pa si p h ae

R I V I STA DI FILOLOG IA
E ANTI CHITÀ E G E E
 Rivista annuale · A Yearly Journal

Direttori / Editors in Chief

Louis Godart · Anna Sacconi

Comitato scientifico / Editorial Board

Vassilis L. Aravantinos (Thiva) · Antonín Bartoneˇ k (Brno)
Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy (Salzburg) · Markus Egetmeyer (Paris)
Vassos Karageorghis (Lef kosia) · John T. Killen (Cambridge) · Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier (Athina)
Marie-Louise Nosch (København) · Oswald Panagl (Salzburg) · Anna Panayotou (Lef kosia)
Jean-Claude Poursat (Clermont-Ferrand) · Françoise Rougemont (Paris)
Maria Vlazaki (Chania) · Yannis Tzedakis (Athina) · Frederik M. J. Waanders (Amsterdam)
Peter Warren (Bristol)

Segretario di redazione / Editorial Assistant

Mauri zio Del Freo

« Pasiphae » is an International Peer Reviewed Journal.

The eContent is Archived with Clockss and Portico.
anvur : a
PASIPHAE
R I V I S TA DI F I LO LO GI A
E A NTI CHI TÀ EGEE

IX
(2 01 5 )

PIS A · RO MA
FABRIZIO SE RRA E D ITO RE
MMXV
 Amministrazione e abbonamenti
Fabrizio Serra editore
Casella postale n. 1, succursale n. 8, i 56123 Pisa,
tel. +39 050 542332, fax +39 050 574888,
fse@libraweb.net

I prezzi uiciali di abbonamento cartaceo e/o Online sono consultabili

presso il sito Internet della casa editrice www.libraweb.net
Print and/or Online oicial subscription rates are available
at Publisher’s web-site www.libraweb.net

I pagamenti possono essere efettuati tramite versamento su c.c.p. n. 17154550

o tramite carta di credito (American Express, Visa, Eurocard, Mastercard)

*
Uici di Pisa : Via Santa Bibbiana 28, I 56127 Pisa,
tel. +39 050 542332, fax +39 050 574888, fse@libraweb.net
Uici di Roma : Via Carlo Emanuele I 48, I 00185 Roma,
tel. +39 06 70493456, fax +39 06 70476605, fse.roma@libraweb.net

*
Autorizzazione del Tribunale di Pisa n. 30 del 28 dicembre 2001
Direttore responsabile: Lucia Corsi

A norma del codice civile italiano, è vietata la riproduzione, totale o parziale (compresi estratti, ecc.),
di questa pubblicazione in qualsiasi forma e versione (comprese bozze, ecc.), originale o derivata,
e con qualsiasi mezzo a stampa o internet (compresi siti web personali e istituzionali, academia.edu, ecc.),
elettronico, digitale, meccanico, per mezzo di fotocopie, pdf, microilm, ilm, scanner o altro,
senza il permesso scritto della casa editrice.
Under Italian civil law this publication cannot be reproduced, wholly or in part (included ofprints, etc.),
in any form (included proofs, etc.), original or derived, or by any means: print, internet (included personal
and institutional web sites, academia.edu, etc.), electronic, digital, mechanical, including photocopy, pdf, microilm,
ilm, scanner or any other medium, without permission in writing from the publisher.

*
Proprietà riservata · All rights reserved
Copyright 2015 by Fabrizio Serra editore, Pisa · Roma.
Fabrizio Serra editore incorporates the Imprints Accademia editoriale,
Edizioni dell’Ateneo, Fabrizio Serra editore, Giardini editori e stampatori in Pisa,
Gruppo editoriale internazionale and Istituti editoriali e poligraici internazionali.

*
www.libraweb.net

issn 1974-0565
e-issn 2037-738x
isbn 978-88-6227-845-4
 TABLE DES MATIÈRES
actes du colloque international
“le sacrifice humain dans le monde égéen
et dans les civilisations périphériques”,
milano, 27-28 octobre 2014
Programme 11
Liste des orateurs 13

discours d ’ ouverture
Giovanni Puglisi, Magniico Rettore della Università IULM di Milano 17
Leopoldo Gamberale, già Direttore del Dipartimento di Studi greco-latini, italiani,
scenico-musicali, Sapienza Università di Roma 18
Themistoklis Demiris, Ambasciatore della Repubblica di Grecia presso lo Stato Italiano 20
Leonidas Markides, Ambasciatore della Repubblica di Cipro presso lo Stato Italiano 21
Mario Negri, Prorettore della Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione IULM di
Milano già Coordinatore del Dottorato di Ricerca in Storia Linguistica del Mediter-
raneo Antico / Lingue e Culture Egee 22
Anna Sacconi, Sapienza Università di Roma 23

textes des relations

Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki, Sacriices in LM IIIB : Early Kydonia Palatial Centre 27
Photini J. P. McGeorge, The Earliest Archaeological Evidence for a Mycenaean Greek Ritual
Form of Human Sacriice 43
Dimitra Mylona, Sacriices in LM IIIB : Early Kydonia Palatial Centre. The Animal Remains 53
Lucio Benedetti, I sacriici umani e le esecuzioni rituali nel mondo romano 59
Innocenzo Cardellini, “Far passare attraverso il fuoco igli e iglie lmlk”. Pratiche proibite in
Israele. Fanciulli votati a divinità, sacriicati a idoli o espressioni polemiche ? 69
Louis Godart, Anna Sacconi, Sacriice humain et culte de Dionysos 85
Alessandro Greco, I “presupposti del sacriicio umano” nel mondo miceneo 91
Giulio Guidorizzi, Il sacriicio umano : aspetti mitici 103
Vassos Karageorghis, Human Sacriices in Cyprus : a Reality or a Myth ? 113
Erika Notti, Mario Negri, Giulio M. Facchetti, Linguistic Expression and Ritual Ta-
xonomy in PY Tn 316 119
Giulia Piccaluga, Sacriici umani in Grecia ? 135
Giovanna Rocca, Argei : sacriici rituali nella Roma arcaica ? 143
Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis, Eleutherna, the Orthi Petra Necropolis : Slewn by the Iron 151
Michel Valloggia, Rites et pratiques du sacriice humain en Egypte ancienne 159
Peter Warren, Human Sacriice in Minoan (Bronze Age) Crete 171
Paolo Xella, Sacriices humains et meurtres rituels au Proche-Orient ancien 181

