Many of the Greek deities are known from as early as Mycenaean (Late Bronze Age) civilization. This is an incomplete list of these deities[n 1] and of the way their names, epithets, or titles are spelled and attested in Mycenaean Greek, written in the Linear B[n 2]syllabary, along with some reconstructions and equivalent forms in later Greek.
meaning obscure: perhaps "The Thirsty and hence the Dead Ones" possibly referring to ancestor worship or slain gods possibly the Titans; perhaps related to Thessalian month Dipsos[13][17][18][19][20]
A possible sun goddess, predecessor to Helios(?), and possibly related to Helen(?).[93] No unambiguous attestations of words for "sun" have yet been found, though the Mycenaean word for "sun" is reconstructed as *hāwélios.
↑ This list includes deities which in later Greek times and sources were thought of as semigods or mortal heroes. Scholars assign to attested words in Linear B a possibility or probability, sometimes controversially, of being a theonym or an anthroponym, a toponym, etc.; Mycenaean Linear B sources are often damaged inscriptions bearing lacunae, and in any case, they are too few to enable classifications with certainty. Finally there is a list of attested words which seem to refer to mortals or whose reference is unclear, yet they may have a connection to religion or to a divine or heroic figure of later times.
↑ The names/words in Linear B and the transliteration thereof are not necessarily in the nominativecase and also not necessarily of said gods per se, as e.g. in the case of Hephaestus.
↑ This term is for example found, on the Kn Fp 1 and KN Fp 13 tablets.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000000E-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000000F-QINU`"'
↑ It should be made clear that an absence of offerings, in parallel, to explicitly named deities or people (like priests or priestesses) on relevant attested inscriptions, does not necessarily follow from the presence of this special dedication; for example, the Kn Fp 1 inscription also includes, among others, offerings to Zeus Diktaios, Pade, Erinys and Anemon Hiereia.
↑ The words are two - despite the lack of a separator symbol - and in the dative plural case; their reconstructed form is *pansi tʰeoihi; see the words πᾶς, θεός.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000012-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000013-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000014-QINU`"'
↑ See the nounἱέρεια.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000001D-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the KN Fp 1 and KN Fp 13 tablets.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000001F-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000020-QINU`"'
↑ The inscriptions read that the offers are made to her, thus they could refer to a goddess; this is not though, what modern scholars seem to believe.
↑ The first cited form could just be an instance of a scribe forgetting to write the word-separator sign 𐄀 between two words. In that case *Anemohiereia should be instead read as *Anemon Hiereia also.
↑ Found on the lacunose KN E 842 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000028-QINU`"'
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Found on the PY Tn 316 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000030-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000031-QINU`"'
↑ Cf. the nouns δεσπότης, δόμος, πόσις;'"`UNIQ--ref-00000033-QINU`"' whence despot in English;'"`UNIQ--ref-00000034-QINU`"' in an etymological sense, it literally means "master of the house" and is related to potnia.
1 2 3 4 The word Poseidon (Ποσειδῶν; variant forms include Ποσειδάων, the former's final syllable being a synaeresis of the latter's final two) itself, could be connected in an etymological sense - cf. πόσις - to Despotas (if indeed this is the correct reading-interpretation of do-po-ta) and Potnia;'"`UNIQ--ref-0000007D-QINU`"' likewise compare the same word in connection to Ge-Gaia (hence possibly to Ma Ga) and the possible Enesidaon and other undoubted later-times epithets of him, in consideration of the word-endings, etc.. Moreover some scholars have connected - in a similar manner to the one of Poseidon - Demeter to "Earth" via the De (Da; considered in this case as Pre-Greek and as meaning "Earth") syllable, the goddess thus viewed as representing Da-Mater, "Mother Earth" or similar; others on the other hand have interpreted Demeter's Da syllable as related to domos (i.e. to be Indo-European), interpreting her name as "Mother of the House", creating thus an etymological connection to Despotas and Potnia. À propos, some scholars have considered the attested, on the PY En 609 tablet,'"`UNIQ--ref-0000007E-QINU`"' Mycenaean word 𐀅𐀔𐀳, da-ma-te, as reading Demeter, but the view is not widely held anymore; the former is indeed thought to be connected to domos, etc, but it is believed to probably be a form of, or something similar to, δάμαρ.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000007F-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000080-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000081-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000082-QINU`"'
