Volume 5 (2022)
Papers presented at the third international conference of the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology
The Centrality of Women in Bronze Age Crete: A Perspective from Archaeomythology
Cichon, Joan M.
Abstract:
Since the time of Sir Arthur Evans, scholars have recognized the important role played by women in Bronze Age Cretan society. Most scholars, however, minimize this role, as did Evans, and still conclude that the throne at Knossos was meant for a priest-king. Using the methodology of Archaeomythology, a discipline founded by Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, this paper will look at the role of women in all aspects of Bronze Age Cretan society, and demonstrate that —based on archaeological artefacts— history, and mythology, a plausible and highly probable case can be made for a woman-centered Bronze Age Crete.
Citation:
Cichon, J.M. 2022. «The Centrality of Women in Bronze Age Crete: A Perspective from Archaeomythology», JHIE 5: 15–24
DOI:
10.5281/zenodo.7754971
Language: en
Submitted on 2021-10-11; accepted on 2022-10-15
References
- Ægæum 11: The Role of the Ruler in the Prehistoric Aegean (Rehak, P. ed.), Liège (Université de Liège / Histoire de l’Art et Archéologie de la Grèce Antique) 1995.
- Atchity, K. & Barber, E.: «Greek Princes and Aegean Princesses: The Role of Women in the Homeric Poems», Critical Essays on Homer (Atchity, K., Hogart, R., & Price, D., eds), Boston (G.K. Hall) 1987, 15-37.
- Cichon, J.: Matriarchy in Minoan Crete: A Perspective from Archaeomythology and Modern Matriarchal Studies (PhD Dissertation), SF (California Institute of Integral Studies) 2013 [URL: https://www.proquest.com/docview/1492362119].
- Cichon, J.: Matriarchy in Bronze AgeCrete: A Perspective from Archaeomythology and Modern Matriarchal Studies, Oxford (Archaeopress Archaeology) 2022.
- Cutting, M.: «More than one Way to study a Building: Approaches to Prehistoric Household and Settlement Space», OJA 25, 2006, 225-246.
- Damiani Indelicato, S.: «Were Cretan Girls Playing at Bull‒Leaping?», Cretan Studies1, 1988, 39-47.
- Davis, E.: «Art and Politics in the Aegean: The Missing Ruler», Ægæum 11: The Role ofthe Ruler in the Prehistoric Aegean (Rehak, P. ed.), Liège (Université de Liège / Histoire de l’Art et Archéologie de la Grèce Antique) 1995, 11-22.
- Driessen, J.: «The Goddess and the Skull: Some Observations on Group Identity in Prepalatial Crete», Cretan Offerings: Studies in Honour of Peter Warren (Krzyszkowska, O., ed.), London (British School at Athens) 2011, 107-117.
- Driessen, J.: «A Matrilocal House Society in Pre‒and Protopalatial Crete?», Back to the Beginning: Reassessing Social and Political Complexity on Crete during the Early and Middle Bronze Age (Schoep, I. et al., eds), Oxford (Oxbow) 2012a, 358-383.
- Driessen, J.: «Chercher la femme: Identifying Minoan Gender Relations in the Built Environment», Minoan Reality: Approaches to Images, Architecture, and Society in the Aegean Bronze Age , Louvain–la–Neuve (Presses Universitaires de Louvain) 2012b [ URL : http://books.openedition.org/pucl/2842] .
- Evans, A.: The Palace of Minos at Knossos 1-4, NY (Biblio & Tannen) 1964.
- Gimbutas, M.: The Civilization of the Goddess (Marler, J., ed.), SF (Harper Collins) 1991.
- Goettner‒Abendroth, H.: Way into an Egalitarian Society: Principles and Practice of a Matriarchal Politics (translated by Smith, K.), Winzer (Hagia / International Academy for Modern Matriarchal Studies and Matriarchal Spirituality) 2007.
- Halstead, P.: «Neighbors from Hell? The Household in Neolithic Greece», Neolithic Society in Greece (Halstead, P., ed.), Sheffield (Sheffield Academic Press / Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology 2) 1999, 77-95.
- Hatzaki, E.: «Visible and Invisible Death: Shifting Patterns in the Burial Customs of Bronze Age Crete», From the Foundations to the Legacy of Minoan Archaeology: Studies in Honour of Professor Keith Branigan (Relaki, M. & Papadatos, Y., eds), Oxford (Oxbow / Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology 12) 2018, 190-209.
- Knappett, C.: «Scaling Up: From Household to State in Bronze Age Crete», Inside the City in the Greek World: Studies in Urbanism from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic Period (Owen, S. & Preston, L., eds), Oxford (Oxbow Books) 2009, 14-26.
- Marinatos, N.: «The Bull as an Adversary: Some Observations on Bull‒Hunting and Bull‒Leaping», Ariadne 5, 1989, 23-32.
- Marinatos, N.: Minoan Religion, Columbia (University of South Carolina Press) 1993.
- Olsen, B.: «Women, Children and the Family in the Late Aegean Bronze Age: Differences in Minoan and Mycenaean Constructions of Gender», WorldArch 29, February 1988, 380-392.
- Rehak, P.: «Imag(in)ing a Woman’s World in Bronze Age Greece: The Frescoes from Xeste 3 at Akrotiri, Thera», Among Women from the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World (Rabinowitz, N. & Auanger, L., eds), Austin (University of Texas Press) 2002, 34-59.
- Reusch, H.: «Zum Wandschmuck des Thronsalles in Knossos», Minoica Festschrift zum 80. Geburstag von Johannes Sundwall (Grumach, E., Hrsg.), Berlin (Akademie Verlag) 1958, 334-356.
- Thomas, C.G: «Matriarchy in Early Greece: The Bronze and Dark Ages», Arethus a 6, 1973, 173-195.
- Waterhouse, H.: «Priest‒Kings?», BICS 21, 1974, 153-155.
- Whitelaw, T.: «From Sites to Communities: Defining the Human Dimensions of Minoan Urbanism», Urbanism in the Aegean Bronze Age (Branigan, K., ed.), Sheffield (Sheffield Academic Press / Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology 4) 2001, 15-37.
- Witcombe, C.: «Matriliny in the Aegean Bronze Age», Women in the Aegean. Minoan Snake Goddess (Online), Sweet Briar VA (Art History Resources on the Web) 2020 [URL: http://arthistoryresources.net/snakegoddess/aegeanmatriliny.html].
- Younger, J.: «Bronze Age Representations of Aegean Bull Games, III», Ægæum 12: Politeia: Society and State in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings № 1 (Laffineur, R. & Niemeier, W.D., eds), Liège (Université de Liège / Histoire de l’Art et Archéologie de la Grèce Antique) 1995, 507-545 [URL: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/5405].
- Younger, J. & Rehak, P.: «Minoan Culture, Religion, Burial Customs and Administration», Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age (Shelmerdine, C., ed.), Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2008, 165-185.