From: Mark Odegard
Message: 1932
Date: 2000-03-23
From: Ivanovas/MilatosRex, and others, just a short answer:
Potnia of Labyrinth is the (female) master of the Labyrinth-sanctuary (! no
storehouse, Please!!, a purely spiritual thing...)
And nobody knows if this Potnia was human (a priestess?) or divine (a
goddess?), but usually scholars tend to understand the latter. (cf. later
Potnia Athena, the masteress of Athens, the goddess Athena).
And let's face it: we still don't know if the Labyrinth 'was' Knossos
(i.e.the palace of Knossos, whose ruins could be seen in classical times) or
a part of it (a dancing place? The dark sanctuaries quasi-underground? Or
just the abstract summary of the spiritual function of the place - which is
my supposition.
But it is certainly a spiritual concept, connected with losing and finding
yourself in the intricate revolving of the earth's fertile but also lethal
womb. In the middle of this concept of the female - if overcoming the fear
to enter - you'll meet the concept of the male, the powerful holy bull whose
blood, when libated, will fertilize the earth and perpetuate (spiritual)
life. Then finding back out again is no difficulty if you follow the thread
Ariadne's wisdom has given you: the knowledge of the way, winding and
complicated but inevitable (it's not a maze!).
Coming out of the labyrinth, having killed the holy bull, means to achieve
initiation into Minoan nature-mysteries.
So, I suppose, if a name/epithet had been given for the Masteress of the
Labyrinth, it would have been Ariadne (or Aridela).
See?? :-)))
Sort of, Sabine. It rather sounds like a unisex version of what I've read about the all-male mysteries of Mithraism.Ariadne as the guiding priestess of the mystery. I had not thought of that one, but it makes sense. And then there is her association with Dionysios...Some of it is IE.