Monsieur Nanno Marinatos

The Minoan Harem : the Role of Eminent Women and the

Knossos Frescoes
In: Dialogues d'histoire ancienne. Vol. 15 N2, 1989. pp. 33-62.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Marinatos Nanno. The Minoan Harem : the Role of Eminent Women and the Knossos Frescoes. In: Dialogues d'histoire
ancienne. Vol. 15 N2, 1989. pp. 33-62.

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/dha_0755-7256_1989_num_15_2_1842
 DHA 15,2 1969 33-62

THE MINOAN HAREM :

THE ROLE OF EMINENT WOMEN
AND THE KNOSSOS FRESCOES *

Nanno MARINATOS
Swedish Institute at Athens

1. Introduction

The Frescoes from the palace of Knossos have attracted much

attention since their discovery by Sir Arthur Evans. He himself
opened a path for exciting interpretations of the various fragments,
a path that has been followed for practically two generations.

What has generally been missing is the attempt to detect a

program, a unified theme or set of themes that would betray the
ideology of the rulers who commissioned the paintings *. Granted the
difficulty that the frescoes have survived only in fragments, and
that they are not all contemporary, such an attempt might throw
light not only on the meaning of the paintings themselves, but on the
rulership of Minoan Crete.

* Abbreviations :
FMP : The Function of Minoan Palaces, R. Hgg, N. Marinatos, eds.
(Stockholm 1987)
Kr Chron : Kretika Chronika
Evans, PM : A. J. Evans, The Palace of Minos at Knossos, I-IV (London
1912-1936).
1. For the questions of the "patrons" of the paintings see R. HGG, in
L'Iconographie minoenne, BCH, suppl. XI (Paris 1985), p. 208-217.
34 Nanno Marinatos

A quest for thematic unity was undertaken by the late M.

Cameron, whose untimely death prevented him from completing his
work. Some of it has been published posthumously in summary
form 2. Although his ideas do not always coincide with mine, I have
found his approach very fruitful and have relied on his
reconstructions. The focus of this paper, however, will not be on all
the Knossian frescoes, but only on those that shed light on the role of
women.

2. Queenship in the Near East and Egypt

Although Minoan Crete had some unique features, it is safe to say

that it belonged to the cultural horizon of the Great River
Civilizations. It is therefore methodologically more sound to look
for parallels in the Ancient Orient than Classical Greece which
Minoan Crete is sometimes supposed to have foreshadowed 3. A
digression on the role of eminent women and queenship in the Ancient
Orient might therefore prove useful ; it could provide a possible
framework for the understanding of the role of women on the Knossos
frescoes.

In Egypt, queenship played a major role especially in cult 4. The

queen was associated with two major goddesses who protected the
institution of kingship, Hathor and Maat ; she acted as their high-
priestess. Her association with the goddesses amounts to an almost
complete fusion of identity in the imagery ; the queen is represented
with the head-dress ot Hathor or Maat, or she holds Hathor1 s
symbols : the sistrum and the ment (of the latter more will be said

See summary by N. MARINATOS, in FMP, p. 320-328 and by L.

MORGAN (forthcoming).
Indeed some look upon Minoan culture as the first "European"
civilization. See for example F. SCHACHERMEYR, Die minoische
Kultur des alien Kreta (Stuttgart 1964) chs. 22, 24. Even NILSSON in his
Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and its Survival into Greek Religion
(Lund 1950) saw Minoan religion as a primitive stage of Greek religion ;
the title ot the work alone makes this evident.
Most recently L. TROY, Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egypt
(Uppsala 1986).
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 35

later) 5. Not only was the Egyptian queen the high-priestess of

Hathor, but she assumed some of the features of the goddesses'
divine personality as well. Most important is the aspect of fertility
that the queen takes over from Hathor. Like her she is mother
and a source of life.

The mother-daughter nexus was important in Egypt. Suffice it to

mention the importance ot the princesses during the Amarna period,
where the girls are depicted with the royal couple or with queen
Nefertiti alone. Mother-daughter are depicted together because
they embodied generational duality : women are the source of life
and continuity.

In the Near East the importance of the queen can be deduced from
the available texts. There also she functioned as a high priestess of
goddesses, but she also possessed considerable administrative power.

An important female official among the Hittites was the

Tawananna . In the Old Hittite Kingdom she was not the queen ,
although she sometimes was a blood-relation of the King 6. Her
function was priestly, but she also had administrative and economic
power. Indeed in one case, the Tawananna seems to have initiated a
revolt which, naturally, did not ingratiate her to the king. Thus the
king and the Tawananna were potential rivals 7. There is some
evidence which points to the Tawananna being in control of magic 8.
This too would have been a source of danger for the establishment.

