List of Mycenaean deities
Many of the Greek deities are known from as early as Mycenaean (Late Bronze Age) civilization. This is an incomplete list of these deities and of the way their names, epithets, or titles are spelled and attested in Mycenaean Greek, written in the Linear B syllabary, along with some reconstructions and equivalent forms in later Greek.
Deities
Gods
- Anemoi - attested through *Anemohiereia or *Anemon Hiereia, "Priestess of the Winds" (Linear B: ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐, a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐, a-ne-mo,i-je-re-ja)
- Apollo(?) - perhaps attested through the lacunose perio (Linear B: ๐๐, pe-rjo-, reconstructed a-pe-rjo-ne)
- Ares (Linear B: ๐๐ฉ, a-re)
- Despotas(?) - unclear, perhaps house deity (Linear B: ๐๐ก๐ฒ, do-po-ta)
- Dionysus (Linear B: ๐๐บ๐๐ฐ, di-wo-nu-so)
- Dipsioi - perhaps "the Thirsty and hence the Dead Ones"; perhaps related to Thessalian month Dipsos, meaning obscure (Linear B: ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐, di-pi-si-jo-i)
- Drimios - unknown, in later times, son of Zeus, perhaps a predecessor of Apollo (Linear B: ๐๐ช๐๐, di-ri-mi-jo)
- Enesidaon - possibly a theonym; possibly an epithet of Poseidon, assumed to mean "Earthshaker" or something similar (Linear B: ๐๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐, e-ne-si-da-o-ne)
- Enyalius - a later epithet of Ares (Linear B: ๐๐๐ท๐ช๐, e-nu-wa-ri-jo)
- Hephaestus - regarded as indirectly attested by the name *Haphaistios or *Haphaistion, presumed to be a theophoric name (Linear B: ๐๐๐๐ด๐, a-pa-i-ti-jo)
-
Hermes (Linear B:
๐๐๐, e-ma-*25 or e-ma-ha)
- Areias - epithet (Linear B: ๐๐ฉ๐, a-re-ja)
- Hyperion(?) - perhaps attested through the lacunose perio (Linear B: ๐๐, pe-rjo-, reconstructed u-pe-rjo-ne)
- Marineus(?) - unknown deity, perhaps "God of the Woolens", meaning obscure (Linear B: ๐๐ช๐, ma-ri-ne(-u?), ๐๐ช๐๐ธ, ma-ri-ne-we, ๐๐ช๐๐บ, ma-ri-ne-wo)
- Pade(?) - possibly unknown god, thought to be Cretan, Minoan in origin (Linear B: ๐๐ pa-de, ๐๐๐ pa-de-i)
- Paean - a precursor of Apollo (Linear B: ๐๐๐บ๐, pa-ja-wo-ne)
- Poseidon - chief deity (Linear B: ๐ก๐ฎ๐ ๐, po-se-da-o, ๐ก๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐, po-se-da-wo-ne)
- Trisheros - theonym, "Thrice-Hero"; thought to attest, and pertain to, the veneration of the dead (Linear B: ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ซ๐, ti-ri-se-ro-e)
- Wanax - "the King"; in this case, it is considered to be a theonym in the dative case, perhaps as an epithet of Poseidon (Linear B: ๐ท๐๐๐ณ, wa-na-ka-te)
-
Zeus - God of the sky (Linear B:
๐๐ธ, di-we,
๐๐บ, di-wo)
- Diktaios - local epithet of Zeus on Crete (Linear B: ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ธ, di-ka-ta-jo di-we)
Goddesses
- Artemis (Linear B: ๐๐ณ๐๐ต, a-te-mi-to, ๐๐ด๐๐ณ, a-ti-mi-te)
- Diwia - possibly the female counterpart of Zeus, possibly Dione in later Greek (Linear B: ๐๐๐, di-u-ja, ๐๐น๐, di-wi-ja)
- Doqeia(?) - possibly an unknown goddess but could be only a feminine adjective (Linear B: ๐๐ค๐, do-qe-ja)
- Eileithyia - attested in the Cretan Eleuthia form; perhaps Minoan in origin (Linear B: ๐๐ฉ๐๐ด๐, e-re-u-ti-ja)
- Eos - perhaps attested through a personal name แผฯohฮนฮฟฯ related to the word for dawn, or dative form ฤwลiลi (Linear B: ๐๐บ๐๐, a-wo-i-jo).
- Erinyes - both forms of the theonym are considered to be in the singular, Erinys (Linear B: ๐๐ช๐, e-ri-nu, ๐๐ช๐๐ธ, e-ri-nu-we)
- Hera (Linear B: ๐๐จ, e-ra)
- Iphemedeia - theonym; probably variant form of Iphimedia, name of a mythological person found in Homer's Odyssey (Linear B: ๐๐๐๐๐, i-pe-me-de-ja)
- Komawenteia(?) - possibly unknown deity, possibly meaning "long-haired goddess" (Linear B: ๐๐๐ธ๐ณ๐ ko-ma-we-te-ja)
- Leto - perhaps attested through the forms Latios (Linear B: ๐จ๐ด๐, ra-ti-jo) and Lato (Linear B: ๐จ๐ต, ra-to).
