Mycenaean Religion: Beehive Tombs and Maybe Human Sacrifices | Early European History And Religion

MYCENAEAN RELIGION

Mycenaean stirrup vase
Linear B mentions Zeus, Athena, Hera, Hermes, and Poseidon and tributes of oxen, sheep, goats pigs, wine, perfumed oil and wheat given to the gods. Deities resembling the Madonna and father-holy-ghost- child trilogy of Christianity were present in Mycenae. Some archaeologists believe the Mycenaeans performed animal sacrifices based on charred bones found at an alter. A tablet discovered with a sort of SOS on it seems to indicate that sacrifices were held after some catastrophe. The tablet was sort of a call for help.

Their religious beliefs seem to have been very similar to those of other ancient civilizations of the time and share in two important characteristics- polytheism and syncretism. Polytheism is a belief in many gods and syncretism reflects a willingness to add foreign gods into the belief system-even if the new additions don't exactly fit. When the Mycenaeans first arrived in the Aegean they likely believed in a pantheon of gods headed by a supreme Sky God common to most Indo-European peoples. His name was Dyeus which in Greek became Zeus. Following contact with the Minoans and their earth goddesses, these goddesses were incorporated into the pantheon and that is likely the path followed by Hera, Artemis and Aphrodite.” [Source: Canadian Museum of History]

Mycenaean Gods

Mycenaean Divinities (God, Alternative Name, Mycenaean Greek Place Found
Zeus (Jupiter), Di-u-ja (Month-name Diwioios), Knossos
Hera (Juno), E-ra, Pylos
Poseidon (Neptune), Po-se-do-o and Also the Cult-title E-ne-si-da-o-ne ('Earth-shaker'), Knossos
Ares (Mars), Knossos
Apollo, Pa-ja-wo [= Paian ], Knossos
Hermes (Mercury), Hermes Araios (Ram) Py,, Knossos
Athena (Minerva), A-ta-na Po-ti-ni-ja (Potnia), Knossos
Dionysos (Bacchus), Di-wo-ni-so-jo, Pylos
Eileithyeia, E-re-u-ti-ja, Knossos
Erinyes (Furies), Knossos
Anemoi (the Winds), A-ne-moi, Pylos
Iphimedeia (Iphigeneia, Homeric Person), Knossos
Daedalus, (a place called "Daidaleion"), Knossos
and many other lesser local divine names, esp. Potnia [Source: John Adams, California State University, Northridge (CSUN), “Classics 315: Greek and Roman Mythology class]

Mycenaean Tombs

illustration of the Treasury of Atreus, a beehive tomb

The Mycenaeans started burying their dead in deep shaft graves around 1600 B.C. and later built huge beehive tombs and chamber tombs cut into hillsides. The deceased were buried with gold and silver masks of themselves and jewelry, toys, combs, baby bottles, tools, weapons and vessels. Often times several family members were buried in the same tomb. Mycenaean tombs, dated to the 11th century B.C., found on the island of Euboea, north of Athens, contained cremated remains similar to those described in Homer's “ Iliad” . The bones were carefully wrapped in a piece of fabric and placed in a bronze urn. A huge building — about 60 feet in length — covered the site.

Andrew Curry wrote in Archaeology magazine: “In the 1500s B.C., the Mycenaeans generally buried their prominent dead in huge, beehive-shaped structures called tholoi. Most contemporary Mycenaeans were interred in shared graves, sometimes with up to 20 people in a single grave or tholos. The tombs were periodically reopened and the human remains separated and shuffled around with each new addition to the family crypt. This has made it difficult for archaeologists to distinguish which artifacts were buried with whom. “What’s surprising in the case of the Griffin Warrior is to find a complete example where you know exactly what was deposited with this individual,” says archaeologist John Bennet, director of the British School at Athens. [Source: Andrew Curry, Archaeology magazine, September-October 2019]

