Labyris – the Double Axe (and the Butterfly Goddess)

The Labyris was as important, powerful and omnipresent a symbol to the Minoan religion as the Cross is to Christianity and the crescent to Islam.

The symbol itself is very ancient. Representations of it dated to the Paleolithic have been found in caves at Niaux in south-west France, and the Neolithic Halaf culture in Iraq The labyris was characteristic of Neolithic cultures of the Tarn and Garonne. It also occurred on Catalhöyuk wall-paintings.

The name labyris derives from Lydian labrys, meaning ”double axe”. It has given name to the wordlabyrinthos, which in Minoan and Greek meant”Home of the Double Axe”. Thus the Labyrinth of Knossos, the temple, was essentially related to the labyris.

Labyris have been found in every possible form on Crete, carved into stone, painted on ceramics and frescoes, and many thousands cast in bronze, silver and gold. Labyris were made in sizes from an inch to over twenty feet tall.

Large bronze labyris have been found together with offering tables and other ritual objects. Labyris set into Horns of Consecration were typical objects used in Cretan shrines, both at Knossos and at hilltop shrines. Huge amounts of labyris have been found in the sacred caves of Crete.

Marija Gimbutas believed that the labyris was a symbol of the Goddess as butterfly. The various stages of the life cycle of this insect can be seen as representing the cycle of life, death and rebirth – or resurrection.

The butterfly in itself frequents Minoan art both on Crete and the surrounding islands, and some places the connection with theGoddess seems obvious, such as this butterfly goddess.

The lily is also associated with the labyris, represented stylistically in sacred landscape paintings looking very much like labyris.

The shape of cattle horns and the cresecent moon are also seen inthe labyris shape. It was extremely common to place the labyris between Horns of Consecration; most such horns had holes that would fit such a double axe. The labyris coming up from the head, between the horns of a bull or a cow is also common.

The double axe is often depicted as held by women. It is never depicted as held by men, not until about 600-400 BC, much afterthe decline of the Minoan civilization, when there are greek representations of bearded male gods having claimed the labyris and the trident for their own.

Many have believed that the double axe was the ritual instrument for the sacrifice of the bull, (meaning that only women sacrificed bulls), yet there are no proofs for this at all. The only (disputable)evidence that bull sacrifice even occurred is an image of a man stabbing a horned animal – with a knife. There is no evidence that bulls were ritually sacrificed in Minoan rituals.

In later Greek art and myth, the labyris were associated with the Amazons, and when Heracles killed the queen of the Amazons he stole the labyris from her. It was passed to Zeus, in whose hands it became a symbol of lightening.

Various ways of writing “labyris” are: labris, labrus, labrys

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