Pagan Underground: Minoan Culture and the Ring of Minos, from Knossos in northern Crete

Minoan Culture

The Bronze Age Mediterranean: 1900–1400 BC

Gold ring: Late Minoan I, Knossos, Crete. c. 1500 BC.

If it had been a Celtic burial that this ring had come from, the shrine of upwards-pointing horns at the front of this boat would have been a candelabra of lighted candles instead.

‘Some people assume that all these scenes on Minoan rings must depict things the artist saw in everyday life,’ said Miranda. ‘I suppose some might have, like ones with dancing women and acrobats and things, but if the culture was as steeped in religion as most people suppose, I bet there were lots of religious stories and myths that the artist would want to express in her art.

‘Like the myths depicted on Greek vases,’ suggested Quintin.

‘Exactly like scenes from myths painted on Classical Greek vases,’ replied Miranda. ‘A Greek vase showing somebody rolling a rock up a hill doesn’t tell us that the ancient Greeks liked to roll rocks up hills, does it! It depicts the myth of Sisyphus who was condemned to roll a rock up a hill only to watch it fall back down again and his labour wasted forever. And why should Minoan art be any different? What strikes you most about the Ring of Minos? The one that was once thought to be a forgery but confirmed to be genuine near the beginning of this century? The one that was found by a little boy near the Palace of Minos at Knossos in 1928?'

'The boat.'

‘Okay. What is so striking about it?’

‘It has a shrine on board,' said Quintin. 'A shrine with upwards-pointing horns, like those in the Palace of Minos itself. And it’s being rowed in a very strange way too. In fact, I don't think it is being rowed,’ he said, squinting at the graphic reproduction they were looking at. ‘It looks almost as though the woman in it has the shaft of the oar behind her back! That's a steering oar. A goddess is steering it.’

‘So how is it being powered?’ asked Miranda.

‘I don't know,’ said Quintin. ‘It isn’t! No sail, no oars.’

‘A magic boat then,’ said Miranda. ‘Now, if it had been a Celtic burial that this ring had come from, I bet that instead of a shrine of upwards-pointing horns there would have been a candelabra of lighted candles at the front of this boat. And don't forget this ring was probably recovered from a tomb. It was placed on the finger of a dead person.’