In 2018, Jarrett A. Lobell wrote in Archaeology magazine: A monumental rock-cut chamber tomb has been excavated in central Greece near the ancient city of Orchomenos, the most important regional center during the Mycenaean period. In a cemetery of similar structures, this tomb is distinguished by its size — at 452 square feet, it is the ninth largest of the more than 4,000 Mycenaean chamber tombs excavated over the last 150 years, says University of Cambridge archaeologist Yannis Galanakis. It is even more notable for its contents, which include the remains of one man and a substantial amount of jewelry. “Mycenaean rock-cut chamber tombs were used for multiple burials, so to find only one burial is extraordinary,” says Galanakis. The artifacts have also surprised scholars. “There is very little painted pottery, which is always found in contemporary tombs,” explains Galanakis. “But there is a lot of jewelry, which previously has been ascribed to female burials. Now we can ask why certain objects were selected while others weren’t.” [Source: Jarrett A. Lobell, Archaeology magazine, January-February 2018]

Tholos (Beehive Tombs)

A tholos — also known as a beehive tomb or a domed tomb — is a burial structure characterized by a somewhat beehive shape and a false dome. The shape is created by corbelling — the superposition of successively smaller rings of mudbricks or, more often, stones. Tholoi were used for burial in several cultures in the Mediterranean and West Asia, but in some cases they were used for different purposes such as homes (Cyprus), rituals (Bulgaria, Syria), and even fortification (Spain, Sardinia). [Source Wikipedia]

In Greece, the vaulted tholoi (plural of tholos) are a monumental Late Bronze Age development. Their origin is a matter of considerable debate. Some argue they were inspired by the tholoi of Crete which were first used in the Early Minoan period. Other say they were a natural development of tumulus burials dating to the Middle Bronze Age. They are similar to the much more numerous Mycenaean chamber tombs which seem to have emerged at about the same time. Both have chamber, doorway stomion and entrance passage dromos but tholoi are largely built while chamber tombs are rock-cut.

A few early examples of tholoi have been found in Messenia in the southwest Peloponnese Greece, particularly Voidhokoilia), and recently near Troezen in the northeast Peloponnese. These tholoi are built on level ground and then enclosed by a mound of earth. A pair of tumuli at Marathon, Greece indicate how a built rectangular (but without a vault) central chamber was extended with an entrance passage.

After about 1500 B.C., beehive tombs became more widespread and are found in every part of the Mycenaean heartland. In contrast, however, to the early examples these are almost always cut into the slope of a hillside so that only the upper third of the vaulted chamber was above ground level. This masonry was then concealed with a relatively small mound of earth. The chamber is always built in masonry. The corbelled vaults in the chambers were built with layers of stone placed closer together as the vault tapers toward the top of the tomb. These stone layers were trimmed from inside the tomb, creating a smooth dome.

The tombs usually contain more than one burial, in various places in the tomb either on the floor, in pits and cists or on stone-built or rock-cut benches, and with various grave goods. After a burial, the entrance to the tomb was filled in with soil, leaving a small mound with most of the tomb underground. The entrances provided an opportunity for conspicuous demonstration of wealth. That of the Treasury of Atreus, for example, was decorated with columns of red and green “Lapis Lacedaimonius” brought from quarries over 100 km away.

entrance to the Treasury of Atreus

The abundance of such tombs, often with more than one being associated with a settlement during one specific time period, may indicate that their use was not confined to the ruling monarchy only, although the sheer size and therefore the outlay required for the larger tombs (ranging 10–15 meters (33–49 feet) in diameter and height) would argue in favour of royal commissions. The larger tombs contained amongst the richest finds to have come from the Late Bronze Age of Mainland Greece, despite the tombs having been pillaged both in antiquity and more recently. Although the Vapheio tholos, south of Sparta, had been robbed, two cists in the floor had escaped notice. These contained, among other valuable items, the two gold “Vapheio cups” decorated with scenes of bull taming which are among the best known of Mycenaean treasures.