↑ According to Chadwick,'"`UNIQ--ref-00000039-QINU`"' "Dionysos surprisingly appears twice at Pylos, in the form Diwonusos, both times irritatingly enough on fragments, so that we have no means of verifying his divinity". This old view can be found reflected in other scholars'"`UNIQ--ref-0000003A-QINU`"' but this has changed after the 1989-90 Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Hill, Chania, unearthed the KH Gq 5 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000003B-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000003C-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000003D-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000003E-QINU`"'
↑ Cf. the verbδιψάω-ῶ.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000044-QINU`"'
↑ The inscription reads (line 10): di-ri-mi-jo⌞ ⌟di-wo,i-je-we, i.e. *Drimiōi Diwos hiēwei, "to Drimios, the son of Zeus".'"`UNIQ--ref-00000049-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000004A-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000004B-QINU`"'
↑ Drimios likely formed a cult group with Zeus and Hera, perhaps the son of this couple, who was forgotten by archaic times.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000004D-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the KN M 719 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000052-QINU`"'
↑ Cf. Ἐνοσίχθων, Ἐννοσίγαιος, Poseidon's later epithets.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000054-QINU`"'
↑ '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000005C-QINU`"'𐀁𐀔𐁀, when in the nominative, is thought to be read as Ἑρμάἁς (Ἑρμάhας).'"`UNIQ--ref-0000005D-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the lacunose KN E 842 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000064-QINU`"'
↑ Hiller's'"`UNIQ--ref-00000072-QINU`"' or Schofield's'"`UNIQ--ref-00000073-QINU`"' pa-ja-wo is not actually attested per se; the word actually attested on the damaged KN V 52 tablet and the fragments thereof, reads pa-ja-wo-ne; the latter would be the dative case form of the former.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000074-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000075-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the PY Tn 316 and PY Fr 1204 tablets.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000088-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000089-QINU`"'
↑ See the words τρίς, ἥρως.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000008B-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000008C-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000008D-QINU`"'
↑ It is generally thought to be connected to τριπάτορες, i.e. the "collective, anonymous family ancestors",'"`UNIQ--ref-0000008F-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000090-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000091-QINU`"' but it could perhaps instead refer to Triptolemus, himself possibly "a 'hypostasis' of Poseidon".'"`UNIQ--ref-00000092-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000093-QINU`"'
1 2 The King and the Two Queens are sometimes attested on tablets together, in the offerings or the libations to them; forms of both "the King" and "the Two Queens" are in the dative case. An example of said concurrent attested worship is the PY Fr 1227 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000097-QINU`"'
1 2 On the other hand, there are scholars who have argued that "the King" and "the Two Queens" are not theonyms, that they simply refer to mortal royalty.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000099-QINU`"'
↑ Pertaining to the Dikti.'"`UNIQ--ref-000000A1-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the KN Fp 1 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-000000A3-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the PY An 607 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-000000B7-QINU`"'
↑ Found in a tablet from Pylos, also found on the KN Dv 1462 tablet.
