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Minoan religious influence in the Aegean: the case of Kythera1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2013

Y. Sakellarakis
Affiliation:
National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Abstract

This article presents conclusions drawn from the results of surface survey and excavation at Agios Georgios, Vouno (Kythera), the peak sanctuary of the nearby Minoan colony at Kastri. Small finds included a black steatite ladle inscribed in Linear A with a name reminiscent of ‘Demeter’, libation tables, some clay and numerous bronze figurines (both anthropomorphic and animal), jewellery, bronze votive offerings in the shape of human limbs, miniature clay horns of consecration, and a small bronze double axe. The pottery includes some MM I B–MM II but is richest in MM III–LM I/I B, particularly fine wares. The finds suggest that the importance of Kastri was greater than hitherto supposed, but they exhibit significant contrasts with assemblages at Cretan peak sanctuaries. The site's proximity to the metallurgical resources of Laconia, and its strategic location overlooking sea passages, are considered. It is suggested that cult activity here was dependent not on West Crete but on Knossos. Parallels are drawn with the sites of Troullos (Kea), Trianta (Ialysos, Rhodes), and Mikri Vigla (Naxos), and possible Minoan elements in later Laconian cult are noted.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1996

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14 For the import of Minoan stone vessels into Kythera see Kythera, pls 62, 69, 82–3; ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 109.

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25 J. A. Sakellarakis,῾Μινωϊϰό χάλινο εἰδώλιο σϰορπιού από τα Κύθηρα’ in Volume in Memory of yannis Papademetriou (forthcoming).

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35 Menschenfiguren, 11, 42, 44, 79. The 7 figurines in the Mitsotakis Collection may come from Kophinas: Μινωϊϰὸς ϰαὶ ἑλληνιϰὸς πολιτισμὸς ἀπὸ τῆν Συλλογὴ Μητσοτάϰη (Athens, 1992), 254–6, nos. 310–16.

36 Menschenfiguren, 9–97. Cf. Ibid. n. 34 for the figurines in the Mitsotakis Collection and n. 136 below for those from Trianta on Rhodes.

37 Menschenfiguren, 121–34.

38 Ibid., passim.

39 Ibid., no. 73, pl. 1 (Archanes, Fourni); no. 5, pl. 2 (HM 2629); no. 18., pl. 36 (HM 427); no. 28, pl. 36 (HM 439); no. 38, pl. 32 (HM 623); no. 44, pl. 5; no. 40, pl. 33; no. 45, pl. 33.

40 Ibid., no. 143, pl. 2. Cf. the clay male figurine from Piskokephalo, Menschenfiguren, pl. 40, no. 4. For a female bronze figurine with crossed hands see Menschenfiguren, no. 65, pl. 32.

41 Ibid., no. 119, pl. 4 (HM 756); no. 123, pl. 12 (HM 761).

42 Cf. the unpublished ‘bronze figurine from the loins down’ from Vrysinas, Menschenfiguren, 79, no. 137; also the bronze foot from the Psychro Cave, Ibid. 26, no. 29, pl. 3.

43 e.g. Petsofas, 92, nos. 6, 7, 11; 93, no. 12, pl. 43. 5–9; HM 3444, 3443, 3440.

44 e.g. Petsofas, 92, nos. 6, 11, pl. 43. 5–7.

45 e.g. Platon (n. 11), 109–10, pl. E1. 2, 9; Petsofas, 102–5, nos. 1–25, pls 24. 13; 41. 15–17; 44. 11; 45. 9–12, 16–17; 49. 14 (HM 3456, 3458, 3459, 3452, 4831, 3434, 3457, 3461); Jouchtas, : PAE (1974), 237Google Scholar; (1978), 256. Atsipades Korakias: Peatfield (n. 20), 74, fig. 22.

46 e.g. Petsofas, 102, nos. 2–4, pls 41. 15; 45. 9, 12 (HM 3558, 3452).

47 e.g. Platon (n. 11), 110, no. 2, 143, pl. Z2. 1, 145; Petsofas, 102, nos. 5–8, 22, pls 44. 11; 45. 16; 46. 6–7, 11 (HM 4831, 4834).

48 Petsofas, 101–2, nos. 1–12, pls 45. 1, 7, 8, 13–15; 46. 1–5, 12 (HM 3450, 3451, 3443, 3460).

49 Ibid. 101, nos. 4–5; 102, no. 10.

50 Ibid., pl. 45. 8, 14, 15 (HM 3447–8).

51 ‘Bronze cut-out in the shape of a human figure’ from the peak sanctuary at Petsofas (Amaltheia, 8 (1979), 200; A. Delt. 27 (1972), Chr. B2. 652) and a bronze cut-out bird from Jouchtas (PAE (1976), 415, pl. 230 j; Karetsou (n. 16), fig. 26). A bronze cut-out head with suspension hole from the cave of Phaneromeni must also be Minoan: HM 2967 (Marinatos, S., Ausgrabungen und Funde auf Kreta 1936–7’, AA (1937), 223Google Scholar; Lembesi, A., Το ιερό του Ερμή ϰαι της Αφροδίτης στη Σύμη Βιάννου, i: Χάλϰινα ϰρητιϰά τορεύματα (Athens, 1985), 51, C1, pl. 57).Google Scholar

These four examples, to which must now be added the cut-out section of the lower part of the male torso and the cut-out feet from Kythera mentioned above, indicate that the cut-out technique was not unknown in the Minoan period. Thus it is possible, despite the opposition raised by A. Lembesi, that two cut-outs from the Psychro Cave are Minoan and not Geometric. These are (1) in the shape of a human figure: HM 2002, Boardman, J., The Cretan Collection in Oxford (Oxford, 1961), 8, fig. 1Google Scholar; Lembesi, , Χάλϰινα ϰρητιϰά τορεύματα, 51–2, C2, pl. 57Google Scholar; and (2) in the shape of a female figure: Levi, D., ‘Arkades: una città cretese all'alba della civiltà ellenica’, ASA 10–12 (19271929), 30–1Google Scholar; Boardman, , The Cretan Collection, 48, pl. 16Google Scholar; Lembesi, , Χάλϰινα ϰρητιϰά τορεύματα, 52, C3, pl. 57).Google Scholar Concerning the first cut-out, Lembesi herself accepts that ‘it reflects the style of the Minoan tradition’, and for the second Boardman, The Cretan Collection, 48, notes that ‘the dress and elbows high seem Minoan’. For the pose of the Kytherean cut-out cf. the bronze female figurine in Menschenfiguren, no. 1, pl. 18 (HM 1417).