In the New Kingdom the Tawananna is usually the queen herself,

her main function being the priesthood of the sun-goddess of Arinna,
with whom she fused after her death 9. Another cultic function was

5. A small distinguishing mark is that, when the queen wears the Hathor-
headdress, it sometimes has feathers which the goddess' headdress
does not have. See TROY (supra n. 4), 53 ff.
6. S. R. BIN-NUN, The Tawananna in the Hittite Kingdom (Heidelberg
1975), 54 ff., 158.
7. Ibid., 131.
a Ibid., 126-128.
9. Ibid., 160 ff. ; The detailed description elucidates the belief of the
Hittites that the queens joined the sun-goddess after their death
(201).
36 Nanno Marinatos

connected with the priesthood of the "mothers of god". This cult is

not clear, but it seems that the priestesses were endowed with
healing powers 10. The Tawananna was perhaps the supervisor of all
the priestesses called mothers of god n. All these details are
important : the high-priestess was involved with motherhood and
healing, aspects that are paralleled in the Egyptian queen and
which can be regarded as relating to the restoration of life.

The Tawananna had also considerable political influence,

however 12. She had her own seals, which implies considerable
administrative power 13. Noteworthy is the Tawananna's relation to
the king : she was not necessarily his wife, but could be the widow of
the previous king 14.

Queen-priestesses or other females related to the king enjoyed

political power also at Ugarit and Mari 15. The texts from Mari give
specific information about the cultic role of the royal women as
high-priestesses. Their position would have been enhanced by the
fact that one of the predominant deities housed in the palace of
Mari was a female, the Lady of the Palace 16, and it is the queen
who furnished sacrifices for the Lady of the Palace 17. This
implies that the queen and other important females, like the queen-
mother, had jurisdiction over economic sectors and most probably
controlled some of the storage areas within the palace.

A pattern is emerging : the royal women in the Ancient Orient

held offices which were predominantly cultic in nature, but, since

10. Ibid., 190.

11. Ibid., 193.
11 Ibid., 177.
13. Ibid., 168. The seals could also be commonly possessed by the
Tawananna and the King.
14. Ibid., 198. Some believe that the Tawananna's exceptional position is
explained by remnants of Anatolian matriarchy : see V. HAAS,
Hethitische Berggtter und hurritische Steindumonen (Mainz 1982, 63
ff), but this does not seem to be the case. For arguments against
matriarchy and matrilineal succession BIN-NUN, 15 ff., 295, etc.
15. ibid., 208 ff.
16. J.-M. DURAND, in Le systme palatial en Orient, en Grce et Rome,
E. Levy d., (Strasbourg 1987), 39-110, at 90 ff.
17. Ibid., 93.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 37

theocracy entails also economic and administrative powers, their

influence extended also in political affairs. That the position of
women in Minoan Crete might easily confirm to this model will be
subsequently shown by the analysis of the paintings from the palace
of Knossos.

3. The High Priestess of the Corridor of the Processions

It was M. Cameron who stressed the role of an important female

in the iconography of the west wing of the palace whom he called
the goddess-impersonator 18. She first appears in the Corridor of the
Processions fresco as the focal point of converging processions ;
presumably she is the recipient of tribute and gifts (fig. 1) 19.

Although the procession included some women, it is the men who

carried objects, if we judge from the surviving fragments (Evans1
restoration, fig. 1/ which has the men raise their arms may be
somewhat misleading on this point). One man carried a conical
rhyton ; another a two-handled stone-vase (fig. 2) 20. In a recent
reconstruction, Ch. Boulotis has identified a garment handed over to
the important female 21. That this procession has something of a
tribute-bearing character, reminiscent of Near Eastern or Egyptian
schemes, is obvious. What is different here is the important role of
the female recipient 22. It is correct to see her as the high-priestess
acting as the goddess and receiving gifts on her behalf.

