38 Ritual and Ideology in Early Iron Age Crete: The Role of the Past and the East
Abstract
The study of ancient Crete was long dominated by a one-sided interest in the grand ‘Minoan’ civilisation of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. For many, the collapse of this civilisation in the course of the thirteenth century BC relegated the island forever to the periphery. When, in the 1970s, the early Iron Age was redefined as a decisive period in the formation of Classical Greek culture, Crete gained recognition chiefly as an exception. Although broad correspondences with regions elsewhere in the Aegean can be seen, for instance, in sociopolitical developments, the island’s idiosyncrasies are equally apparent. Among these, two stand out: the supposed strength of ‘Minoan’ traditions, and the early receptivity to eastern Mediterranean cultures. This chapter focuses on changes in Cretan ritual practices from ca. 1000 to 700 BC. The intention is to show how new kinds of ritual – both by reviving and reinventing local traditions and by adopting foreign, particularly Near Eastern features – served as points of crystallisation in the process of defining social identities. This chapter thus combines the theme of ritual and ideology with that of social identity and, ultimately, by considering the nature of the island’s early overseas connections, of insularity and connectivity.
Introduction: The Appreciation of Early Iron Age Crete
Studies with a specific focus on Crete in the periods after the demise of the Minoan palaces of the Middle and Late Bronze Age (LBA) are a relatively recent phenomenon. The late nineteenth-century discovery of a prehistoric civilisation in Crete – a memory of which seemed to be preserved in ancient literary sources about King Minos, mighty ruler of the seas – has been decisive in setting the research agenda for the island. More than a century of ‘Minoan’ scholarship has revealed a complex and, in many ways, unique society, albeit one with clear links to the great cultures of the Near East. In the LBA, the island exerted profound cultural, possibly even political, influence on various areas in the Aegean (e.g. Dickinson 1994: 234–50, 302–303; Macdonald et al. 2009).
Lack of scholarly interest in the centuries after 1200 BC – tellingly called the ‘Post-Minoan periods’ – was exacerbated by the early realisation that not only did the island never regain its pre-eminent position in the Aegean, it also lacked the more typical manifestations of Classical Greek culture. The island has yielded relatively little Archaic or Classical sculpture and not a single peripteral, stone-built temple. Cretan Geometric pottery, ill-fitting with sequences established elsewhere, never evolved into the much-admired black- and red-figure styles found in other parts of Greece. Instead, pottery production, like other artistic expressions, appeared to dwindle in the crucial period of the sixth century BC, leaving an enigmatic gap in Crete’s material record (for an insightful explanation of this sixth-century BC gap, first noted by Kirsten [1942: 4] and Demargne [1947: 348], see Whitley 2009).
To make matters worse, the preserved testimony of ancient Cretan authors was scarce, while that of others contained few concrete clues about the history of the island. Ancient historians have long noted that most available sources relate to Minos and his entourage, to stories of the birth of Zeus on the island and to mythological beings such as the Kouretes (Poland 1932; Finley 1968: 7–10). Even formal treatises by Plato and Aristotle on Crete’s Classical sociopolitical institutions refer to the island’s past by associating them with ‘the laws of Minos’ (Plato, Laws 1.624; Aristotle, Politics 2.1271b; see also Van Effenterre 1948: 72–78; Huxley 1971: 506–507). There is no evidence that Cretan cities participated in any of the greater Greek military alliances of the Classical or later periods (Kirsten 1942: 6–7, 10–27). According to Herodotus (7.169–70), the Cretans declined to join the Greek troops against the Persians because, in past times, they had received no Greek support when they embarked on a (disastrous) expedition to avenge the death of Minos in Sicily. In brief, Crete in the historical period came to the fore chiefly as a repository of ancient cults and customs, but as a relative bystander with no contemporary history to speak of. Hence, as long as archaeology retained a textual and art-historical bias, the island remained of only marginal importance to students of the Classical Greek world.
More recently, there is less reason to begin an essay on early Iron Age (EIA) Crete with what has become an almost customary lament on this state of prolonged scholarly disinterest. The last three decades have seen a significant rise in fieldwork, symposia and specialist studies. This has come with the more general change, during the 1970s, in the appreciation of the period between ca. 1200–800 BC. In a series of now-classic publications, Snodgrass (1971), Desborough (1972) and Coldstream (1977) redefined what was considered as an uninteresting ‘Dark Age’ devoid of art and script as a formative era that held the key to understanding the origins of the Classical poleis and culture. For all the new paths opened by these studies, the importance of the EIA period was largely phrased in terms of its direct relationship with and contribution to Classical Greece. This left Crete, and its noted lack of rapport with the Classical world, in an ambiguous position. While modern scholars acknowledged the importance and dynamics of EIA regionalism (Morris 2000: 97–98), the history and culture of Crete were considered as too different for the island to be incorporated in general studies of the EIA Aegean (e.g. Osborne 1996: 28; Morris 1998: 12; Lemos 2002: 2). Two major idiosyncrasies have been recognised in particular: the relatively strong continuity of ‘Minoan’ traditions, and the early and pronounced Orientalising qualities of the island’s material culture (Prent 2005: 2–4, 11).
The idea that EIA Crete’s history and culture developed along peculiar lines informs – perhaps even justifies – much current scholarship, including the present contribution. Clearly, the differences matter, but in order to bring them out in sharp relief, study of the island’s connections and correspondences with other regions in the wider Mediterranean world is vital. Crete shared in many supra-regional changes, even if pace and degree may have varied. As elsewhere, the end of the LBA is marked by radical shifts in settlement location and configuration, in economy and exchange networks; on Crete, this is indicated by a widespread desertion of coastal areas and the foundation of new settlements at more defensible (though often highly visible) locations, usually in the mountainous hinterland (Haggis 1993; Nowicki 2000). Innovations of the period, pointing to overseas connections, include the adoption of iron technology, the use of cremation as a burial rite and the introduction of new types of weapons and personal ornaments such as the fibula. From the tenth century BC onward, and culminating in the eighth century BC, general developments entail population growth, a rise in material standards, increasing inter-regional contact, the reappearance of writing and specialist skills (especially in metalworking) and a progressive articulation of elite groups with aristocratic lifestyles (further details in Prent 2005: 109–26, 211–44). The specifics of these broad correspondences and the nature of the connections, however, remain understudied. Some of the most vexing questions (as underlined by Renfrew 1996: 11–12) concern the transformation of LBA Crete into a predominantly (Doric) Greek-speaking region in the historical period, organised in poleis with institutions that parallel those of other Greek poleis, most notably Sparta (Jeffery 1976: 190; Link 1994). By failing to address issues such as these, there is a risk of overemphasising Crete’s exceptionalism and insularity.
