Another interesting part of the Knossos complex on Crete is the throne room. In the picture I have here, the room has been restored (against the wishes of many archaeologists) to give an idea of what it actually looked like some 3000 years ago. It’s hard to make out, but there’s a fresco of a griffin on the wall by the door. These griffins circle the room, which also contains a reproduction of the original throne. It’s unknown if this throne was the seat of the king
, the queen, or a goddess (let’s say, an effigy of a goddess). A number of archaeologists argue that the throne was made for a woman because of the curves of the seat, which they say were ‘made for a woman’s buttocks.’ I wasn’t aware archaeologists were experts on women’s buttocks but perhaps they are. Also, I’m not sure they’re even allowed to say such a thing in today’s culture of anti-sexism. But they have. In any case, my thought about the throne room centers on the idea that the throne was considered to be the place where the actual goddess of the Minoans came and held court. The Minoans created lifelike effigies (say, scarecrows) to reinforce that idea (and scare everyone, no doubt). This was a common practice among the people of many cultures, from the carving of small hand-sized idols to the sculpting of massively huge stone carvings. People wanted to see their god and they wanted to believe they could use these images of gods as a means to get the things they wanted (money, love, power). Some cultures Mesopotamia even had ‘god rooms’ where their god statue lived; people were dedicated to feeding, washing, and tending to these nonliving statues. When God spoke in the Old Testament against making and worshiping idols, He was speaking about something that was about as commonplace to the people then as our use of cell phones is now. It wasn’t just a matter of not making or buying idols anymore. It meant an entire new way of thinking about who God was and how God wanted to interact with human beings. I always have to look at my own life and consider what simple, normal everyday culturally normal thing in my life might actually be hindering my relationship with God.