Cult objects and practices

The Mycenaeans used double axes and “horns of consecration”, but to a far lesser degree than the Minoans. One of the most common obviously cultic items are small clay figurines designated by us as phi- and psi- idols (because of the resemblance of the figurines to the Greek letters cp and xj/, whereby the latter is like a schematic human raising its arms in an air of adoration; it is difficult to judge, but presumably the former had its hands on its hips).

Like the Minoans, the Mycenaeans performed sacrifices, feasts, processions and libation rituals. The extent to which encounters with the gods took on the ecstatic form attributed to the Minoans is not clear, but in the iconography it does not play the same central role as among the Minoans. However, they seem to have adopted the idea of processions since the texts refer to the “carrying” of the gods. Yet these processions did not lead to temples, but rather to shrines (as we understand them; in the texts “temples” are present). Whereas the small (and cheap) votive figurines hint at the popular nature of the religion and participation, the absence of major urban temple architecture accentuates the concept of a low-key popular religion.