Taking as a point of departure the fact that EIA Crete, when compared with other Greek-speaking regions in the Aegean, shows broad correspondences in development as well as distinct idiosyncracies, the next step – taken in this study – is to look at the interplay of parallels and divergences in the sphere of ritual and ideology from ca. 1000 to 700 BC. This was a period of dynamic articulation and restructuring of social identities and relationships, both within and beyond the island. First, however, further discussion of how scholars see Cretan idiosyncrasies is warranted.
Cretan Idiosyncrasies
In general, the immediate effects of the disruptions in the closing stages of the LBA, which ended the palace-based societies of that time, are considered to have been less severe in Crete, with a correspondingly greater survival of LBA material traits and customs (e.g. Snodgrass 1971: 84, 107; Desborough 1972: 118). Crete after 1200 BC is known for the continued existence of sizeable – albeit nearly always newly founded – nucleated settlements and for the uninterrupted use of Bronze Age (BA) cave sanctuaries and other extra-urban cult places. Well-known examples are the Idaean cave high up in the Psiloritis Mountains and the open-air sanctuary of Syme on the southern slopes of the Lasithi range (Figure 38.1), which were both frequented from Middle Minoan into Roman times. Other signs of ‘continuity’ have been seen in the relatively frequent preservation of indigenous, non-Greek toponyms (Knossos, Amnisos, Tylisos, etc.), divine names (Diktynna, Britomartis and Paiawon) and epithets (Diktaios and Velchanos for Zeus), while in areas such as that around Praisos in east Crete, pre-Greek languages may have survived into historical times. LBA survivals have also been recognised in many facets of the island’s material culture during the EIA: in its pottery, in the continuously produced terracotta and bronze figurines and in house and tomb types (Prent 2005: 2–4 for refs.).
Figure 38.1. Map of Crete with sites mentioned in the text (prepared by Jaap Fokkema).
As stated poignantly by Sarah Morris (1992: 138), there have been distinct political and ideological reasons for stressing the idea that Crete’s EIA and later culture was characterised by the survival of ‘Minoan’ elements and customs. The wish to see Minoan Crete as ‘the starting point and the earliest stage in the highway of European civilisation’ (Evans 1921: 124), thereby tying the island into the grand narrative of the Classical origins of western civilisation, led to an image of undifferentiated and static ‘continuity’ from the BA into the historical periods (Prent 2005: 53–84). This does not render observations about the strength of Minoan traditions invalid, but begs the question as to why, how and by whom exactly these traditions would have been kept alive (Prent 2005: 7–11).
The distinct Orientalising qualities of Crete’s EIA culture have also long been noted. Snodgrass (1971: 340) bestowed upon the island the title of ‘senior Orientalising culture of the Aegean’, and many scholars have doubted that there ever was a complete break in contact with the eastern Mediterranean, particularly Cyprus, after the end of the LBA (Demargne 1947: 329–30; Desborough 1972: 128–29, 237–38; Coldstream 1977: 289; Morris 1997: 56–58). Near Eastern influence is seen most strongly in the island’s metalwork, especially in its decorated bronze shields (Figure 38.2) and vessels, in precious jewellery and ivory work. Some 125 such objects, together with unguent flasks and faience, have been identified as ninth–eighth-century BC imports by Hoffman (1997), while others appear to have been made locally, whether by itinerant craftsmen or in established workshops (Prent 2005: 233–35). Near Eastern influence can also be seen in some of Crete’s EIA pottery, most notably in the ‘Protogeometric-B’ style of ca. 840–810 BC. This eclectic style, unique to the island, used curvilinear patterns inspired by metalwork, textiles and ivories of Near Eastern origin alongside older LBA and Protogeometric motifs, with contemporary Geometric motifs of mainland Greek and Cycladic origin (Coldstream 1968: 235–39). Further evidence of sustained interaction is also seen in the fact that Crete was one of the first Greek-speaking regions to adopt the Phoenician script (Burkert 1992: 27–29).
Figure 38.2. Orientalising metalwork from the Idaean cave: bronze decorated shield, after Kunze (1931: Beilage 1), and tympanon, after Kunze (1931: pl. 49) (prepared by Bert Brouwenstijn).
Several modern scholars, eager to counter Eurocentric views and related notions of the uniqueness of Classical Greece, have stressed Greek indebtedness to the cultures of the Near East (e.g. Bernal 1987; Morris 1992). Unfortunately, as with the issue of ‘Minoan legacies’ in Crete, ‘Near Eastern’ influence has often been approached in general and chronologically imprecise terms (as noted by De Polignac 1992: 114–17; Morris 2003: 42). Of course, the listing of similarities in the form of objects, decorative motifs and customs is only the first step in understanding the mechanisms, as well as the social and cultural meaning of transference. Instead of applying a model of passive reception, it should therefore be assumed that the appreciation and reception of Near Eastern influence – just like the preservation of the local LBA heritage – was a selective and creative process. Results will have varied depending on the region, locality or social environment, as well as diachronically (Prent 2005: 11, 229). No less interesting, for Crete, the question may be asked how EIA receptiveness to the ‘Minoan’ legacy and the cultures of the Near East related to one another. These issues may be addressed by a closer look at what was happening in the context of religion and cult, some of the more ideologically laden spheres of society.