52 Cult Places, 85; Kophinas, , A. Delt. 17 (19611962)Google Scholar, Chr. B 288; Petsofas, : A. Delt. 27 (1972)Google Scholar, Chr. B2. 652; Modi: Ibid.; Vrysinas, : AAA 7 (1974) 211Google Scholar; Jouchtas, : PAE (1977), 420Google Scholar; Ergon (1988), 162. On similar finds from the Phaneromeni Cave see Marinatos (n. 51), 222.

53 Cf. gold finds from Jouchtas, : PAE (1977), 420, pl. 222 dGoogle Scholar; (1978), 238, 256. Cf. beads from Kophinas, : A. Delt. 17 (19611962), Chr. 288Google Scholar; and from Jouchtas, : PAE (1974), 237Google Scholar; (1977), 420; (1978), 258.

54 Petsofas, 116–18, pl. 51; Cult Places, 85, 88 n. 90; Jouchtas, : PAE (1974), 230, 236Google Scholar; (1978), 236, 247, 249, 256; (1980), 324.

55 Cult Places, 78; Vrysinas, : AAA 7 (1974), 211.Google Scholar

56 Cult Places, 79, 84, 96–8; Jouchtas, : PAE (1974) 232, pls 172, 173 aGoogle Scholar; Karetsou (n. 16), 146, fig. 14; Vrysinas, : AAA 7 (1974), 211.Google Scholar

57 Evans, , PM iv. 101Google Scholar; Poursat, J. C., Fouilles exécutées à Mallia, le quartier Mu, ii (Études Crétoises, 26; Paris, 1980), 120–2Google Scholar, nos. 172–4, figs. 170–4; Foster, K. P., Minoan Ceramic Relief (Göteborg, 1982).Google Scholar

58 For a fish figurine from a peak sanctuary see Davaras, C., Guide to Cretan Antiquities (Park Ridge, 1976)Google Scholar, fig. 55. For boat figurines at the peak sanctuary of Kophinas see Karetsou, A. and Rethemiotakis, G., A. Delt. 45 (1990)Google Scholar, Chr. (in press). On imitation of shells in various materials from peak sanctuaries see e.g. Platon (n. 11), 149; PAE (1975), 237; (1976), fig. 55; (1978), 247, 256. On the relationship between marine-style pottery and cult areas see Mountjoy, P. A., Ritual Association for LM I B Marine Style Vases (BCH suppl. 11; 1985), 231 ff.Google Scholar, and Sapouna-Sakellaraki, E., ‘Κεραμειϰή του θαλάσσιου ρυθμού από τις Αρχάνες ϰαι η πιθανή ύπαρζη τοπιϰού εργαστηρίου’, Kr. Chron. 28–9 (19881989), 48.Google Scholar

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60 AAA 7 (1974), 210; Peatfield (n. 20), 70. For incenseburners at Kastri see e.g. Kythera, pl. 24.

61 PAE (1974), 238, pl. 176 n; (1978), 249; Peatfield (n. 20), 70. For tripod cooking pots at Kastri cf. e.g. Kythera, 103, 114, 134, 144, 148, 187, 200, fig. 43.

62 e.g. RAE (1974), 238; (1978), 255, fig. 13. 6–7, pl. 167 b; (1980), 340, 349; Peatfield (n. 20), 71, fig. 15. For small jugs at Kastri see e.g. Kythera, pl. 51.

63 PAE (1974), 238; (1975), 334; (1978), 235, 236, 249; Cult Places, 94.

64 Cult Places, 85.

65 Kythera, 280–303.

66 Ibid. 309.

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68 Cult Places, 81. Most peak sanctuaries do not contain buildings: Peatfield (n. 10), 277.

69 Cult Places, 89–90; Petsofas, 112, pl. 50. 6–14.

70 Piskokephalo: Platon (n. 11), 126, pl. 2. 1, 136–9; Proph. Ilias at Malia: Platon, Ibid. 140.

71 Cf. Dickinson (n. 67), 269.

72 Peatfield (n. 20), 74, 75, fig. 23. Cf. Dickinson (n. 67), 269; Watrous (n. 67), fig. 24. Parts of a bronze and of a clay phallus came to light at Agios Georgios on Vouno.

73 Nilsson (n. 11), 65, 66, 73, 74 ff.; Platon (n. 11), 104, 150, 158; Dietrich, B. C., ‘Peak cults and their places in Minoan religion’, Historia, 18 (1969), 266.Google Scholar

74 Cult Places, 85, 87; Petsofas, pl. 47. 1–3, 6–7; pls 48, 49; Platon (n. 11), 109–12, pl. E2, abundant. Jouchtas, : PAE (1974), 236, a very great numberGoogle Scholar; (1975), 339; (1976), 414; (1977), 420; (1978), 236, 247, 249, 256. Vrysinas, : A. Delt. 28 (1973)Google Scholar, Chr. B2. 584; AAA 7 (1974), 210–11.

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77 A. Peatfield, ‘Minoan peak sanctuaries: history and society’. Op. Ath. 18 (1990), 117, 122. Cf. Dickinson (n. 67), 267.