These gifts, however, are neither edible food nor exotic items ;
they are mostly cultic utensils of the most luxurious kind. This might
say something about the character of the procession. Preparation for
a festival is an idea that springs to mind Z3. If this is so, the role of

18. CAMERON, in FMP, 324.

19. EVANS, PM II, 719 ff. wit fig. 450.
20. Ibid. 724-725, figs. 451-452 and col. pi. XII.
21. Ch. BOULOTIS, in FMP, 145-156, at 154, fig. 8.
22. According to Boulotis in FMP, 148 ff., the procession was broken up in
many units and in each unit there was a female recipient. B. concludes
that there may have been many processions with different purposes. It
could be, however, that the female recipient may be representing the
same goddess in different guises and circumstances.
23. BOULOTIS, in FMP 151 ; I owe this idea mainly to Ellen Davis.
38 Nanno Marinatos

the recipient high-priestess can be further specified as that of the

main protagonist of a festival.

The choice of tribute-bearing iconography for the main entrance

to the palace was not fortuitous. The visitors approaching from this
side would be confronted with a scheme, the purpose of which was
evidently propagandists. But the most important point is that,
instead of a king, there appears an eminent woman, whose main role
seems to have been cultic. The amount of equipment which is brought
to her testifies to her economic as well as to her cultic status.

4. The Harem

Egyptian as well as Near Eastern palaces possessed a harem.

Since this word has the connotation of concubines in our language
(conjuring up images of sultans and maharajahs surrounded by
odalisks), it is best to elaborate a little on what it means. Harem
will be used here to simply refer to the collective womenfolk of the
palace. It is worth noting that no specific word for harem exists
in the texts from Mari 24.

The women of the palace were not all concubines of the king. On
the contrary, some of them had roles and functions comparable to
those of the king himself. In fact there was as much variation in
hierarchy and role-allotment in the harem as in the society as a
whole.

One category of women seems to have been occupied with menial

tasks. In Egypt, a tomb-painting of the Amarna period shows the
women occupying themselves with various domestic labors 25. It was
mainly young maidens that became royal concubines.

From the texts of the palace of Mari we can learn that there
existed tremendous social gaps within the harem. Some women were
occupied with menial tasks and industrial production or with

24. J.-M. DURAND, in Le systme palatial, 88.

25. Stevenson SMITH, fig. 312.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 39

entertainment, such as singing 26. Others, however, such as the

immediate relatives of the king, had important cultic roles 27.

Both in Egypt and in the Near East, the harem had special
apartments within the palace, sometimes even a separate palace for
itself.

Now to the Minoans. Due to the nature of Minoan art which

concentrates only on events of ritual or symbolic significance and not
every-day scenes, we cannot expect to see the hierarchically low
sections of the harem, that is those women engaged in menial tasks.
But evidence of the Minoan upper-class harem is furnished, I
believe, by two friezes which must have adorned a small shrine
opening to the central court of the palace of Knossos. The first is
known as the Grand Stand Fresco (fig. 3) 2S. It depicts women, some
seated, some standing on and around a platform. The women are
surrounded by crowds of both genders (men in red, women in white)
rendered in the 'shorthand* method, namely only the head of each
figure is drawn. It has been conjectured by most scholars that some
kind of spectacle is being watched here. Unfortunately the scene is
too fragmentary to permit any safe conjecture. For our purposes, what
is significant is that the iconographical language suggests that the
women are not only watching but are being watched themselves. In
other words : they are on display. This in itself stresses their
importance within the society. That there was a hierarchical
division within this group is shown by the fact that some women are
standing in the periphery whereas others are seated in the center.

Noteworthy are the details of the group of seated women. One

has hanging breasts (fig. 4). Already Evans observed this detail and
spoke of a matronly touch 29. Other women have budding breasts,
rendered only by nipples. The latter have also extremely long
forelocks. Recent studies in Minoan hairstyles have shown that

26. DURAND (supra n. 8) 84-86.

27. Ibid., 95.
28. EVANS, PM III, 46 ff. Recent treatments by N. MARINATOS and E.
DAVIS in FMP, 135-143 and 157-161.
29. Ibid., 51.
40 Nanno Marinatos

these long locks are a sign of youth x. There is thus no mistake : the
women displayed on the platform of the Knossian fresco portray the
Minoan harem. As in Egypt, there is concern to show both the mature
women and the maidens. The women on the Grand Stand fresco
belong to the highest strata of society.

Further light can be thrown by the second frieze, the so-called

Sacred Grove fresco, which adorned the same room (fig. 5) 31.

Once more there are crowds, the presence of which leaves no

doubt that the subject of this painting also is a festival 32. In
addition to the crowds there are fragments of seated women and files
of young men, apparently in procession 33. Finally, on the lower part
of the painting women are moving to the left. Thus both sexes are
here represented.