Ritual and Ideology in a Changing World: Ruins and Orientalia
Crete’s relatively rich and varied material record for the centuries after 1200 BC sets it apart from other regions in the Aegean and makes it possible to address questions of the kind posed above. As noted, the majority of twelfth–eleventh century BC settlements were newly founded, inland sites at prominent and defensible locations. Although they vary greatly in size, some may have housed 1000 inhabitants or more; Karphi, at a height of 1148 m in the northern Lasithi Mountains (Figure 38.3), is the best-known example (Pendlebury et al. 1937–38; Nowicki 2000: 238), but Kypia above Praisos in the far east of the island deserves mention as well (Whitley et al. 1999: 238–42). To maintain cohesion, these populations will have required some form of sociopolitical organisation, however fluid (Whitley 1991), and a sense of community or shared identity.
Figure 38.3. View of Karphi. Photograph by Mieke Prent.
In general, mountain communities such as these, coalescing at a time of widespread disruption and displacement in the eastern and central Mediterranean, may have been more prone to keep older traditions alive (Prent 2005: 121–24). This is expressed most visibly by the recurrent presence at these sites of so-called ‘bench sanctuaries’, whose central and free-standing position indicates a function of community sanctuary. They have close LBA and earlier architectural precursors in Crete and contain cult equipment that preserves LBA religious iconography. Most notable are the 0.55–0.85 m tall terracotta figures of ‘goddesses with upraised arms’, whose tiaras are adorned with birds, snakes, ‘horns of consecration’ and other well-known Minoan cult symbols; similarly, the accompanying ‘snake tubes’, stands for offering bowls, are a direct continuation of LBA types (Figure 38.4) (Gesell 1985: 41, 52–53, 178; Prent 2005: 174–91). This is not to characterise religion and cult in such communities as static. Intimations of new cult forms may be detected archaeologically in various domestic shrines, but these still seem to have operated in the shadow of the bench sanctuaries (Prent 2007).
Figure 38.4. (a) and (b) Terracotta ‘goddesses with upraised arms’ from Karphi, drawn by Caroline Lamens, after Pendlebury et al. (1937–38: pl. 31); and (c) ‘snake-tube’ from Vronda, drawn by Bert Brouwenstijn, after Gesell (2004: fig. 7.8).
By contrast, there is no evidence for twelfth–eleventh century BC bench sanctuaries or for ‘goddesses with upraised arms’ from the areas of either Phaistos (D’Agata 2001: 347–48) or Knossos (Prent 2005: 197–98), situated in the more fertile and accessible hillside country of central Crete. Absence of evidence can hardly be considered as conclusive, but in the case of Knossos, the abandonment, around 1200 BC, of the ‘Shrine of the Double Axes’, a bench sanctuary on the premises of the palace, may strengthen the argument. This situation betrays differing attitudes towards LBA cult traditions in different regions of the island as part of a broader divergence in development. Significantly, Knossos and Phaistos, formerly the two most important Minoan palace centres, were also the only LBA sites that continued as major settlements until long after 1200 BC. Yet, this continuity in habitation can be deceptive when taken as an indication of stability. As best documented for Knossos, the period around 1200 BC witnessed distinct shifts in the use of settlement areas, burial grounds and individual tombs. Together with the appearance of new traits in domestic architecture and pottery, such shifts may well signal the influx of people from the Greek mainland: Mycenaean – and subsequently, perhaps in the eleventh century BC, also Doric Greek speakers (Hood and Smyth 1981: 14; Coldstream 1984: 317; Prent 2005: 110–11). For the area of Phaistos and neighbouring Agia Triada, an incursion of Mycenaeans has also been proposed (D’Agata 1999: 235–37; 2001). In other words, divisions and cultural differences, possibly with ethnic connotations, may have existed not only between different regions of Crete, but also at the local level, resulting in varying appreciation and different uses of LBA traditions. At Knossos, local divisions may be reflected by the inception in the twelfth century BC of a modest cult in the ‘Spring Chamber’, in the south part of the former palace. The votives from here preserve elements of LBA religious iconography. Possibly, this cult served a small section of the Knossian population that resided in the hills to the south (Prent 2005: 198–99).
The ensuing tenth century BC constitutes something of a watershed. Several twelfth–eleventh century BC defensible settlements were abandoned, often in favour of more accessible sites closer to major routes of communication (Prent 2005: 224–25). At this time, the traditional bench sanctuaries and their related cult assemblages, including the large goddess figures, disappear from the material record and give way to new kinds of sanctuaries and cults. These spring up in and around settlements and, in their variety, give expression to newly emerging social and political concerns – some of them enhancing cohesion of the community as a whole, others playing a role in defining the various constituent social groups (Prent 2005: ch. 4). Mediterranean wide, the tenth and especially the ninth centuries BC have been seen as a period of intensifying overseas exchange. A particularly active role has been assigned to ‘Phoenician’ seafarers from the southern Levant, with Cyprus, but also Crete, providing stepping stones to the central and western Mediterranean (Sherratt and Sherratt 1993: 364–65; Knapp 2008: 3). On Crete, signs of overseas contact with the eastern Mediterranean indeed increase in this period (see above). Tellingly, imports consist primarily of precious metalwork, ivories and unguent flasks, and are found in a select number of sanctuaries and tombs. This uneven distribution is consistent with exclusive appropriation (Hoffman 1997: 248) and the growing use of exotica in the forging of social identities.
During the same period of time, there was a change in local attitudes to vestiges of the BA past, as best exemplified by the inception of cult activities amid the ruins of monumental, BA structures, often those with palatial associations. The monumentality of these ruins must have provided a stark contrast to the modest, small-stone constructions of the EIA itself. To make them the focus or backdrop for cult activities suggests a deliberate choice, the more so since rituals predominantly took place in the open air. Seven examples of such cult places are known in Crete: Knossos, Amnisos, Tylisos, Phaistos, Agia Triada, Kommos and Palaikastro. Again, elite involvement may be suspected, as the votives nearly always include bronzes, while the presence of drinking equipment and animal bones point to the ceremonial consumption of wine and meat.