conclusions
Louis Godart, Conclusions 193
 SACRIFICES IN LM IIIB :
EARLY KYDONIA PALATIAL CENTRE *
Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki **
Preliminary Observations
ccording to Diodorus Siculus, Kydonia was traditionally one of the three cities founded in
A Crete by Minos. This means that Kydonia was recognized as a city as early as Minoan times,
a fact conirmed by the earliest known written reference to it on the Linear B tablets of the 14th
century B.C. found at Knossos. 1 Today, the site of both Minoan and Classical Kydonia is identi-
ied as modern Khania in West Crete. The references to the origins of Minoan Kydonia as part
of a pre-Hellenic mythological substratum tie in well with the evidence from the palimpsest of
archaeological stratigraphy that comes to light underneath the modern occupation level of the
populous and cosmopolitan city of Khania. 2
The low Kastelli hill (Fig. 1), dominating the natural harbour and the Khaniot plain, was cho-
sen as the most advantageous spot for the foundation of the irst organized Minoan habitation
centre of Kydonia. This goes back to the Prepalatial period (3500-1900 B.C.), as systematic exca-
vations on the site have shown. Over the years that followed, the same hill remained the centre
and focal point of the settlement’s life. In the Classical period, it was defended by a wall that was
later rebuilt.
During the Neopalatial period, the time that is usually identiied as the “period of the thalas-
socracy of Minos”, Khania had already been a palatial centre with rich Linear A Archives. As a
powerful and remarkably multi-cultural centre, every now and again it received waves of settlers,
mainly from the Peloponnese and the islands of the Aegean. The geographical location of Khania
“opposite the Peloponnese” favoured contacts and movement between these areas. According to
Arcadian tradition (Pausanias VIII, 53-54), the local hero of Khania, Kydon, was a son of Arcadian
Tegeates. The complexity of relations between Minoan civilisation and the emerging Mycenae-
an ended in the gradual weakening of Crete in favour of an Achaean element from Mainland
Greece. In the years that followed the destruction by ire of the Minoan palatial centres in 1450
B.C., among them Khania, the Mycenaean presence is more evident.
The reasons for an Achaean invasion of the island have not been clariied. Against a view of
warlike invasion is set the theory that there was a peaceful penetration and dominance through
intermarriage. There is a well-known myth of the marriage of Atreus to Aerope, daughter of
Katreus and granddaughter of Minos, that refers to a form of intermarriage between royal fami-
lies. The fact is that shortly after 1450 B.C., a Greek-speaking administration was established at
Knossos and Kydonia, while at the same time typical Mycenaean habits were adopted in Central
and West Crete.

* I would like to express my deep gratitude to Anna Sacconi and Louis Godart for the organization of this conference
and the invitation to present the Kydonia ind as the main topic of it. Although most of the extent of the LM IIIB :early
court has been revealed in the available space of the plot among modern buildings that surround it, the excavation is still
ongoing. The main sponsors are the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, and the Psycha Foundation, together with the Khania
Ephorate of Antiquities, the help of which is invaluable.
** General Secretary, Greek Ministry of Culture, m.vlazaki@otenet.gr
1 J. Chadwick, J. T. Killen and J.-P. Olivier, The Knossos Tablets, Cambridge 1971, e.g. tablets nos. Co 904+8008, G 820 and
Lc(2) 481.
2 M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki (ed.), Khania (Kydonia). A Tour to Sites of Ancient Memory, Khania 2009 ; M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki,
« To ‘palivmyhston’ th~ arcaiva~ Kudwniva~ », Proceedings of the 10th International Cretological Congress (Khania, Oct. 1-8, 2006),
Vol. A, Khania 2011, pp. 85-151 ; M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki, “Khania (Kydonia)”, in E. Cline (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the
Bronze Age Aegean, Oxford 2010, pp. 518-528.
28 maria andreadaki-vlazaki

Fig. 1. Kastelli Hill plan. The plots under excavation are marked in green.
The “Katre 1” excavation occupies the SW end (no. 1).

There follows the penultimate period of Minoan civilisation, which today is commonly called
“Final Palatial” or Mycenaean (1375-1200 B.C.). Commerce passed into the hands of the Achaeans
and Crete was part of the Mycenaean world. The site of Khania, as the closest Cretan settlement
to the centres of the Peloponnese and Mainland Greece, plays a crucial role. That Kydonia ex-
panded as a palatial centre in these last centuries is considered fact by various scholars. Finding
warrior burials at the site of the necropolis, with a wealth of bronze grave-gifts, implies the pres-
ence of a new hierarchy of a military kind. The start of the period is linked with a new building
programme throughout the entire settlement. The city’s external connections were not conined
only to Crete, Mainland Greece and the Cyclades, but can also be detected – chiely through
the study of pottery – in Cyprus, Canaan, Syria, Egypt, Italy and Sardinia, testifying to the ex-
istence of an extensive trade network along sea-routes. The local ceramic workshop, known as
the “Kydonian workshop”, displays works of exceptional artistry and skill. Its products are distin-
guished by a very high quality white clay and slip.
A particularly important event for the history of Kydonia was the discovery of four Linear B
tablets, which clearly indicates the adoption of a new language – proto-Greek – in West Crete,
just as at Knossos. One mentions a sanctuary of Zeus together with a cult of Dionysos ; ampho-
rae illed with honey were ofered to these gods (Fig. 2) ; 3 the second tablet lists people who work