↑ Foreign scholars interpret this name as "matinal", "matutino", "mañanero", meaning "of the early morning", "of the dawn".'"`UNIQ--ref-000000C2-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the KN Fp 1, KN V 52, and KN Fh 390 tablets.'"`UNIQ--ref-000000CC-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-000000CD-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the KN Xd 58 tablet. Some doubts have been cast over its connection to Leto due to the non-matching geography.'"`UNIQ--ref-000000E0-QINU`"'
↑ See the noun σῖτος and the epithet Σιτώ.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000104-QINU`"'
↑ Said Potnia or Potnia in general is found on only one table at Thebes: TH Of 36.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000010A-QINU`"' Her premises, her house is thought to have been her shrine.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000010B-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000010C-QINU`"'
↑ The word, on the same tablet, '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000113-QINU`"'𐀡𐀩𐀙, po-re-na, *phorenas, understood to mean "those brought or those bringing" (it actually reads '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000114-QINU`"'𐀡𐀩𐀙𐀤, po-re-na-qe, but a postfixed 𐀤, qe, is usually a conjunction; cf. καί, τε, and Latinet, qve),'"`UNIQ--ref-00000115-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000116-QINU`"' has been interpreted by some scholars as evidence of human sacrifice at said sanctuary:'"`UNIQ--ref-00000117-QINU`"' "According to this interpretation, the text of Tn 316 was written as one of many extreme emergency measures just before the destruction of the palace. Tn 316 would then reflect a desperate, and abnormal, attempt to placate divine powers through the sacrifice of male victims to male gods and female victims to female gods".'"`UNIQ--ref-00000118-QINU`"'
↑ The nominative case form of the place (i.e. of the sanctuary) is '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000011A-QINU`"'𐀞𐀑𐀊𐀚, pa-ki-ja-ne; it is also found in other forms, including derivative words; the specific form found on the PY Tn 316 tablet is '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000011B-QINU`"'𐀞𐀑𐀊𐀯, pa-ki-ja-si, i.e. possibly its locative plural form.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000011C-QINU`"'
↑ Possibly an ethnic or geographic adjective of Asia understood in this context as referring to Lydia or the Assuwa league; i.e. in the sense of, or similar to, Anatolia.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000120-QINU`"'
↑ Could be some kind of "under" or "to weave" epithet;'"`UNIQ--ref-0000012A-QINU`"' cf. the prepositionὑπό and the verb ὑφαίνω.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000012B-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000012C-QINU`"'
↑ Found on the PY An 1281 tablet.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000130-QINU`"'
↑ Possibly an epithet of Artemis; cf. Πότνια θηρῶν, θήρ.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000138-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-00000139-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000013A-QINU`"'
↑ Cf. the noun βοῦς.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000140-QINU`"'
↑ Perhaps connected to proposed PIE *Gʷouu̯indā; cf. Govinda and Old IrishBoand.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000142-QINU`"'
↑ Also attested once on the PY 1219 table as '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000014A-QINU`"'𐀷𐀜𐀰𐀂, wa-no-so-i.'"`UNIQ--ref-0000014B-QINU`"''"`UNIQ--ref-0000014C-QINU`"'
Ventris, Michael; Chadwick, John (1973). Documents in Mycenaean Greek: Three Hundred Selected Tablets from Knossos, Pylos, and Mycenae. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN9780521085588.
Duhoux, Yves; Morpurgo Davies, Anna, eds. (2011). A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World. Vol.2. Peeters. ISBN9782758401162.
Articles in journals, periodicals and of conferences
Suppléments au Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique. La Crète mycénienne: Actes de la Table Ronde Internationale organisée par l'École française d'Athènes. Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique. Vol.30. Athens: Collections de l'Ecole française d'Athènes en ligne. 1997 [Date of Conference: 26–28 March 1991].
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Sacconi, A., ed. (2008) [Date of Conference: 20–25 February 2006]. "Colloquium romanum: The Shepherds in the Cn Series at Pylos; M. Lindgren, Use of the Cypriot Syllabary in a Multicultural Surrounding; S. Lupack, the Northeast Building of Pylos and an 1281; M. Marazzi, Il "sistema" Argolide: l'Organizzazione territoriale del golfo argolideo; M. Meier-Brügger, Une lecture en langue mycénienne des textes de la série Ta de Pylos; T. Meissner, Notes on Mycenaean Spelling; A. Michailidou, Late Bronze Age Economy: Copper". Colloquium Romanum: atti del XII colloquio internazionale di micenologia (in two volumes). XII colloquio internazionale di micenologia. Rome. Pasiphae. et al. Eds. Pisa and Rome. ISBN9788862270564.
Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press. At the Perseus Project.
Duev, Ratko. "di-wi-ja and e-ra in the Linear B texts". In: Pierre Carlier, Additional editors: Charles De Lamberterie, Markus Egetmeyer, Nicole Guilleux, Françoise Rougemont and Julien Zurbach (editors). Études mycéniennes 2010. Actes du XIIIe colloque international sur les textes égéens, Sèvres, Paris, Nanterre, 20-23 septembre 2010. Biblioteca di Pasiphae. 10. Pisa; Roma: Fabrizio Serra editore, 2012. pp.195–205. ISBN9788862274722
Flouda, Georgia. "The Goddess Eileithyia in the Knossian Linear B Tablets". In: Honors to Eileithyia at Ancient Inatos: The Sacred Cave of Eileithyia at Tsoutsouros. Crete: Highlights of the Collection. Edited by Athanasia Kanta et al., INSTAP Academic Press, 2022. pp.33–36, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2f4v5x3.12. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
Killen, John (2024). "Mycenaean Religion". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.307–314. doi:10.1017/9781139029049.013. ISBN978-1-139-02904-9.