Interestingly enough, all but one of these ruin-based sanctuaries – Palaikastro in the far east of the island – are located in central Crete, precisely that region with the strongest indications for cultural discontinuity and the probable influx of Greek-speaking people in the period around 1200 BC. The present lack of evidence for any EIA or later sanctuaries at BA palatial sites in west Crete, another region with indications of a Mycenaean presence, may be simply due to the vagaries of archaeological investigation (on the steadily accumulating evidence for a BA palace at Chania, see Andreadaki-Vlazaki 2009).
Such transformations, enhanced by ethnic diversity, tend to make claims to authority and power more disputed and the need to seek legitimacy in precedent correspondingly more acute. Central Crete is also the region with the most evidence for overseas imports and receptivity to Orientalising influence. The following discussion thus concentrates on central Crete, beginning with the better-documented sanctuaries in the territories of the former Minoan palaces of Knossos and Phaistos. Of the central Cretan sites, too little is known about Tylisos to be included here. This site, which displays certain parallels with Agia Triada, and for Palaikastro, is located in a region with a historical and cultural development very different from that of central Crete (Prent 2003). As will become clear, some of these sites may have played a crucial role in establishing and structuring contact with people from overseas, and are thus of twofold importance for the questions raised here.
Cult Amidst Ruins
Sites with evidence for the execution of rituals at abandoned LBA monuments display marked variation in location and settlement history. The inland sites of Knossos and Phaistos had been the seats of the two most important Minoan palaces and are exceptional in that they continued to be inhabited after the end of the LBA. Agia Triada is also situated inland and may have had administrative functions, but was no longer settled after 1200 BC. Amnisos and Kommos had been thriving LBA harbour towns, but they shared in the widespread desertion of coastal areas around 1200 BC. As will become apparent below, the EIA sanctuaries that sprung up amidst LBA ruins also differ in their exact periods of use and in the votive types represented. Such variations illustrate the potentially diverse motivations behind the rituals, which seem to have blended religious or spiritual considerations with the economic, social, political and ideological. Even so, these sanctuaries may be considered as part of one and the same phenomenon – that of a renewed interest in a ‘heroic’ or celebrated past.
Obviously, such an interest in the past was not unique to Crete. On the Greek mainland, sanctuaries at former LBA palaces are also attested, as with those on the Acropolis in Athens, and at Mycenae and Tiryns. Even so, the phenomenon is exemplified mostly by the rise in popularity of the Homeric epics, the parallel creation of a ‘heroic’ figurative art and the evidence for worship at BA tombs, whether directed at ancestors, ‘heroes’ or other legendary beings from the past, such as the ‘Silver Race’ mentioned by Hesiod (Morris 1988; Antonaccio 1995). These phenomena are hardly or not at all attested on EIA Crete.
To begin with Knossos, it was in the southwest of the palace’s Central Court, close to the original paving, that Evans found a deposit of Protogeometric to Hellenistic drinking cups, a Geometric krater, some terracotta figurines (one of them perhaps an attachment of a clay cauldron) and a silver Aeginetan coin (Coldstream 2000: 284–88). The drinking equipment and an (undated) concentration of ash and animal bone may indicate ceremonial dining (Prent 2003: 83). With evidence for EIA structures lacking, ritual activities seem to have taken place in the open air, at the heart of the ruined palace. That impressive parts of the palatial structures were then still visible is borne out by Evans’s discovery of fragments of the well-known Minoan bull fresco in the Northern Entrance Passage, which had fallen at a level associated with Geometric sherds, one m above the LBA strata (Evans 1930: 171).
In the case of EIA Knossos, it is hard to imagine that a memory of the special character of the palace, echoed in literary sources about king Minos from Homer on, would not have been preserved. Some scholars, noting how the EIA settlement extended all the way to the limits of the palace but not over it, have proposed the conscious avoidance of the area for purposes of habitation (Evans 1928: 7; Coldstream 2000: 296–98). Evans interpreted this as a clear sign of the survival of the sacred character of the palace – as a ‘Central Sanctuary of the Minoan Goddess’ – through the ages. Unfortunately, there are no preserved epigraphic or literary sources of Cretan origin giving specifics about local memories and stories surrounding the palace at Knossos (or, for that matter, any of the other palaces).
Just as modern scholars disagree on the exact nature of the functions of these central complexes in the LBA, placing different emphases on economic, administrative, ceremonial, religious and residential activities, these ancient memories and stories will, of course, have been selective and diverse. Nonetheless, two aspects seem particularly likely to have encouraged cult activities: the previous religious and cultic functions of the palaces, as stressed by Evans, and the connection with rulers of such legendary proportions as Minos, who may have been venerated as ancestral hero. According to Diogenes Laertius (I.112), a poem 4000 lines long, called On Minos and Rhadamanthys, had been composed by the Knossian diviner Epimenides, presumably around 600 BC. Parallels from the Greek mainland suggest that divine and ancestral worship may have been combined in the same cult place. For the acropolis at Athens, which probably housed both a LBA palace and the later sanctuary for Athena, Homer mentions the joint worship of the legendary king Erechtheus and the goddess in her temple, while she was said to have been a visitor to his palace in earlier times (Iliad 2.547; Odyssey 7.80). For Knossos, myths that make Zeus the father of Minos and the one who gave him the laws to rule his people are considerably less specific, but raise the possibility at least that worshippers at the former palace experienced – and claimed – connections with both the world of the greater gods and powerful rulers of the past.
While the votive deposit from the Central Court at Knossos is admittedly poor, further insights into the motives and social standing of the worshippers are provided by Coldstream’s detailed analysis of the North Cemetery (Coldstream 1988; Coldstream and Catling 1996), which from 1100 BC formed the primary burial ground of Knossos. Coldstream has traced changes in mortuary practices that point to developing aristocratic concerns and affiliations. During the course of the tenth century BC, elite funerary customs became more uniform, with a growing preference for (the relatively new rite of) cremation in rock-cut chamber tombs. The appearance in these tombs of otherwise rare Attic drinking sets has been explained as the product of guest friendships and gift exchange with leading individuals elsewhere in the Aegean. With these sets, the custom of funerary meals or symposia may have been introduced to Crete (Coldstream and Catling 1996: 715–17). In this context, it is important to stress the parallel with drinking equipment from the Central Court, as this suggests the involvement in ritual activities there of an emerging (probably male) elite (Prent 2005: 516–18).