3 L. Godart and Y. Tzedakis, “Les nouveaux texts en linéaire B de la Canée”, Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 119
 sacrifices in lm iiib: early kydonia palatial centre 29
with textiles, with a reference to
two ethnics that come from plac-
es in west Crete (wa-to and pu-
na-so) ; the third records ten pairs
of wheels and chariots. The last
found in the excavation which is
the main topic of my talk records
the personal name wa-ra-pi-si-ro.
It is particularly important be-
cause the same name is also men-
tioned on a tablet both from the
archive of Mycenae (MY Au 102.1)
and that at Pylos (PY Cn 438.7). 4
In this recent excavation of
Number 1 Katre Street, where the Fig. 2. Linear B tablet KH Gq 5, which refers to Zeus
newest tablet fragment of Linear and Dionysos.
B script comes from, amid the
building phases of all periods that make-up the “palimpsest” of Kydonia, one ind of the early
LM IIIB period (1300-1200 B.C.), has attracted the greatest attention for the moment. 5
We are dealing with an extensive court, just at the west edge of the hill, the boundaries of
which have not yet been located, where during the excavation campaigns from 2007 onwards
(Fig. 3) scattered concentrations of the slaughtered remains of various animals have been found
in situ and usually under piles of stones, with no traces of burning (Fig. 4). Among them, ar-
ticulated animal parts can be distinguished, recalling the dismemberment sacriice of an animal,
the ancient “sparagmos”. 6 The most important of all is the discovery of scattered bones from
a young female human on the surface of the court, deposited in just the same manner as the
animal bones. It follows that all the above evidence is connected with ritual acts in this court. In
the west of the excavated area, fallen great worked blocks, extensive remains of burnt mud-brick
and column bases in situ suggest that it is part of a very important building complex (Fig. 5). It
seems likely that it belongs to the west region of the palatial building of Kydonia, in the form that
it took during the Mycenaean period. The stucco loor of the court is of exceptional quality and

(1991), pp. 129-149 ; E. Hallager, M. Vlasakis and B. P. Hallager, “New Linear B tablets from Khania”, Kadmos 31 (1992), pp.
61-87. Cf. R. Duev, “Zeus and Dionysus in the light of Linear B records”, Pasiphae 1 (2007), pp. 223-230. Cf. M. P. Nilsson, The
Minoan –Mycenaean Religion and Its Survival in Greek Religion, Lund 1968, pp. 533-582 ; W. Burkert, Greek Religion, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 1985, pp. 125-131, 161-167.
4 M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki and L. Godart, “Three new Linear A and B tablets from Khania”, in Pasiphae 8 (2014), pp. 11-
17.
5 First mentioned in M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki, “To evrgo th~ KEVEforeiva~ Proi>storikwvn kai Klasikwvn Arcaiothvtwn katav
ta evth 2009-2010”, in Arcaiologikov ∆Ergo Krhvth~ 2, Revqumno 2012, pp. 29-31 ; M. Andreadaki-Vlazaki (ed.), 2000-2010. Apov to
anaskafikov evrgo twn Eforeiwvn Arcaiothvtwn, Aqhvna 2012, pp. 321-322. Also, supra n. 4.
6 See in this volume : L. Godart and A. Sacconi, “Sacriicio umano e culto di Dioniso”, who connect the ind with Di-
onysos cult in Mycenaean Kydonia. For Dionysos cult generally and especially Dionysos Zagreus, Omestes or Anthropor-
raistes : W. Burkert, Homo Necans. The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacriicial Ritual and Myth, Berkeley and Los Angeles
1983, esp. p. 41 : « …the wildest form of destruction, that of tearing an object to pieces (sparagmov~) » ; W. Burkert, supra n.
3, pp. 161-167 ; P. M. Warren, “Minoan Crete and ecstatic religion”, in R. Hägg and N. Marinatos, Sanctuaries and Cults in
the Aegean Bronze Age, Stockholm 1981, pp. 161-163, 214 ; M. Daraki, Dionysos, Paris 1985 ; St. Georgoudi, “Sacriicing to Dio-
nysos : regular and particular rituals”, in R. Schlesier (ed.), A Diferent God ? Dionysos and Ancient Polytheisme, Berlin 2011, pp.
47-60 ; D. D. Hughes, Human Sacriice in Ancient Greece, London and New York 1991, pp. 112-113. Concerning human sacriice
in ancient Crete, cf. the story of the Cretan Labyrinth, the Minotaur, Theseus and the Athenian tribute, which was one
of the most popular myths of the ancient world and the Kronia festival in Lyktos during which human sacriices were
made : D.D. Hughes, supra n. 6, pp. 119-120, 128. Some scholars interpret the miniature terracotta detached human limbs
and bisected igurines from the peak sanctuary of Petsophas in eastern Crete as dismemberment : M. Nilsson, supra n. 3,
pp. 66f., 75 ; B.C. Dietrich, Origins of Greek Religion, Berlin 1974 ; W. Burkert, supra n. 3, p. 27 ; J. A. MacGillivray, “The Great
Kouros in Cretan Art”, in J. A. MacGillivray, J. M. Driessen and L. H. Sackett (eds.), The Palaikastro Kouros, London 2000
(BSA Studies 6), pp. 125-127.
30 maria andreadaki-vlazaki

Fig. 3. “Katre 1” excavation plan. The court loor is marked in grey colour, the total bones deposit
in dark grey, like the column bases (grey circles).

very tough, with extensive cracks in its surface. It has been made entirely from pebbled plaster, 10
cms thick in toto, the so-called tarazza looring, usual in the Mycenaean palaces of Peloponnese
and in the Mycenaean architecture in general.
There are further pieces of evidence that strengthen the hypothesis of a court where ritual
acts used to take place : the discovery of a burnt wooden piece of furniture (perhaps a table) just
next to the layer of bones – by contrast, the adjacent level of bones and stones had no trace of
burning ; the irst results of soil loatation from this spot and of the archaeobotanical study by Dr.
Anaya Sarpaki refer to a large concentration of seeds (mainly cereals, olive pips, lentils and igs)
(Fig. 6).
One of the most important inds in the north-west sector was the discovery of part of a rect-
angular construction with wall-painting on the exterior, the shape and location of which is in-
dicative of an altar (Fig. 7). 7 Along the length of the southern side of the construction, this time

7 M.P. Nilsson, supra n. 3, pp. 63, 104-105, 119-122 ; N. Marinatos, Minoan Sacriicial Ritual. Cult Practice and Symbolism,
Stockholm 1986, pp. 14-15. For a similar construction with a similar fresco decoration consisting of curving bands, see C.W.
Blegen and M. Rawson, The Palace of Nestor at Pylos in Western Messenia, Princeton 1966, vol. I.1, pp. 301-302, and vol. I.2,
ig. 228 (altar in court 92 of the NE building) ; S. Lupack, “Palaces, Sanctuaries, and Workshops”, in M. L. Galaty and W. A.
Parkinson (eds.), Rethinking Mycenaean Palaces. New Interpretations of an Old Idea, Los Angeles 1999, p. 29. There are more
architectural and structural similarities with the Pylos palatial complex, e.g. the stucco loor of the Kydonia court is of
exactly the same quality with the Pylos stucco loors.
 sacrifices in lm iiib: early kydonia palatial centre 31

