Minoan-Cycladic Syncretism

In my previous work, I have tried to show that while it is undeniable that the population at Thera was indigenous and the town had a long Cycladic tradition, it acquired a strong Minoan veneer sometime in the new palace period. I also argued that Minoan cult practices were adopted by Akrotiri, so that religion, too, became 'Minoanized'.

Int his paper I intend to show that the religion of Akrotiri was a result of a Cycladic/Minoan syncretism. A local and a Minoan stratum can be discerned by an analysis of objects and frescoes.

Evidence of the local stratum is offered by the multiplicity of nippled ewers, which are very rare in Crete.

Official religion is evidenced by: a) Minoan-type cult equipment, b) the architecture of the Xeste buildings, and c) the iconography of the paintings.

Paintings will form the core of my paper. I shall show that the latter reproduce Minoan official schemes that could not have been known by local artists unless they had been schooled in the Minoan tradition. I shall concentrate on the depiction of 'shrines'; ikria; cultic platforms; the use of monkeys and griffins, and the articulation of the divine personality of the goddess as expressed by the imagery.

It is often said that religion is conservative, that rituals are practiced unchanged generation after generation, century after century. Although this statement is not wrong, it is misleading in many respects. In so far as religion is part of culture, it is a dynamic and developing system; each social or historical change brings about shifts and readjustments in the religious expression. For example, although there is a general unity in Minoan religion, there are visible changes in the symbols and rituals of Crete from pre-palatial to proto-palatial, to post-palatial times.

One special form of change is syncretism: the transference and assimilation of elements from one religious system to another. Ancient religions were constantly 'syncretized'. One example will suffice. Greek religion of the Archaic period could be described as a syncretism of the Mycenaean heritage, cults and deities brought in by the migrating Dorians, and Oriental elements (Burkert 1985, 47-53).

Let us now come to the subject of the religion of Akrotiri. The fact are: (a) There existed a local Cycladic population; the more recent excavations have proved beyond reasonable doubt the Cycladic character of the earlier levels of the city (Doumas 1982, 182-210). (b) At some point this local population came into intense contact with Crete. The art, architecture, script and technology of Akrotiri all bear the Minoan stamp. I think it is reasonable to assume a priori that religious syncretism would have taken place as well. The purpose of this paper is to discern the local and the Minoan levels of the religion of Akrotiri in the architecture, archaeological finds and iconography.

Architecture will not be discussed extensively here. Suffice it to mention the Minoan architectural vocabulary with (and this is important) religious connotations: mason's mark, sacred horns, polythyra, an adyton (conventionally called Lustral Basin).

As regards the cult equipment, I have argued elsewhere that it is almost identical to that used on Crete (N. Marinatos 1984a, 167-178; 1984b, 28). Rhyta, offering tables, libation jugs, conch-shells, sacred horns are all common to Crete and Thera. Yet there exists two classes of pottery, which I believe are cultic in character, and which are characteristically Cycladic, not Minoan. These are the oblong vases called kymbai, and the nippled ewers.

A few words first as to why I consider them cultic. As regards the kymbai, their find-context is not revealing; some come from storage-rooms, some from domestic areas, although two come from what seems to be a sacred context (Room of the Ladies, room 5, West House: N. Marinatos 1984b, 15). It is their elaborate decoration and the symbolism of their imagery which shows that they are not ordinary domestic ware.

Many of the kymbai are painted with dolphins (S. Marinatos 1969, Pl. 11.2; 1974, 80; 1974, 81). The dolphin is, of course, not always a sacred animal, although it is associated with the goddess and with priests on Minoan seals (CMS I, 344; Evans 1935, 343b). Even when not sacred, however, it carried symbolic meaning. This is why it is used as an emblem of speed and aggression on Aegean daggers and ships (Laffineur 1984, 133-139; N. Marinatos 1986, 48-49). More importantly, dolphins are a preferred decoration for Theran offering tables, where they are depicted in a marine environment (S. Marinatos 1971, Pl. 45.1; 1971, Pl. 82; 1972, Col. Pl. C; 1974, Pl. 40b). On these cultic ustensils, dolphins most likely signify the realm of the sea with all its sacred associations (Mountjoy 1985, 231-242). The choice of the dolpin motif of the kymbai is thus not fortuitous.

The most interesting of the kymbai have a double decoration: on one side they depict dolphins swimming above waves, on the other horned animals galloping in a rocky terrain abloom with crocuses (S. Marinatos 1974, Pl. 80, 81). That the crocus is a sacred plant with emblematic significance can hardly be doubted since the discovery of Xeste 3 frescoes (Cameron 1978, 580-582; N. Marinatos 1984b, 65-68; 1987, 130-132). Crocuses appear as festoons on the ships of one of the miniature friezes of the West House (Morgan 1984, 166-171; 1988, 29ff.; for sacred plants: Warren 1985, 187-208). Like dolphins they constitute the primary decoration of Theran offering tables (S. Marinatos 1976, Pl. 51). Yet, on the kymbai, the crocus is not a primary motif. Its significance lies in the association with the animals. The two together portray a terrestrial landscape during a season of renewal, most likely the spring.

