Minoan Snake Goddess

Minoan snake Goddess
About 1600 BCE. Heraclion Museum, Crete.

  • Faience statuette of the snake Goddess from the Temple Repositories in the Palace of Cnossus, Crete.
  • The association of the Goddess Athena with the serpent remains for all to see.
  • As stern guardian of the Acropolis, the Goddess is accompanied by the great snake which encircles her shield, thought to be Erichthonius himself - the very babe born in mysterious circumstances, and nurtured next to the Goddess's own breast, wrapped in her great goatskin.

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