Yet, despite the presence of the men, it is the women at the

bottom of the scene that draw the attention of the spectator because
they are conspicuously separated from the rest. What are they
doing ? It is usually claimed that they are engaged in a sacred
dance 34/ but this is not totally convincing an interpretation, at least
if by dance a rapid activity is implied. The movements of the women
seem deliberate, serene and interactive. As we noted above, they
move towards the left (where there most probably was a shrine) 35.
Thus, the impression conveyed is that some sort of ritual
performance is taking place which will culminate in the now lost
shrine to the left 36.

30. E. DAVIS, A]A 90 (1986) 399^*06 ; R. KOEHL, JHS 106 (1986) 99-110 ; N.
MARINATOS, Art and Religion in Thera (Athens 1984) 18.
31 . EVANS, PM III, 66 ff. with pi. XVIII.
32. N. MARINATOS in FMP, 141-142.
33. Ibid.
34. EVANS (supra n. 31) ; F. MATZ, Gottererscheinung und Kultbild im
minoischen Kreta , Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissen-
schaftlichen Klasse, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur
in Mains, 1958 : 7, 8 ff.
35. M. A. S. CAMERON in Europa, Festschrift E. Grumach (Berlin 1967) 66-
69.
36. The dance theory has been criticized also by Sp. MARINATOS,
Gnomon 32 (1960) 644. H. A. GROENEWEGEN-FRANKFORT, Arrest
and Movement (London 1951), 211, sees a sacred mime.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 41

What is the meaning of the Sacred Grove fresco ? Let us first

note that two distinct groups of women are present : the seated ladies
(older / higher rank ?) and the ones taking part in the cultic
performance (younger ?). Thus, here too as on the Grand Stand frieze,
we have a juxtaposition of the older and younger women of the
harem. The former are seated and watch passively, the latter are
the protagonists of the festival. Could it be that it is their
initiation, their coming out , that is the subject of this fresco 37 ?
As for the young men, they are also somewhat on display, but
definitely as secondary participants.

5. The High-Priestess and Goddess-Impersonator in the Throne

Room at Knossos. Comparison with the Throne Room in the
Palace of Mari

The most important personage of the Minoan harem must have

been the high-priestess who impersonated the goddess. There is
good evidence that it was her, rather than a king, who sat on the
only extant throne in all Minoan palaces : the one in the Throne
Room at Knossos.

H. Reusch argued that the Knossos throne was destined for a

high priestess already in 1958. She based her hypothesis on the
iconography of the painting behind the throne. This fresco includes
two antithetical griffins which flank the throne, and it is only
goddesses who in Minoan iconography appear between griffins 38.
Reusch was not aware that there were also palms painted on either
side of the throne ; a fragment of the right palm was discovered
much later by M. Cameron in the storeroom of the Herakleion
museum (fig. 6) 39. Since the scheme goddess under a palm is
attested on a Minoan seal 40, Reusch' s argument that the painting

37. I have suggested earlier that the fresco in question may be dealing with
a harvest festival (supra n. 32). Without wanting to completely deny my
former position and exclude this possibility, I wish to stress here that
the artistic message of the painting is mainly concerned with the
younger women ; therefore an initiation interpretation (perhaps in
connection with a major festival) is plausible.
38. H. REUSCH in Minoiat. Festschrift J. Sundwall (Berlin 1958) 334-358.
39. CAMERON, in FMP, 325.
40. NIEMEIER (supra n. 38) 81 with fig. 9.
42 Nanno Marinatos

provided an appropriate backdrop for a seated high-priestess

representing the goddess is strengthened.

Later, S. Miri proved that the sunker chamber across from the
throne was ritual in character 41. What is more, it was the primary
architectural element in that area ; the throne was added later.
More recently still, W.-D. Niemeier investigated the architecture of
the entire complex, including the kitchen and service section, and
reconstructed a ritual of a performed epiphany for the Knossos
Throne Room (see plan, fig. 7). The high priestess would prepare
herself in the service section ; she would then make a first
appearance from the door leading from the service section to the
inner Throne Room (this door was also flanked by griffins) ; she
would finally sit on the throne. This performance would be
witnessed by a selected elite only 42.

Thus, the interpretations of various scholars using different

starting points have converged : the main function of the Throne
Room at Knossos seems to have been cultic, and the main official in
this room was apparently a woman. The iconology ot the fresco itself
renders further support to this conclusion. The aforementioned
griffins are situated in a landscape with mostly riverine plants :
reeds, papyri, palms. This is a landscape of fertility which befits
the image of a goddess impersonator more than that of a king !