Subsequent changes in mortuary practices in the North Cemetery took place in the second half of the ninth century BC, with the appearance of exceptionally large chamber tombs, which remained in use for several generations and which were among the richest in the cemetery. They are so similar in form to LBA chamber tombs that modern scholars have difficulty deciding if these are older tombs cleared out or extremely close imitations. Either way, as argued by Coldstream (1988), a conscious effort on the part of leading Knossian families to associate themselves with the local LBA past is implied. These families also adopted new types of urns that seem to reference the past. Their straight-sided form probably imitated that of LBA pyxides, while their decoration is in the new Protogeometric-B style (Figure 38.5). As noted above, this style was partially inspired by LBA motifs, as is apparent, for example, in the reappearance of the bird-and-tree and female figures. In contrast, contemporary, more modest cremations were placed in coarse pithoi or belly-shaped urns decorated in the older Protogeometric style (Coldstream 1988).
Coldstream’s reconstruction of tenth- and ninth-century trends in burial customs at Knossos suggests the rise of an elite which, at least from the Protogeometric period, sought an active link with the past and, with this aim in mind, engaged in specific forms of reuse and imitation of LBA tombs and pottery. This roughly coincided with the inception of ritual activities at the former palace. The association with and appropriation of an illustrious and revered past, both at the main cemetery and at the Central Court of the LBA palace, will have served as useful tools for those aspiring to social distinction and a position of leadership.
Similar motivations may be suspected at Amnisos, situated on the coast northeast of Knossos. Both Linear B tablets from the LBA palace at Knossos and a passage in the Odyssey (19.188) that mentions the site as a windy harbour suggest that Amnisos belonged to the territory of Knossos (Hiller 1992: 46–49). Excavations at Amnisos have revealed part of a wealthy LBA settlement, abandoned shortly after 1200 BC, and of a sanctuary that was used from the ninth century BC onwards. An imposing BA ashlar wall, more than 44 m long and undoubtedly part of a building of palatial or public character, must have remained visible for centuries after its abandonment (Figure 38.6). A black and ashy layer 0.70 m thick, with votives from the ninth to the seventh centuries BC, had accumulated against it. The votives included fragments of precious bronze bowls and tripods and bronze figurines; the terracotta drinking cups, kraters, amphorae, storage vessels and animal bones probably constitute the remnants of ceremonial dining (Prent 2005: 332–36, for further refs). The location on the coast makes the EIA cult place here a good candidate for a border sanctuary as defined by De Polignac (1995). In this case, cult would have been instigated from Knossos, probably to justify claims to the surrounding arable land as well as to the harbour, with reference to ancient and divinely sanctified rights.
Figure 38.6. Reused Bronze Age ashlar wall in early Iron Age sanctuary at Amnisos. Photograph by Mieke Prent.
Such claims may be illustrated more clearly in south-central Crete, where three sanctuaries at LBA ruins were located in close proximity to one another: at Phaistos, Agia Triada and Kommos in the western part of the fertile Mesara plain. For most of the LBA, Agia Triada and Phaistos, only 3 km apart, are considered to have belonged to the same administrative unit, while a BA road, part of which has been traced at Kommos, probably connected the latter with Phaistos, some two hours distant (La Rosa 1985). The three sites probably continued to have a special relationship after 1200 BC, although the character of each then had clearly changed. An analysis of the later interrelationships and interconnections also sheds light on the reasons behind the installation of different cults during the EIA (D’Agata 1999: 236–39).
Phaistos, like Knossos, had been the seat of an important LBA palace and settlement that continued to be inhabited through the EIA and later. A ninth–seventh century BC votive deposit, found below the floor of a late seventh-century BC cult building (Pernier 1907: 262–64), attests to religious activities on a terrace below the southwest corner of the former palace. The early excavators of Phaistos, in contrast to Evans, saw no meaning for the LBA ruins other than as a source of ashlar blocks (Pernier and Banti 1951: 14). Nevertheless, it hardly seems accidental that the EIA cult place was located at the foot of two, approximately 4 m high monumental walls that had sustained this part of the palace. These walls must have formed an impressive backdrop for the EIA cult, which until the late seventh century BC seems to have taken place in the open air. The character of the votives, consisting of precious bronze shields and bowls, leaves little doubt as to the wealth of the votaries.
The second site in the western Mesara, Agia Triada, constitutes a special case because it had already attracted cult activities during the twelfth and eleventh centuries BC. Unlike those at the other sites, these activities must have begun soon after the LBA inhabitants had left, probably to join the larger community at Phaistos (D’Agata 1999: 236–37). Cult activities in this period concentrated on the LBA paved court. Large terracotta bovine and other animal figures, as well as ‘horns of consecration’, dominated the votive deposit here. Banti (1941–43), who first published this votive deposit, proposed that cult was aimed at promoting the fertility of land and livestock. Part of the reasons for the use of Agia Triada as a sanctuary directly after its abandonment as a settlement thus may have been to lay territorial claims to the fertile valley to the north. Whether this was done with an oblique reference to the BA past, however, is uncertain. None of the abandoned ashlar buildings seem to have been actively reused or incorporated in these cult activities.
This situation changed with the Protogeometric-B period, when a new cult was established more than 150 years after the twelfth–eleventh-century BC one was discontinued. After detailed restudy of the old excavation material, D’Agata (1998; 1999: 241–48) observed significant differences between the two cults, which may well illustrate the crystallisation of aristocratic concerns during the intermediate period of abandonment. From around 840 BC to the early seventh century BC, the LBA ashlar Stoa, just north of the paved court, became one of two distinct foci for the dedication of votive offerings. While none were found inside this monumental building, many objects, as at Amnisos, had been deposited against its northern façade and on the staircase to the east. A second concentration came from the court itself (D’Agata 1998: 19–24). Because many votives consist of bronze and terracotta animal figurines, something of the earlier agricultural interest may have remained.
