Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The double axe appears on coins from Thrace and is believed to be the symbol of the kings of the Odrysae, who believed they could trace their lineage to Zalmoxis. [16] A fresco from the Thracian tomb near Aleksandrovo in south-east Bulgaria, dated to c. 4th c. BCE, depicts a large-size naked man wielding a double axe.
The axe has its own separate and older origin. Initially associated with the labrys (Ancient Greek: λάβρυς, romanized: lábrys; Latin: bipennis), [a] the double-bitted axe originally from Crete, is one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization.
The Arkalochori Axe is a 2nd millennium BC Minoan bronze votive double axe head or labrys excavated by Spyridon Marinatos in 1934 in the Arkalochori cave in Crete, [1] which is believed to have been used for religious rituals. [2]
An axe (/ æ k s /; sometimes spelled ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split, and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many forms and specialised uses but generally consists of an axe head with a handle, also ...
Prominent Minoan sacred symbols include the bull and the horns of consecration, the labrys double-headed axe, and possibly the serpent. The old view was that, in stark contrast to contemporary cultures in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Syria, Minoan religious practice was not centred around massive formal public temples.
A prominent symbol of the Greek 4th of August Regime was the Labrys/Pelekys, the double-headed axe which Ioannis Metaxas thought to be the oldest symbol of all Hellenic civilizations. Greece's far-right, ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn Party uses a flag depicting a meandros in a style and color scheme reminiscent of the Nazi swastika.
The more conventionally-shaped labrys or double-headed axe, is a very common votive offering, probably for a male god, and large examples of the Horns of Consecration symbol, probably representing bull's horns, are shown on seals decorating buildings, with a few large actual survivals.
[1] [2] The design consists of a labrys, a type of double-headed axe, superimposed on the inverted black triangle, set against a violet background. The labrys is associated as a weapon used by the Amazons of greek mythology. [3] [4] In the 1970s it was adopted as a symbol of empowerment by the lesbian feminist community. [5]