It might appear paradoxical at first that the only throne at

Knossos was reserved for cult. And yet, the Throne Room at the
palace of Mari by the Euphrates (fig. 8) presents us with a picture
not too dissimilar albeit not identical.

Let us first look at the similarities of the architectural lay-out.

Both at Mari and Knossos the Throne Rooms comprise entire suites
surrounded by service sections. Both suites open to an interior court.
Both have an ante-room and a more secluded, inner Throne Room.
Most importantly : both inner throne rooms include a shrine situated

41. S. MIRIE, Das Thronraumareal des Palastes von Knossos. Versuch

einer Neuinterpretation seiner Entstehung und seiner Funktion,
Saarbriicker Beitruge zur Altertumskunde 26 (1979).
42. W.-D. NIEMEIER, AM 100, 1986, 63-95 (Engl. summary in FMP, 163-
168).
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 43

across from the throne. In the case of Knossos the shrine is a sunken
chamber, an adyton (the common but erroneous designation is
lustral basin ) 43. At Mari it is an elevated niche in which were
placed either a cult statue of Ishtar " or ancestral images 4S.

There is some similarity even in the murals. It will be

remembered that the throne at Knossos was flanked by painted
palms. Palms occur also on the famous Investiture Painting (fig.
9) which decorated a wall on the right hand facade of the outer
Throne Room at Mari 4. They are full of fruit picked by men. It has
even been suggested that the court adjacent to the throne room-suite
(court 106) was the Court of the Palms referred to in the texts 47.
The palms and other stylized trees are a reference to fertility, an
aspect which is further emphasized by goddesses who hold vases
with flowing water. A statue of such a goddess was found in the same
area (fig. 10) 48. Thus, the conceptual framework of the Investiture
Painting is one of fertility represented by the female divinities and
the trees of life.

Dare one suggest that the queen played a role in the ceremonies ?
The Throne Room suite at Mari, like the one at Knossos, included a
service and kitchen section, a series of storage rooms (fig. 8).
Margueron actually conjectured a banquet hall in there 49. The texts
from Mari tell us that the queen furnished sacrifices for the Lady
of the Palace 50. We cannot be sure where the sanctuary of the
Lady of the Palace was located, but it is not to be excluded that

43. I have argued repeatedly for the designation "adyton" (holy of holies) :
see N. MARINATOS, Art and Religion in Thera (Athens 1984) 14, 73 ff. ;
idem, OpAth XVI (1986) 57-73 (together with R. Hgg) ; idem, Minoan
Religion : Ritual Process, Image and Symbol (forthcoming).
44. Argued by Y. M. AL-KHALESI, The Court of the Palms. A Functional
Interpretation of the Mari Palace, Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 8
(Malibu, Cal., 1978).
45. DURAND (supra n. 8) 109.
46. Discussion in KHALESI (supra n. 44), 38 if.
47. It is unlikely that actual palm trees were planted there ; the suggestion
that the designation was derived from the murals depicting palms is an
attractive one : KHALESI (supra n. 44), 9 ff., esp. 10.
48. Ibid., 23-23, fig. 8.
49. DURAND (supra n. 8) 107-108.
50. Ibid., 93.
44 Nanno Marinatos

the queen provided the sacrifices for the banqueting in the Throne
Room especially in view of the female/fertility elements. It may not
be an accident that the women's apartments at Mari were not far
from the Throne Room suite 51.

The comparison between the functions of the Throne Rooms at

Mari and Knossos is meant to draw attention to the fact that cult
activities and political authority are not mutually exclusive ; on the
contrary they are closely interwoven. A possible place for women
dignitaries whose role was bound with fertility has been
suggested 52. Yet, despite the similarities between the Mari and
Knossos cult areas, an important difference must be stressed. In the
Near East the king remained a predominant figure. At Knossos we
can now postulate with some confidence a goddess impersonator but
her partner is not in evidence.

6. Inviting the Goddess to Dinner

And yet men are hardly absent from the iconography of the west
wing of the palace of Knossos. Fragments of men holding chalices or
jugs were recovered by Evans. They belonged to a set of friezes which