78 Peak sanctuary at Atsipades Korakias: Peatfield (n. 20), 79; Marinatos, N., ‘The West House at Akrotiri as a cult center’, AM 98 (1983), 16Google Scholar; ead., ‘Minoan threskeiocracy on Thera’, in Thalassocracy, 158.

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80 Kythera, 207, 209, 217, figs. 59, 60, pls 59, 60. On the related loom-weights from Ag. Irini on Kea see J. L. Davis, ‘Cultural innovation and the Minoan thalassocracy at Ayia Irini’, in Thalassocracy, 161, fig. 2. See below, n. 129, for the loom-weight from Ialysos.

81 Animal husbandry does not seem to have been extensive on Kythera, even in later periods where information exists. In the 17th cent. travellers found sheep they wanted to buy intolerably expensive: Petrocheilos, M. K., Εντυπώσεις απο τα Κύθηρα (Κυθηριαϰὴ βιβλιοθήϰη, 4; Athens, 1979), 9, 11–12, 16–17.Google Scholar From 1728 to 1733 the wealthy families on Kythera owned 16,540 sheep, on an island of about five thousand inhabitants: Ch. Maltezou, Cythère: société et économie pendant la période de la domination vénitienne (Balkan Studies, 21; 1980). The older inhabitants of the island do not remember animal husbandry on the island on a large scale, beyond what was necessary for immediate family needs.

82 On the interpretation of votive human limbs at peak sanctuaries see Platon (n. 11), 120–1, 153; Cult Places, 88; Peatfield (n. 10), 276. For an opposite view see Nilsson (n. 11), 74–5.

83 Cf. Kythera, 309: ‘The silver cups would seem to belong rather to Minoan palatial society, than to colonials engaged in agriculture, fishing and the murex industry.’ Cf. Huxley, G. L., ‘Kythera and the Minoan maritime economy’, in Atti del Convegno Internazionale ‘Momenti Precoloniali nel Mediterraneo Antico’ (Rome, 1988), 6571.Google Scholar

84 Aristotle, fr. 521 Rose.

85 Kythera, 36–7, pl. 3 c; GAC 121: ‘Its prosperity may well have been founded on the extraction of purple dye from the murex shell’; ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 108; cf. S. Morris, ‘Minoans of Kythera’, III; Rutter and Zerner (n. 6), 76; Huxley (n. 83), 67. For finds of murex shell from neighbouring Pavlopetri see Harding, A., Cadogan, G., and Howell, R., ‘Pavlopetri: an underwater bronze age town in Laconia’, BSA 64 (1969), 139.Google Scholar On murex shell see most recently Stieglitz, P. R., ‘The Minoan origin of Tyrian purple’, Biblical Archaeologist, 57 (1994), 4654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

86 Stos-Gale and Gale (n. 6), 61, fig. 5, 63; Rutter and Zerner (n. 6), 79; Rutter, in Thalssocracy, 113.Google Scholar Cf. S. Morris, during discussion, ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 111; Huxley (n. 83), 67: ‘That the Minoans of Kythera possessed substantial and costly objects of bronze is to be inferred from the local imitations of bronze vessels.’ For an opposite view see Philippson, J., in Thalassocracy, 112Google Scholar; Dickinson, O. in Sanders, J. M. (ed.), Φιλολάϰων: Laconian Studies in Honour of Hector Catling (London, 1992) 111Google Scholar: ‘it remains to be seen whether the reported metal sources were exploited’.

87 Kiskyras, D., ‘The mineral wealth of the Peloponnese’, Πελοποννησιαϰὴ πρωτοχρονιά (1957), 121, 123, 127Google Scholar; Skarpelis, N., Metallogenesis of Compact Sulphide Ores and the Petrology of the Outer Metamorphotic Tectonic Plates of the SE Peloponnese (Athens, 1982), 43–4Google Scholar, 122–3, 132; Bassiakos, Y., ‘Ancient metallurgy in Laconia’, in Jones, R. E. and Catling, H. W. (eds), New Aspects of Archaeological Science in Greece (Athens, 1988), 55–6Google Scholar; Kiskyras, D., ‘The mineral wealth of the Mani and Laconia in general’, Lak. Spoud. 9 (1988), 117–32.Google Scholar My thanks to Aim. Banou for permission to consult her unpublished dissertation, at the University of Freiburg, ‘Beitrag zum Studium Lakoniens in der mykenischen Zeit’.

88 Kythera, 206, Iota 23, pls 59–60.

89 For clay vessels imitating metal prototypes see ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 109. For the possible existence on Kythera of metal prototypes of the Keftiu cup type, because of its dissemination in clay in the Peloponnesian pottery repertoire, see Schachermeyr, F., Die mykenische Zeit (Vienna, 1976), 222–8Google Scholar; ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 109.

90 ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 109.

91 Evans, PM iii. 269, fig. 181; Morris, S. P., ‘Lakonian marble in the Bronze Age’, AJA 86 (1982), 278.Google Scholar See P. Warren, ‘Lapis Lacedaemonius’, in Sanders (n. 86), 290–2, fig. 79; Huxley (n. 83), 66; O. Dickinson, ‘Reflections in bronze age Laconia’, in Sanders (n. 86), III: ‘Lapis lacedaemonius may not yet have been in demand in Crete (and was never extensively used).’

92 Waterhouse and Hope Simpson (n. 3), 119–21; Warren (n. 15), 126. See Stos-Gale and Gale (n. 6), 61, and S. Morris and P. Warren in discussion, ‘Minoans of Kythera’, III; also Cooper, A., ‘A source of ancient marble in the southern Peloponnesos’, AJA 85 (1981), 190–1.Google Scholar

93 It has even been hypothesized that another factor may explain the Minoan colony on Kythera: fishing. See Rutter and Zerner (n. 6), 76; cf. J. B. Rutter, R. Hägg, and S. Morris in discussion, ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 111.

94 e.g. Jouchtas, following the oral communication of its excavator, A. Karetsou.