When the two sides of the kymbai are considered together, they reveal a unified decorative programme denoting the two major environments crucial for the livelihood of the inhabitants of Thera, the land and the sea. I do not believe that kymbai were made for every-day use; they were designed either as offering vessels or as dishes for special meals. What they contained, I do not know; I leave this question open for the experts to answer.

Now to the nippled ewers, the most Cycladic of all vessels. They have been found in great profusion at Akrotiri, in all kinds of contexts. Size and shape also vary, and it is reasonable to assume that every house was in possession of a number of them. What distinguishes the nippled ewers from ordinary pitchers is their anthropomorphic, distinctly female shape. They have eyes, nipples and a round belly suggestive of pregnancy. Ear-rings adorn the 'head' of the vessel; around the neck is a necklace (S. Marinatos 1971, Pl. 69b; Marthari 1987, fig. 7, 8) (Fig. 2) or a flower pendant (S. Marinatos 1971, Pl. 71). The ornamentation points to a festive aspect. Most important is the painted decoration that some ewers have. One has barley on the belly (Fig. 1) (S. Marinatos 1969, Pl. 36.1); another a swallow (Fig. 2) (S. Marinatos 1969, Fig 5). Both of the latter allude to harvest and a season of regeneration. Add to this the festive adornments and the lily pendant, and little doubt remains that these jugs were used in connection with som religious occasion relating to human or plant fertility. I would further suggest that they were primarily used by the female sex.

What the occasion of their use was is difficult to specify, but an interesting detail lends itself to further speculation. Two specimens have a red blotch of paint (Fig. 3) (Marthari 1987, Fig 8). The latter is not decorative, it looks as if it happened by accident. Yet, this too is unlikely. Could the dab of paint have been deliberately applied at some time as a reference to blood? If so, one of the occasions for the use of the ewers may have been related to the first menstruation or childbirth. But this has to remain a hypothesis.

The kymbai as well as the nippled ewers are locally made (Marthari 1987); even the painted decoration suggests local workshops. They give us a clue to some of the cult activities that we can term the 'folk-religion' of the people of Akrotiri.

When it comes to the iconography of the wall-paintings, however, the Minoan models are really striking. One can detect there another level, the official, upper-class expression of religion.

I would first like to present an assumption: if a schema can be shown to be part of an Aegean koine, and it is attested on Crete, the Cyclades and the Mycenaean mainland, the prototype must have been Minoan.

I feel confident in asserting this because I consider it highly implausible that the provinces would influence the cultural centre of the Aegean, which Crete certainly was in the 16th and 15th century B.C. As to the Mycenaean mainland, it was still not autonomous enough artistically to introduce and impose its own pictorial language. Thus, when we find similarities between, let us say, Mycenaean and Theran motifs (Laffineur 1984, 133-139), they can be better explained as deriving from a common source than as having exerted influence upon each other. It was Crete that introduced the Aegean koine.

But it is not erroneous to see Theran art as being identical with Minoan? I would agree that it is perfectly possible to infer a local team of artists who used Cycladic painting techniques. However, I would argue that these local artists did not totally invent the iconography, but made use of already established iconographical schemata which they borrowed from Crete and perhaps adapted.

This being said, let us now look at the paintings themselves. I shall focus on details that could not have been independently invented in the various Aegean centers, but which can be shown to derive from a prototype.

Let us start with the tripartite platform on which the goddess from room 3, Xeste 3 is seated (Fig. 4). Details of the painting show that the construction was made of wood and that it rested on four incurved altars; the latter were probably made of stone. Such stone altar-supports have been found in corpore. Noteworthy is a group of four found by J. Sakellarakis at Arkhanes (Logiadou-Platonos and N. Marinatos 1984, 161). M. Shaw has shown that such incurved altar-supports are also depicted on either side of the throne on the painting of the Throne Room at Knossos and has suggested that a construction similar to that on the Theran fresco was alluded to (Shaw 1986, 119-121). The two iconographical examples, couples with the actual finds from Arkhanes, prove that some real construction furnished the prototype.

Now to the argument that the prototype originated on Crete. Tripartite platforms are attested several times in Minoan iconography. They are depicted on sealings from Zakros and Knossos imprinted by the same or very similar ring (Evans 1982, Fig.498) (Fig. 5). A tripartite platform is shown on a seal in the BSA collection (Fig. 6) and on a sealing from Chania (Papapostolou 1977, 78-80, Pl. 42) (Fig. 7). Finally, the goddess on the fresco from Ayia Triada seems to have been seated on a wooden platform of a similar shape (Cameron 1987, Fig. 10).