A second concern, however, specific to this period, seems directed more at social definition and carries with it certain martial and aristocratic connotations. Votives from this period include numerous anthropomorphic figurines in terracotta and 12 in bronze; of the latter, six are of males, including a warrior. In addition, there are miniature terracotta shields and small bronze and clay wheels, which presumably belonged to model chariots. Both D’Agata (1998: 23–24) and Lebessi (1991: 108–10) see similarities between this votive deposit and those at sanctuaries where initiation rituals for young male citizens took place, such as Artemis Orthia at Sparta and Syme on Crete itself. Situating such rites near the visible remains of the past will have made initiants acutely aware of local traditions and histories, perhaps even instilling a feeling of being privileged heirs of the community’s impressive heritage. As at Knossos, the Protogeometric-B period is one of the most tangible expression of links with the past.
The gap in cult activities at Agia Triada, curious at first glance, has been convincingly explained by D’Agata (1997: 99; 1999: 239–42) as representing a reorientation of the interests on the part of Phaistos, the largest EIA settlement in the region. Just when cult at Agia Triada was interrupted around 1000 BC, a new sanctuary was established at the deserted harbour town of Kommos. This was situated among the monumental ashlar ruins of LBA Complex P/T, for which the excavators have proposed a palatial or public function. The first, small cult building, Temple A, actually incorporated a section of the massive wall of Building T, while some of the ashlar walls of neighbouring Building P still stood ceiling-high (Shaw and Shaw 2000: 8–16). The presence of large terracotta bovine figures, of the kind previously dedicated at Agia Triada, may indicate that some of the earlier concerns with the fertility of land and livestock were transferred to this site. The restitution of old harbour facilities, however, must have taken precedence, as the exemplary modern excavations have been able to establish here in much more detail than the incomplete, pre-WWII excavations at Amnisos. Fragments of Phoenician storage jars, faience figurines and vessels from the late tenth to the mid-eighth centuries BC provide evidence for overseas contact. Most significantly, the second cult building at the site, Temple B, erected around 800 BC, contained a so-called tri-pillar shrine of characteristic Phoenician form (Shaw 1989). This indicates significant foreign involvement soon after the institution of cult, and a realistic possibility of the exchange of religious practices, ideas and beliefs (Burkert 1992: 20–21). Cretan involvement is indicated by an uninterrupted series of locally made votives from ca. 1000–600 BC. These consist of objects whose precious nature and iconography once more point to the active involvement of an elite, such as miniature and life-size weaponry (including some bronze shields, one of them stuck behind the upright stones of the tri-pillar shrine around 760 BC), large terracotta horse figures and small ones in terracotta and bronze. The animal bones, seashells, drinking vessels and plates are indicative of repeated ceremonial dining (Shaw and Shaw 2000: 691). From the later eighth century BC, imports point to contacts with east Greece, the Aegean islands, various regions on the Greek mainland and Egypt (Shaw and Shaw 2000: 31–35).
While none of this negates the feelings of sincere piety cult participants may have felt towards the vestiges of what could have been perceived as the ancient abodes of long-venerated deities or heroic ancestors (or, as at Athens, of both), the ritual activities at these sites also suggest certain worldly, pragmatic considerations. While some sanctuaries may have come to be seen as territorial markers for the community, the early stages of these cults seem to betray, above all, the involvement and concern of elite groups that were in the process of developing discrete social identities and lifestyles, here claiming a special relationship with the world of gods and ancestors. The return to old and venerated harbour towns such as Kommos and Amnisos added another element: that of privileged access to contact with people from overseas at a time when long-distance travelling would have been relatively risky, expensive and far from common. Religious festivals generally offer opportunities for exchange and trade, but as De Polignac (1992: 122–25) noted, if contact is structured around such occasions, it may be restricted to specific places and people. Whether intended or not, the existence of ‘international sanctuaries’ such as Kommos may then exert a regulating effect on still intermittent contact with people from far distant places. As a result, foreign contacts, the possession of foreign artefacts and familiarity with foreign ritual practices and beliefs could be co-opted by and become the prerogative of elite groups.
Elites, Exotica and the Past
Kommos offers an example of how sanctuaries may become places of mediation, not only with the supernatural but with travellers and traders from faraway, foreign worlds. Such an interpretation reflects the recent adoption by archaeologists of the anthropological models of Appadurai (1986) and Helms (1988; 1992). These models consider the acquisition of foreign, exotic objects and knowledge as an active ingredient in the practice of social differentiation. Travelling to geographically distant regions extends the intellectual and experiential horizons of those involved, imbuing them with esoteric knowledge and, potentially, transforming them into ‘exceptional persons’ or ‘men of influence’ (Helms 1992: 159–61).
At the same time, the example of Kommos, which points to recurrent visits to the island by Phoenician seafarers from at least the late tenth century BC, signals an initial, subtle shift in mode of contact and therefore perhaps also in the meaning ascribed to Orientalia by local Cretan communities. To explore this, a comparison of the kinds of overseas contact in the two centuries before and the two after the tenth century BC is attempted.
As mentioned above, even after the demise of the LBA palaces around 1200 BC, Crete had never been entirely cut off from long-distance contacts, most notably those with Cyprus. Similarities have been noted, for instance, in the twelfth-century BC pottery from the two islands (Desborough 1972: 49–63). Evidence for imports at sanctuaries and settlements on Crete is still relatively rare. One exception is the bronze Reshep figurine, probably from the cave sanctuary at Patsos, in west-central Crete, dated to the eleventh century BC on stylistic grounds (Hoffman 1997: 24–25). The settlement of Karphi has yielded a Cypriot-type bronze pendant and a bronze fibula and knives from Italy or Sicily. The fact that copper must have been imported indicates equally distant connections, with Cyprus or Sardinia (Hoffman 1997: 118; Crielaard 1998: 197).
