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CONTINUITY FROM THE MYCENAEAN PERIOD
IN AN HISTORICAL BOEOTIAN CULT OF POSEIDON (AND ERINYS)
As is well known, Spyros Iakovidis has always been very interested in the full range of
Mycenaean culture and its place within the Hellenic tradition, past and present. He has also
been interested in detailing the archaeological evidence for what leading researchers call ‘the
horse of Poseidon’1, i.e., the terrible earthquake damage that might have contributed to the
demise of Mycenaean palatial culture. I offer this exploration into continuity of an unusual
cult of Poseidon in Boeotia from the Bronze Age into the classical period, as a modest trib-
ute to the great breadth of vision and exacting care in research of Professor Iakovidis.
Much of the evidence from the Linear B tablets for religion2 can be connected with an
extra-palatial element of Mycenaean religious ritual or at least to sanctuary sites out in the
landscape and outside the immediate orbit of the palatial centers. The worship of Dionysos
is attested in a theophoric name on KN tablet Dv 1501. The reference is to a shepherd on
Crete. This at least indicates that religious feeling for Dionysos reached population groups
outside the palatial centers and at levels below the upper-class elites at these palatial cen-
ters.
A new join to Pylos tablet Ea 102 now gives evidence that a shrine of Dionysos with a
sacrificial altar existed outside the environs of the palatial center. The more famous Khania
tablet Gq 5 lists consignments of amphorae of honey to Zeus and Dionysos by use of the
allative form of di-wi-jo meaning ‘to the sanctuary of Zeus’. There is no precise specification
of location for this sanctuary, but the main religious offering texts from Knossos and Pylos
give ample evidence for palatial recording of the movement/consignment of oil, honey, and
ritual vessels. Moreover, sacred functionaries are directed for clearly religious purposes to
sites and designated sanctuaries away from the palatial centers proper.3
At Knossos oil and honey are allocate