User:UndercoverClassicist/Mycenaean religion

Mycenaean religion

Beliefs

There is very little evidence for the earliest phases of Mycenaean religion; almost no material can be securely connected to religious practices earlier than the Late Bronze Age.

Places of worship

Foundations of the megaron at Mycenae: the hearth is visible in the foreground.

Mycenaean religious sites existed both within and outside palatial centres; some included buildings, while others did not. They are generally identified by the presence of Mycenaean figurines, including humanoid and animal-shaped terracotta figures; other cultic objects, such as tripods and rhyta; objects likely to have been left as offerings, such as valuable or exotic artefacts; eating and drinking vessels; and burnt animal bones likely to be connected with sacrifice. Broadly, Mycenaean religious sites divide into the central hearth-rooms (megara) of palaces, shrine buildings, and open-air sites, though other categories, such as peak sanctuaries and cave-based cults, have also been proposed.

Cult buildings are known from the citadels of Mycenae and Tiryns, and from non-palatial settlements such as Ayios Konstantinos on the Methana Peninsula in the Peloponnese, Phylakopi on Melos and Agia Eirini, Kea on Kea.

Vassilis Lambrinoudakis has argued that the Mycenaean remains near the later Sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas at Epidaurus in the Argolid represent a peak sanctuary, while Klaus Kilian has speculated that finds in the cave of Ayios Ilias near Tiryns could have been part of cultic practice.

Most cult buildings are relatively unelaborate; they have various architectural plans, are usually accessed indirectly, and often include a platform in the centre or against the back wall, which may have functioned as an altar.

Ritual activity is believed to have taken place in the central hall (megaron) of a Mycenaean palace, probably focused on the central hearth and conducted by the ruler or those closely connected to them.

Bibliography

• Pierattini, Alessandro (2022). The Origins of Greek Temple Architecture. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108583046. ISBN 978-1-108-60297-6.
• Schofield, Louise (2007). The Mycenaeans. New York: J. Paul Getty Museum. ISBN 978-0-89236-867-9.
• Wright, James C. (1994). "The Spatial Configuration of Belief: The Archaeology of Mycenaean Religion". In Alcock, Susan E.; Osborne, Robin (eds.). Placing the Gods: Sanctuaries and Sacred Space in Ancient Greece. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 37–78. ISBN 978-0-19-814947-7.