More detailed information can be gleaned from funerary contexts of this period. On Crete, seven exceptionally rich tombs from the twelfth–eleventh centuries BC are known: one at Pantanassa, close to Patsos in west-central Crete, two in the North Cemetery at Knossos and, farther east, two from Mouliana and one each from Milatos and Praisos (Kanta 2003: 180–82). The prevalence in these tombs of the newly introduced – and still exclusive – rite of cremation and the associated grave goods show distinct similarities with rich tombs elsewhere in the Aegean, notably with Tomb XXVIII at Tiryns and the Toumba building at Lefkandi, and with a large group of tombs on Cyprus (at Salamis, Lapithos Kastros, Kourion Kaloriziki, Palaepaphos Skales and Amathus) (Catling 1995: 125–26). Common grave goods include bronze swords, whetstones, shields, unusual iron knives and dagger/dirks, gold and sometimes ivory, (bronze) dining equipment in the form of amphoroid kraters, bowls, tripod-stands and obeloi (‘spits’), and occasionally ‘antiques’ such as a Babylonian gold pendant at Lefkandi and a boars tusks’ helmet at Knossos.
Crielaard (1998) explains the wide distribution of these exceptional tombs as a result of the personal dealings of a select few with like-minded people overseas. With Cypriotes in a leading role, an ‘international’ lifestyle was fashioned which shows a strong focus on martiality and feasting. According to Crielaard, long-distance contact in this period took the form of ‘interlocking aristocratic networks’, based on personal relationships in the more immediate regions and indirect connections beyond that. The result was a chain of networks, reaching from the Near East to Sardinia and beyond, and constituting spheres of interaction rather than fixed trade routes (Crielaard 1998: 194). These ideas prefigured more recent models which, following Horden and Purcell (2000), emphasise the connectedness of the Mediterranean through dynamic and non-hierarchical forms of mobility and exchange (Morris 2003: 40).
As to twelfth–eleventh-century Cretan exploits overseas, an image of individual or loosely organised seafarers, men-at-arms and adventurers seems best to fit the bill. Perhaps more so than on Cyprus, where elites may have dominated their own local exchange networks and engaged in intense elite competition (Crielaard 1998: 188, 191, 194; but cf. Knapp 2008: 292–97, 345–46), sociopolitical organisation on Crete probably was fluid and variable (Whitley 1991; Prent 2005: 119). Evidence for established or hereditary leadership in this period is slender: rather than indicating use as family tombs, Catling (1995: 125–26) has explained some inhumations accompanying the cremations in rich Cretan tombs as evidence for human sacrifice. Only the two eleventh-century BC burials at Knossos constitute so-called ‘master’ or first graves in their cemetery (Catling 1995: 125), suggesting that their occupants came to be seen as founding members of the community. Apparently, their overseas ventures had not only been successful in terms of acquiring wealth, but their foreign experiences had been translated into social status, thus making them into true ‘men of influence’.
Throughout the tenth century BC and later, these ‘interlocking elite networks’ continued to underpin aristocratic aspirations and lifestyles (Crielaard 1998: 199) and also seem to have kept their appeal for Cretans. The numerous Attic drinking vessels in the richer Protogeometric tombs at Knossos are of shapes that were hardly exported elsewhere and are therefore interpreted as the products of gift exchange with leading Attic families (Coldstream and Catling 1996: 715–17). From the following periods, into the late eighth and early seventh centuries BC, there are rich cremation burials at Knossos, Prinias and Eleutherna. Like a series of contemporary rich tombs elsewhere in the Mediterranean, these were provided with chariots, horses, weaponry, precious bronzes, jewellery and furniture, elaborate drinking equipment and obeloi, reflecting ‘heroic’ burial customs (including human sacrifice) of the kind described in the Homeric epics (Crielaard 1998: 199; Karageorghis 2003).
At the same time, the intensification in Mediterranean exchange noted for the tenth and especially ninth centuries BC brought with it different modes of contact. The development of more fixed routes, leading from Cyprus to the Anatolian coast and the Aegean, and from Cyprus via Crete to the western Mediterranean, is significant, as it promoted more regular and direct transactions (Sherratt and Sherratt 1993: 364; Crielaard 1998: 199). The scarcity of Cretan pottery abroad and the island’s virtual absence in the ensuing colonising ‘movement’ has led to the suggestion that Cretans made little active use of these fixed routes (Coldstream 1977: 288–90). From the later tenth century BC, however, Crete began to serve as a staging post, with Kommos as a concrete example. This may have brought foreign visitors considerably closer to home and contributed to increasing the number and variety of foreign imports on Crete.
The later tenth and especially ninth centuries BC also show another significant development with which foreigners may have been connected: that of the increased local production of ‘Orientalia’ (Prent 2005: 233). Although the archaeological evidence for immigrant craftsmen on Crete has recently come under scrutiny (Hoffman 1997: 153–245), Crete possesses relatively convincing evidence for the permanent settlement of craftsmen from the Near East. This was first suspected because of the coherent class of Cretan bronze shields, produced from the later ninth into the seventh century BC. These are executed in a marked Assyrianising style, but with enough Cretan iconographic peculiarities to suggest that local workshops were established under the guidance of Oriental masters (Prent 2005: 233, 372 with further refs). It is of interest that funerary evidence linked to Near Eastern immigrants implies their relatively high status. Boardman (1980: 56–57) has interpreted a hoard of Orientalising jewellery and unworked gold, buried in two Protogeometric-B pots near the threshold of Teke Tomb 2 at Knossos, as belonging to a Near Eastern goldsmith (see Kotsonas 2006, however, for a more sophisticated interpretation). At Eleutherna, three Phoenician-type cippi (grave markers) probably belonged to a late eighth-century BC burial enclosure within the wealthy cemetery at Orthi Petra (Stampolides 2003: 221–24). Lastly, there is a group of eighth–seventh-century BC cremation burials in Aphrates that have their closest parallels at Karkemish in Syria (Boardman 1980: 60).
