Re: Pelasgians - Consensus
From: Ivanovas/Milatos
Message: 1911
Date: 2000-03-21
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<DIV>Dennis wrote:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>Lin.B da-pu-ri-to, which I personally think is doubtful (why da- for
r/la-, < ?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If you want a good explanation, read the article by Guidi I mentioned
before. Only in short:</DIV>
<DIV>a similar change happened also between the Greek and Latin forms of a plant
related to the Labyrinth: laurus nobilis, (laurel) that was/is 'daphnE' in Greek
(there are also several articles on Mycenaean dealing with this change, I
believe, Guidi also deals with this).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We know of the close relationship to the cult of a chthonic Apollo, to
whom the plant was attributed from very early times, see e.g. the earliest
temple of Didyma near Miletus. In this temple there were several features taken
in antiquity to be connected with the labyrinth (even though the so-called
'labyrinth'-decoration in the later form of the temple are plain meanders). This
Apollo, judging from the style the temple was built, was explicitly seen as a
kind of lightbringer into darkness, a subject that was probably already relevant
in Minoan cave cult of the time of the first palaces (and possibly much
earlier...).</DIV>
<DIV>Please note also the Carian town-name Labraunda, where a god called Zeus
was worshiped whose depictions show him carrying a double-axe.</DIV>
<DIV>So PLEASE, no further mentioning of Egypt in this context!!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And why link it with the Minotaur/bull only? It is well possible that the
subject of death and rebirth was the main theme of Minoan spirituality, even in
- today hardly discernable any more - cults connected with plants.</DIV>
<DIV>For the bringer of light and the dark earth were seen as a couple,
fertilizing plants to grow, drying them up to die, reviving them with the help
of rain.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The fact that labyrinths were often found in graves is a good point to see
this connection with spiritual resurrection... From darkness to light, from
light to darkness, the cycle of fertility including human beings just as
everything else alive. That is the basic theme of early Aegean spirituality.
(Please note also the iconographic connection of the horns of consecration and
the double axe with the waxing and waning of the moon - bringing light, taking
light away, changing the seasons.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On the day of spring equinox, from Crete, where the full moon has brought
so much light tonight all the old myths seemed quite alive...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sabine</DIV></BODY></HTML>