51. Possibly they were located in sectors I and H which are adjacent to
court 106 : Ibid., 80 f.
52. It can be argued that direct influence from Mari to Crete is to be ruled
out because the Mari throne suite (from Zimrilim's time) precedes that
of Knossos by more than two centuries. Two points need to be made
here. Firstly, Minoan chronology is in the process of being revised. If
Phil Betancourt is right, we have to push the chronology back which
would make Knossos almost contemporary with Zimrilim's Mari (see
Ph. BETANCOURT, Archaeometry 29 (1987) 212-13). Recent
dendrochronological dating seems to vindicate BETANCOURT :
Discover (1989) 77 ff.
Secondly, even if we preserve the traditional date for Minoan
chronology and date the Throne Room at Knossos sometime in the
15th cent, (see the recent discussion by Niemeier supra n. 42), it would
not be too surprising if a similar architectural vocabulary would be used
by cultures that were in contact with one another for many centuries.
Ibis vocabulary was, of course adapted to the idiom and age of the two
respective cultures in order to fulfill their needs. What the comparison
shows is that the throne room at Knossos was not a unique invention,
but an architectural variant of the E. Mediterranean.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 45

was situated in a upper storey room facing the west court. Only one of
the fragments depicted a female : it is the famous Parisienne 53.

Despite the fragmentary condition of this painting (known as the

Camp Stool fresco), it is clear that a symposion is depicted here. But
what is the role of the Parisienne ?

It was M. Cameron who realized that this female, the only one
among the fragments of the main frieze, was larger in size than the
men. She evidently was painted at the edge of the frieze occupying a
most prominent position 54. She is the goddess or high-priestess
standing for her. Two more friezes, with similar iconography, could
be reconstructed on the basis of the extant fragments so that the room
would have had three in all (fig. 11). Cameron believed that the
subject of the paintings was a symposion preceding sacred marriage,
such as are attested in Sumerian iconography.

However, Oriental banqueting scenes in which sacred marriage is

intimated, show a male-female couple. Here there are instead
several drinking male symposiasts. Was the goddess supposed to
sleep with all of them ?

A different interpretation seems more likely : the friezes depict

an all male banquet for the men of the nobility (such as we find on
Assyrian reliefs for example), but the goddess is also taking part.
Note that the room in which the friezes were found was situated
above the magazines of the west wing of the palace 55 ; it is likely
that from these storage areas the wine for the banquet would have
been drawn. The iconography and the architecture thus converge.

Inviting deities to dinner is a custom widely spread in the east

Mediterranean from the Orient to the Mycenaeans and the later

53. EVANS, PM IV, 379-3%, pi. XXXI. M. Cameron identified also a second
fragment of a female which he restored on a different frieze (see below
and fig. 11).
54. CAMERON, in FMP, 324 with fig. 2. Cameron argues against a previous
reconstruction by N. PLATON, KrChron 12 (1959) 319-345 ; cf. also M.
CAMERON, KrChron 17 (1964) 38-53.
55. EVANS, PM IV, 381.
46 Nanno Marinatos

Greeks 56. A Syrian seal depicts a worshipper drinking together

with the goddess 57. Eating together with the gods is a special form
of communication with the divine partners ; naturally it is a rare
privilege confined to the social elite or the exceptionally virtuous 58.

But, of course, the Minoan goddess did not come herself. It was
her mortal counterpart, the high-priestess who actually was
present. It will be remembered that the texts from Mari reveal that
the queen disbursed wine, or furnished sacrificial animals for the
banquet in honor of the Lady of The Palace 59. She thus seems to
have owned her own storage-rooms and it is natural to assume that
she also presided over these banquets. Is it not likely that the
Parisienne of the Minoan painting is the Minoan high-priestess who
provided the wine for the symposion in the honor of the goddess and
that she presided over the banquet ?

7. The Jewel Fresco

A fresco fragment in relief, also found on the upper storey of the

west wing of the palace at Knossos is known as the Jewel Fresco
(fig. 12). It shows a man's finger and thumb (we can identify the sex
by the dark color) holding one end of a necklace adorning a woman's
neck 60. The necklace is composed of gold beads and pendants in the
shape of male heads with curly hair and gold ear-rings. The heads
have a negroid appearance, but this is a superficial impression
conditioned by our cultural perceptual filters. As I have shown
elsewhere, both curly hair and earrings are attested for males in
Minoan iconography. Earrings in particular are marks of high status,
not of barbarian appearance 61.

56. W. BURKERT, Oriental Symposia : Contrasts and Parallels in

Symposium and Symposia II, symposium held at Macmaster Univ.
1988.
57. A. MOORTGAT, Vorderrasiatische Rollsiegel (Berlin 1940, repr. 1966)
nr. 526, p. 52.
58. For the visitation of gods to humans in general see D. FLUCKIGER-
GUGGENHEIM, Gttliche Gste, Europuische Hochschulschriften,
Reihe III, vol. 237 (Bern, Frankfurt, New York 1984).
59. DURAND (supra n. 8) 87, 93.
60. EVANS, PM 1, 525 ff.
61. N. MARINATOS, OpAth 18 (1988) 137-141.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 47

What are we to make of the scene ? Evans and, following him, M.