95 Dickinson (n. 67), 269: ‘Homogeneity may partly reflect what excavators chose to report.’

96 At my request, the Institute of Underwater Archaeology undertook an underwater archaeological reconnaissance survey along the E coast of Kythera, more specifically in the area from Cape Mothonaeos up to Cape Souroumi, including the barren islands of Dragonera and Antidragonera. The leaders of the team were D. Kourkoumelis, archaeologist-diver, and N. Tsouchlos, photographer-diver. Of interest were me nine largestone pyramidal anchors found off the barren island of Antidragonera. These were located in a small gulf to the N, close to the NE headland, and all were found together at a distance of about 50–70 m from the coast. See Kourkoumelis, D., ‘Αναγνωριστιϰή υποβρύχια έρευνα ςτην θαλάσσια περιοχή Αυλαίμονα–Κυθήρων, περιόδου 1993’, Ενάλια, 4 (1992), 611.Google Scholar In 1995 a hellenistic shipwreck was located with vases and lamps. The anchors belonged to this wreck. Furthermore, Kyrou found an obsidian arrowhead on Antidragonera.

97 See K. Branigan and P. Warren in discussion, ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 111. For an opposite view see O. Dickinson, Ibid.

98 Evans, , PM i. 4Google Scholar: ‘Juktas presents a good landmark for many miles out to sea.’

99 Platon (n. 11), 140 n. 106, 141–2; Morgan, Miniature Wall Paintings (n. 76), 157.

100 Caskey, J. L., ‘Investigations in Keos’, Hesp. 40 (1971), 392, 395.Google Scholar

101 Helck, W., in Schäfer, J., Ammsos (Berlin, 1993), 12, 16, fig. 1.Google Scholar

102 Tsountas, Ch. and Manatt, J., The Mycenaen Age (Boston and New York, 1897), 277Google Scholar; Evans, A., ‘Further discoveries of Cretan and Aegean script’, JHS 17 (1897), 349–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sethe, K., ‘Ein ägyptisches Denkmal des alten Reichs von der Insel Kythera mit dem Namen des Königs Userkef’, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, 53 (1917), 5580CrossRefGoogle Scholar, fig. 1 ; Mylonas, G. E., Archaeology, 1 (1948), 211, fig. 1 cGoogle Scholar; Smith, W. Stevenson, Interconnections in the Ancient Near East (Yale, 1965), 89Google Scholar, fig. 10; Kythera, 266, P1, pl. 86; ‘The Minoans of Kythera’, 107.

103 Leake, W. M., ‘some remarks on the island Cerigo, anciently Cythera’, Trans. of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom, 2.4 (1853), 258.Google Scholar The text has been repeatedly discussed over the years: cf.Winckler, H. ap. Kohler, U., Über Probleme der griechischen Vorzeit (Sitzungsberichte der Königlichen Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften; Berlin, 1897), 262–5Google Scholar; Thomas, H., ‘An inscription from Kythera’, JHS 58 (1938), 256CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weidner, E., ‘The inscription from Kythera’, JHS 59 (1939), 137–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Unger, E., Tilmun' Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte, 13 (1939), 313 and fig. 58 A bGoogle Scholar; Weidner, E., ‘Könige von Esnunna, Mari, Jamhad in altbabylonischen Siegelzylinderlegenden’, Jahrbuch für kleinasiatische Forschung, 2 (1952), 131–2Google Scholar; Jacobsen, T. ap. Frankfort, H., The Gimilsin Temple and the Palace of the Rulers at Tell Asmar (OIP 43; Chicago, 1940), 139Google Scholar; Nougayrol, J., ‘Notes épigraphiques’, Syria, 39 (1962), 190CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yakar, J., ‘Cythera and the ancient East’, Anatolica, 4 (19711972), 135Google Scholar; Butz, K., ‘Zwei kleine Inschriften zur Geschichte Dilmuns’, Berliner Beträge zum vorderen Orient, 2: 119–20Google Scholar; Potts, D.T., The Arabian Gulfin Antiquity, i (Oxford, 1990), 225.Google Scholar I thank M. Rice for the bibliographical references.

104 On the strategic location of Kythera in later periods see Oeconomides, N., ‘Ο βίος του Αγίου Θεοδώρου Κυθήρων’, Πραϰτιϰά Γ′ Διεθνούς Πανιωνίου Συνεδρίου (Athens, 1967), 272.Google Scholar

105 Rutkowski (n. 76), 167–8; Cult Places, 95; Peatfield, A., ‘Palace and peak: the political and religious relationship’, in Marinatos, N. and Hägg, R. (eds), The Function of the Minoan Palaces (Göteborg, 1987), 8993.Google Scholarid., in Thalassocracy, 166. Cf. Dickinson (n. 66), 275; id. (n. 77), 126, 127. See recendy Peatfield (n. 20), 61.

106 Evans, , PM iii. 463Google Scholar, fig. 323.

107 Cf. Menschenfiguren, pl. 38 a. For an opposite view see Coldstream, J. N., ‘Kythera and the southern Peloponnese in the LM I period’, in Thera and the Aegean World (London, 1978), i. 389–401Google Scholar; Huxley (n. 83), 68.

108 Kythera, 308.

109 Zerner, W., The Beginnings of the Middle Helladic Period at Lerna (Cincinnati, 1978) (University Microfilm 79–04772)Google Scholar; Rutter and Zerner (n. 6), 79.

110 Matsas, D., ‘samothrace and the northeastern Aegean: the Minoan connection’, Studia Troica, 1 (1991), 159–79Google Scholar; id., CMS v, suppl. vol. IB, nos. 320–8; id., ‘Minoan long-distance trade: a view from the northern Aegean’, Aegeum, 12 (1995), 235–47.

111 Cf. Sakellarakis, E.-Y., ‘The Keftiu and the Minoan thalassocracy’, in Thalassocracy, 197203.Google Scholar

112 ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 108.

