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List of Mycenaean deities
List of Greek deities from the Mycenaean civilization From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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.
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Deities
Pantheon
Gods
Goddesses
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Heroes, mortals and other entities or concepts
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Linear B and Mycenaean civilization.
For a list of words relating to Mycenaean Greek and Linear B, see the Mycenaean Greek language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Notes
- This list includes deities which in later Greek times and sources were thought of as semigods or mortal heroes. Scholars assign to attested words in Linear B a possibility or probability, sometimes controversially, of being a theonym or an anthroponym, a toponym, etc.; Mycenaean Linear B sources are often damaged inscriptions bearing lacunae, and in any case, they are too few to enable classifications with certainty.
Finally there is a list of attested words which seem to refer to mortals or whose reference is unclear, yet they may have a connection to religion or to a divine or heroic figure of later times. - The names/words in Linear B and the transliteration thereof are not necessarily in the nominative case and also not necessarily of said gods per se, as e.g. in the case of Hephaestus.
- It should be made clear that an absence of offerings, in parallel, to explicitly named deities or people (like priests or priestesses) on relevant attested inscriptions, does not necessarily follow from the presence of this special dedication; for example, the Kn Fp 1 inscription also includes, among others, offerings to Zeus Diktaios, Pade, Erinys and Anemon Hiereia.
- The inscriptions read that the offers are made to her, thus they could refer to a goddess; this is not though, what modern scholars seem to believe.
- The word Poseidon (Ποσειδῶν; variant forms include Ποσειδάων, the former's final syllable being a synaeresis of the latter's final two) itself, could be connected in an etymological sense - cf. πόσις - to Despotas (if indeed this is the correct reading-interpretation of do-po-ta) and Potnia;[34] likewise compare the same word in connection to Ge-Gaia (hence possibly to Ma Ga) and the possible Enesidaon and other undoubted later-times epithets of him, in consideration of the word-endings, etc.. Moreover some scholars have connected - in a similar manner to the one of Poseidon - Demeter to "Earth" via the De (Da; considered in this case as Pre-Greek and as meaning "Earth") syllable, the goddess thus viewed as representing Da-Mater, "Mother Earth" or similar; others on the other hand have interpreted Demeter's Da syllable as related to domos (i.e. to be Indo-European), interpreting her name as "Mother of the House", creating thus an etymological connection to Despotas and Potnia. À propos, some scholars have considered the attested, on the PY En 609 tablet,[58] Mycenaean word 𐀅𐀔𐀳, da-ma-te, as reading Demeter, but the view is not widely held anymore; the former is indeed thought to be connected to domos, etc, but it is believed to probably be a form of, or something similar to, δάμαρ.[59][60][61][62]
- According to Chadwick,[27] "Dionysos surprisingly appears twice at Pylos, in the form Diwonusos, both times irritatingly enough on fragments, so that we have no means of verifying his divinity". This old view can be found reflected in other scholars[28] but this has changed after the 1989-90 Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Hill, Chania, unearthed the KH Gq 5 tablet.[19][29][30][31]
- It is generally thought to be connected to τριπάτορες, i.e. the "collective, anonymous family ancestors",[64][70][71] but it could perhaps instead refer to Triptolemus, himself possibly "a 'hypostasis' of Poseidon".[70][72]
- Found in a tablet from Pylos, also found on the KN Dv 1462 tablet.
- Cf. the Hindu goddess of the same name.
- Could also be precursor of Leto.[citation needed]
- The word, on the same tablet, 𐀡𐀩𐀙, po-re-na, *phorenas, understood to mean "those brought or those bringing" (it actually reads 𐀡𐀩𐀙𐀤, po-re-na-qe, but a postfixed 𐀤, qe, is usually a conjunction; cf. καί, τε, and Latin et, qve),[133][134] has been interpreted by some scholars as evidence of human sacrifice at said sanctuary:[135] "According to this interpretation, the text of Tn 316 was written as one of many extreme emergency measures just before the destruction of the palace. Tn 316 would then reflect a desperate, and abnormal, attempt to placate divine powers through the sacrifice of male victims to male gods and female victims to female gods".[136]
- Perhaps an epithet of Artemis.
- Perhaps an epithet of Hera.[citation needed]
- Could be some kind of "under" or "to weave" epithet;[87] cf. the preposition ὑπό and the verb ὑφαίνω.[138][139]
- Possibly an epithet of Artemis; cf. Πότνια θηρῶν, θήρ.[144][145][146]
- Could be instead, form of Tiresias.[citation needed]
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Sources
Books
- Ventris, Michael; Chadwick, John (1973). Documents in Mycenaean Greek: Three Hundred Selected Tablets from Knossos, Pylos, and Mycenae. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521085588.
- Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29037-6.
- Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674362810.
- Castleden, Rodney (2003) [1990]. The Knossos Labyrinth. A New View of the 'Palace of Minos' at Knossos. Routledge. ISBN 9780415033152.
- Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in translation. Edited and translated by Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet; with an Appendix on Linear B Sources by Thomas G. Palaima. Hackett Publishing. 2004. ISBN 0-87220-721-8.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - Larson, Jennifer (2016). Understanding Greek Religion. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-68845-1.
- Budin, Stephanie Lynn (2004). The Ancient Greeks. New Perspectives. Understanding Ancient Civilizations. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1576078140.
- Schofield, Louise (2007). The Mycenaeans. The British Museum Press. ISBN 978-0-89236-867-9.
- Fischer-Hansen, Tobias; Poulsen, Birte, eds. (2009). From Artemis to Diana. The Goddess of Man and Beast. 12 Acta Hyperborea. Collegium Hyperboreum and Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 9788763507882.