Killen, John (2024). "Religion, Cults And Ritual". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.838–891. doi:10.1017/9781139046152.012. ISBN978-1-139-04615-2.
LEUVEN, JON C. (1979). "Mycenaean Goddesses Called Potnia". Kadmos. 18 (2): 112–129. doi:10.1515/kadm.1979.18.2.112.
Morris, S.P. (2001) [Date of Conference: 12–15 April 2000]. Laffineur, R.; Hägg, R. (eds.). "Potnia Aswiya: Anatolian Contributions to Greek Religion". Aegaeum. 22: Potnia. Deities and Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 8th International Aegean Conference, Göteborg, Göteborg University. Belgium: 423–434.
Parker, Robert (2024). "Mycenaean And Classical Greek Religion". In John Killen (ed.). The New Documents in Mycenaean Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.315–20. doi:10.1017/9781139029049.014. ISBN978-1-139-02904-9.
Sergent, Bernard (1990). "Héortologie du mois Plowistos de Pylo". Dialogues d'histoire ancienne (in French). 16 (1): 175–217. doi:10.3406/dha.1990.1464.
Wachter, Rudolf. "Homeric – Mycenaean Word Index (MYC)". In: Prolegomena. Edited by Joachim Latacz, Anton Bierl and Stuart Douglas Olson [English Edition]. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. pp.236–258. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501501746-015
↑ Palaima, Thomas G. (2008) [Date of Conference: 25–29 March 2008]. "The Significance of Mycenaean Words Relating to Meals, Meal Rituals and Food"(PDF). In Hitchcock, Louise A.; Laffineur, Robert; Crowley, Janice (eds.). DAIS The Aegean Feast. Proceedings of the 12th International Aegean Conference. 12th International Aegean Conference. University of Melbourne. Aegaeum. Liège, Austin. pp.383–389.
↑ Luján, Eugénio R. "Los temas en -s en micénico". In: Donum Mycenologicum: Mycenaean Studies in Honour of Francisco Aura Jorro. Edited by Alberto Bernabé and Eugenio R. Luján. Bibliothèque des cahiers de L'Institut de Linguistique de Louvain Vol. 131. Louvain-la-Neuve; Walpole, MA: Peeters. 2014. p. 68.
↑ Lejeune, Michel. "Une présentation du Mycénien". In: Revue des Études Anciennes. Tome 69, 1967, n° 3–4. p. 281. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rea.1967.3800]; www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1967_num_69_3_3800
↑ Nakassis, Dimitri. "Labor and Individuals in Late Bronze Age Pylos". In: Labor in the Ancient World. Edited by Piotr Steinkeller and Michael Hudson. Dresden: ISLET-Verlag. 2015 [2005]. p. 605. ISBN978-3-9814842-3-6.
↑ Davies, Anna Morpurgo (1972). "Greek and Indo-European semiconsonants: Mycenaean u and w". In: Acta Mycenaea, vol. 2 (M.S. Ruipérez, ed.). Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca. p. 93.
↑ Jorro, Francisco Aura. "Reflexiones sobre el léxico micénico" In: Conuentus Classicorum: temas y formas del Mundo Clásico. Coord. por Jesús de la Villa, Emma Falque Rey, José Francisco González Castro, María José Muñoz Jiménez, Vol. 1, 2017, pp. 307. ISBN978-84-697-8214-9.
↑ Chadwick, John (1966). "The Olive Oil tablets of Knossos". In Palmer, L.R.; Chadwick, John (eds.). Proceedings of the Cambridge Colloquium on Mycenaean Studies. Cambridge University Press. p.29.
↑ Bartoněk, Antonín (2002). "2. Substantiva und Adjektiva der I., II. und III. Deklination: I. Deklination (Substantiva)". Handbuch des mykenischen Griechisch. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. WINTER. pp.165–6. ISBN3825314359.
↑ Kristiansen, Kristian; Larsson, Thomas B. (2005). The Rise of Bronze Age Society: Travels, Transmissions and Transformations. Cambridge University Press.
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