Vase with Double-Headed Axe Motifs

1500 BCE-1450 BCE

This vessel with painted decoration belongs to a category of prestige ceramics produced in Crete. The friezes of double-headed axes on the body are a characteristic motif of the Minoan civilisation. Sometimes associated with a mainland Greek goddess of war, perhaps Athena, double-headed axes were also a symbol of life and rebirth, especially when combined with plant motifs, as they are here. However, their use on prestige ceramics was in all probability for decorative rather than religious reasons.

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