- Duhoux, Yves; Morpurgo Davies, Anna, eds. (2011). A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World. Vol. 2. Peeters. ISBN 9782758401162.
Articles in journals, periodicals and of conferences
- Suppléments au Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique. La Crète mycénienne: Actes de la Table Ronde Internationale organisée par l'École française d'Athènes. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique. Vol. 30. Athens: Collections de l'Ecole française d'Athènes en ligne. 1997 [Date of Conference: 26–28 March 1991].
- Hägg, Robin (1997). "Religious syncretism at Knossos and in post-palatial Crete?": 163–168.
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(help) - Hiller, Stefan (1997). "Cretan sanctuaries and mycenaean palatial administration at Knossos": 205–212.
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- Hägg, Robin (1997). "Religious syncretism at Knossos and in post-palatial Crete?": 163–168.
- Proceedings from the International Conference Antiquitas Viva. Antiquitas Viva. Živa Antika. Vol. 50. 2000 [Date of Conference: 5–7 December 2000].
- Gulizio, Joann (2000). Hermes and e-ma-a2: The continuity of his cult from the Bronze age to the historical period (PDF). pp. 105–116.
- Deger-Jalkotzy, Sigrid; Lemos, Irene S., eds. (2006) [Date of Conference: 22–25 January 2003]. Ancient Greece: From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer. Edinburgh Leventis Studies 3. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0748618899.
- Palaima, Thomas G. (2006), Wanaks and related power terms in Mycenaean and later Greek (PDF), pp. 53–72
- Sacconi, A., ed. (2008) [Date of Conference: 20–25 February 2006]. "Colloquium romanum: The Shepherds in the Cn Series at Pylos; M. Lindgren, Use of the Cypriot Syllabary in a Multicultural Surrounding; S. Lupack, the Northeast Building of Pylos and an 1281; M. Marazzi, Il "sistema" Argolide: l'Organizzazione territoriale del golfo argolideo; M. Meier-Brügger, Une lecture en langue mycénienne des textes de la série Ta de Pylos; T. Meissner, Notes on Mycenaean Spelling; A. Michailidou, Late Bronze Age Economy: Copper". Colloquium Romanum: atti del XII colloquio internazionale di micenologia (in two volumes). XII colloquio internazionale di micenologia. Rome. Pasiphae. et al. Eds. Pisa and Rome. ISBN 9788862270564.
- Gulizio, Joann (2008). "Mycenaean Religion at Knossos". Academia.edu.
Online databases and dictionaries
Mycenaean Greek and Linear B
- Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of ancient languages. c. 2008 and forwards.
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - Aurora, Federico; Haug, Dag Trygve Truslew. DĀMOS: Database of Mycenaean at Oslo. Et alii. C. 2010 and forwards. University of Oslo. Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas.
- Raymoure, K.A. "Linear B Transliterations". Dead Languages of the Mediterranean. C. 2012–2019. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016.
Ancient Greek, Latin and of English etymology
- A Latin Dictionary. Founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. Revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and Charles Short, LL.D. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1879.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) At the Perseus Project, a digital library project of Tufts University. - Francisco, Aura Jorro; Francisco, Rodríguez Adrados (1999). Diccionario Griego-Español, volumen II. Madrid. ISBN 84-00-06129-2.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889). An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press. At the Perseus Project.
- Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press. At the Perseus Project.
- Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary. C. 2000 and forwards.
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Further reading
- Duev, Ratko. "di-wi-ja and e-ra in the Linear B texts". In: Pierre Carlier, Additional editors: Charles De Lamberterie, Markus Egetmeyer, Nicole Guilleux, Françoise Rougemont and Julien Zurbach (editors). Études mycéniennes 2010. Actes du XIIIe colloque international sur les textes égéens, Sèvres, Paris, Nanterre, 20-23 septembre 2010. Biblioteca di Pasiphae. 10. Pisa; Roma: Fabrizio Serra editore, 2012. pp. 195–205. ISBN 9788862274722
- Flouda, Georgia. "The Goddess Eileithyia in the Knossian Linear B Tablets". In: Honors to Eileithyia at Ancient Inatos: The Sacred Cave of Eileithyia at Tsoutsouros. Crete: Highlights of the Collection. Edited by Athanasia Kanta et al., INSTAP Academic Press, 2022. pp. 33–36, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2f4v5x3.12. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
- Killen, John (2024). "Mycenaean Religion". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 307–314. doi:10.1017/9781139029049.013. ISBN 978-1-139-02904-9.
- Killen, John (2024). "Religion, Cults And Ritual". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 838–891. doi:10.1017/9781139046152.012. ISBN 978-1-139-04615-2.
- LEUVEN, JON C. (1979). "Mycenaean Goddesses Called Potnia". Kadmos. 18 (2): 112–129. doi:10.1515/kadm.1979.18.2.112.
- Morris, S.P. (2001) [Date of Conference: 12–15 April 2000]. Laffineur, R.; Hägg, R. (eds.). "Potnia Aswiya: Anatolian Contributions to Greek Religion". Aegaeum. 22: Potnia. Deities and Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 8th International Aegean Conference, Göteborg, Göteborg University. Belgium: 423–434.
- Parker, Robert (2024). "Mycenaean And Classical Greek Religion". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 315–20. doi:10.1017/9781139029049.014. ISBN 978-1-139-02904-9.
- Sergent, Bernard (1990). "Héortologie du mois Plowistos de Pylo". Dialogues d'histoire ancienne (in French). 16 (1): 175–217. doi:10.3406/dha.1990.1464.
- Wachter, Rudolf. "Homeric – Mycenaean Word Index (MYC)". In: Prolegomena. Edited by Joachim Latacz, Anton Bierl and Stuart Douglas Olson [English Edition]. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. pp. 236–258. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501501746-015
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References
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