- Manasa - unknown goddess (Linear B: ๐๐๐ญ, ma-na-sa)
- Mater Theia - possibly "Mother of the Gods" or mother goddess (Linear B: ๐๐ณ๐ฉ๐๐ณ๐๐, ma-te-re,te-i-ja)
- Pipituna - Reconstructed as *ฮ ฮฏฯฯฯ ฮฝฮฝฮฑ (Pรญptynna), unknown deity, considered to be Pre-Greek or Minoan (Linear B: ๐ ๐ ๐ถ๐, pi-pi-tu-na)
- Posidaeia - probably the female counterpart to Poseidon (Linear B: ๐ก๐ฏ๐ ๐๐, po-si-da-e-ja)
-
Potnia - โMistressโ or โLadyโ; may be used as an epithet for many deities, but also shows up as a single deity (Linear B:
๐ก๐ด๐๐, po-ti-ni-ja)
- Potnia Athena - or Potnia of At(h)ana (Athens(?)); reference of the latter is uncertain (Linear B: ๐๐ฒ๐๐ก๐ด๐๐, a-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja)
- Potnia Hippeia - Mistress of the Horses; later epithet of Demeter and Athena (Linear B: ๐ก๐ด๐๐๐๐๐ค๐, po-ti-ni-ja,i-qe-ja)
- Potnia of Sitos - Mistress of Grain, Bronze Age predecessor or epithet of Demeter (Linear B: ๐ฏ๐ต๐ก๐ด๐๐, si-to-po-ti-ni-ja)
- Potnia of the Labyrinth (Linear B: ๐ ๐๐ช๐ต๐๐๐ก๐ด๐๐, da-pu2-ri-to-jo,po-ti-ni-ja)
- Potnia, at Thebes, of no attested name or title, other than that offers are made to her house, her premises (Linear B: ๐ก๐ด๐๐๐๐บ๐๐, po-ti-ni-ja,wo-ko-de)
- Potnia, of unidentified Pylos sanctuary - unknown local(?) goddess of pa-ki-ja-ne (*Sphagianes?) sanctuary at Pylos (Linear B: ๐ก๐ด๐๐, po-ti-ni-ja)
- Potnia, of uncertain A place or epithet (Linear B: ๐ก๐ด๐๐๐๐๐ฏ๐น๐, po-ti-ni-ja,a-si-wi-ja)
- Potnia, of unknown E place or epithet (Linear B: ๐๐ฉ๐น๐๐ก๐ด๐๐, e-re-wi-jo-po-ti-ni-ja)
- Potnia, of unknown N place or epithet (Linear B: ๐๐บ๐๐๐๐ก๐ด๐๐, ne-wo-pe-o,po-ti-ni-ja)
- Potnia, of unknown U place or epithet (Linear B: ๐๐ก๐๐ก๐ด๐๐, u-po-jo-po-ti-ni-ja)
- Potnia, of unknown ? place or epithet (Linear B: ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ก๐ด๐๐, (?)-a-ke-si,po-ti-ni-ja)
- Preswa(?) - generally interpreted as a dove goddess or an early form of Persephone (Linear B: ๐๐ฉ๐, pe-re-*82 or pe-re-swa)
- Qerasia(?) - unknown goddess, perhaps Minoan in origin or possibly connected with thฤr (Linear B: ๐ค๐จ๐ฏ๐, qe-ra-si-ja)
- Qowia(?) - unknown deity, possibly meaning โShe of the Cow(s)" (Linear B: ๐ฆ๐น๐, qo-wi-ja)
- Wanasso(?) - "the Two Queens", possibly Demeter and Persephone, *wanassojin(?) regarded as a dative dual form (Linear B: ๐ท๐๐ฐ๐, wa-na-so-i)
Pantheon
- Pantes Theoi - a special invocation "to All the Gods", irrespectively of sex, etc.; recurrently attested at Knossos (Linear B : ๐๐ฏ๐ณ๐๐, pa-si-te-o-i)
Heroes, mortals and other entities or concepts
- Proteus - could be the theonym of the sea-god Proteus, but probably just the anthroponym of a nobleman (Linear B: ๐ก๐ซ๐ณ๐, po-ro-te-u)
Possible deities
Deities speculated to have been worshipped but without hitherto attestation in the Linear B tablets
- A possible sun goddess, predecessor to Helios and possibly related to Helen. No unambiguous attestations of words for "sun" have been found yet, though the Mycenaean word for "sun" is reconstructed as *hฤwรฉlios.