List_of_Mycenaean_deities

List of Mycenaean deities

List of Mycenaean deities

List of Greek deities from the Mycenaean civilization


Many of the Greek deities are known from as early as Mycenaean (Late Bronze Age) civilization. This is an incomplete list of these deities[n 1] and of the way their names, epithets, or titles are spelled and attested in Mycenaean Greek, written in the Linear B[n 2] syllabary, along with some reconstructions and equivalent forms in later Greek.

Deities

Pantheon

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Gods

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Goddesses

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Heroes, mortals and other entities or concepts

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See also

Notes

  1. This list includes deities which in later Greek times and sources were thought of as semigods or mortal heroes. Scholars assign to attested words in Linear B a possibility or probability, sometimes controversially, of being a theonym or an anthroponym, a toponym, etc.; Mycenaean Linear B sources are often damaged inscriptions bearing lacunae, and in any case, they are too few to enable classifications with certainty.
    Finally there is a list of attested words which seem to refer to mortals or whose reference is unclear, yet they may have a connection to religion or to a divine or heroic figure of later times.
  2. The names/words in Linear B and the transliteration thereof are not necessarily in the nominative case and also not necessarily of said gods per se, as e.g. in the case of Hephaestus.
  3. This term is for example found, on the Kn Fp 1 and KN Fp 13 tablets.[5][6]
  4. It should be made clear that an absence of offerings, in parallel, to explicitly named deities or people (like priests or priestesses) on relevant attested inscriptions, does not necessarily follow from the presence of this special dedication; for example, the Kn Fp 1 inscription also includes, among others, offerings to Zeus Diktaios, Pade, Erinys and Anemon Hiereia.
  5. The words are two - despite the lack of a separator symbol - and in the dative plural case; their reconstructed form is *pansi tสฐeoihi; see the words ฯ€แพถฯ‚, ฮธฮตฯŒฯ‚.[2][7][8]
  6. See the noun แผฑฮญฯฮตฮนฮฑ.[12]
  7. Found on the KN Fp 1 and KN Fp 13 tablets.[5][6]
  8. The inscriptions read that the offers are made to her, thus they could refer to a goddess; this is not though, what modern scholars seem to believe.
  9. The first cited form could just be an instance of a scribe forgetting to write the word-separator sign ๐„€ between two words. In that case *Anemohiereia should be instead read as *Anemon Hiereia also.
  10. Found on the lacunose KN E 842 tablet.[15]
  11. Found on the PY Tn 316 tablet.[22][23]
  12. Cf. the nouns ฮดฮตฯƒฯ€ฯŒฯ„ฮทฯ‚, ฮดฯŒฮผฮฟฯ‚, ฯ€ฯŒฯƒฮนฯ‚;[24] whence despot in English;[25] in an etymological sense, it literally means "master of the house" and is related to potnia.
  13. The word Poseidon (ฮ ฮฟฯƒฮตฮนฮดแฟถฮฝ; variant forms include ฮ ฮฟฯƒฮตฮนฮดฮฌฯ‰ฮฝ, the former's final syllable being a synaeresis of the latter's final two) itself, could be connected in an etymological sense - cf. ฯ€ฯŒฯƒฮนฯ‚ - to Despotas (if indeed this is the correct reading-interpretation of do-po-ta) and Potnia;[34] likewise compare the same word in connection to Ge-Gaia (hence possibly to Ma Ga) and the possible Enesidaon and other undoubted later-times epithets of him, in consideration of the word-endings, etc.. Moreover some scholars have connected - in a similar manner to the one of Poseidon - Demeter to "Earth" via the De (Da; considered in this case as Pre-Greek and as meaning "Earth") syllable, the goddess thus viewed as representing Da-Mater, "Mother Earth" or similar; others on the other hand have interpreted Demeter's Da syllable as related to domos (i.e. to be Indo-European), interpreting her name as "Mother of the House", creating thus an etymological connection to Despotas and Potnia. ร€ propos, some scholars have considered the attested, on the PY En 609 tablet,[58] Mycenaean word ๐€…๐€”๐€ณ, da-ma-te, as reading Demeter, but the view is not widely held anymore; the former is indeed thought to be connected to domos, etc, but it is believed to probably be a form of, or something similar to, ฮดฮฌฮผฮฑฯ.[59][60][61][62]
  14. According to Chadwick,[27] "Dionysos surprisingly appears twice at Pylos, in the form Diwonusos, both times irritatingly enough on fragments, so that we have no means of verifying his divinity". This old view can be found reflected in other scholars[28] but this has changed after the 1989-90 Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Hill, Chania, unearthed the KH Gq 5 tablet.[19][29][30][31]
