We know from the archaeological record that the grand Minoan ‘palaces’ functioned as temples, housing the priestly class and providing a setting for rituals and ceremonies. But the temples had another function as well, one we tend to forget from our vantage point in a separation-of-church-and-state society. The temples also played a major role in the economic and political life of ancient Crete. We modern folk tend to think of people and institutions as belonging to either the religious sector of society or the economic/industrial sector but not both. On Crete, however, religion and commerce were intertwined to the point that we often cannot discern the boundaries. This was a common situation in the ancient world. The priestly class, both women and men, who lived in the temples, wielded a great amount of power in Crete’s society. The wealthy merchants who lived around the temples also exerted a certain amount of influence. For the Minoans, religion was an integral part of their daily lives. Craftsmen performed rituals in the process of creating their products. Most ordinary houses included shrines and altars. Grand public ceremonies and rituals displayed the Minoans’ wealth to visiting merchants, further encouraging trade. Although we cannot call ancient Crete a full theocracy, since as far as we know the priestly class was not the sole ruling group on the island, there is truly no way to separate religion from any other aspect of life there. How did so many facets of Minoan society and daily life revolve around the temples? First of all, we are well-acquainted with the temples’ use as grain storage sites, a common function of religious centers in the ancient world. From the early granaries situated alongside the ceremonial courts to the later storage rooms filled with pottery jars of grain as tall as a robust adult, the temples were a repository for the island’s surplus grain supply. It is possible that this excess was saved for ritual feasting, although some of it was certainly held back as insurance in case of famine, as was common in the ancient world. The grain storage areas in the temples, as well as in some of the surrounding mansions, are full of ritual artwork and symbology. We find religious symbols such as double axes and Linear A writing on the walls of the storerooms. A number of the storage areas also encompass shrines or lead directly to shrine or ritual areas. Thus we can imagine a ritual blessing or protection of this basic foodstuff, either when it was first stockpiled or as it was later distributed to buyers or ritual participants. The temples also provided workspace for artists and craftspeople who produced jewelry, pottery, sculpture, paintings and many other fine wares. Some of the most intricately worked, valuable pieces of jewelry and pottery have been found in the shrines, sanctuaries and public areas of the temple complexes. It is probable that temple-produced goods commanded a high price due to their association with the sacred center. Of course, many artisans also lived and worked in the towns, selling their wares in the lively, well-traveled markets. But it must have been quite an honor to earn a place in the workrooms of one of the temples. There is one aspect of the Minoan temples which is not obvious at first, perhaps because it is characterized by the absence of something rather than its presence. Unlike so many of the great religious complexes built by other ancient civilizations, the temples on Crete were not monuments to any particular rulers or leaders. We find no portraits of kings, or queens for that matter. We find no lists of battles won or conquests made, no depictions of conquered peoples being enslaved or killed. The Minoan temples are remarkably bare of depictions of violence or domination of any kind. The temples, in fact, appear to have been built with aesthetic rather than monumental purposes in mind. They were designed for the worship of the deities and ancestors of this world, to reinforce the connection between the human and the divine. And, unlike the Christian cathedrals which sought to dwarf and intimidate people and make them feel inferior to the great Christian God, the Minoan temples sought to draw people into the order of being and make them feel a part of the divine that surrounded and penetrated them. More information on Ariadne's Thread is available: www.moon-books.net/books/ariadnes-thread |
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