Many of the Greek deities are known from as early as Mycenaean (Late Bronze Age) civilization. This is an incomplete list of these deities[n 1] and of the way their names, epithets, or titles are spelled and attested in Mycenaean Greek, written in the Linear B[n 2] syllabary, along with some reconstructions and equivalent forms in later Greek.
Dipsioi - perhaps "the Thirsty and hence the Dead Ones"; perhaps related to Thessalian month Dipsos, meaning obscure (Linear B: 𐀇𐀠𐀯𐀍𐀂, di-pi-si-jo-i)[14][27][28][29][30][n 12]
Enesidaon - possibly a theonym; possibly an epithet of Poseidon, assumed to mean "Earthshaker" or something similar (Linear B: 𐀁𐀚𐀯𐀅𐀃𐀚, e-ne-si-da-o-ne)[2][32][36][n 10][n 15][n 16]
Hephaestus - regarded as indirectly attested by the name *Haphaistios or *Haphaistion, presumed to be a theophoric name (Linear B: 𐀀𐀞𐀂𐀴𐀍, a-pa-i-ti-jo)[22][24][39]
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: 𐀷𐀙𐀏𐀳, wa-na-ka-te)[14][29][69][n 23][n 24]
Zeus - God of the sky (Linear B: 𐀇𐀸, di-we, 𐀇𐀺, di-wo)[14][72][73]
Diwia - possibly the female counterpart of Zeus, possibly Dione in later Greek (Linear B: 𐀇𐀄𐀊, di-u-ja, 𐀇𐀹𐀊, di-wi-ja)[2][14][16][29]
Doqeia(?) - possibly an unknown goddess but could be only a feminine adjective (Linear B: 𐀈𐀤𐀊, do-qe-ja)[81][82][83][n 27]
Eileithyia - attested in the Cretan Eleuthia form; perhaps Minoan in origin (Linear B: 𐀁𐀩𐀄𐀴𐀊, e-re-u-ti-ja)[2][14][85][86][87]
Eos - perhaps attested through a personal name Ἀϝohιος related to the word for dawn, or dative form Āwōiōi (Linear B: 𐀀𐀺𐀂𐀍, a-wo-i-jo).[n 28][n 29][89][90][91][92][93][94]
Erinyes - both forms of the theonym are considered to be in the singular, Erinys (Linear B: 𐀁𐀪𐀝, e-ri-nu, 𐀁𐀪𐀝𐀸, e-ri-nu-we)[1][14][52][95][96][n 30]
Iphemedeia - theonym; probably variant form of Iphimedia, name of a mythological person found in Homer's Odyssey (Linear B: 𐀂𐀟𐀕𐀆𐀊, i-pe-me-de-ja)[14][16][29][99]
Pipituna - Reconstructed as *Πίπτυννα (Píptynna),[113] unknown deity, considered to be Pre-Greek or Minoan (Linear B: 𐀠𐀠𐀶𐀙, pi-pi-tu-na)[1][2][14][30][32][114][115][n 35]
Posidaeia - probably the female counterpart to Poseidon (Linear B: 𐀡𐀯𐀅𐀁𐀊, po-si-da-e-ja)[14][16][n 8]
Potnia - “Mistress” or “Lady”; may be used as an epithet for many deities, but also shows up as a single deity (Linear B: 𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, po-ti-ni-ja)[14][117][118][119][n 10]
Potnia Athena - or Potnia of At(h)ana (Athens(?)); reference of the latter is uncertain (Linear B: 𐀀𐀲𐀙𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, a-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja)[2][14][110][n 36]
Potnia Hippeia - Mistress of the Horses; later epithet of Demeter and Athena (Linear B: 𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊𐄀𐀂𐀤𐀊, po-ti-ni-ja,i-qe-ja)[14][110][n 37][n 38]
Potnia of Sitos - Mistress of Grain, Bronze Age predecessor or epithet of Demeter (Linear B: 𐀯𐀵𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, si-to-po-ti-ni-ja)[14][81][110][121][n 39]
Potnia of the Labyrinth (Linear B: 𐀅𐁆𐀪𐀵𐀍𐄀𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, da-pu2-ri-to-jo,po-ti-ni-ja)[2][14][29][110]
Potnia, at Thebes, of no attested name or title, other than that offers are made to her house, her premises (Linear B: 𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊𐄀𐀺𐀒𐀆, po-ti-ni-ja,wo-ko-de)[14][22][29][123][124][n 40]