  15. Cf. the verb ฮดฮนฯˆฮฌฯ‰-แฟถ.[36]
  16. The inscription reads (line 10): di-ri-mi-joโŒž โŒŸdi-wo,i-je-we, i.e. *Drimiลi Diwos hiฤ“wei, "to Drimios, the son of Zeus".[22][2][38]
  17. Drimios likely formed a cult group with Zeus and Hera, perhaps the son of this couple, who was forgotten by archaic times.[39]
  18. Found on the KN M 719 tablet.[41]
  19. Cf. แผ˜ฮฝฮฟฯƒฮฏฯ‡ฮธฯ‰ฮฝ, แผ˜ฮฝฮฝฮฟฯƒฮฏฮณฮฑฮนฮฟฯ‚, Poseidon's later epithets.[42]
  20. ๐€๐€”๐€, when in the nominative, is thought to be read as แผ™ฯฮผฮฌแผฯ‚ (แผ™ฯฮผฮฌhฮฑฯ‚).[47]
  21. Found on the lacunose KN E 842 tablet.[15]
  22. Hiller's[1] or Schofield's[28] pa-ja-wo is not actually attested per se; the word actually attested on the damaged KN V 52 tablet and the fragments thereof, reads pa-ja-wo-ne; the latter would be the dative case form of the former.[54][55]
  23. Found on the PY Tn 316 and PY Fr 1204 tablets.[22][66]
  24. See the words ฯ„ฯฮฏฯ‚, แผฅฯฯ‰ฯ‚.[67][68][69]
  25. It is generally thought to be connected to ฯ„ฯฮนฯ€ฮฌฯ„ฮฟฯฮตฯ‚, i.e. the "collective, anonymous family ancestors",[64][70][71] but it could perhaps instead refer to Triptolemus, himself possibly "a 'hypostasis' of Poseidon".[70][72]
  26. The King and the Two Queens are sometimes attested on tablets together, in the offerings or the libations to them; forms of both "the King" and "the Two Queens" are in the dative case. An example of said concurrent attested worship is the PY Fr 1227 tablet.[74]
  27. On the other hand, there are scholars who have argued that "the King" and "the Two Queens" are not theonyms, that they simply refer to mortal royalty.[75]
  28. Pertaining to the Dikti.[80]
  29. Found on the KN Fp 1 tablet.[5]
  30. Found on the PY An 607 tablet.[88]
  31. Found in a tablet from Pylos, also found on the KN Dv 1462 tablet.
  32. Foreign scholars interpret this name as "matinal", "matutino", "maรฑanero", meaning "of the early morning", "of the dawn".[98]
  33. Found on the KN Fp 1, KN V 52, and KN Fh 390 tablets.[55][101]
  34. Cf. ko-ma-we, ฮบฮฟฮผฮฎฮตฮนฯ‚, ฮบฯŒฮผฮท.[105][106]
  35. Found on the KN Xd 58 tablet. Some doubts have been cast over its connection to Leto due to the non-matching geography.[110]
  36. See the nouns ฮผฮฎฯ„ฮทฯ, ฮธฮตฯŒฯ‚, ฮธฮตฮฌ and the adjective ฮธฮตแฟ–ฮฟฯ‚-ฮฑ-ฮฟฮฝ.[115][7]
  37. Cf. Diktynna about word formation, considered to be characteristically Pre-Greek.[35][119]
  38. Found on the KN V 52 tablet.[55]
  39. See the words แผตฯ€ฯ€ฮตฮนฮฟฯ‚-ฮฑ-ฮฟฮฝ, แผตฯ€ฯ€ฮฟฯ‚.[123]
  40. Could also be precursor of Leto.[citation needed]
  41. See the noun ฯƒแฟ–ฯ„ฮฟฯ‚ and the epithet ฮฃฮนฯ„ฯŽ.[125]
  42. Said Potnia or Potnia in general is found on only one table at Thebes: TH Of 36.[128] Her premises, her house is thought to have been her shrine.[27][126]
  43. The word, on the same tablet, ๐€ก๐€ฉ๐€™, po-re-na, *phorenas, understood to mean "those brought or those bringing" (it actually reads ๐€ก๐€ฉ๐€™๐€ค, po-re-na-qe, but a postfixed ๐€ค, qe, is usually a conjunction; cf. ฮบฮฑฮฏ, ฯ„ฮต, and Latin et, qve),[131][132] has been interpreted by some scholars as evidence of human sacrifice at said sanctuary:[133] "According to this interpretation, the text of Tn 316 was written as one of many extreme emergency measures just before the destruction of the palace. Tn 316 would then reflect a desperate, and abnormal, attempt to placate divine powers through the sacrifice of male victims to male gods and female victims to female gods".[134]
  44. The nominative case form of the place (i.e. of the sanctuary) is ๐€ž๐€‘๐€Š๐€š, pa-ki-ja-ne; it is also found in other forms, including derivative words; the specific form found on the PY Tn 316 tablet is ๐€ž๐€‘๐€Š๐€ฏ, pa-ki-ja-si, i.e. possibly its locative plural form.[130]
  45. Possibly an ethnic or geographic adjective of Asia understood in this context as referring to Lydia or the Assuwa league; i.e. in the sense of, or similar to, Anatolia.[135]
  46. Perhaps an epithet of Artemis.
  47. Perhaps an epithet of Hera.[citation needed]
  48. Could be some kind of "under" or "to weave" epithet;[85] cf. the preposition แฝ‘ฯ€ฯŒ and the verb แฝ‘ฯ†ฮฑฮฏฮฝฯ‰.[136][137]
  49. Found on the PY An 1281 tablet.[138]
  50. Could be instead, form of Tiresias.[citation needed]
  51. Perhaps connected to proposed PIE *Gสทouuฬฏindฤ; cf. Govinda and Old Irish Boand.[146]
  52. Also attested once on the PY 1219 table as ๐€ท๐€œ๐€ฐ๐€‚, wa-no-so-i.[148][149]