In addition to the Cretan shields, there is an impressive array of other Oriental and Orientalising objects from the island. These include bronze rod-tripods and four-sided stands, lotiform (lotus bud- or flower-shaped) jugs, lotus-handle and relief bowls (technically and stylistically related to the Cretan shields), gold jewellery and ivory. In nearly all cases, there is ongoing debate about the question of which objects were imported (and if so, from where and when), and which were locally made (and if so, whether this was done by immigrants or local craftsmen). Well-known examples are the rod-tripods and four-sided stands: the LBA Cypriot origin of these types is undisputed, but their presence in Cretan contexts from the tenth century BC on has been explained, on the one hand, by Catling (1984) as proof of the lasting circulation of much-valued antiques, and on the other, by Matthäus (1988), as indicating independent Cretan workshops (Hoffman 1997: 116–20; Prent 2005: 377–78, with full refs). For the lotus-handle bowls (tenth–seventh centuries BC) and relief bowls (ca. 750–675 BC), there is agreement that several were imported, but scholars are divided on their exact number in relation to Cretan-made examples (Hoffman 1997: 125–35). The same applies to the many ivory objects (Hoffman 1997: 156–60). According to Hoffman (1997: 38), faience beads, which are relatively frequent in Cretan contexts from 1100–700 BC, could equally well be Minoan survivals, local EIA products or Near Eastern imports. Moreover, modern scholars have found it nearly impossible to decide whether representations in Crete of, for example, the Potnia Theron (Mistress of Animals), which occur both in the BA and the EIA, represent an instance of continuity or re-importation from the Near East (Burkert 1992: 19 n. 22; Boardman 1980: 78).
While modern scholars increasingly opt for significant local production (e.g. Markoe 2003), it is most interesting in this context that the differences between Near Eastern originals, whether dating from the LBA or EIA, and Cretan EIA imitations are so hard to discern. The question then arises if making this distinction would have been any easier for EIA Cretans and, indeed, whether it mattered to them at all. One reason why modern attempts to determine the origins, period and manner of transmission are complicated is because contact and influence between the Aegean and Near East had already been intensive during the Middle and LBA (e.g. Demargne 1947: 294; Morris 1997: 56–58). This, of course, raises another question: if we are to consider the Mediterranean as ‘an entangled web of people, things, skills and ideas’, or ‘Orientalising’ as a inseparable dimension of Aegean culture (Riva and Vella 2006: 2, 11), to what extent were Oriental or Orientalising objects then seen as truly foreign? A few modern scholars opt for the wholesale abandonment of the concept of ‘Orientalisation’, as ‘the Orient’ would be no more than the figment of modern Western imagination (e.g. Purcell 2006). This approach has been rightly criticised (e.g. Osborne 2006: 155), and alternative proposals to distinguish between ‘a conscious desire for and emulation of things East’ and a ‘“detached” form of Orientalising without intention’ seem more fruitful (Riva and Vella 2006: 11–12).
Conclusions
Perhaps it is time to return to Helms (1992: 158–59), who followed her statement that ‘ethnographic and ethnohistoric data from all types of cultures clearly indicate that geographical distance carries cosmological connotations that correlate geographical distance with supernatural distance’ with the observation that distance may also carry a temporal dimension ‘…such that distant lands may be associated with ancestral or cosmic origins’. This preserves the notion that access to foreign, exotic goods and knowledge bore with it prestige, and leaves open the possibility of a ‘detached form of Orientalising’ – in the case of EIA Crete, one in which more general associations with the supernatural and/or ancestral origins were (or gradually became) more important.
The grave gifts of the twelfth–eleventh century BC elite tombs already tell a mixed story: while there is a strong Cypriot and therefore perhaps ‘consciously Orientalising’ component, there are also objects of central Mediterranean origin and an important presence of antiques – some of them with eastern pedigrees, but others, such as the boars tusks’ helmet and gold death masks, not. While this is not to deny that Oriental associations played a role, the symbolic connotations of these assemblages with a heroic past may have been equally strong.
For (late) tenth–eighth century BC Crete, three observations are relevant to the interpretation of the uses and meaning of ‘Orientalia’. These observations in fact lessen the possibility that such objects primarily refer to the East as a (contemporary) foreign country: the island’s growing function as staging post, which brought Cretans in more regular and direct contact with foreigners than during the previous two centuries; the production of ‘Orientalia’ by locally based craftsmen (of whatever stock); and the distinct possibility that differences between Oriental imports and local imitations, and between LBA and contemporary ‘Orientalising’ motifs, were largely imperceptible.
This does not mean that ‘Orientalising’ objects lost either their exclusive or their exotic character. Until the seventh century BC, there is no sign of the application of Orientalising styles to less precious objects, such as bronze pins (Prent 2005: 397). The Cretan shields, moreover, retained their distinct Assyrianising style for a period of 150 years or more (Coldstream 1977: 287–88), suggesting a definite intention to the style. These shields, of which the vast majority was found in the age-old cave sanctuary at Ida, may have been made specifically as votives, and their iconography may provide insights into the symbolism of Oriental idioms. Several shields have extended figurative scenes that show heavily armed warriors, some of which have been interpreted as Kouretes, the mythical Cretan warriors that protected the infant Zeus. Others, less specific, include heavily armed men hunting lions; here the frequent inclusion of sphinxes, exotic plants and an occasional Potnia Theron also seems to imply a supernatural setting, very different from the ‘heroic scenes’ in mainland Greek art (Prent 2005: 371–72).
For EIA Cretans, stories of the birth of Zeus, the supreme god and the father of king Minos, will have been part of their history. It is here that Cretan elite use of ‘Orientalia’ and interest in the past, as also expressed by worshipping at ancient sanctuaries and at the ruined abodes of old and venerated kings, may come together. It is tempting to suggest that, for EIA Cretans, ‘Orientalising’ objects and styles referred to an illustrious and exotic past, when gods still conversed with kings. But if the past was an exotic realm, it was still one that provided upcoming ‘men of influence’ and aristocrats with a powerful instrument of social distinction. This gave them all the more reason to restrict contact with foreigners to specific sanctuaries and to incorporate immigrant metalworkers as part of the elite.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the editors of this volume for the opportunity to contribute and for their patience and stamina. Thanks are due to Stuart MacVeagh Thorne for reading the text and checking the English. I am also grateful to Jaap Fokkema for producing the map of Crete and to Bert Brouwenstijn for preparing the other illustrations.
References
Classical authors
Aristotle, Politics.
Diogenes Laertius, On Minos and Rhadamanthys.
Herodotus, Histories.
Homer, Iliad.
Homer, Odyssey.
Plato, Laws.