Potnia, of unidentified Pylos sanctuary - unknown local(?) goddess of pa-ki-ja-ne (*Sphagianes?) sanctuary at Pylos (Linear B: 𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, po-ti-ni-ja)[110][126][127][n 8][n 41][n 42]
Potnia, of uncertain A place or epithet (Linear B: 𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊𐄀𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊, po-ti-ni-ja,a-si-wi-ja)[14][132][n 43][n 44]
Potnia, of unknown E place or epithet (Linear B: 𐀁𐀩𐀹𐀍𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, e-re-wi-jo-po-ti-ni-ja)[81][n 45]
Potnia, of unknown N place or epithet (Linear B: 𐀚𐀺𐀟𐀃𐄀𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, ne-wo-pe-o,po-ti-ni-ja)[14][81]
Potnia, of unknown U place or epithet (Linear B: 𐀄𐀡𐀍𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, u-po-jo-po-ti-ni-ja)[14][81][n 46]
Potnia, of unknown ? place or epithet (Linear B: 𐀀𐀐𐀯𐄀𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, (?)-a-ke-si,po-ti-ni-ja)[81][n 47]
Preswa(?) - generally interpreted as a dove goddess or an early form of Persephone (Linear B: 𐀟𐀩𐁚, pe-re-*82 or pe-re-swa)[14][16][107][136]
Qowia(?) - unknown deity, possibly meaning “She of the Cow(s)" (Linear B: 𐀦𐀹𐀊, qo-wi-ja)[16][71][81][n 8][n 50][n 51]
Wanasso(?) - "the Two Queens", possibly Demeter and Persephone, *wanassojin(?) regarded as a dative dual form (Linear B: 𐀷𐀙𐀰𐀂, wa-na-so-i)[14][29][126][144][n 23][n 24][n 52]
Pantheon
Pantes Theoi - a special invocation "to All the Gods", irrespectively of sex, etc.; recurrently attested at Knossos (Linear B : 𐀞𐀯𐀳𐀃𐀂, pa-si-te-o-i)[2][33][147][148][n 53][n 54][n 55]
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: 𐀡𐀫𐀳𐀄, po-ro-te-u)[150][151][152]
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.[153][page needed][n 56] No unambiguous attestations of words for "sun" have been found yet, though the Mycenaean word for "sun" is reconstructed as *hāwélios.
↑This list includes deities which in later Greek times and sources were thought of as semigods or mortal heroes. Scholars assign to attested words in Linear B a possibility or probability, sometimes controversially, of being a theonym or an anthroponym, a toponym, etc.; Mycenaean Linear B sources are often damaged inscriptions bearing lacunae, and in any case, they are too few to enable classifications with certainty. Finally there is a list of attested words which seem to refer to mortals or whose reference is unclear, yet they may have a connection to religion or to a divine or heroic figure of later times.
↑The names/words in Linear B and the transliteration thereof are not necessarily in the nominative case and also not necessarily of said gods per se, as e.g. in the case of Hephaestus.
↑The inscriptions read that the offers are made to her, thus they could refer to a goddess; this is not though, what modern scholars seem to believe.
↑The first cited form could just be an instance of a scribe forgetting to write the word-separator sign 𐄀 between two words. In that case *Anemohiereia should be instead read as *Anemon Hiereia also.
↑Cf. the nouns δεσπότης, δόμος, πόσις;[19] whence despot in English;[20] in an etymological sense, it literally means "master of the house" and is related to potnia.