Fig. 4. The court loor in the irst campaigns of the excavation (2009) : a) piles of stones
and b) concentrations of bones under the piles of stones.

in a burnt layer and on top of

the court loor, at least ive pairs
of wild goat horns were found 8
along with four clay vessels (Fig.
8) that are typical products of the
local Kydonian ceramic work-
shop. The date of the pots in the
irst half of the 13th century B.C.
gives a precise timing for the
interesting episodes that have
been revealed at this location
and which were sealed by a great
earthquake and ire.
Further east the picture is illed
out by the appearance of the edge
of the court at the point where Fig. 5. West part of the court. Fallen great worked blocks, burnt
the raised surface has a painted mud-brick and a column base in situ. The burnt wooden piece of
coating of “Minoan” red. A small, furniture at the NE corner.
rectangular wooden construc-
tion, like a cist, contained a few animal bones and was covered by a gypsum slab, the irst time

8 For the horns of the sacriicial animals, N. Marinatos, supra n. 7, p. 40.

32 maria andreadaki-vlazaki
such a material has been found
at the Minoan centre of Khania,
although it is so common in the
palaces of Central Crete. Over
the entire excavated area at this
point, the destruction layer was
full of fallen and burnt mudbrick
and carbonised wood (Fig. 9).
We cannot but point out that
here on the Kastelli hill two ma-
jor kinds of sacriice used to take
Fig. 6. West part of the court. Burnt wooden piece of furniture place : bloody and bloodless, fol-
with concentration of seeds. Archaeobotanic results by Dr. Anaya lowing a particular ritual. The
Sarpaki. representations on the Haghia
Triada sarcophagus can be con-
sidered as a guide to the rites that
were conducted in this court,
one hundred years later than the
manufacture of the sarcophagus :
bloody animal sacriices, as well
as bloodless oferings on top of a
table and an altar. 9
Nevertheless, the most im-
portant inds only came to light
in the 2012 excavation, when the
rest of the LM IIIB destruction
layer was removed, in front of
the Archaic wall, namely where
the deposits of bones seemed to
continue. Little by little, the irst
Fig. 7. NW part of the court. Southern side of the construction stones were uncovered in two
with wall-painting on the exterior (altar ?). Burnt pairs of wild goat large groups which indicated the
horns in situ on the court loor.
existence of bones underneath
(Figs. 10-11). Once removed, the
irst bones appeared in a thick concentration, which meant that it was the heart of the deposit.
Initially, in the west part, many bones of wild goats and ovicaprids, pigs and cattle came to light
(Figs. 12-14), some of them crushed by the overlying stones.
In the eastern part, under the purposely placed stones (Fig. 15) we found what we had been
waiting for, without really believing that we would ind it (Figs. 16-17) : the skull of a young girl,
among animal skulls of two goats and one pig, though not complete, belonging to the same
young woman, bones of whom had been found in the previous years. It was dismembered like
all the other bones : separated by its natural sutures and detached. It is true : the human skull had
been dismembered like the rest of the human body and like the rest of all the animal bodies. The
two parietals and the frontal are disarticulated and scattered. Part of the lower jaw and more hu-
man bones, all of them belonging to the young woman were also found nearby. The picture is
shocking to accept, since there is no distinction between animal and human bodies, but the same
concept and behavior. With the help of the anthropologist Ph. McGeorge and the conservator A.
Mylona, as much of the skull as was found has been reconstituted (Fig. 18).
The complicated picture described above made the excavation very diicult. Work continued
slowly and at a very careful pace, with the technicians and conservators collaborating and helping

9 C.R. Long, The Ayia Triada Sarcophagus, Göteborg 1974 (SIMA 41).
 sacrifices in lm iiib: early kydonia palatial centre 33
each other all the time. All the earth of the de-
struction layer was being collected for lotation
from the very beginning. Collaboration with
colleagues such as my assistant, the archaeolo-
gist Eftyhia Protopapadaki, the archaeologist
M. Milidakis, the anthropologist Dr. Photini
McGeorge, the archaeobotanist, Dr. Anayia
Sarpaki, the zoo-archaeologist Dr. Dimitra
Mylona, the chemist Prof. Nonni Maravelaki
and the technicians D. Foundedakis, M. Bout-
zoukakis, P. Alyfantis and N. Babounakis was
proving extremely valuable. 10
In 2013, the excavation progressed under-
neath the Archaic wall where the rest of the
bone deposit was outstretched. Initially there
was the dilemma of whether or not to remove
the wall. However, it is an external wall where
more constructional interventions have been
identiied ; it was decided to work beneath the
wall without removing it, since there was a
technical solution. Similarly, the stratigraphical
picture from underneath the wall was simple, a
single thick destruction layer, in contrast to the
density and complexity of the stratigraphy over
the rest of the site. The wall was photographed
using a 3-D laser scanner (Fig. 19). To succeed
in the endeavour the wall was supported with
a special construction created by the civil engi- Fig. 8. Stirrup jars of the Kydonian workshop found
neer Andonis Marmatakis and the destruction in situ on the court loor, together with the burnt
layer underneath it was excavated (Fig. 20). pairs of wild goat horns. First half of the 13th c. B.C.
Not surprisingly, the rest of the deposit was (LM IIIB :early).
uncovered in that area, consisting of the layer
of bones and that of stones (Fig.
21). According to the taphonomic
details, it also became clear dur-
ing this last excavation season
that the deposit was placed after
5 of the 10 centimetres of the to-
tal thickness of the stucco loor,
which at that point had been very
roughly removed leaving visible
the rough pebbly core (Fig. 22).
The whole bone deposit rose quite
a bit above the surrounding loor.
From the evidence presented
above, the impression is that Fig. 9. NE part of the court. Edge of the court loor with the raised
three episodes took place in the surface painted of “Minoan red”. Burnt mudbrick and carbonized
last days of the court : wood fallen on the loor.
1. First there was a catastrophic
seismic shock, followed by ire which burnt everything, causing immense damage to the loor

