The Goddess in Crete

Author: Cheryl Straffon
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780951885994
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 146

Book Description
This book sets out to explore the ancient sites, the beautiful finds and the dramatic landscape of Minoan and later Crete. Although there are many published books and internet sites devoted to Crete and its ancient civilisation, this is a very special concise and detailed guide to all the archaeological sites, that shows exactly what is there, how to get to it, what finds were made, and where they can now be seen. It explores the pre-Minoan, Minoan and post-Minoan civilisation and culture of these Goddess-celebrating people, revealed in their artefacts, iconography, motifs, ideas, themes and finds. Crete is not simply an amazing land that consists of a large number of prehistoric ruins and a collection of fine objects to admire, but, as the book shows, the spirit of the Goddess that was so central to these people runs through the very fabric of the land itself, and is palpable today to anyone who visits the island with an open mind and an open heart. The book includes full details of sites, museums, directions and maps, and has over 160 colour photographs and illustrations. Nearly every individual site is pictured, as well as many of the finds. Carefully placed boxes of concise information are placed throughout the text, giving an insight into the world of the Minoan people, including their use of caves, palace-temple sites, domestic shrines, sacred mountains, peak sanctuaries and dwelling places. The meaning of many of their buildings, such as pillar crypts and lustral basins, is revealed, and the significance of their sacred objects, such as the kernos and the baetyl, is explored. In addition, the beautiful finds and frescos in the Museums are all profusely illustrated. This book is an indispensible guide to a great and unique civilisation who venerated and loved the Goddess throughout its lifetime.

Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess

Author: Nanno Marinatos
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252033922
Category : Minoans
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Book Description
An illustrated guide to Minoan images and symbols

Labrys and Horns

Author: Laura Perry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
In this newly revised and updated second edition of Labrys and Horns, you'll find the pantheon, rituals, symbols and practices of Modern Minoan Paganism. MMP is a revivalist tradition that connects the deities of ancient Crete with modern Pagans in a living spiritual practice. With a pantheon headed by a triplicity of mother goddesses who embody the three sacred realms of land, sky, and sea, MMP calls us to remember a time when women were valued as equals to men, when the Great Mothers took care of all their children, and when the sacred touched every person every day of their lives. Minoan spirituality is so relevant to our times, when we're doing our best to move forward and away from inequality and oppression. This book can help you build relationships with the Minoan gods and goddesses and bring their blessings into your life, and from there, into the larger world.

The Language of the Goddess

Author: Marija Gimbutas
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9780500014806
Category : Goddesses
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
The goddess is the most potent and persistent feature in the archaeological records of the ancient world. In this volume the author resurrects the world of goddess-worshipping, earth-centred cultures, bringing ancient matriarchal society to life.

Folk Tale, Fiction and Saga in the Homeric Epics

Author: Rhys Carpenter
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN:
Category : Folklore
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description

Sir Arthur Evans and Minoan Crete

Author: Nanno Marinatos
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857725165
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
Before Sir Arthur Evans, the principal object of Greek prehistoric archaeology was the reconstruction of history in relation to myth. European travellers to Greece viewed its picturesque ruins as the gateway to mythical times, while Heinrich Schliemann, at the end of the nineteenth century, allegedly uncovered at Troy and Mycenae the legendary cities of the Homeric epics. It was Evans who, in his controversial excavations at Knossos, steered Aegean archaeology away from Homer towards the broader Mediterranean world. Yet in so doing he is thought to have done his own inventing, recreating the Cretan Labyrinth via the Bronze Age myth of the Minotaur. Nanno Marinatos challenges the entrenched idea that Evans was nothing more than a flamboyant researcher who turned speculation into history. She argues that Evans was an excellent archaeologist, one who used scientific observation and classification. Evans's combination of anthropology, comparative religion and analysis of cultic artefacts enabled him to develop a bold new method which Sir James Frazer called 'mental anthropology'. It was this approach that led him to propose remarkable ideas about Minoan religion, theories that are now being vindicated as startling new evidence comes to light. Examining the frescoes from Akrotiri, on Santorini, that are gradually being restored, the author suggests that Evans's hypothesis of one unified goddess of nature is the best explanation of what they signify. Evans was in 1901 ahead of his time in viewing comparable Minoan scenes as a blend of ritual action and mythic imagination. Nanno Marinatos is a leading authority on Minoan religion. In this latest book she combines history, archaeology and myth to bold and original effect, offering a wholly new appraisal of Evans and the significance of his work. Sir Arthur Evans and Minoan Crete will be essential reading for all students of Minoan civilization, as well as an irresistible companion for travellers to Crete.

Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism

Author: Cathy Gere
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226289559
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
In the spring of 1900, British archaeologist Arthur Evans began to excavate the palace of Knossos on Crete, bringing ancient Greek legends to life just as a new century dawned amid far-reaching questions about human history, art, and culture. With Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism, Cathy Gere relates the fascinating story of Evans’s excavation and its long-term effects on Western culture. After the World War I left the Enlightenment dream in tatters, the lost paradise that Evans offered in the concrete labyrinth—pacifist and matriarchal, pagan and cosmic—seemed to offer a new way forward for writers, artists, and thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, James Joyce, Giorgio de Chirico, Robert Graves, and Hilda Doolittle. Assembling a brilliant, talented, and eccentric cast at a moment of tremendous intellectual vitality and wrenching change, Cathy Gere paints an unforgettable portrait of the age of concrete and the birth of modernism.

Voice of the Goddess

Author: Judith Hand
Publisher: Pacific Rim Press (CA)
ISBN: 9780930926267
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Book Description
Historical fiction. A saga of love and war in the setting of the Minoan Bronze Age civilization of ancient Crete.

Goddess and God in the World

Author: Carol P. Christ
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506401198
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 363

Book Description
In Goddess and God in the World, leading theologians Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow debate the nature of divinity, proposing a new method called embodied theology. They agree that the transcendent, omnipotent male God of traditional theology must be reimagined. Carol proposes that Goddess is the intelligent embodied love that is in all being. Judith counters that God is an impersonal power of creativity that includes both good and evil. Rooting their views in experience and questioning each other, they offer a fruitful model of theological conversation across difference.

Ariadne's Crown

Author: Meadoe Hora
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781693034497
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A legendary story. An impossible choice. As heir to the throne in ancient Crete, Ariadne feels like a poor substitute for her heroic brother. She's wild, where he was brave. Impulsive, where he was noble. Restless, where he was steady. Things get complicated when a handsome, arrogant warrior arrives with the tribute from Athens and makes claims that threaten the shaky peace between their kingdoms. Ariadne's torn. Theseus is the enemy, but she starts to think he might be right. When her world starts to unravel, Ariadne is caught between loyalties. Should she trust Theseus, betray her father and risk losing everything? Or does her path lie with the reckless new god, Dionysus? "This is perhaps one of the best and the most entertaining young adult/mythology/epic novels I have read so far this year." - Readers Favorite Review