Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

The double axe in 'Minoan' cult 513
That being so, it is reasonable to push the investigation one step
further and raise the question whether the like beliefs were already
operant in the great pre-classical civilisation known to us as 'Minoan.'
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Fig- 391 •
i. The double axe in 'Minoan' cult.
Looking round for evidence, we are at once impressed by the
prominent position accorded to the double axe in cults of the
'Minoan' age. Here, however, in the absence of deciphered documents,
we must move with the greatest caution. The double axe
is an implement apt to cut both wa)'s. It has already lent itself
to diametrically opposite interpretations ^ And the assumption that
it was the hatchet of a sky-god, though a legitimate hypothesis,
is hardly self-evident. In such a matter the only safe plan of pro-
cedure is to classify without prejudice the extant examples of the
object in dispute, and to see how far our hypothesis will serve
to explain their complex details.
1 This, if nothing more, is made plain by the polemic of my friend Dr W. H. D. Rouse
'The Double Axe and the Labyrinth' in \.\\&Journ. Hell. Stud. 1901 xxi. 268— 274.
c. II. 33