↑ 10.010.110.210.3The word Poseidon (Ποσειδῶν; variant forms include Ποσειδάων, the former's final syllable being a synaeresis of the latter's final two) itself, could be connected in an etymological sense - cf. πόσις - to Despotas (if indeed this is the correct reading-interpretation of do-po-ta) and Potnia;[29] likewise compare the same word in connection to Ge-Gaia (hence possibly to Ma Ga) and the possible Enesidaon and other undoubted later-times epithets of him, in consideration of the word-endings, etc.. Moreover some scholars have connected - in a similar manner to the one of Poseidon - Demeter to "Earth" via the De (Da; considered in this case as Pre-Greek and as meaning "Earth") syllable, the goddess thus viewed as representing Da-Mater, "Mother Earth" or similar; others on the other hand have interpreted Demeter's Da syllable as related to domos (i.e. to be Indo-European), interpreting her name as "Mother of the House", creating thus an etymological connection to Despotas and Potnia. À propos, some scholars have considered the attested, on the PY En 609 tablet,[54] Mycenaean word 𐀅𐀔𐀳, da-ma-te, as reading Demeter, but the view isn't widely held anymore; the former is indeed thought to be connected to domos, etc, but it is believed to probably be a form of, or something similar to, δάμαρ.[55][56][57][58]
↑According to Chadwick,[22] "Dionysos surprisingly appears twice at Pylos, in the form Diwonusos, both times irritatingly enough on fragments, so that we have no means of verifying his divinity". This old view can be found reflected in other scholars[23] but this has changed after the 1989-90 Greek-Swedish excavations at Kastelli Hill, Chania, unearthed the KH Gq 5 tablet.[14][24][25][26]
↑Hiller's[2] or Schofield's[23]pa-ja-wo is not actually attested per se; the word actually attested on the damaged KN V 52 tablet and the fragments thereof, reads pa-ja-wo-ne; the latter would be the dative case form of the former.[50][51]
↑Found on the PY Tn 316 and PY Fr 1204 tablets.[17][62]
↑It is generally thought to be connected to τριπάτορες, i.e. the "collective, anonymous family ancestors",[60][66][67] but it could perhaps instead refer to Triptolemus, himself possibly "a ‘hypostasis’ of Poseidon".[66][68]
↑ 23.023.1The King and the Two Queens are sometimes attested on tablets together, in the offerings or the libations to them; forms of both "the King" and "the Two Queens" are in the dative case. An example of said concurrent attested worship is the PY Fr 1227 tablet.[70]
↑ 24.024.1On the other hand, there are scholars who have argued that "the King" and "the Two Queens" are not theonyms, that they simply refer to mortal royalty.[71]
↑Said Potnia or Potnia in general is found on only one table at Thebes: TH Of 36.[125] Her premises, her house is thought to have been her shrine.[22][123]
↑The word, on the same tablet, 𐀡𐀩𐀙, po-re-na, *phorenas, understood to mean "those brought or those bringing" (it actually reads 𐀡𐀩𐀙𐀤, po-re-na-qe, but a postfixed 𐀤, qe, is usually a conjunction; cf. καί, τε, and Latinet, qve),[128][129] has been interpreted by some scholars as evidence of human sacrifice at said sanctuary:[130] "According to this interpretation, the text of Tn 316 was written as one of many extreme emergency measures just before the destruction of the palace. Tn 316 would then reflect a desperate, and abnormal, attempt to placate divine powers through the sacrifice of male victims to male gods and female victims to female gods".[131]
↑The nominative case form of the place (i.e. of the sanctuary) is 𐀞𐀑𐀊𐀚, pa-ki-ja-ne; it is also found in other forms, including derivative words; the specific form found on the PY Tn 316 tablet is 𐀞𐀑𐀊𐀯, pa-ki-ja-si, i.e. possibly its locative plural form.[127]
↑Possibly an ethnic or geographic adjective of Asia understood in this context as referring to Lydia or the Assuwa league; i.e. in the sense of, or similar to, Anatolia.[132]
↑Also attested once on the PY 1219 table as 𐀷𐀜𐀰𐀂, wa-no-so-i.[145][146]
↑This term is for example found, on the Kn Fp 1 and KN Fp 13 tablets.[6][7]
↑It should be made clear that an absence of offerings, in parallel, to explicitly named deities or people (like priests or priestesses) on relevant attested inscriptions, does not necessarily follow from the presence of this special dedication; for example, the Kn Fp 1 inscription also includes, among others, offerings to Zeus Diktaios, Pade, Erinys and Anemon Hiereia.
