The thunderweapon in religion and folklore, a study in comparative ...

ANCIENT GREECE I9
they had stood when the inhabitants of the palace left the
sanctuary: on the altar are two stands for double-axes {b), a
small double-axe of steatite {c), and five terra-cotta figures {d-h);
on the floor and the low eminence in front of the altar are
various sacrificial vessels and a low tripod {a). There can be
no doubt that the whole of the little sanctuary was made for
the sake of the two double-axes; they were the objects to which
worship and sacrifices were paid. This is possibly the reason
why the axes alone are missing and everything else is untouched
; there may have been an endeavour to save the most
sacred objects. Otherwise, as Mr Evans surmises {I.e. p. loi), the
value of the metal may have been the reason for their removal.
Fig. 8.
Many points go to prove that the double-axe is a representation
of the lightning (see Usener, p. 20). The worship of it was
kept up in Tenedos and in several cities in the south-west of
Asia Minor, and it appears in later historical times in the cult
of the thundergod of Asia Minor (Zeus Labrayndeus). An
impression from a seal-stone shows the double-axe placed
together with a zigzag line, which represents the flash of light-
ning (Evans, Knossos, 1902, p. 107, fig. 65). On the large
gold ring from Mycenae (fig. 8) is seen an assembly of women,
and in the air above them are depicted the chief heavenly
phenomena, the sun, the moon, a double curved line presumably
representing the rainbow, and the double-axe, i.e. the lightning.