10 See Ph. McGeorge’s and D. Mylona’s papers presented in this volume.

34 maria andreadaki-vlazaki

Fig. 10. Plan of the area in front of the Archaic wall. Groups of stones above the deposit of bones.

and raising it in places by up to 5 centimetres,

Fig. 11. Area in front of the Archaic wall.
Groups of stones above the deposit of bones
(from W.).
just like in 2014, the tarmac at the harbour of
Cephalonia.
2. At certain points on the loor, the up-
raised parts had been removed and it is pre-
cisely here that the deposition – consisting of a
young woman, 43 ovicaprids and wild goats, 4
pigs, and 2 cattle – was made after the seismic
shock, as the sign of the human anguish and
despair for the salvation of the people accord-
ing to the superstition of the period, so that
in this way, by sacriicing even the most valu-
able human life, the chthonic deities, daimones
and powers would be placated. 11 This unique
episode seems to be connected with a major
phase in the history of the Kydonia palatial
centre, as an aftermath to the seismic events
of LM IIIB :early and had not only religious but
social and political signiicance, too. The fact
that the Mycenaean palatial structure at Kydo-
nia was destroyed in this period by a great ire
with obvious indications of seismic activity has
also been determined from excavations at oth-
er locations on the hill. 12 The large number and
the wide range of the sacriicial creatures seem
to have been slaughtered in a public setting
as part of an oicial state ritual of Mycenae-
an character for such a special occasion. The
ruler, at the basis of political legitimacy had to

11 C. Long, supra n. 9, p. 67. Concerning the Haghia Triada sarcophagus, Long thinks that the gesture of the women
with their arms, palms stretched downwards indicates a chthonic rite, too.
12 Simon Jusseret is the member of the excavation team that works on this subject. Cf. S. Jusseret, Ch. Langohr and M.
Sintubin, “Tracking earthquake archaeological evidence in Late Minoan IIIB (~1300-1200 B.C.) Crete (Greece) : A proof
of concept”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, vol. 103, No. 6 (Dec. 2013), pp. 1-18, for an hypothesis that settle-
ments in central Crete had been caused by earthquake ground motions in LM IIIB :early.
 sacrifices in lm iiib: early kydonia palatial centre 35
maintain appropriate relations with the divine.
Furthermore, the Linear B tablets indicate
some close ainities in cult practice between
Knossos and Pylos during the LM IIIA and B
periods. 13 We recall here the abovementioned
Kydonia Linear B tablets with the reference to
Zeus, Dionysos and the personal name wa-ra-
pi-si-ro, which also appears on tablets from My-
cenae, Pylos and Thebes.
3. Immediately afterwards, the inal destruc-
tion occurred with a second seismic shock
that destroyed whatever had been left stand-
ing without any further ire, since everything
had already been burnt. That is why the bones
have no traces of burning. The seismic shock
led to the inal and complete destruction seal-
ing the entire collapsed structure and that
was the cause of the preservation of the bone
deposit up to now. In our case, it seems that
they are “qusivai a[geustoi”, i.e. sacriices not
tasted, but rather performed in chthonic ritu-
als. According to J. Weilhartner « after the ritual
killing, the essential point was the complete
destruction of the victim : it could either be
completely burnt (holocaust sacriice) or dis-
carded in some other way, without any part
being eaten ». 14 We should note that the of- Fig. 12. Area in front of the Archaic wall –
western part. The deposit of bones (from W.).
fering of the dismembered carcasses in Katre
was complete, covered by stones not to be dis-
turbed by anyone. The evidence of activities involving intentional dismemberment of the bodies
(like the dionysiac “sparagmos”) and structured deposition under stones and slabs, is reminiscent
of the total sacriice of burnt victims to the chthonic gods and heroes in Classical Greece or their
deposition in bothroi, although for the prehistoric period, it is unknown how it was accomplished.
By contrast, sacriice to celestial deities had a festive character and symposia took place.
This is an initial interpretation of the discovery that may be contradicted in the future, as often
happens in archaeology, and especially in prehistoric archaeology – with only Linear B docu-
ments in Mycenaean Greece – since we continually ind ourselves confronted by the unknown
that the ancient soil conceals so well. According to the available evidence, we believe that this
interpretation gives a satisfactory answer, for the moment.
We cannot avoid mentioning here the famous relics of human sacriices in Minoan Crete of
a date earlier than the Mycenaean domination. They were uncovered : a) in the Anemospilia

13 For “oicial cults” in the Aegean Late Bronze Age, see J. Weilhartner, “Religious oferings in the Linear B tablets :
an attempt at their classiication and some thoughts about their possible purpose”, in Actas del Simposio Internacional : 55
Años de Micenologia (1952-2007), Barcelona 2012 (Faventia Suppl. 1), pp. 226-231, with relevant reference. Also, A. Sacconi, “Les
repas sacrés dans les texts mycéniens”, in R. Laineur and R. Hägg, POTNIA. Deities and Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age,
Liege and Austin 2001 (Aegaeum 22), pp. 467-470 ; T. G. Palaima, “Sacriicial feasting in the Linear B documents”, Hesperia
73 (2004), pp. 217-246 ; St. Hiller “Mycenaean religion and cult”, in Y. Duhoux and A. Morpurgo Davies (eds.), A Companion
to Linear B. Mycenaean Greek Texts and Their World, vol. II, Louvain-la-Neuve 2011, pp. 169-211 ; M. Cosmopoulos and D.
Ruscillo, “Mycenaean burnt animal sacriice at Eleusis”, OJA 33.3 (2014), pp. 257-273.
14 J. Weilhartner, supra n. 13, p. 229-231 ; P. Stengel, Die griechischen Opferbrauche, Leipzig and Berlin 1910, pp. 92-126 ; W.
Burkert, supra n. 6, p. 9 and n. 41. For “destructive” sacriices, where the killing seems to operate as an act of demarcation
in passage rites, see : K. Meuli, “Griechische Opferbräuche”, in Phyllobolia, Festschrift für P. von der Mühle, Basel 1946, pp. 185-
288 ; D. D. Hughes, supra n. 6, p. 6 and n. 19.
36 maria andreadaki-vlazaki
temple of Archanes, an interpre-
tation that aroused debates, but
Y. and E. Sakellarakis presented
the evidence in an excellent man-
ner and supported the arguments
very convincingly, and b) at Knos-
sos, where P. Warren unearthed a
deposit of children’s bones with
clear knife marks. 15 Among the
numerous seals and sealings (Fig.
23) of the Aegean world with rep-
resentations of both animal and
human ( ?) sacriices 16 there is the
Katre 10 sealing of Khania with
the representation of a goddess
Fig. 13. Area in front of the Archaic wall – and a young woman for sacriice,
western part. Detail from the deposit of bones. according to Peter Warren 17 (Fig.
24). We cannot avoid mentioning
here the Greek root *sfag- in the name of sa-pa-ka-te-ri-ja (sfakthvria = ‘animals for ritual
slaughter’, sfavgia) and pa-ki-ja-ne/na district (Sfagia`ne~ /-a¯ = ‘the place of animal slaughter’),
the main religious area in Messenian territory closely associated with the palace at Pylos and ex-
clusively reserved for ritual and sacriice ; and join the above with the Greek word sfavgion, which
means a slaughtered victim dedicated to the divinity in which human use is forbidden. 18 As well,
we cannot avoid mentioning here the Tn 316 Pylos Linear B tablet, which refers to precious of-
ferings linked with the dedications of human beings in the context of an exceptional ceremony
taken place at pa-ki-ja-ne. 19