Tholoi were easily identified by tomb robbers. Andrew Curry wrote in Archaeology magazine: Thieves have taken a heavy toll on Mycenaean sites over the millennia, and the winding roads around Pylos are dotted with ruined tholoi, now just empty, stone-lined pits in the midst of sprawling olive groves. Many tholoi were damaged and robbed long before archaeologists excavated them, revealing only a few beads and a handful of small artifacts. were found inside the structure. [Source: Andrew Curry, Archaeology magazine, September-October 2019]

Gold-Lined Mycenaean-Era Tombs That May Hold Princesses

In December 2019, archaeologists announced they had found two 3,500-year-old tombs lined with gold at the site of Pylos they believed contained the bodies of ancient princes and princesses. Inside the tombs, the archaeologists found intricately carved jewelry and human remains and speculated the bodies could belong to royalty because so many jeweled and godl objects were buried with them. At the time of the announcement, archaeologists couldn’t say how many bodies were buried in the tombs, or anything about their sex and ages. The tombs were found near the "Palace of Nestor," which was discovered in 1939, and near another tomb, found in 2015, that also contained elaborate jewelry. [Source:Owen Jarus, Live Science, December 18, 2019]

Owen Jarus wrote in Live Science: When the archaeologists found the tombs, they were sealed beneath 40,000 stones about the size of watermelons. That covering was meant to protect the tombs from grave robbers — a danger in both ancient and modern times. When the researchers excavated the tombs, they found a heap of gold leaf that had fallen from the walls of the tombs.

human sacrifice?

Golden walls were just some of the bling found in the burials. For instance, a gold ring found in one of the tombs depicts two bulls surrounded by sheaves of barley. "It's an interesting scene of animal husbandry — cattle mixed with grain production. It's the foundation of agriculture," Jack Davis, a classics professor and archaeologist at the University of Cincinnati, who is co-director of the team that discovered the tombs, said in a statement.

Another intricate piece of jewelry in the tombs, an agate sealstone, depicts two lion-like creatures called "genii," which are shown standing upright on clawed feet. The lions are carrying an incense burner and serving vase that they are giving as tribute to an altar decorated with a sapling tree and two horns, Sharon Stocker, a senior research associate at the University of Cincinnati, who is co-director of the team, said in the statement. Above the image of the lions is a 16-point star.

A gold pendant found in one of the tombs seems to have played some sort of protective role, as it depicts the Egyptian goddess Hathor. "Its discovery is particularly interesting in light of the role she played in Egypt as protectress of the dead," Davis said in the statement.Many more artifacts made of gold, carnelian, amethyst and amber were discovered in the tombs. The artifacts shed light on trade between the Mycenaeans and other regions, as archaeologists found that the amber originated in the Baltic, while the amethyst hailed from Egypt.

Did the Mycenaeans Practice Human Sacrifice?

Three-thousand-year-old bones of a teenager found in 2016 on Mount Lykaion — a mountain where animal offerings to Zeus were made, in Arcadia in the Peloponnese area of Greece — appear to indicate that human sacrifice was practiced there in the time of the Mycenaeans but some scholars say some caution is in line on how the discovery should be interpreted. The upper part of the teenager’s skull was missing, while the body was laid among two lines of stones on an east-west axis, with stone slabs covering the pelvis. [Source:Mazin Sidahmed and agencies, The Guardian, August 10, 2016 ^^^]

The bones were found in the heart of the 30-meter (100-foot) broad ash altar, next to a man-made stone platform. Mount Lykaion was once worshipped as the birthplace of Zeus. Several ancient literary sources mention rumors that human sacrifice took place at the altar. The skeleton of the teenager amid a mound of ashes built up over a millennium from sacrificed animals. According to legend, a boy was sacrificed with the animals and all the meat was cooked and eaten together. Whoever ate the human part would become a wolf for nine years. [Source: Nicholas Paphitis, Associated Press Wed, August 10, 2016]

skeleton of a teenager

Mazin Sidahmed wrote in The Guardian: “Mount Lykaion was associated with human sacrifice by many ancient writers, including Plato, and while it may be too early to speculate on how the teenager died, the location adds a strong connection. “It nearly seems to good to be true,” said Dr Jan N Bremmer, professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, and an editor of The Strange World of Human Sacrifice. Bremmer said that until now, most studies of human sacrifice in ancient Greece had concluded that it was probably fiction. While the ancient Israelites, Romans and Egyptians engaged in human sacrifice for religious purposes, 20th-century archaeologists had thought that the practice was not common among the Greeks. Bremmer remained somewhat skeptical about the finding and questioned whether the location influenced the interpretation. ^^^