Cameron suggested a prelude to sacred marriage : the necklace is
removed, a disrobing of the woman is to follow a. A less exciting but
perhaps more sober suggestion would be that the high priestess is
being accoutered for a festival. Still, it is unusual that her
adornment would be carried out by a male.

Let us instead look at the meaning of the necklace. It is first of all

important to note that jewelry often has a symbolic meaning in
ancient cultures. The necklace of the goddess on a Theran fresco
includes beads with ducks and dragonflies, namely inhabitants of a
marshy environment. The necklace thus indicates the divinity's
domain f.

The best examples, however, are furnished by Egypt where

necklaces worn by the gods, the royal family or high dignitaries
had symbolic meanings, and amuletic functions 64. Of particular
interest is the ment necklace associated with the goddess
Hathor 65. Several examples show Hathor extending the necklace to
the pharaoh (fig. 13), so he can partake of its power by touching
it 66. Sometimes the queen plays Hathor's role and gives the
necklace to her husband : on Tutankhamun's golden shrine the queen,
wearing a Hathor head-dress, extends a ment necklace to her
seated husband (fig. 14) *>7. A close parallel to our Minoan example is

62. EVANS, PM I, 526 ; CAMERON in FMP, 324 with figs. 1, 5.

63. N. MARINATOS (supra n. 43) 68-70.
64. A. WILKINSON, Ancient Egyptian Jewellery (London 1971) ;
ALDRED, Jewels of the Pharaohs (London 1971). I. KILIAN-
DIRLMEIER, has shown that Mycenaean necklaces had a symbolic
meaning : Jahresbericht des Instituts fur Vorgeschichte der Univ.
Frankfurt a. M. (1978-79) 29-43.
65. WILKINSON (supra n. 64) 68-69, fig. 42 ; S. D'AURIA, P. LAJCOVARIA,
H. ROEHRIG, Mummies & Magic, the Funerary Arts of Ancient
Egypt (Museum of Hne Arts Boston 1988), p. 135-136 no. 72. 1 am very
grateful to Dr. Catharine H. Roehrig of the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, NY for her helpful comments and bibliographical suggestions on
the ment necklace.
66. TROY (supra n. 4) 59, fig. 36 ; S. MORENZ, Gott und Mensch im tuten
gypten (Darmstadt 1984) 136.
67. Cf. WILKINSON (supra n. 64) : ... on one occasion Ankhesenamun
takes her (Hathor's) place and holds out a ment to Tutankhamun .
48 Nanno Marinatos

another scene form the shrine. There the queen ties an amulet around
Tutankhamun's neck (fig. 15) M. In both cases, the necklace confers
protection to the king m.

What the Egyptian examples have in common with the Jewel

fresco is that a person offers or ties the necklace around the neck of
someone of the opposite sex. In the Jewel Fresco the recipient is a
woman, the one who ties it is a man. We thus have the exact
inversion of the Egyptian scheme.

There are reasons why this should be so, and in order to arrive at
an interpretation we must return to the significance of the necklaces.
In Egypt, the ment belongs to Hathor and embodies her special
powers. It is thus appropriate that is should be offered to the king
(the person at the top of the hierarchy) either by the goddess
herself or by another female representing her. In Crete the necklace
has pendants of men's heads. It is obviously a piece infused with
male symbolism, hence it is appropriate that it should be offered by
a male. If the recipient is the high priestess whom we have
conjetured in the Corridor of the Processions and the Throne Room,
then the male tying the necklace around her neck is either a male
god or his representative. The male pendants could be designating
the priestesses' domain of power over her subjects, a power given by
the god himself. Alternatively, sexual connotations may be
conveyed : the woman is designated as ripe for marriage.

For good illustrations see I. E. S. EDWARDS, Tutankhatnun : His Tomb

and its Treasures (The Metropolitan Museun of Art New York 1976).
Wilkinson also says that the ment necklace was part of funerary
jewellery : the ment s of Hathor are offered to the spirit of the dead
man so that the goddess grants him long life and destruction of his
ememies. Hathor herself performs this ritual for Ammenemes III at his
Sed-jubilee and also for kings of the XVIIIth and XlXth Dynasties.
68. Illustrated in EDWARDS (supra n. 67).
69. See above n. 67. Note that necklaces can also be mere ornaments in
preparation for a feast. In Theban tomb 181, a necklace is tied around a
man's neck in a "toilet operation" scene, a preparation for the banquet.
See DAVIES, The Tomb of Two Sculptors at Thebes (New York 1925) ; B.
PORTER and R. L. B. MOSS, The Theban Necropolis. Part. 1. Private
Tombs (Oxford 1960) 286-287.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 49

Whatever the case may be, it is reasonably certain that we are

dealing with a scene of symbolic investiture in which a female of
high status is involved.