15 Y. Sakellarakis and E. Sapouna-Sakellaraki, Archanes. Minoan Crete in a New Light, vol. A’, Athens 1997, pp. 268-311, with
extensive bibliography on human sacriice in ancient Greece and in Crete especially ; P. M. Warren, supra n. 6, pp. 155-167 ;
P. M. Warren, “Knossos : New excavations and discoveries”, Archeology 37 (1984), pp. 48-55 ; W. Burkert, supra n. 3, pp. 31, 37 ;
D. D. Hughes, supra n. 6, pp. 13-24 ; J. M. Driessen, “Crisis cults on Minoan Crete”, in R. Laineur and R. Hägg, POTNIA.
Deities and Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age, Liege and Austin 2001 (Aegaeum 22), pp. 363-366.
16 R. Young, “Menschenopferdarstellungen ? Zur Analyse minoischer und mykenischer Siegelbilder”, Praehistorische
Zeitschrift 72.2 (1997), pp. 133-195. Cf. the common representations of detached animal and human heads. N. Marinatos
interprets the human heads as depictions of priests being involved in sacriicial rituals : N. Marinatos, supra n. 7, pp. 22-25
and N. Marinatos, Minoan Religion. Ritual, Image and Symbol, South Carolina 1993, pp. 129-131. Also M. P. Nilsson, supra n. 3,
pp. 232-234. Cf. the priests wearing animal masks (kerastaiv) who made gruesome human sacriices : W. Burkert, supra n. 3,
p. 65. Such men are depicted in the so-called ring of Minotaur from the Athenian Agora with a bull-headed man leading a
captive woman followed by a second one and in a seal of the Mitsotakis collection, found in Khania, with a standing bull-
headed man : S. Immerwahr, The Athenian Agora, The Neolithic and Bronze Ages, vol. XIII, Princeton 1971, p. 192, pl. 41.6 ; M.
Andreadaki-Vlazaki, “Cultes et divinités dans la ville minoenne de La Canée”, in I. Bradfer-Burdet, B. Detournay and R.
Laineur (eds.), KRHS TECNITHS (L’Artisan Crétois), Recueil d’articles en l’honneur de Jean-Claude Poursat, publié a l’occasion
des 40 ans de la decouverte du Quartier Mu, Liege and Austin 2005, p. 25, pl. IVh. Cf. E. Walcek Averet, “Masks and ritual per-
formance on the island of Cyprus”, AJA 119.1 (2015), pp. 10-11.
17 P. Warren, Minoan Religion as Ritual Action, Göteborg 1988, pp. 29-29, ig. 17. On the contrary, some scholars interpret
the scene as a woman performing an acrobatic dance with a sword or mace : I. A. Papapostolou, Ta Sfragivsmata twn
Canivwn. Sumbolhv sth Melevth th~ Minwikhv~ Sfragidoglufiva~, Athens 1977, pl. 42-43 ; N. Marinatos, supra n. 16, p. 162, ig. 148 ;
D. D. Hughes, supra n. 6, p. 25.
18 T. G. Palaima, supra n. 13, pp. 225, 231 ; J. Weilhartner, supra n. 13, p. 231. Cf. Dem. 1398 : ta;~ Lewkovra~, wJ~ eJauta;~ e[dosan
sfavgion toi`~ polivtai~ uJpe;r th`~ cwvra~.
19 Most scholars interpret the record as a dedication to the god’s service and not a human sacriice as J. Chadwick had
proposed. See M. Ventris and J. Chadwick, Documents in Mycenaean Greek, 2nd ed., Cambridge 1974, p. 460 ; J. Chadwick, The
Mycenaean World, Cambridge 1976, p. 92 ; A. Sacconi, “La tavoletta di Pilo Tn 316 : una registrazione di carattere eccezion-
ale ?”, in J. T. Killen, J. L. Melena, J.-P. Olivier (eds.), Studies in Mycenaean and Classical Greek, Presented to John Chadwick, Sla-
manca 1987 (Minos 20-22), pp. 554-555 ; T. G. Palaima, “The last days of the Pylos polity”, in R. Laineur and W.-D. Niemeier
(eds.), POLITEIA. Society and State in the Aegean Bronze Age, Liege and Austin 1995 (Aegaeum 12), pp. 623-633 ; T. G. Palaima,
“Kn 02 - Tn 316”, in S. Deger-Jalkotzy, S. Hiller, O. Panagl, G. Nightingale and T. Lindner (eds.), Floreant Studia Mycenaea,
Vienna 1999, pp. 455-456 ; D. D. Hughes, supra n. 6, pp. 199-202, 377-382 ; St. Hiller, “Mykenische Heiligtümer : das Zeugnis
 sacrifices in lm iiib: early kydonia palatial centre 37

Fig. 14. Plan of the area in front of the Archaic wall. The deposit of bones.

