Religion
Evidence that the Mycenaeans had a set polytheistic religion is plentiful throughout several architectural remains on Crete. Figurines have been found throughout the hundreds of cult based temples on the island. These figurines depict the Ancient Cretan Gods and weakly resemble the familiar gods depicted in Greek mythology. Like in the worship of Greek mythology, the practice of both supplication and sacrifice seem to be prevalent in the Mycenaean cults. Most temple remains contain altars and statues where both of these procedures could be performed.
Any actual mythological stories or true beliefs within the Cretan religion remain a mystery to most historians. This is due to the lack in archaeological remains which were so crucial to understanding both Greek and Roman mythology.
Read more about this topic: Ancient Crete
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“We think of religion as the symbolic expression of our highest moral ideals; we think of magic as a crude aggregate of superstitions. Religious belief seems to become mere superstitious credulity if we admit any relationship with magic. On the other hand our anthropological and ethnographical material makes it extremely difficult to separate the two fields.”
—Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945)
“Culture’s essential service to a religion is to destroy intellectual idolatry, the recurrent tendency in religion to replace the object of its worship with its present understanding and forms of approach to that object.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)
“Their religion was sweetness and peace amidst toil and tears.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)