Conclusion

There is little doubt that a Harem existed in the palace of

Knossos and that it was important enough to be the subject of two
friezes, the Grand Stand and Sacred Grove. The brief excursus in
Oriental civilizations has shown that eminent women with cultic
roles were important not only in religion, but in administration and
succession as well.

None of these aspects can be verified by the Minoan paintings.

Yet, evidence for a most important female whose role was eminently
cultic, is definitely furnished by the frescoes of the west wing of the
palace of Knossos. Nowhere is there any hint that her power was
purely political, yet religious and political power cannot be totally
separated in Oriental theocratic societies. We can assume that the
influence of the Minoan Tawananna was considerable. This is
verified also by the fact that many Minoan seal-stones and rings
depict the goddess or her priestess. It is not far-fetched to suggest
that such seals were in the possession of women of high status.

However, it should be noted that men also are shown in

conspicuous positions on frescoes that are not too often discussed. On
the so-called Palanquin fresco it is men who are elevated and
displayed 70. The famous Priest King, although almost certainly
erroneously restored by Evans n, depicts a male of great importance,
perhaps even a male god 72. Finally, on seals with emblematic
imagery, male priests are engraved 73.

Despite all this, the once very popular idea that Crete was a
matriarchy finds no support in the Knossos frescoes. What the
paintings demonstrate is that the feminine element received an

70. EVANS, PM II, 770 ff. with fig. 503.

71. EVANS, PM II, 774 ff. with frontispiece pi. XTV.
72. W.-D. NIEMEIER, AM 102 (1987) 65-98.
73. J. BETTS, Temple University Aegean Symposium 6 (1981) 1-8 ; N.
MARINATOS, Minoan Sacrificial Ritual 22-25, fig. 10, 13 ; 47-48, fig. 39.
50 Nanno Marinatos

emphasis which, although paralleled in Egypt and the Near East,

was more prominent in Crete. The phenomenon may be explained by
the fact that females were regarded as the primary carriers of
fertility (unlike Egypt where there existed several male fertility
gods). And in a culture where war obviously played only a minor
role, the feminine element, the very emblem of the continuity of life,
was allowed to prevail.

Nanno MARINATOS
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 51

20 21

Fig. 1 - Corridor of Processions. Restoration by Evans, PM II, fig. 450.

52 Nanno Marinatos

Fig. 2 - Men carrying vessels from

the Corridor of Processions. After
Evans, PM II, fig. 443.

Fig. 3 - Detail of the so-called

Grand Stand or Temple fresco.
Detail. Restoration by Evans/
Gilliron, PM 11,1, fig. 28.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 53

Fig. 4 - Same as preceding. Detail. After Evans, PM m, fig. 30.

Fig. 5 - So-called Sacred Grove fresco.

Restoration by Evans/Gilliron. After Evans, PM III, col. pi. XVIII.
54 Nanno Marinatos
,
5
vui
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 55

Fig. 7 - Plan of Throne Room at Knossos with indication

of the route of the priestess.

Fig. 8 - Plan of the Throne Room at Man.

56 Nanno Marinatos

Fig. 9 - Investiture painting from Mari. After Khalesi (n. 44) pi. V.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 57

Fig. 10 - Statue of goddess with vase from which water flows.

From Mari, area of Throne Room. After Khalesi (n. 44) fig. 8.
58 Nanno Marinatos
cm
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 59

Fig. 12 - Jewel fresco as restored by M. Cameron. After FMP, fig. 1.

60 Nanno Marinatos

Fig. 13 - Hathor extends a necklace to the pharaoh.

After Troy (n. 4) fig. 36.
Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 61

Fig. 14 - The queen, wearing a Hathor head-dress, offers the

pharaoh the ment necklace. From Tutankhamun's gold shrine.
After Edwards (n. 67).
62 Nanno Marinatos

Fig. 15 - The queen ties an amulet around the pharaoh's neck.

From Tutankhamun's golden shrine. After Edwards (n. 67).