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This is a sterling silver, Sapphire Minoan Crete Snake Goddess Silver Pendant. She is 1.75" tall and 1" wide. Set into her heart area is a real natural diamond cut African Sapphire 1.5mm. Goddess pendant has a heavy back bail. The Goddess is an ancient symbol, some info below:
When considered in conjunction with the almost contemporary Egyptian magical objects, it may be suggested that the figurines found by Evans in the Temple Repositories functioned as charms in magical rites performed before shrines, and that, more specifically, these magical rites had to do with the particular concerns of women, among which were fertility, menstruation, conception, and the supply of breast milk.
A parallel association can be made with the Egyptian ankh. An even better link, however, can be made with the ankh-like symbol tiet which, because of its association with Isis (it represents the goddess's genital organs), is also called the "Isis-knot" and "the blood of Isis."
Sa was also the name given to the "the blood of Isis." On statues of Isis, or of women dressed as Isis (such as that from the Ptolomaic period in the Staatlichen Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst, Munich, below), the Isis-knot is shown between the breasts in the same position it appears on the "Snake Goddess" and on the votary.
Another magical binding device is the belt or girdle. An Egyptian faïence fertility figurine from Western Thebes, dating to the 19th century BCE, wears a girdle made of cowrie shells (long identified with the vulva, cowrie shells are still worn by Muslim women during pregnancy, and are regarded as amulets against the evil eye).
The Minoan figurine "wears" a knotted snake over the region of her womb which might represent the same effect. The knotted snake may therefore have something to do with premenstrual pain or menstrual cramps; both of which might be eased by the loosening of the knot.
Some cultures believe that the first onset of menses is caused by copulation with a supernatural snake which also renders the woman fertile and help her conceive children.
From the earliest times, menstrual blood has been associated with creation of life. It issues forth in apparent harmony with the Moon, and when retained by the woman "coagulated" into a baby.
Technically, menstruation is the evacuation from the woman's body of disintegrating tissue that had lined the uterus. In one sense, it is a sloughing off of the old, and when complete, after about five days, the woman and her reproductive ability is renewed. Snakes undergo a similar process of periodic renewal, shedding their old skins and emerging as if reborn.
This constant renewal has made the snake appear ageless to many cultures. The Moon, already intimately linked with a woman's menstrual cycle of (usually) 28 days (the sidereal month, which is the time needed for the Moon to return to the same place against the background of the stars, is 27.321 days), is also associated with renewal and thereby with the snake.
If, as is argued here, the "snake goddess" is a deity devoted to the particular concerns of women, it becomes possible to suggest that the exposed breasts may have some connection with breast milk. A good supply of breast milk was crucial to a baby's survival.
A principal goddess would appear to have been Potnia ("lady" or "mistress"). The name usually occurs, but not always, with some qualification such as Potnia of Grain, Potnia of Horses, or Potnia of the Labyrinth. Potnia may have been a female form of the male god Potidas or Poteidan, from which was later derived the name Poseidon (a Greek god later closely associated with Crete). A female form of Poseidon also occurs in the name Posidaija. Another goddess was apparently named Diktynna, another Britomartis ('Sweet Virgin').
Largely on the basis of what appear to be cult shrines and sanctuaries, others goddesses have been posited - a goddess of the caves, a tree goddess, a dove goddess, a snake goddess - but it remains unclear whether or not the Minoans worshipped them as individual, specialized divinities or as aspects of a single Great Goddess.
The predominance of goddesses (or of the Great Goddess) is attested to by the dominant role played by priestesses in religious ceremonies and the presence of women in ritual contexts. Women far outnumber priests and male attendants, for example, in the paintings on the four sides of the Aghia Triadha sarcophagus.
Moreover men are rarely seen in commanding positions, despite attempts to identify them in such positions. Even the lifesize male figure in the reconstructed frescoed stucco relief at Knossos which Evans identified as the "Priest-King" is now believed to be made up of fragments of several different figures, and the only thing that seems relatively certain is that one or more of the figures was male.
Images of women occur more frequently than men in the Minoan archaeological record, both on Crete and in the more recent excavations on the island of Thera. At both sites women are seen depicted in frescoes either alone or in groups.
One of the most revealing images of the status of women in Minoan society is the so-called Toreador fresco in which young women, shown with the conventional white skin, and darker-skinned men, engage in the dangerous sport that appears to involve somersaulting over the back of a charging bull.
Although it is difficult to decipher exactly what these figures are doing, the context and their proximity to the raging bull clearly denotes a game or ritual which involves bravery, agility, and skill, qualities which in any other contemporary eastern Mediterranean culture would be thought of as residing exclusively within the domain of men. That they are being demonstrated also by young women in the Minoan fresco strongly suggests that on ancient Crete women occupied a significant place in society.
A true symbol of female beauty, power and fertitily!!!!!!!
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