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In Mycenaean Greek and Minoan myth, the bee was an emblem of Potnia, also referred to as the "Pure Mother Bee". [22] Her priestesses received the name of Melissa , ("bee"). [ 23 ] According to the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry , the priestesses of Demeter were also called "Melissae", and Melissa was a name of Artemis. [ 21 ]
A few Cretan names are preserved in Greek mythology, but there is no way to connect a name with an existing Minoan icon such as the familiar serpent-goddess. However, Μ. Nilsson proposed that the origin of the Greek goddess Athena was the Minoan snake-goddess, citing that Athena was closely related with snakes. [43]
Many of the Greek deities are known from as early as Mycenaean (Late Bronze Age) civilization. This is an incomplete list of these deities [n 1] and of the way their names, epithets, or titles are spelled and attested in Mycenaean Greek, written in the Linear B [n 2] syllabary, along with some reconstructions and equivalent forms in later Greek.
Thematically, the presence of honey is significant, since it was important in Minoan culture. According to archive tablets found at Knossos, offerings of honey were made to the goddess Eleuthia. The kernos (offering table) in the temple at Malia was used to offer small amounts of grains and other farm produce, including honey, to the deity. [6]
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. This article includes a list of Greek mythological figures with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific Greek mythology article referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended Greek mythology article, if one exists.
Potnia is an Ancient Greek word for "Mistress, Lady" and a title of a goddess. The word was inherited by Classical Greek from Mycenean Greek with the same meaning and it was applied to several goddesses. A similar word is the title Despoina, "the mistress", which was given to the nameless chthonic goddess of the mysteries of Arcadian cult.
At some point, the Mycenaean civilization came in contact with the Minoans and identified their own god Zeus with the Cretan god. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] This religious syncretism led to Zeus obtaining some of Velchanos' traits, with his mythology also being affected; henceforth, Zeus was stated to have been born in Crete and was often represented as a ...
The Hebrew Bible records that the Philistines displayed the armour of the dead Israelite king Saul in their temple of "Ashteroth", due to her role as a goddess of war and as the consort of Baal. [5] [119] The inhabitants of the Philistine city-state of Ascalon worshipped ĘżAštart and identified her with the Greek goddess Aphrodite Urania. [107]