Snake Goddess - Interpretations

Interpretations

The snake goddess's minoan name seems to be A-sa-sa-ra, a name found in Linear A texts.

While the statuette's true function is somewhat unclear, her exposed and amplified breasts suggest that she is probably some sort of fertility figure. The figurines may illustrate the fashion of dress of Minoan women, however, it is also possible that bared breasts represented a sign of mourning. Homer gives a literary description of this kind of mourning, and this was also observed by Herodotus among Egyptian women.

The serpent is often symbolically associated with the renewal of life because it sheds its skin periodically. A similar belief existed in the ancient Mesopotamians and Semites, and appears also in the Hindu mythology. The Pelasgian myth of creation refers to snakes as the reborn dead. However, Nilsson noticed that in the Minoan religion the snake was the protector of the house, as it later appears also in Greek religion. Among the Greek Dionysiac cult it signified wisdom and was the symbol of fertility.

Barry Powell suggested that the snake goddess reduced in legend into a folklore heroine was Ariadne (utterly pure or the very holy one) who in classical Greece was often depicted surrounded by Satyrs and Maenads. Some scholars connect the snake goddess with the Phoenician Astarte (virgin daughter). She was the goddess of fertility and sexuality and her worship was connected with orgiastic cult. Her temples were decorated with serpentine motifs. She probably became later the goddess Aphrodite (Venus). In a relative Greek myth Europa (Ευρώπη "wide-eyes or face"), was a Phoenician princess who Zeus abducted and carried to Crete. Astarte is sometimes identified with Europa in ancient sources.

Evans tentatively linked the snake goddess with the Egyptian snake goddess Wadjet but did not pursue this connection. Statuettes similar to the "snake goddess" identified as priest of Wadjud and magician were found in Egypt. Wadjet was associated with the city known to the Greeks as Aphroditopolis (the city of Aphrodite) and she was also the goddess of fertility.

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