The discovery of the young woman’s bones

in association with ritual actions, shouldn’t
disturb us too much, since Greek mythology
has abundant examples of puriicatory sacri-
ices of virgins, in exceptional circumstances,
in an attempt by society to confront an ex-
traordinary danger, a great disaster, in periods
of plague, pestilence, famine and drought or
any other extreme situations, or before armed
conlict. Particularly in this last instance,
members of a royal family were sacriiced and
large numbers of animals were butchered, so
as to ensure success and victory in battle (Fig.
25). The legends for virgins in the role of sac-
riicial victims are well known and probably
Fig. 15. Area in front of the Archaic wall –
go back to the Mycenaean times. They were eastern part. Stones above the deposit of bones.
presented as acts of deep obedience and rev-
erence to the divine, as acts of awe and puri-
ication, as a kind of negotiation with the supreme powers and not as ferocious and ruthless
slaughters. They include the daughters of Leos, Aglauros (daughter of Kekrops), the Hyakin-
thides (daughters of Erechtheus), Makaria (daughter of Herakles), Koronides (daughters of
Orion), Polyxena (daughter of Priamus) and, of course, Iphigeneia (daughter of Agamem-
non), 20 the most famous sacriicial victim. I shall just add that even local tradition mentions
the daughter of Kydon, Eulimene who was sacriiced as a virgin to the heroes of the land, in
accordance with an oracular prophecy, when Kydon found himself in a diicult position with
the neighbouring cities in revolt. 21 Now, the Kydonia inding shows that the core of such leg-

der Linear B-Texte”, in R. Hägg and N. Marinatos (eds), Sanctuaries and Cults in the Aegean Bronze Age, Stockholm 1981, pp.
126, 212 and 215 (discussion and conclusions) ; St. Hiller, “Mycenaean Religion and Cult”, in Y. Duhoux and A. Morpurgo
Davies (eds.), A Companion to Linear B : Mycenaean Greek Texts and Their World, vol. 2, Leuven 2011, pp. 169-212. Cf. R. J. Buck,
“Mycenaean human sacriice”, Minos XXIV (1989), pp. 131-137, and G. Facchetti, M. Negri and E. Notti, “Linguistic expres-
sion and ritual taxonomy in PY Tn 316” in this volume.
20 J. Larson, Greek Heroine Cults, Madison 1994, esp. pp. 101-107 ; D. Lyons, Gender and Immortality. Heroines in Ancient Greek
Myth and Cult, Princeton 1997 ; W. Burkert, supra n. 3, p. 160 ; W. Burkert, supra n. 6, pp. 65-66 ; Paus. IV.9.4 : kovrhn a[cranton
nertevroisi daivmosi ... quhpolei`te nuktevroisin ejn sfagai`~. Cf. J. Friedrich, “Aus dem hethitischen Shrifttum”, in Der Alte
Orient, 25.2, Leipzig 1925, p. 12, for a Hittite ritual including rams and a woman during a war and a plague epidemic.
21 Asklepiades, FHG III, 300, 1 ; Parthenios, Histoires d’amour, XXXV ; D. D. Hughes, supra n. 6, p. 74 ; P. Bonnechère, Le
sacriice humain en Grèce ancienne, Athens and Liege 1994 (Kernos Suppl. 3), pp. 147-148.
38 maria andreadaki-vlazaki
ends may refer to a real ritual as
the ultimate resolution of a very
diicult situation. 22
One further ind during the
current excavation period, which
is on-going, thrilled us : the dis-
covery of the base of one more
column (three in total, for the
moment) that leads to the con-
clusion that the court, where
the events that we have just de-
scribed took place, was bordered
by stoas at least on the west and
south sides (Fig. 3). So we are
dealing with an internal court as
the court in front of the mega-
ron in Tiryns and in the palace
of Nestor at Pylos, dated to the
same period. 23 The character of
such a court accords amazingly
well with the same thing in the
Mycenaean world, which, in con-
trast to the Minoan, is inward-
looking and shrouds its activities
with greater secrecy.
Apart from anything else, the
Figs. 16-17. Area in front of the Archaic wall – excavation of Number 1 Katre
eastern part. The deposit of bones with the human skull in situ. Street has yielded evidence for
important observations on palae-
oseismic events. Architect, Professor Manolis Korres and particularly geologist, Professor Mano-
lis Manoutsoglou and Professor Antonis Vaidis, have supported the hypothesis of the existence
of an active fault-line related to the above mentioned cracks, through macroscopic measure-
ments and calculations as well as of wave dissipation, a geophysical survey using the electrical to-
mography method (ERT). Since there is an active fault-line running through the excavation, the
multiple seismic events have left conspicuous traces in various excavated levels, walls and loors
torn apart in the Roman, Classical, Archaic and Geometric periods ; so too, with the loor of the
LM IIIB court, where a swarm of cracks has been observed on the loor of high quality. The dip
direction of fracture is SW to NE.
According to Professor Manoutsoglou : “The geoelectrical section along Katre street (SW-NE)
describes the electrical resistivity of the underlying soils and rocks. The ERT method images

22 R. Buck, supra n. 19, p. 131 writes : « Generally speaking, there was a strong revulsion in Classical times against even
the idea of human sacriice, but a strong belief that it had existed widely in earlier times, with survivals persisting here and
there, particularly in times of emergency ». Also N. Marinatos in Sanctuaries and Cults in the Aegean Bronze Age (Conclusions
and Prospects : 215) writes : « Even if human sacriice is now attested for Minoan Crete and is likely to have occurred also
on the Mycenaean Mainland (although there is still no archaeological evidence for this), it seems clear that it was not such
a normal element of either religion that human victims would be recorded as a matter of routine in the lists of oferings
to the deities » (i.e. in Tn 316 Pylos tablet). The Kydonia inding is currently the irst archaeological evidence for human
sacriice in Mycenaean world and especially in Crete, excluding the ritual executions in Mycenaean tombs. Examples of the
latter, still unpublished, have also been found recently in Kydonia cemetery, and belong to the same period as the human
sacriice in Katre 1. In this Colloquium, much has been said about the diference between “ritual execution” and “human
sacriice”. See N. Stampolidis, “Eleutherna. The Orthi Petra Necropolis : Slewn with the Iron” in this volume.
23 C. W. Blegen and M. Rawson, supra n. 7, vol. I.2, ig. 417 ; E. Cline (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean,
Oxford 2010, pp. 242-243, ig. 18.2 and 726-727, ig. 54.1.
 sacrifices in lm iiib: early kydonia palatial centre 39
two layers (Fig. 26). The shallow one exhibits
lower electrical resistivity. Its thickness is 3-4
m and it is attributed to soils. The underlying
layer exhibits higher electrical resistivity and it
is attributed to the bedrock. This layer is inter-
rupted by a low resistivity zone at a distance
of 24 m from the southern edge of ERT line.
This zone is 4 m wide indicating a fault dip-
ping to the south, which is responsible for the
surface swarm of cracks and the fault scarp in
the bedrock.
In an efort to estimate the magnitude of the
earthquake which caused damage at the Katre
site we used the following data collected during
the archaeological, geological and geophysical
investigations :
• The swarm of cracks observed on the
loor of a building.
• The normal fault present on the bedrock
which is covered by soils.
Based on this information the magnitude of
the earthquake is greater than 6.5R most prob-
ably ranging from 6.5 to 7.5R, which has largely
destroyed the Khania settlement. According to
the geologists the people would have seen the
earth open and the sea recede.
Indeed, the extensive destruction observed
at Cretan sites in precisely this period, is of-
ten linked with a powerful earthquake. In this
speciic instance, the evident traces of a large
earthquake, that destroyed and burnt the pala- Fig. 18. The human skull reconstituted
tial complex, while at the same time preserving by Ph. McGeorge and A. Mylona.

