Voice of the Goddess: An Epic of the Minoan Civilization
by Judith HandAn interview with Robert Holt, President of San Diego Book Forum
Q: When did you first get interested in the Minoan culture and why?
A: I've always been one for adventure so I chose to "go away" to college. I picked a small school just outside of Chicago, Wheaton College. In a class on ancient history, I first saw an amazing photo of a Minoan fresco our professor called The Bull Leapers. He said it undoubtedly represented an important event in Minoan life. What captured me was that two of the three human figures were female! Now my college days began long before women's lib or women's consciousness-raising, and in my world at that time, women were rarely present as significant participants let alone prominent in social or religious life. I couldn't take my eyes off the fresco, and my thought was something like, Wow, look what women could do!
Q: Are powerful women prominent in Voice of the Goddess?
A: Most definitely. The story involves a conflict between a goddess worshipping island culture headed by a female deity whose human representative is a priestess and a Greek mainland, patriarchal culture whose god is male. The central character is this powerful priestess.
Q: I understand some of your personal background may have stimulated your interest in a culture where women were influential. Is this why you wrote about the Minoans? Because their women were powerful and influential?
A: Actually it's not the reason. Although certainly it's part of my fascination with them because I've had my share of frustration in a male dominated world. I wanted to become a doctor, but my own mother--a nurse--begged me not to go to medical school because the female doctors she had known were so "hard." She didn't want me to become like them. Being a dutiful daughter and believing her to be wise, I took her counsel. Later, of course, my mother told me how much she regretted having given that advice. Another example. At UCLA, for a masters degree, when I was powerfully drawn to marine biology as a major, I was told that wouldn't be possible. I'd have to take the field classes on boats, and unfortunately women couldn't go on the boats because there was only one toilet, and it was for the men. I felt the sting of unfairness, but I wasn't yet enlightened enough to fight, so once again I was prevented from doing something I loved. I could tell many such stories.
Q: So why or when did you decide to write Voice of the Goddess?
A: A little over ten years ago a colleague gave me The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler. It's a provocative attempt to document, among other things, the nature of what UCLA archaeologist Maria Gimbutas called the goddess cultures of old Europe (central Europe of prehistoric and early historic times). And among these cultures were my Minoans of the Bull Leaper fresco! I was astonished to learn, first, that their chief divinity had been a goddess. This fact had been omitted in my history class. And second, that they had lived on Crete in relative peace for many hundreds of years! None of their cities were fortified! I began reading everything I could about them, and at some point it struck me that the reason they had survived longer than other goddess cultures was because they had been protected from mainland marauders. On their isolated island, the sea protected them. Left alone, they developed their own distinctive high civilization and a peaceful one. I was hooked. The peaceful nature of their society, more than anything else, is the reason for this book. The scholar in me wanted to know the hows and whys and whats of this unique high culture, and the writer in me wanted to tell a terrific story about them. I wanted to imagine what their world was like at the height of the Bronze Age, the critical time before their eclipse.
Q: How do you find the information for a terrific story?
A: Naturally I read everything available at UCSD and UCLA. But good fortune also put an advertisement into my hands about a conference sponsored by Riane Eisler and the internationally well-known pacifist, Maria Pappandreou, wife of the former Greek president. It would take place on Crete and include a workshop on Minoans led by experts. I made reservations as well for a "goddess tour" through sites in Turkey. Of course, I added time for the archeological museum in Athens. All of these were extraordinary experiences. And I saw The Bull Leapers fresco.
Q: How did that affect you?
A: It was one of those take-your-breath-away moments. Here I was, at last, facing the real thing! I lost track of time and where I was and just soaked in the sense of being in the presence of the creator of this piece of art from the ancient past that still speaks volumes.
Q: Would you say that was the highlight of your trip?
A: It was one of several equally memorable moments and opportunities. My interview with the chief excavator who works on the island of Santorini, the volcanic island whose catastrophic explosion may have doomed the Minoans - and which is included in Voice of the Goddess was extremely provocative and productive. Lots of new ideas. And then a few weeks later, being in the temple of Knossos, walking its grounds, feeling the air and light- totally enchanting. And then of course there is Crete itself. I loved the Greek food--the mousaka and fabulous lamb--the oozo, the licorice flavored liquor. I made a try at Greek dancing. I love the music. All are unforgettable. . A great many people visit the Mediterranean and the Greek islands. I hope Voice of the Goddess will be a fictional account of a fabulous ancient time that they can enjoy for itself and which will also enrich their Mediterranean experience, especially if they visit the island of Santorini or visit Knossos on Crete.
Q: I'm curious. From looking at the figures in the Bull Leapers fresco, it's not readily clear which are male and which female. How can you tell?
A: The Minoans, or Keftians as I prefer to call them, used the same artistic convention used by their Egyptian contemporaries. Dark-skinned figures are always male, and light-skinned ones are always female. It's said this is because men were out-of-doors more than women.
Q: You say in the preface the Minoan language has not yet been translated. Correct?
A: That's true. And as a consequence, an author has huge scope to let her imagination run free. We have frescoes, figurines, pictures on other art pieces, their ruins, and so on. From these an author must conjure a whole culture. To paraphrase Will Durant, until we find a Rosetta stone for their language, any writer whose subject is Minoan Crete engages in a kind of historical television in which the imagination supplies the gaps in our knowledge.
Q: Why do you prefer the word Keftian?
A: The term Minoan was coined relatively recently by Sir Arthur Evans. It was Evans who excavated Knossos in the early 1900's, and because "Minos" was a mythical king said to have ruled Crete, he called the rediscovered people Minoans. But if Minos was real, he was probably ruler of the people who succeeded the goddess culture. The goddess worshipers did not likely have a king. No such figure exists in their art. Ancient Egyptians referred to figures in an Egyptian fresco whose dress indicated they were from Crete as ambassadors from Keftiu. That's my source for the name Keftian.
Q: Can you recommend any other books about the Keftians?
A: There aren't many. Another writer who did a fine story is Mary Renault. In The King Must Die, she created her picture of the island culture. My vision of it is much different from hers, which in itself is interesting. An important difference is that her story's hero is a mainlander. Renault's writing and her research are first class.
Q: Are you working on a new project?
A: Ah, yes. A sequel, called The Amazon Queen.
Painting in the grave of an Egyptian dignitary entitled "Ambassadors from Keftiu" (1500 - 1450 BC.)
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