, female figurines, and a large
terracotta, probably female, head.

(p. 269) Methana

The LH IIIA-B site of Ayios Konstantinos, Methana, has produced a five-room shrine
complex located within a Mycenaean settlement (Konsolaki 2002; Konsolaki-Yannopulou
1999, 2001). The main shrine, room A, contained a stepped bench shrine, around which
approximately 150 figurines were found. Most of the figurines are individual bovids, but
many are composite constructions of animals with riders and chariot groups. Remarkably,
there was only one female figurine. A separate deposit included an animal-head rhyton
and a fragmentary jar neck, which were probably used for a libation ceremony. The
hearth in the southeast corner contained a number of burnt animal bones, providing
secure evidence for animal sacrifice.

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Mycenaean Religion

The Potter's Workshop at Berbati

A bench shrine was found in a building near to the LH II-IIIA kiln that had Psi figurines, a
decorated spoon, and an amphora whose bottom was missing (Akerström 1968, 1987;
Schallin 1997). In the LH IIIB period, another building was built over the first, and a new
cult installation that consisted of a stone channel with the base of a kylix fixed in one end
replaced the bench shrine. A second LH III installation, found in a nearby building,
consisted of a large krater whose bottom had been deliberately pierced and half-buried in
the earth. It seems the potters poured libations for the gods to ensure the successful
outcome of their work.

Kynortion Hill above Epidauros

This site is remarkable for the length of time that it was active: from the MH through the
LH periods (Lambrinudakis 1981). As mentioned earlier, burnt bones, including skulls
and horns from bulls and goats, were found mixed in a deep layer of ash. A wide array of
Mycenaean figurines was also found, along with a sheet-bronze animal face, bronze
double axes, votive and real swords, seals, and a steatite vessel decorated with a relief of
warriors in a boat. This site has been called a “peak sanctuary” by its excavator because
of the Minoan influence seen in the double axes, but Peatfield 1990, 120–22) and Hägg
1988, 207) argue convincingly that it is not in the Minoan tradition.

Other sites of LH III cult activity located outside the palaces are found at Amyklai,
Tsoungiza, Aigina, and Delphi, all of which produced Mycenaean figurines and fragments
of larger cult figures (Wright 1994). Open-air sites have been found at Ayia Triada near
Klenies and in a cave on Profitis Elias near Ayios Hadrianos (Kilian 1990), and French
1971 notes many sites that have produced religious deposits consisting primarily of
figurines.

(p. 270) Mycenaean Cult

These summaries of sites and their finds establish a basic picture of Mycenaean cult
practice. The cult buildings are usually of the bench-shrine type, but a variety of altars
existed alongside them. Some show signs of burnt sacrifices, while others must have been
used for cereal and liquid offerings. Cult equipment, such as rhyta, kylikes, offering
tables, and vessels with deliberately pierced bottoms, indicate the importance of libations
in Mycenaean cult (Hägg 1990). The handmade figurines, both anthropomorphic and

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Mycenaean Religion

zoomorphic, are nearly ubiquitous in Mycenaean cult, while the less numerous Type A
figures, such as the Lady of Phylakopi, probably represented deities.

Processions were also a central feature of Mycenaean cult practice (Hägg 2001), as
evidenced by the fresco in the megaron complex at Pylos. This fresco, coupled with the
evidence for burnt sacrifices, also indicates the importance of communal feasting and
drinking, which probably followed sacrificial rituals (see Wright 1995a).

The importance of religion to the elite is suggested by the number of cult sites found in
citadels. Nonetheless, it is clear from the numerous deposits of figurines that religion was
widely practiced. Hägg (1981b, 1995) has attempted to classify Mycenaean religious sites
as either ‘official/state’ or ‘popular,’ but this oversimplifies the situation (as he himself
has recognized) and ignores the fact that the religion practiced by the elite must have
derived from Helladic religious traditions.

The iconography of Mycenaean religion as practiced by the elite was, however, heavily
influenced by Minoan culture. For example, double axes are found both in archaeological
assemblages (as on Kynortion and at Lerna) and in religious imagery, while horns of
consecration are found at Pylos, Gla, Tiryns, and Mycenae. Scholars have questioned
whether and to what extent the Mycenaeans had adopted the religious beliefs of the
Minoans when they took on their iconography (Hägg 1981b, 1988; Renfrew 1981a).
However, it seems most likely, given the close contact between the Minoans and the
Mycenaeans in the 15th century BC, when the use of Minoan iconography was at its
height, that the Mycenaeans were not ignorant (or careless) of Minoan religious meaning
(Niemeier 1990), and the way that the Mycenaeans used many of the symbols
demonstrates this (Walberg 1988). For instance, the Mycenaeans used the horns of
consecration as markers of religious buildings on gold rings and frescoes.

Rather, it seems that the Mycenaeans selectively adopted certain types of symbols and
scenes that had meaning to them within their own religious construct. Thus, Whittaker
2001 proposes that the double axe “was taken over from Crete precisely because it was a
symbol of power that could be easily assimilated into Helladic military symbolism,” which
was “becoming visibly associated with religious activity.” The fact that the double axe
was associated with animal sacrifice, which was part of Mycenaean cult practice,
probably also contributed to its adoption (Hägg 1988).

(p. 271) In contrast, images of ecstatic and enacted epiphany, which are an essential
element of Minoan iconography, are all but absent in Mycenaean religious scenes. Also
absent from Mycenaean cult are lustral basins, pillar crypts, and clay snake tubes. Rhyta
and offering tables, however, were adopted early in the Mycenaean period, but Hägg

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Mycenaean Religion

(1988, 1997a, 18) proposes that this was “to embellish, as it were, an already existing cult
practice.”