113 Caskey (n. 100), 392–4; A. Delt. 22 (1967), Chr. B2. 476–9.

114 A. Delt. 22 (1967), Chr. B2. 476–9, Chr. B2. 476–9, fig. 1. 23; Ibid. 23 (1968), Chr. B2. 389, fig. 1; Caskey, J. L., ‘Excavations in Keos’, Hesp. 35 (1966), 376Google Scholar: ‘It commands a free view of the whole channel from Sounion to Southern Euboea and it is in clear sight and signalling distance from Ayia Irini.’

115 Hood (n. 6), 34; Peatfield (n. 10), 273 n. 1, which he associates with the Maleatas shrine at Epidauros (see below, n. 187) as a ‘hill shrine’. He considers that ‘they don't reflect the same cult system as the Minoan peak sanctuaries’; Morgan, L., ‘Theme in the West House paintings at Thera’, Arch. Eph. (1983) 89Google Scholar, n. 1. See the discussion of the communication by Davis, J. L., ‘Cultural innovation and the Minoan thalassocracy at Agia Irini’, in Thalassocracy, 164–6Google Scholar, and the suspicions expressed by J. L. Davis, R. Hägg, and G. Cadogan that there might exist a peak sanctuary on Troullos. See also Morgan (n. 99), 156 and n. 5; Dickinson (n. 67), 282. Rutkowski, , Cult Places, 211Google Scholar, classes Troullos with the ‘high places and sacred enclosures’ in his catalogue. The verbally expressed objection of A. Peatfield, referred to by Davis in Thalassocracy, 164 n. 23, that Troullos is extremely close to Agia Irini, does not appear to pose a problem.

116 Caskey (n. 100), fig. 13.

117 Ibid. 394. On the conical cups cf. Wiener (n. 6), 19 n. 20.

118 Caskey (n. 100), 394, pl. 84 a–c; Warren (n. 15), 49.

119 Caskey (n. 100), 394, pl. 84 d (drawing by M. R. Popham).

120 Ibid. 394, pl. 84 e.

121 Ibid., first left.

122 AR (1973), fig. 47; Caskey, J. L., ‘Notes on Keos and Tzia’, Hesp. 50 (1981), 323CrossRefGoogle Scholar, pl. 78 i, j; Menschenfiguren 86–7, pl. 18, 148.

123 Monaco, G., ‘Scavi nella zona micenea di Ialysos, 1935–6’, Clara Rhodos (Rhodes, 10; 1941), 41, 183Google Scholar; A. Furumark, ‘The settlement at Ialysos and Aegean history c. 1550–1400 B.C’, Op. Arch. 6 (1950), 150–271. Papazoglou-Manioudaki, L., ‘Μινωϊϰός οιϰισμός ςτα Τριάντα της Ρόδου’, A. Delt. 37 (1982), Mel. 181.Google Scholar

124 Benzi (n. 6), 93–104; cf. Coldstream, J. N., ‘The Phoenicians of Ialysos’, BICS 16 (1969), 1 n. 6.Google Scholar

125 Benzi (n. 6), 100.

126 Simpson, R. Hope and Lazenby, J. F., ‘Notes from Dodekanese, III’, BSA 68 (1973), 137.Google Scholar

127 Ibid., adding: ‘On account of its height and its extent the hill would perhaps be an unusual choice for a normal habitation site.’ Papazoglou-Manioudaki (n. 123), 182, believes that the Minoans occupied Philerimos ‘for security reasons’.

128 Benzi (n. 6), 96, 97, 102, no. 2, figs. 4, 5, 8.

129 Ibid., 96, 97, 103, no. 12, fig. 15.

130 Ibid., 100, 104, no. 16, figs. 17–19.

131 The presence of two sword pommels (Ibid. 100, 104, nos. 1–2, figs. 31–2) may be the result of a votive offering of weapons, as is the case with votive weapons on the Minoan peak sanctuaries (see above). The bronze mirror (Ibid. 100, 104, no. 23, fig. 33), being of a later date, may be ‘a chance find’, as Benzi thinks.

132 For recent Minoan finds on Philerimos at the Prof. Ilias site, including conical cups, see A. Delt. 42 (1987), Chr. B2. 615–16, and T. Marketou, in Dietz, S. (ed.), Archaeology in the Dodecanese (Copenhagen, 1988), 27–8.Google Scholar

133 Papazoglou-Manioudaki (n. 123), pl. 49 a, taken from Philerimos.

134 Hope Simpson and Lasenby (n. 126); Benzi (n. 6), 100.

135 Ancient Rhodes: 2,400 Years (Athens, 1993), 13. Four bronze figurines ‘of the type of a Minoan adorant’ from Trianta and Kalamonas displayed in case 5a of gallery 1 in the exhibition.

136 See Benzi (n. 6), 100, for the chronological association of the sites of Philerimos and Trianta, which he thinks should not be ruled out. Prof. Benzi wrote me the following on 5 Feb. 1995: ‘As to the MM settlement on the Acropolis at Ialysos, when writing my paper I took into account the possibility that this was the site of a peak sanctuary yet later I discarded it for two main reasons.

The first is the lack of cultic (admittedly with the exception of the stone offering table) and votive objects commonly found at such sites and the domestic undistinguished character of the pottery. The second is that further traces of MM occupation have been found on the nearby hill of Prophitis Ilias (T. Marketou's paper in Archaeology in the Dodekanese) and at other sites in the Ialysos area. That led me to the conclusion (however not clearly stated in my paper) that the MBA occupation in this area was kata komas and that the settlement on the Philerimos was just a small village or a farmstead (yet, perhaps, the stone vessels don't fit this explanation). The choice of such an elevated site for a Minoan settlement is no doubt an unusual one. It could be explained by security reasons (admittedly the explanation facilior, but not an implausible one at such an early stage) or by the fact that in MM times the Trianta plain was marshy and unhealthy (but a layer predating LM I A has been found by T. Marketou at Trianda) and that environmental conditions improved later (to my knowledge the paleogeology of the area has not yet been investigated). None of my arguments is conclusive especially in view of the fact that the site has been so much spoiled by later occupation.’

