Evidence of Minoan astronomy and calendrical practices

Abstract

In Minoan art, symbols for celestial objects were depicted frequently and often in a religious context. The most common were various solar and stellar symbols. The palace of Knossos was amply decorated with these symbols. The rituals performed in Knossos and other Minoan palaces included the alteration of light and darkness, as well as the use of reflection. The Minoan primary goddess was a solar goddess, the 'Minoan Demeter'. A Late Minoan clay disk has been identified as a ritual calendrical object showing the most important celestial cycles, especially the lunar octaeteris. The disk, as well as the Minoan stone kernoi, were probably used in relation to the Minoan festival calendar. The orientations of the central courts of the palaces of Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia and Gournia were to the rising sun, whereas the Eastern palaces Zakros and Petras were oriented to the southernmost and the northernmost risings of the moon, respectively. The E-W axes of the courts of Knossos and Phaistos were oriented to the sunrise five days before the vernal equinox. This orientation is related to the five epagomenal days in the end of a year, which was probably the time of a Minoan festival. One of the orientations of the Knossian Throne Room is towards the heliacal rising of Spica in 2000-1000 BCE. Spica rose heliacally at the time of vintage in Minoan times. The time near the date of the heliacal rising of Spica was the time of an important festival related to ctchonic deities, the Minoan predecessor of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The myths of Minos, Demeter and Persephone probably have an astronomical origin, related to Minoan observations of the periods of the moon, Venus and Spica. These celestial events were related to the idea of renewal, which was central in the Minoan religion.