The Minoan religious iconography, therefore, seems to have provided the Mycenaeans
with an already established—and esteemed—repertoire of symbols. Since they were
lacking such an elaborate system themselves, the Mycenaeans were happy to adopt and
adapt these symbols wherever and whenever appropriate for the illustration and
aggrandizement of their own religion. This is not to say that the Minoan influence was
entirely superficial. It is, of course, possible that in this process certain elements of the
original religion were emphasized over others or were modified to become more like the
Minoan concepts. Nonetheless, it does seem that the Mycenaeans did not simply accept
concepts into their religious system that were entirely foreign to their own.

Linear B Evidence
The Helladic nature of Mycenaean religion is also made clear by the Linear B tablets. Our
information regarding cult practice is derived predominantly from the tablets that record
offerings (which include perfumed oil, grain, honey, spices, cloth, and, in one case,
golden vessels) made by the palace to various deities and religious sanctuaries.
Sometimes the offering tablets record a month name that was based on a religious
festival (Hiller 1981), which means that the Mycenaeans had a religious calendar similar
in nature to that of the historical Greeks (Burkert 1985, 225–26).

The Mycenaeans referred to their shrines as nawoi, and they could be named after the
deity that presided over each of them (e.g., the Posidaion). Of the deities mentioned on
the tablets, many are immediately recognizable as gods that were also worshipped in
Classical times, such as Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Arte-mis, Ares, Hermes, Dionysos,
Eileuthia, and Erinys (Chadwick 1985). Others are Greek names, but ones that were not
used in Classical times, such as Diwia and Posidaia, female versions of Zeus and
Poseidon.

The most prominent female deity in the Mycenaean corpus is Potnia. The word on its own
denotes a female who wields power and can be translated as “Mistress” (Trümpy 2001).
However, the word is associated with several epithets and locations (Chadwick 1957,
1985) such as the Horses, the Grains, the Labyrinth, Athens (Gulizio, Pluta, and Palaima
2001), and Asia (Morris 2001). The question here, as it was with the Goddess of Minoan
religion, is whether Potnia was one goddess who could be worshipped under several
different aspects or whether each epithet represented a distinct goddess. Boëlle 2001

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Mycenaean Religion

leans toward the latter explanation but acknowledges that this question is not easily
resolved.

(p. 272) The Mycenaean rulers at Knossos also sent offerings to several non-Greek
divinities such as mba-ti and pi-pi-tu-na (Gulizio and Nakassis 2002) and to a generic “all
the gods,” which they may have done so as not to incur the wrath of the local gods
(Gulizio 2008). Hägg (1997b) sees a possible syncretism of Minoan and Mycenaean
religions in the appearance of Greek deities who have taken on local epithets, such as
Diktaian Zeus. However, he points out that the common attributes of cult in Postpalatial
Crete, such as the Goddess with Upraised Arms, the snake tube, and hut urns, do not
have a Mycenaean origin. Hägg (1997b, 168) therefore concludes that the syncretism
demonstrated by the textual evidence “was probably a phenomenon of limited scope, with
little if any impact on the Cretan population at large.”

The archaeological evidence for sacrificial communal feasts is fleshed out by the textual
evidence. Several tablets record the gathering of animals, wine, cheese, and other
foodstuffs, while others provide festival names. One such is the “Festival of the New
Wine,” which may have been similar to the Anthesteria (Bennett 1958). A second is the
“Lechestroterion,” which has been taken as a festival celebrating the “Spreading of the
Couches”— the couches were being spread either for a banquet of the gods (Ventris and
Chadwick 1973) or for a sacred wedding (Bennet 1958). A third festival name may be
taken as the “Festival of the Throne” (Bennet 1958; Hiller 1970; cf. Petrakis 2002–2003).
It is possible that this festival was celebrated in honor of an ancestral, founding wanax
(Lupack 2001). In a fourth example, the “Theophoria” or “Carrying of the God(s),” we
may see a festival that involved the carrying of Type A cult images in processions (Hägg
2001; Hiller 1984).

Many religious officials are named on the tablets, which demonstrates that the
Mycenaeans had a well-developed religious hierarchy. Among them, we find the Priestess
of Pakijane, a Keybearer, who in historical times had custody of a shrine; the hieroworgos
or sacrificial priest; a sphageus or ‘sacrificer’; several generic priests; many “servants of
the god”; a “skin bearer,” whom Olivier 1960 believes wore a garment made of animal
skin as the insignia of his position; and the “guardians of the fire.” Female religious
officials, such as the priestess of Pa-ki-ja-ne, who is actually recorded as challenging the
demos over the classification of a piece of land, constitute the only examples in the
tablets of women taking on roles of authority. Many religious officials hold their own land
or have other economic resources (Bendall 2007; Lupack 2006, 2008a), and some are
active within the palatial administration. Thus, the highest religious officials may have
been on a par with, and in some cases may have been members of, the Mycenaean
palatial elite.

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Mycenaean Religion

Conclusions
From this brief survey of the tablets, it seems that the Linear B tablets affirm the Helladic
nature of Mycenaean religion rather than providing a sense that Minoan religion had a
heavy influence on Mycenaean religious practice or belief. It could also (p. 273) be said
that much that is found on the Linear B tablets regarding Mycenaean religion fits well
with a religion that is in some senses the precursor to Classical Greek religion. Despite
the vast influence of the Minoans on the Mycenaeans in many aspects of their culture, it
is the Helladic characteristics of Mycenaean religion that seem to be the ones that are
retained and that resurface in historical Greek times.

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