137 Barber, R. L. N. and Hadjianastasiou, O., ‘Mikre Vigla: a Bronze Age settlement on Naxos’, BSA 84 (1989), 63162.Google Scholar

138 Ibid. 114–32, figs. 25–32, pls 25–9.

139 Ibid. 107–8.

140 Ibid. 114, 129, 141.

141 Coleman, J. E., Keos I: Kephala, a Late Neolithic Settlement and Cemetery (Princeton, 1977), 105–6, pls 26, 71, 73Google Scholar; Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 129.

142 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 115, 125, 129. Cf. Dickinson (n. 67), 262.

143 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 129–30.

144 Schachermeyr, F., ‘Akrotiri: first maritime republic?’, Thera and the Aegean World, i (Papers Presented at the Second International Scientific Congress, Santorini, 1978) (London, 1978), 423–8Google Scholar; Doumas, C., in Thalassocracy, 139Google Scholar: ‘Thera was independent.’

145 Cf. the thoughts expressed by S. Hood, ‘Cretans in Laconia?’, in Sanders (n. 86), 135: ‘some of those who have attacked the views of Evans about Cretan domination over parts of the Greek mainland during the Bronze Age have dismissed them as reflecting British imperialist sentiment of the Victorian era. There may be an element of truth in this claim, but such critics often tend to forget that their own views must similarly reflect the atmosphere of their time. Evans and his contemporaries were probably in fact rather better placed to make reasonably objective judgements about what happened in early times, since they were in general well grounded in a knowledge of the Old Testament and of ancient Greek and Roman history, which gave them some basis for looking at the past in depth and from viewpoints that differed from those of their own age.

‘At the moment, and in the more relaxed political atmosphere of the present, the whole question of Cretan expansion during the Bronze Age into the islands of the Aegean and to the coasts of the mainland bounding it on the west and east in modern Greece and Turkey is under review.’

146 For example, see recently Doumas, C., The Wall Paintings of Thera (London, 1992)Google Scholar, where even a simple reference to Crete is avoided in the text (though not in the preface by P. Warren, 12–13). Even the otherwise rich bibliography omits various articles such as that by E. Sapouna-Sakellaraki on the relationship between the Thera wall-paintings and Crete.

147 Apart from the figurines from Petsofas (Petsofas, pls 3–46), very few have been published: Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 79); Pilali-Papasteriou (n. 21). The large number of figurines from the peak sanctuary at Jouchtas (A. Karetsou) and especially the numerous examples from the peak sanctuaries excavated by K. Davaras (Vrysinas, Traostalos, Kophinas, etc.) remain unpublished; in themselves they could provide the material for a number of doctoral theses.

148 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 114–15.

149 Ibid. 121, fig. 28, pl. 26. Cf. Petsofas, 91, pls 33, 42; Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 79), pl. 12 a.

150 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 116, 130.

151 Ibid., 115, 125, no. 552, fig. 31, pl. 27.

152 Of the published examples see Petsofas, pls 3. 5, 4. 3, 14. 3, 18. 9; Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 79), pl. 10 c; Pilali-Papasteriou (n. 21), nos. 18, 47.

153 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 116, nos. 510, 512, 514–16, figs. 25–6, pl. 25.

154 Getz-Preziosi, , ‘The “hunter-warrior” figure in Early Cycladic marble sculpture’, in Davis, J. L. and Cherry, J. E., (eds), Papers in Cycladic Prehistory (Los Angeles, 1979), 8796.Google Scholar

155 Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 79), 15, no. 22, fig. 2, pl. 11, 19, no. 38, fig. 3, 23, no. 48, fig. 4; Petsofas, pl. 16. 3–4.

156 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 116.

157 Ibid. 129.

158 Pilali-Papasteriou (n. 21), nos. 21, 27–8, 34, 37, 41–2, 46, 48.

159 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 119, no. 517, fig. 26, pl. 25.

160 Getz-Preziosi (n. 154), 89, fig. 1 a, b.

161 Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 79), 123–5.

162 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 116, no. 518; cf. Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 79), 131 ff.

163 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 116, no. 510, fig. 25, pl. 25, and nos. 510–11, 130.

164 Ibid. 128, nos. 571–6, fig. 32, pl. 29.

165 Ibid. 115.

166 Ibid. 115, 125–8, nos. 563–5, 130, fig. 32, pl. 28.

167 The figurine of a ‘kourotrophos’ (Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 115–16, no. 520, fig. 27, pl. 25) is not taken into account here since the object is so poorly preserved that it could represent anything.

168 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 115, 129.

169 The fragments from a ‘fenestrated stand of Minoan type’ (Ibid. 106, nos. 380–2, fig. 21, pl. 21 b) are not clearly comparable to the Minoan parallels given for them (Evans, PM ii, figs. 67, 70 bis).

170 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), passim, esp. 107–9.

171 Ibid. 92, nos. 214–23, fig. 14.

172 Ibid., 103, nos. 367–8, fig. 20, pl. 20 c–d.

173 Ibid. 106, nos. 393–7, pl. 22 a–b.

174 Ibid. 102, nos. 355–9, fig. 19.

175 Ibid. 134–5, nos. 593–8, pl. 30 d–e.

176 I. A. Morrison in Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 146.

177 ‘shrine’: Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 131, 140; Morrison (n. 176), 146, 149.

178 Barber and Hadjianastasiou (n. 137), 140.

179 Ibid. 132.

180 Ibid. 71 ff., 140.

181 Morrison (n. 176), 141, 143–4.

182 Cult Places, 73 ff., 98. Although not all the topographical criteria defined by Peatfield are met by Mikra Vigla, all his criteria regarding the finds are fulfilled, especially in the case of the votive limbs (Peatfield (n. 77), 120).

