Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1989 - 31

aHymn to the Kouros." During the Classical and Roman
periods, a hymn was chanted by young dancers who
played the role of the mythological protectors of the
child Zeus, and who may have actually believed themselves to be Kouretes. By chanting the hymn, the young
men invoked the "Great Kouros"- Zeus as a young
man - and asked him to return as he does every spring
to his birthplace at Dikte.
The name Dikte may have originated even earlier
than the Classical period. In any case, it seems logical to
assume that the temple of Diktaian Zeus was located at
Dikte itself. The hymn clearly invokes the god to come
here, to Dikte, the place of his birth. Furthermore, writers
of the first century b.c. state that the remains of the
mythological town of Dikte could still be seen in their
day. This could refer to the Minoan walls of Palaikastro,
still visible at the turn of the twentieth century.
Recent studies of the Minoan Linear A script suggest
that one of its functions was to record ritual formulae,
such as those found inscribed on the sides of stone offering tables. By assigning to these inscriptions some of
the values that we know for specific signs in later Mycenaean Linear B script, Minoan place names are becoming apparent. One such name is DI-KI-TE, or Dikte,
and it is found on four separate offering tables from
the peak sanctuary of Petsophas overlooking Palaikastro. Hence, the site we know as Palaikastro may have
been called Dikte in the Minoan period. This would explain why after the Bronze Age, during the Geometric
period (about 800 b.c.), the town was not resettled
but instead became a sacred precinct dedicated to Diktaian Zeus, and why the temple consecrated in his
honor probably incorporated materials pulled from the
Minoan buildings.
We suspect that later Cretans held initiation ceremonies in honor of Zeus at Palaikastro, as the hymn
suggests. Moreover, local inscriptions mention the statuary in the temple, which no doubt would have included
a cult statue of the young, "beardless" Zeus. The Kouretes, then, worshiped their own image, their "Prince of
Youths." We believe that the rituals associated with the
hymn may also predate the Classical period.
Most past and present societies have formal rituals
denoting the stages of growth from childhood to maturity. Anthropologists call these "rites of passage" or "initiation rites." In the Minoan world, the stages of a young
man's development were represented by different hairstyles. The first stage, the one prior to initiation, was
represented by a completely shaved head. Two ivory statuettes from the old excavations at Palaikastro, one of
an infant, the other of a young boy, fit this stage. As a
Minoan youth reached puberty, he grew locks of hair
along the top of his head indicating the start of the rites
of passage; this stage is clearly illustrated by the famous
"Young Fisherman" from wall paintings at Akrotiri on
Thera. The new chryselephantine statuette we discovered is also at this second stage. On our figure the locks
have been woven together into a continuous braid across
the top of the head, while the rest of the scalp is shaved.

After the Minoan rites of passage were completed, a
third hairstyle was worn. The hair on the scalp was
allowed to grow in and was gathered together in a topknot with short bangs combed forward. This- stage is
depicted on the "Chieftain Cup," a stone goblet from
Ayia Triadha; it is also shown on our sealing.
The rites of passage were probably restricted to young
aristocrats of the Minoan world, who gathered together
in the spring and were initiated into manhood by older
men who had already completed the process. The rites
may have involved abducting the initiate for a period of
time, during which he learned to fight and hunt. This
was followed by feasts and the presentation of gifts of
weapons by the older men.
We wonder if the later classical ceremonies celebrating the Kouretes each spring at Palaikastro were inspired by the Minoan rites of passage. Perhaps the rites
and associated activities, like the later Olympic games,

Santorini fresco, left, showsa youngfisherman with a topknot
of hair, temples shaved, a sign of thefirst stage of initiation .
Gobletwith relief sceneillustrates a Minoan "rite of passage"
were held in honor of the participants' most prominent
male god, Zeus. If the young Minoan initiates worshiped a god in their image - and at their own stage
of maturity- as did the later Cretans on the same site,
they may have stood before our statuette and chanted a
hymn similar to the later "Hymn of the Kouros." The
statuette, then, would be the earliest known cult statue
of Zeus Kouros.
We know that the later Greeks regarded Zeus as
Cretan-born, and scholars agree that the origins of many
Greek myths lie in Minoan and Mycenaean religion.
Could the Minoan "Master of Animals" have been an
early form of "Zeus the Thunderer," and our statuette,
an early form of the "Greatest Kouros"? This must remain a question for the time being, and we are far from
reaching conclusions. In order to establish the true
identity of our male figures, we need more iconographie
and textual information in a script that can be fully
read. We have only begun to excavate the buildings
from which we believe the statuette fell and which contained the sealing. There are, no doubt, many more surprises to come.
1989 31
September/October

Archaeology Magazine - September/October 1989

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