The tripartite platform is found on the mainland as well, however. A sealing recently found in Thebes shows a goddess seated on a similar tripartite platform supported by incurved altars. She is flanked by griffins and genii. The similarities with the Xeste 3 fresco are obvious and need no comment. And yet direct influence can be excluded, since the Theran fresco had already been destroyed when the seal or ring from Thebes was manufactured. Crete must have been the source of this imagery for both Thera and the mainland.

To summarize: Firstly, the Theran fresco shows us that the inspiration for the painting was a real construction. The Knossos Throne Room painting and the four incurved altars found in corpore at Arkhanes support this view and further suggest a new function for the incurved altars as supports for a platform or a throne of the goddess.

Secondly, if the iconographical version of the platform on which the goddess is seated reflects a real construction, there is little doubt that the inspiration for the iconography is real performance, a ritual in which a high priestess impersonated the goddess. Note that the iconography does not reproduce the performance realistically, but blends cultic actuality with fantastic and symbolic elements. Thus, the goddess is shown in her supernatural sphere attended by a monkey and a griffin, but she is modeled and dressed as the high priestess.

Thirdly, the scheme, as well as the ritual behind it, must have originated in Crete. The iconography (although not necessarily the ritual) spreads not only to Thera but to the mainland as well.

It is thus reasonable to conclude that the Theran artists who painted the goddess on the fresco from Xeste 3 made use of a formula which they borrowed from a Minoan prototype. Yet this does not prove that the entire scene, showing the initiation ritual of the young girls collecting crocuses, is purely Minoan in character. On the contrary, it is a priori likely that the rite of passage itself had some indigenous features, which resisted influence by Minoan models. Syncretism is thus evident here also: the goddess (the most official level of the cult) is Minoan; the rite itself with all its social ramifications may have been local.

Another iconographical element which, I believe, was derived from Crete, and which can be shown to belong to the official level, is the 'ikrion', the cabin-ship from room 4 of the West House (most recently Morgan 1988, 137ff.). As is well known, there were some eight paintings of this object in room 4 (Fig. 8). There is little doubt that these frescoes have an emblematic character, definitely alluding to the cabins of the captains of the ships. In particular, they seem to mirror the cabin of the largest ship, since it is the only one with poles ending in lilies. One would have thought therefore that the iconography could well be Theran invention, based on the real objects. And yet this does not seem to be the case. Since M. Shaw reconstructed the fragments of the so-called curtain fresco at Mycenae as a similar set of cabins, it is obvious that the cabin was an emblem in Mycenaean official art as well (Fig. 9). A cabin may be depicted on an amygdaloid seal from Pylos (CMS I, 299). The scheme must therefore have been known among the Mycenaeans. The conclusion that there existed a Minoan prototype is inevitable: Thera was destroyed long before the Mycenaean versions were created. It is noteworthy that in the case of the Mycenae cabin frescoes, textile is used instead of ox-hide. The patterns on the former, however, are inspired from the marine world, thus alluding to the naval associations of the object (Fig. 8). Variation and local versions are by necessity introduced during the process of diffusion.

But can one pin-point these missing Minoan models? Frescoes with depictions of ships or cabins have not been preserved. However, L. Morgan has drawn attention to Minoan seals depicting ships on which the cabin is an important element, the emphasis being achieved by augmentation in size (Morgan 1988, 140-142, Fig 98, 99). An ultimate Egyptian derivation is likely, but this is not relevant to our discussion.

The influence of official Minoan religion on Thera can be demonstrated also in the use of iconographical formulas. The scheme of a goddess flanked or attended by griffins is well attested on Crete on seals and frescoes. Similarly, the formula monkey + crocuses has Minoan equivalents. I picked these particular examples because one can show that it is not the mere iconography which is transmitted, but its religious meaning as well.

A picture, however hazy, of how Minoan official religion penetrated Thera is thus beginning to emerge. The Theran upper classes adopted Minoan paraphernalia of the cult, they employed artists schooled in Minoan iconographical tradition, and they made use of those symbols which carried emblematic and ideological meaning. No doubt the adoption of Minoan iconography also had political connotations.

And yet the people of Thera must have carried on their age-long traditions of local fertility cults, practising their libations with their local nippled ewers.

Let us finish with some speculation about the Cycladic deities. Can we infer from the rapid adoption of the Minoan goddess of nature (Fig. 4) by the Akrotirians that there had already existed in the Cycladic pantheon a similar female deity whose main concern was fertility?

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