183 On the absence of a settlement further down see Morrison (n. 176), 146.

184 Hadjianastasiou, O., ‘some hints of Naxian external connections in the earlier Late Bronze Age’, BSA 84 (1989), 205–15.Google Scholar

185 Morgan (n. 99), 156.

186 See Marinatos, S., Thera, ii (Athens, 1969), 35Google Scholar; Sperling, J. W., Thera and Therasia (Athens, 1973), 24, no. 75Google Scholar; Barber, R. L. N., ‘The Late Cycladic period: a review’, BSA 76 (1981), 20, no. 50Google Scholar; Doumas, Ch., Thera: Pompei of the Ancient Aegean (London, 1983), 55–6Google Scholar, fig. 2, where the location is compared to the landscape on the miniature wall-painting and is identified as a lookout post (see above, n. 114). Doumas does not rule out the existence of a peak sanctuary on Mavro Rachidi (personal communication, 7 Feb. 1994).

187 Bintliff (n. 76), 151–4. On the sanctuary on the peak of Parnes see Mastrokostas, E., ‘Αλάβαστρα του 700 π.Χ. εϰ της ανασϰαφής του βωμού του Διός επι της ϰορυφής της Πάρνηθος’, Annuario, 61.3 (NS 45) (1983), 339–44.Google Scholar

I do not think that the shrine of Maleatas on Kynortion, Mt. at Epidauros (PAE (1948), 90111Google Scholar; (1949), 91–9; (1950), 194–202; (1951), 204–12; (1974), 96; (1975), 167–71; (1976), 202–7; (1977), 187–91; (1978), 119; (1979), 127; (1981), 158–60; Lambrinoudakis, V., ‘Remains of the Mycenaean period in the sanctuary of Apollon Maleatas’, in Sanctuaries and Cults, 59–65; PAE (1983), 152–6Google Scholar; (1987), 53–8; (1988), 21–2) corresponds to a Minoan peak sanctuary, as the excavator believes (Lambrinoudakis, 59 n. 5, 62 n. 17) along with other scholars (Cult Places, 260 n. 2; Bintliff (n. 76), 152; Kilian, K., ‘Mykenische Heiligtümer der Peloponnes’, in Kotinos: Festschrift für Erika Simon (Mainz, 1992), 11).Google Scholar Peatfield (n. 10), 273, regards this as possible, even though (Ibid. n. 1) he thinks it is a ‘hill shrine’ and states that, as with Troullos on Kea, the remains ‘do not reflect the same cult system as the Minoan peak sanctuaries’. P. Warren, in a related discussion in Sanctuaries and Cults, 63, sees no difference between the shrine at Maleatas and a Minoan peak sanctuary, which he finds ‘astonishingly similar’. Perhaps these scholars have not visited the site and, owing to the unclear nature of the excavation report, have overlooked the fact that the Maleatas shrine was not founded on the peak but on a slope. Even in 1977–8 (PAE (1977), 193–4; (1978), 111–13, fig. 1), before the association of the site with a Minoan peak sanctuary, traces of a prehistoric settlement were found on the mountain peak above the shrine (PAE (1977), 193–4; (1978), 111–13, fig. 1), and these were carefully recorded in association with the shrine only in 1987 (PAE (1987), 56, fig. 2). Cf. the objections made by Dickinson (n. 67), 282–3, who notes that ‘characteristics of peak sanctuaries are lacking’. Any identification of the Maleatas shrine with the thoroughly established type of Cretan peak sanctuary should thus be ruled out.

Hägg (n. 6), 120–1, has shown, I think clearly, that the Maleatas shrine is a Mycenaean shrine, since typical characteristics of Minoan peak sanctuaries are completely missing. Even the Minoan finds which Hägg accepts—the seals—are not all Minoan but Mycenaean as well (Sakellarakis, J. A., ‘Kretisch-mykenische Siegel in griechischen Heiligtümern’, in Jantzen, U., Neue Forschungen in griechishen Heiligtümern (Tübingen, 1976), 292, nos. 30–1, figs. 31–3Google Scholar; CMS 1, suppl. no. 32; CMS 5.1, nos. 221–2; CMS 5, suppl. 1A, nos. 336–9; cf. Pini, I., ‘Minoische Siegel außerhalb Kretas’, in Thalassocracy, 123–30Google Scholar, who considers them Mycenaean (Ibid. 126 n. 31), including even the talismanic seal from the Maleatas sanctuary). Perhaps one should await the publication of the shrine to see ‘some sherds of Minoan pottery’ (Hägg (n. 6), 21) along with plain conical cups that are mentioned (Wiener (n. 6), 21 n. 40). The presence alone, however, of so many bronze votive double axes can leave no doubt as to Minoan influence (Hägg (n. 6), 121; Lambrinoudakis (above), 62).

188 Morgan, ‘Theme in the West House painting’ (n. 76), 89: ‘hill top ceremonies may have occurred outside Crete without the use of permanent, or indeed, any, cultic accoutrements’. Morgan (n. 99), 156: ‘There is indeed no reason why high places should not have been revered and sanctified by the inhabitants of the smaller islands or of the mainland in the period under review, particularly at those sites which felt Minoan influence. It may be that their identification has proved elusive because the nature of the cultic remains differed from those of Crete and were perhaps impermanent or even that the place was considered sacred without the need for cultic paraphernalia … It may be that in time more conclusive evidence will appear for the use of hill tops as cult places within the Cyclades.’

189 Melas, E. K., The Islands of Karpathos, Saros and Kasos in the Neolithic and Bronze Age (Göteborg, 1985).Google Scholar Melas (personal communication, 19 Oct. 1995) suggests the existence of peak sanctuaries at the sites of Leftoporos in the sw part of Karpathos (op. cit. 36–7, E35) and Vouno (op. cit. 31–2, D18) in the SE part, sites with visibility and general prominence where, according to Melas, sherds of plain conical cups have come to light.

