Priests and Priestesses

To judge from the Linear B tablets and the art, Mycenaean deities were served by professional priests and priestesses. Through either accident of recovery or Minoan influence, we have more information about the latter. When it is possible to determine what deities these cult functionaries served, we see that priests tended to serve gods, and priestesses, goddesses. The fact that we have the names of so many gods suggests that more priests existed than we have recovered information about so far.

At least three types of male cult officials can be identified in the Linear B corpus. These are the priest (hiereus), the herald (keryx), and the slave of the god (doulos theou). Two of these are mentioned on Pylos tablet Fn 187, referring to grain allocations. Except for the personal names in the text, all the titles are religious in orientation (here, just the names are given, minus the grain allocations):

A sanctuary of Poseidon is listed in line 2—Poseidaion—along with its her-ald/keryx in line 3. Then the sanctuary at Pakijana is mentioned in line 4, with its herald in line 5. The Potnia of Upojo appears in line 8. Line 18 mentions the priests of Poseidon—Poseidon (h)iereusi—and two more heralds appear in lines 16 and 21, probably associated with religious functionaries. The priest of Poseidon at Pylos probably functioned much as a priest in the historical periods: caring for the god's possessions and presiding at sacrifices. The idea that the heralds were religious functionaries is evident in their close associations with the sanctuaries in this tablet and by comparison with later Greek ritual. As discussed below, sacred heralds were used to call people to religious rituals.

The slave of the god/dess, of which there were male and female, is a distinct category from a common slave (see chapter 6). In contrast to the common slaves mentioned in the Linear B tablets, the slaves of the god/dess were frequently named. Furthermore, they appeared in the tablets as leasing land, showing a level of economic independence sometimes equal to that of the priests and priestesses themselves (tablet Eo 04).

The female cult officials were the priestesses (hiereiai), the key-bearers (klawiphoroi), the ki-ri-ti-wi-ja, and the slaves of the goddess (as discussed above). Mentions of priestesses appear in tablets from Pylos and Knossos. At Knossos there were references mainly about the Priestess of the Winds, who received offerings along with the deities: In tablet Fp 1+31, she receives offerings of oil, appearing at the end of a list including Diktaian Zeus, Pade, the deities of Amnissos, the Furies, and "all the gods." In the tablets from Pylos, we hear more about the priestess of a place called Pakijana, which was a popular sanctuary probably dedicated to some manifestation of Potnia. These priestesses probably presided over cult rituals such as sacrifice, as well as caring for the daily needs and affairs of their deities, such as the regulation of their property. In this they may have been aided by the key-bearers, whose keys probably belonged to the deities' sanctuaries and temples. These sanctuaries and temples themselves may have been attended on a daily basis by the slaves of the god/dess. The texts make clear that both priestesses and key-bearers managed land for their deities, as well as managing land in their own right (tablet Ep 704).

Who the ki-ri-te-wi-ja were is still uncertain. When Ventris and Chadwick first published the Linear B texts in the 1950s, they interpreted them as reapers. However, these officials show up frequently in the land-management texts, always controlling considerable amounts of land, frequently in religious contexts, and they are always listed as a communal body (as opposed to individual women). As such, Billigmeier and Turner have referred to them as "a board of women collectively possessing wealth and prestige" (1981, 7-8). These ki-ri-te-wi-ja seem to have been associated with specific deities, just as the priests and priestesses were. Pylos tablet An 607 refers to the ki-ri-te-wi-ja of the goddess Doqeta/Dopota. In each case, the women's parents were slaves of the goddess. This argues that the ki-ri-te-wi-ja were religious personnel, that they were well off financially, and that such religious functions were hereditary (Billigmeier and Turner 1981, 8).

The Haghia Triadha Sarcophagus. This ceramic coffin (see Images 8.6 and 8.7) is one of the best portrayals that we have of Minoan and Mycenaean cult ritual. The sarcophagus was created after the Mycenaean conquest of Crete, but it comes from an area where Minoan tradition remained strong. Therefore, scholars have debated whether the decorative scenes represent Minoan or Mycenaean practices. Much of the iconography is blatantly Minoan, like the labrydes with birds perched upon them. However, some of the imagery seems more in line with Mycenaean practices, like the trussed-up bull awaiting sacrifice on the altar (such scenes showed up far more often on the mainland than on the island). In general, one might simply call the sarcophagus Aegean, a fusion of Minoan and Mycenaean elements, rituals, and beliefs.

On the labrys side are two priestesses, one in an animal-hide skirt, pouring libations into a vessel between two labrydes on which birds are perched. The birds probably represent divine epiphany. Behind the priestesses is a male lyre player. Facing in the opposite direction are what researchers think are three priests, bringing offerings to an idol standing before a tomb. This would appear, then, to be a scene from a cult of the dead, possibly honoring a hero.

On the sacrifice side, we see a procession of functionaries, all behind another priestess in another animal-hide skirt (clearly a marker of religious status). This priestess stands before a small altar that is located before a temple or tomb decorated with horns of consecration. A small vessel by the priestess's hand suggests that she is pouring libations. Behind the priestess is the bull on the altar; behind him is a male flute player, the equivalent of the lyre player on the other side. Behind these in the procession are three more priestesses, although damage to their upper bodies does not permit researchers to determine what exactly they are doing. The short ends of the sarcophagus show magical females in chariots: images of the divine.

The Haghia Triadha Sarcophagus imagery suggests, as did the Linear B tablets, that priestesses play a more significant role than priests in Aegean religion, even into the Mycenaean period. Priestesses performed cult rituals in honor of the deities and the dead, including libations and animal sacrifice. Male cult functionaries also took part in these rituals, although we cannot nec-

8.6 Haghia Triadha Sarcophagos (2 views—Procession) (Kathleen Cohen/Herakleion Archaeological Museum)

Essarily determine the status of the men on the sarcophagus vis-a-vis the tablets. The function of the lyre player is fairly obvious, but are the men on the labrys side priests or slaves of the god/dess? Are all the women priestesses, or only those wearing the animal-hide skirts? Perhaps those people at the end of the procession were also slaves of the god/dess; much remains unknown.