“David Gilman Romano, professor of Greek archaeology at the University of Arizona, who participated in the dig on Mount Lykaion said classical writers linked the remote peak with human sacrifice. According to legend, a young boy would be sacrificed with animals, before the human and animal meat was cooked and eaten. “Several ancient literary sources mention rumours that human sacrifice took place at the altar [of Zeus, located on the mountain’s southern peak] but up until a few weeks ago there has been no trace whatsoever of human bones discovered at the site,” said Romano. “Whether it’s a sacrifice or not, this is a sacrificial altar ... so it’s not a place where you would bury an individual,” he said. “It’s not a cemetery.” ^^^

“He noted that the fact that the upper part of the skull was missing, while the body was laid among two lines of stones on an east-west axis, with stone slabs covering the pelvis was also interesting. Bremmer said scholars tend to be fascinated by the prospect of human sacrifice in ancient Greece because it seems like a contradiction. “On the one hand there’s this picture of Greece as the cradle of civilisation, the birthplace of democracy, of philosophy, of rational thinking – but on the other hand we have these cruel cruel myths,” he said. ^^^

“The mountaintop in the Peloponnese region is the earliest known site where Zeus was worshipped and even without the possible human sacrifice element it was a place of slaughter. From at least the 16th century BC until around 300 B.C., tens of thousands of animals were killed there in the god’s honour. Human presence at the site goes back more than 5,000 years. There is no sign yet that the cult is as old as that but it is unclear why people should otherwise choose to settle on the barren, exposed summit. Pottery found with the human remains dates them to the 11th century BC, right at the end of the Mycenaean era, whose heroes were immortalised in Greek myth and Homer’s epics, and several of whose palaces have been excavated. So far, only about 7 percent of the altar on Lykaion has been excavated. “We have a number of years of future excavation to go,” Romano said. “We don’t know if we are going to find more human burials or not.” ^^^

Mycenaean Human Sacrifice Text?

The following is said to be a document recording a human sacrifice at Pylos: “In the month of Plowistos. Pylos sacrifice sat PA-KI-JA-NA and brings gifts and leads victims:
For the Mistress (Potnia): one gold cup, one woman
For Mnasa: one gold bowl, one woman
For Posidaeia [Poseidon'swife]: one gold bowl, one woman
For the Thrice-Hero: one gold cup
For the Lord of the House: one gold cup [Source: Michael Ventris & John Chadwick, “Documents in Mycenaean Greek” second ed. (Cambridge 1973), Document #172 (from Pylos), page 463]

skull from Kydonia

Pylos brings sacrifices at the Shrine of Poseidon, and the City leads and brings gifts, and leads victims: For Gwoia (and) Komawenteia: one gold cup, two women
Pylos sacrifices at the shrines of Perse and Iphimedeia and Diwia [Mrs.Zeus] and brings gifts and leads victims:
For Perse: one gold bowl, one woman
For Iphimedeia: one gold bowl
For Diwia: one gold bowl, one woman
For Hermes Areia: one gold cup, one man

Pylos sacrifices at the Shrine of Zeus and brings gifts and leads victims:
For ZEUS: one gold bowl, one man
For HERA: one gold bowl, one woman
For DRIMIOS, son of Zeus: one gold bowl
[.... (the tablet breaks off) .....]
TOTAL: 4 cups, 8 bowls, 2 men, 8 women

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum except Iklaina and Iklaina tablet, Iklaina Archeological Project, teenager skeleton from The Guardian and skull from Archaeology wiki

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Hellenistic World sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Greeks bbc.co.uk/history/; Canadian Museum of History, Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; MIT Classics Online classics.mit.edu ; Gutenberg.org, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Live Science, Discover magazine, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Encyclopædia Britannica, "The Discoverers" and "The Creators" by Daniel Boorstin. "Greek and Roman Life" by Ian Jenkins from the British Museum, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP and various books and other publications.

Last updated September 2024