190 Sampson, A., ‘Μινωϊϰά απο την Τήλο’, AAA 13 (1980), 6873.Google Scholar

191 Cf. Barber, R. L. N., ‘The status of Phylakopi in Creto-Cycladic relations’, in Thalassocracy, 179–82.Google Scholar

192 Niemeier (n. 6), 206.

193 See recently Sciering, W., ‘The connections between the oldest settlement of Miletus and Crete’, in Thalassocracy, 187–9Google Scholar; also the most recent research of W. Niemeier.

194 Cf. Laviosa, C., ‘The Minoan thalassocracy: lasos and the Carian coast’, in Thalassocracy, 183–5.Google Scholar

195 See the observations by Marinatos (n. 78) on the iconography and contents of the Thera wall-paintings.

196 Rutkowski, B., ‘Kykladen und Kreta: Bemerkungen über die bronzezeitliche Religion’, AAA 9 (1976), 233, fig 2Google Scholar; Warren, P., ‘The miniature fresco from the West House at Akrotiri, Thera and its Aegean setting’, JHS 99 (1979), 125CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gesell, G. C., ‘The town fresco of Thera’, in Fourth Cretological Congress (Athens, 1980), 198–9Google Scholar; Iakovides, S., ‘A peak sanctuary in bronze age Thera’, in Biran, A. (ed.), Temple and High Places in Biblical Times (Jerusalem, 1981), 57–8Google Scholar; Morgan, (n. 188), 88; Platon (n. 6), 67; recently, Morgan (n. 99), 156 ff. pl. 1; Immerwahr, S. A., Aegean Painting in the Bronze Age (London, 1990), 71.Google Scholar See Ch. Doumas (n. 186), 85, and id. (n. 146), 47, pls 26–7, where discussion of the subject is avoided and the first general view of S. Marinatos is repeated. See recently Televantou, Ch., Οι τοιχογραφίες της Δυτιϰής Οιϰίας (Athens, 1994), 63–4, figs. 25–7, pls 26–7.Google Scholar

197 Immerwahr (n. 196), 209 n. 12, from room 6 of building B with the monkeys and the wild goats; Doumas (n. 146), pls 85–91. Cf. the reconstruction by Marinatos, N., Art and Religion in Thera (Athens, 1984)Google Scholar, fig. 83, along with Minoan wall-paintings from Agia Triada and the House of the Frescos at Knossos (Ibid. 49, 61, 180).

198 Cf. recently Dickinson (n. 67), 282.

199 On Minoan influence as indicated by the presence of the bronze double-axes at the shrine of Maleatas at Epidauros see n. 187; cf. the observations by Dickinson, O. in Thalassocracy, 116.Google Scholar

200 On Minoan influence in Laconia and Messenia see Catling, H., AR 22 (19761977), 28Google Scholar: ‘The new evidence from Laconia suggests that the development of the region at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age cannot be separated from the expansionist moves from Crete, seen most easily in Kythera, which find expression, too, in events at Nichoria and Ayios Stephanos’; Huxley (n. 83), 69–70. See recently S. Hood, in Sanders (n. 86), 135–9; also Rutter and Zerner (n. 6), 77.

201 Nilsson (n. 11), 455–8, 470; Mellink, M., Hyakinthos (Utrecht, 1943), 142–4.Google ScholarWilletts, R. F., Cretan Cults and Festivals (London, 1962), 222–3.Google Scholar

202 Nilsson (n. 201), 528 ff., 532.

203 Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 9), 137–43.

204 See the bronze figurine from Enkomi: Dikaios, P., ‘The bronze statue of a horned god from Enkomi’, AA (1962), 140Google Scholar; Marinatos, S., ‘Ο «ϰεραιάτης» της Έγϰωμης’, A. Delt. 18 (1963), 95–8Google Scholar; Dikaios, P., Enkomi (Mainz, 1969), iiiA, pls 140–1Google Scholar; Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 9), 142.

205 Tsountas, Ch., ‘Τάφος ϑολωτὸς ἐν Κάμπῳ’, Arch. Eph. (1891), 189–91Google Scholar; Marinatos, S. and Hirmer, M., Κρήτη ϰαι Μυϰηναϊϰή Ελλάς (Athens, 1959), figs. 224–5Google Scholar; Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 9), 138 ff., figs. 6–7. Cf. ‘The Minoans of Kythera’, 110.

206 Harding, Cadogan, and Howell (n. 85), 138, no. 7,pl. 33 m; Menschenfiguren, 85, no. 146, pl. 1. 146.

207 Vermeule, E., Boston University Journal (1961), 119Google Scholar; Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 9), 138.

208 Sapouna-Sakellaraki (n. 9), 142–3, figs. 1–3.

209 ‘Minoans of Kythera’, 110.

210 For example, from 1313 to 1450, with the ban on the ordination of Orthodox priests in Crete, the bishopric of Kythera became especially important to the Cretans since most of the novices went to Kythera to be ordained. The chronicle of Cheilas relates that during the first half of the 15th cent, the upkeep of the monastery of St Theodore on Kythera was undertaken by a protopapas called Notaras (Hopf, Ch., Chroniques gréco-romaines (Berlin, 1873Google Scholar; repr. Athens, 1961), 346–7; Maltezou, Ch., ‘The Chronicle of Cheilas: social and ideological problems on Kythera in the 15th cent.’, Σύμμειϰτα, 8 (1989), 16 nn. 2, 3).Google Scholar The title protopapas is very important since it denotes the upper ecclesiastical official in the Ionian islands and Crete, where the Orthodox episcopal sees had been abolished and ecclesiastical administration passed into the hands of the protopapas, whose authority was equal to that of a bishop, with the exception of the right to ordain. The presence of a protopapas on Kythera, who from his title must have been Cretan, bears witness to the level and the frequency of ecclesiastical relations between Crete and Kythera (Maltezou, op. cit. 23–5).

211 Father Georgios Adikimenakis, from Listaro in Messara.