↑The words are two - despite the lack of a separator symbol - and in the dative plural case; their reconstructed form is *pansi tʰeoihi; see the words πᾶς, θεός.[33][112][149]
↑Beekes, Robert (2010). "E.g., s.v. γαῖα, δάμαρ, πόσις, Δημήτηρ". Etymological Dictionary of Greek. With the assistance of Lucien van Beek. In two volumes.. Leiden, Boston. ISBN9789004174184.γαῖα,+δάμαρ,+πόσις,+Δημήτηρ&rft.atitle=Etymological+Dictionary+of+Greek&rft.aulast=Beekes&rft.aufirst=Robert&rft.au=Beekes, Robert&rft.date=2010&rft.place=Leiden,+Boston&rft.isbn=9789004174184&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikibooks.org:Religion:List_of_Mycenaean_deities">
↑Peters, Martin (2002), "Aus der Vergangenheit von Heroen und Ehegöttinnen", in Fritz, Matthias; Zeifelder, Susanne (in de), Novalis Indogermanica: Festschrift für Günter Neumann zum 80. Geburstag, Grazer vergleichende Arbeiten, Graz: Leykam, pp. 357–380, ISBN3701100322.
↑Palaima, Thomas G. (2008). "DAIS The Aegean Feast. Proceedings of the 12th International Aegean Conference". in Hitchcock, Louise A.; Laffineur, Robert; Crowley, Janice. 12th International Aegean Conference. University of Melbourne. Liège, Austin. 383–389.
↑Bernabé, Alberto; Luján, Eugenio R. Introducción al Griego Micénico: Gramática, selección de textos y glosario. Monografías de Filología Grega Vol. 30. Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza. 2020. p. 234.
↑Luján, Eugénio R. "Los temas en -s en micénico". In: Donum Mycenologicum: Mycenaean Studies in Honour of Francisco Aura Jorro. Edited by Alberto Bernabé and Eugenio R. Luján. Bibliothèque des cahiers de L'Institut de Linguistique de Louvain Vol. 131. Louvain-la-Neuve; Walpole, MA: Peeters. 2014. p. 68.
↑Lejeune, Michel. "Une présentation du Mycénien". In: Revue des Études Anciennes. Tome 69, 1967, n° 3–4. p. 281. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rea.1967.3800]; www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1967_num_69_3_3800
↑Nakassis, Dimitri. "Labor and Individuals in Late Bronze Age Pylos". In: Labor in the Ancient World. Edited by Piotr Steinkeller and Michael Hudson. Dresden: ISLET-Verlag. 2015 [2005]. p. 605. ISBN978-3-9814842-3-6.
↑Davies, Anna Morpurgo (1972). "Greek and Indo-European semiconsonants: Mycenaean u and w". In: Acta Mycenaea, vol. 2 (M.S. Ruipérez, ed.). Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca. p. 93.
↑Jorro, Francisco Aura. "Reflexiones sobre el léxico micénico" In: Conuentus Classicorum: temas y formas del Mundo Clásico. Coord. por Jesús de la Villa, Emma Falque Rey, José Francisco González Castro, María José Muñoz Jiménez, Vol. 1, 2017, pp. 307. ISBN978-84-697-8214-9.
↑Chadwick, John, and Lydia Baumbach. "The Mycenaean Greek Vocabulary". In: Glotta 41, no. 3/4 (1963): 198. Accessed March 12, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40265918.
↑Bartoněk, Antonín (2002). "2. Substantiva und Adjektiva der I., II. und III. Deklination: I. Deklination (Substantiva)". Handbuch des mykenischen Griechisch. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. WINTER. pp. 165–6. ISBN3825314359.
↑Ventris and Chadwick (1973), Mycenaean Vocabulary wa-no-so-i.
↑Kristiansen, Kristian; Larsson, Thomas B. (2005). The Rise of Bronze Age Society: Travels, Transmissions and Transformations. Cambridge University Press.
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