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''Labrys'' (Greek: , ') is the term for a symmetrical double-bitted axe originally from Crete in Greece, one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization; to the Romans, it was known as a ''bipennis''.〔the term for a single-bladed axe being ''hēmipelekys'' "half-pelekys", e.g. Il. 23.883.〕 The symbol was commonly associated with female divinities. The double-bitted axe remains a forestry tool to this day,〔Representative collections of modern double axeheads are conserved in the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, and elsewhere.〕 and the labrys certainly functioned as a tool and hewing axe〔The functions of Neolithic stone axeheads are discussed by Marija Gimbutas, "Battle axe or cult axe?", ''Man'' 53 (April 1953:51-54).〕 before it was invested with symbolic function.〔"Just as the bishop's crozier is derived from the functional shepherd's crook," according to A. Trevor Hodge, "The Labrys: Why Was the Double Axe Double?" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 89.2 (April 1985:307–308), p. 307.〕 Labrys symbolism is found in Minoan, Thracian, and Greek religion, mythology, and art, dating from the Middle Bronze Age onwards, and surviving in the Byzantine Empire. ==Etymology== Plutarch relates the word ''labrys'' with a Lydian word for "axe": ().〔"Herakles, having slain Hippolyte and taken her axe away from her with the rest of her arms, gave it to Omphale. The kings of Lydia who succeeded her carried this as one of their sacred insignia of office, and passed it down from father to son until it was passed to Candaules, who disdained it and gave it to one of his companions to carry. When Gyges rebelled and was making war upon Candaules, Arselis came with a force from Mylasa to assist Gyges; Arselis then slew Candaules and his companion and took the axe to Caria with the other spoils of war. And, having set up a statue of Zeus, Arselis put the axe in his hand and invoked the god, "Labrandeus". Plutarch, ''Greek Questions'', 45 2.302a.〕 R. S. P. Beekes rejected an Indo-European etymology and proposed a Pre-Greek one; he also suggested that ''labrys'' has the same root as ''labyrinthos''.〔R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, pp. 818–9.〕 Labrys was a cult-word that was introduced from Anatolia, where such symbols have been found in Çatal Höyük from the neolithic age. In Labraunda of Caria the double-axe accompanies the storm-god Zeus Labraundos.〔"It seems natural to interpret names of Carian sanctuaries like Labranda in the most literal sense as the place of the sacred labrys, which was the Lydian (or Carian) name for the Greek πέλεκυς (), or double-edged axe." And, p. 109, "On Carian coins, indeed of quite late date, the labrys, set up on its long pillar-like handle, with two dependent fillets, has much the appearance of a cult image.":A.J. Evans, "Mycenaean tree and pillar cult and its Mediterranean relations," ''Journal of Hellenic Studies'' XXI, pp 108, 109.〕 In Crete, the symbol of the double-axe always accompanies goddesses, and it seems that it was the symbol of the beginning (''arche'') of the creation. The word labyrinth, which the Greeks used for the palace of Knossos is possibly derived from ''labrys.''〔The source of labyrinth (which labrys being one possibility) is only speculative according to: 〕 It seems that the goddess of the double-axe presided over the Minoan palaces, and especially over the palace of Knossos. The Linear B (Mycenaean) inscription , on tablet ΚΝ Gg 702, is interpreted as ''da-pu2-ri-to-jo-po-ti-ni-ja'' (''labyrinthoio potnia'', "Mistress of the labyrinth), and she was undoubtedly the goddess of the palace.〔F. Schachermeyer (1990), ''Die Minoische Kultur des alten Kreta'' pp. 161, 237,238〕〔 (【引用サイトリンク】website=DĀMOS Database of Mycenaean at Oslo )〕 However the designation "The house of the Double Axe" cannot be limited to the palace of Knossos, because the same symbols were discovered in other palaces of Crete.〔Criticised by W.H.D. Rouse, "The Double Axe and the Labyrinth" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' 21 (1901), pp. 268-274, noting the reappearance of the same inscribed symbols at the newly-discovered palace a Phaistos (p. 273).〕 The priests at Delphi in classical Greece were called ''Labryades'' (the men of the double axe). Evans' article supplies the first citation of the word in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「labrys」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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