Axe, Cult of the

AXE, Cult of the. - The axe, whether simple or double-bladed, has influenced the religious beliefs of humanity. From ancient and modern writers it has been interpreted as a sign of the thunderbolt and of the god of lightning; stones in the shape of an axe were and still are amulets that protect especially against lightning and fire.

In the Mediterranean basin the axe attained notable importance. The god of lightning of the Hittites and the Assyrians holds an axe in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other; on Hittite reliefs the axe is in the hands of priests. In historical times it is widespread in Asia Minor as an attribute of native male and female divinities, sometimes even androgynous ones: the Zeus of Labranda, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, etc.; it has also been found in the votive deposit of Artemis of Ephesus. In Greece it belongs to foreign divinities, such as Dionysus and Hephaestus, the Satyrs, certain heroes (Pirithous, Heracles, Theseus), and it is a votive gift offered to Zeus at Dodona and Olympia, to Apollo at Delphi, to Artemis Orthia at Sparta; at Epidaurus it is used for the cult of Demeter. In the West the Celts offered the axe to various divinities: Mars, the Matronae, Mercury, etc.; Esus is represented with the axe. In some parts of Gaul, rarely elsewhere, the axe is scratched, carved or painted on sepulchral stones, which often also bear the formula "sub ascia dedicare": for now its meaning has not been satisfactorily explained.

In Crete in the Minoan age the axe, according to some scholars, was an object of cult. In no other country has it reached such diffusion, but precisely this must make us skeptical in the face of excessive evaluations. The double axe on the blocks of the Minoan palaces is probably a simple stonemason's mark; on vases - believed to be destined for cult because adorned with the axe - it is only an ornamental motif, and indeed such vases have never been found in places of cult. The double axe appears on seals and on sealings in supposed religious scenes, but it is never the center of the scene depicted; in the sabellum of Knossos, where a small double axe was found, it had no preeminent position, just as it has none on the sarcophagus of Haghia Triada, where it is only an accessory, perhaps an important one. That it is not an essential element of cult is also shown by the numerous Minoan sanctuaries in which, Knossos excepted, it has never been found. It is frequent as a votive gift in open-air cults or in caves in the late Minoan period.

It is not proven that the cross on the labarum of Constantine was interpreted as a representation of the double axe.

Luna Banti