Fig. 19. The Archaic wall photographed by a 3-D laser scanner.

the antiquities until the present, appear to be connected with rituals directed towards the chthon-
ic deities in an attempt to appease them and avoid the evil of which they had been forewarned,
but which ultimately they could not escape.

Abstract
Human sacriice seems a provocative interpretation of the human remains discovered in a courtyard of
the LM IIIB Mycenaean palace of Kydonia (modern Khania). Prerequisites for an objective evaluation of
this hypothesis are : i) precise contextual information for the ind (M. Vlazaki), ii) a detailed analysis of
40 maria andreadaki-vlazaki
Fig. 20. The Archaic wall held up with a special construction
created by the civil engineer A. Marmatakis.
Fig. 21. Details from the rest of the stones and bones deposit
underneath the Archaic wall. The stones and bones deposit
was quite a bit higher than the surrounding loor.
the animal remains (D. Mylona), and
iii) a detailed analysis of the human
remains found (P. J. P. McGeorge).
The human remains are not from a
funerary context, but were mingled
with a mass of dismembered animal
remains, placed over an intentionally
removed section of the courtyard’s
ine plaster loor. The surface of the
loor, rippled by multiple cracks, is
evidence of a very strong earthquake
prior to the sacriice. The boundaries
of the bone deposit demarcated and
sealed by a deposition of stones and
soil, laid undisturbed by rodents or
carnivores, and can only be attrib-
uted to a single episode of purpose-
ful human design, which occurred
in the early 13th century B.C. The
scientiic evidence shows that the
human being, a young female, was
processed – dismembered and scat-
tered – in a way that parallels the
treatment of the animal species with
which it was associated. Given the
equivalent treatment of the human
and animal remains, it must be con-
cluded that she was part of the sac-
riice. Maiden sacriices elicited for
diferent purposes are known from
ancient Greek myths and literature :
in Homer, Herodotus, Euripides, Ae-
schylus, Pausanias and other sources.
This may be the earliest archaeologi-
cally visible instance of a Mycenaean
Greek ritual form of propitiatory
sacriice to chthonic forces.
 sacrifices in lm iiib: early kydonia palatial centre 41

Fig. 22. The above points after the removal

of the stones and bones deposit. It is evident
the rough removal of 5 centimetres of the
total thickness of the loor to put the de-
posit.

Fig. 23. Representations of sacriices on seals and sealings (R. Young, “Menschenopferdarstellungen ?
Zur Analyse minoischer und mykenischer Siegelbilder”, Praehistorische Zeitschrift 72.2 (1997), pp. 133-195).
42 maria andreadaki-vlazaki

Fig. 25. Black-igured amphora

(British Museum) with the scene
of Polyxene’s sacriice.

Fig. 24. The “Katre 10” excavation sealing with the rep-
resentation of a goddess and a young woman for sacri-
ice (P. Warren, Minoan Religion as Ritual Action, Göte-
borg 1988, pp. 29-29, ig. 17).

Fig. 26. The geoelectrical section along Katre street (SW-NE) with the electrical resistivity of the under-
lying soils and rocks. The point of the active fault is marked by a white arrow, in front of the “Katre 1”
excavation.
2. 3. The LM IIIB :early stones and slabs deposit – which covered the bones deposit – around and underneath the Archaic
wall 10. The wall is depicted in dark grey colour.; 4. 5-6. 7-9. 10. 11. 12. Detail of the loor cracked by the earthquake and
raised by up to 5 centimetres. 13. The tarmac at the harbour of Kephalonia. 15-16. 17. 18.
 comp os to in car atter e d an t e mon ot y p e d al l a
fabrizio serr a e d i t or e , p i s a · r oma .
s tamp ato e r i l e g a t o n e l l a
tip og r afia di agn an o, a g n a n o p i s a n o ( p i s a ) .
*
Dicembre 2015
(cz 2 · fg 3)

Tutte le riviste Online e le pubblicazioni delle nostre case editrici

(riviste, collane, varia, ecc.) possono essere ricercate bibliograicamente e richieste
(sottoscrizioni di abbonamenti, ordini di volumi, ecc.) presso il sito Internet:
www.libraweb.net
Per ricevere, tramite E-mail, periodicamente, la nostra newsletter/alert con l’elenco
delle novità e delle opere in preparazione, Vi invitiamo a sottoscriverla presso il nostro sito
Internet o a trasmettere i Vostri dati (Nominativo e indirizzo E-mail) all’indirizzo:
newsletter@iepi.it
*
Computerized search operations allow bibliographical retrieval of the Publishers’ works
(Online journals, journals subscriptions, orders for individual issues, series, books, etc.)
through the Internet website:
www.libraweb.net
If you wish to receive, by E-mail, our newsletter/alert with periodic information
on the list of new and forthcoming publications, you are kindly invited to subscribe it at our
web-site or to send your details (Name and E-mail address) to the following address:
newsletter@iepi.it