References

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Sources

Books

Articles in journals, periodicals and of conferences

Online databases and dictionaries

Mycenaean Greek and Linear B

Ancient Greek, Latin and of English etymology

Further reading

  • Duev, Ratko. "di-wi-ja and e-ra in the Linear B texts". In: Pierre Carlier, Additional editors: Charles De Lamberterie, Markus Egetmeyer, Nicole Guilleux, Franรงoise Rougemont and Julien Zurbach (editors). ร‰tudes mycรฉniennes 2010. Actes du XIIIe colloque international sur les textes รฉgรฉens, Sรจvres, Paris, Nanterre, 20-23 septembre 2010. Biblioteca di Pasiphae. 10. Pisa; Roma: Fabrizio Serra editore, 2012. pp. 195โ€“205. ISBN 9788862274722
  • Flouda, Georgia. "The Goddess Eileithyia in the Knossian Linear B Tablets". In: Honors to Eileithyia at Ancient Inatos: The Sacred Cave of Eileithyia at Tsoutsouros. Crete: Highlights of the Collection. Edited by Athanasia Kanta et al., INSTAP Academic Press, 2022. pp. 33โ€“36, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2f4v5x3.12. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
  • Killen, John (2024). "Mycenaean Religion". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781139029049.013.
  • Killen, John (2024). "Religion, Cults And Ritual". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 838โ€“891. doi:10.1017/9781139046152.012.
  • LEUVEN, JON C. (1979). "MYCENAEAN GODDESSES CALLED POTNIA". Kadmos. 18 (2): 112โ€“129. doi:10.1515/kadm.1979.18.2.112.
  • Morris, S.P. (2001) [Date of Conference: 12โ€“15 April 2000]. Laffineur, R.; Hรคgg, R. (eds.). "Potnia Aswiya: Anatolian Contributions to Greek Religion". Aegaeum. 22: Potnia. Deities and Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 8th International Aegean Conference, Gรถteborg, Gรถteborg University. Belgium: 423โ€“434.
  • Parker, Robert (2024). "Mycenaean And Classical Greek Religion". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 315โ€“20. doi:10.1017/9781139029049.014.
  • Sergent, Bernard (1990). "Hรฉortologie du mois Plowistos de Pylo". Dialogues d'histoire ancienne (in French). 16 (1): 175โ€“217. doi:10.3406/dha.1990.1464.
  • Wachter, Rudolf. "Homeric โ€“ Mycenaean Word Index (MYC)". In: Prolegomena. Edited by Joachim Latacz, Anton Bierl and Stuart Douglas Olson [English Edition]. Berlin, Mรผnchen, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. pp. 236โ€“258. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501501746-015

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