Snake dancing in ancient Greece was often a group dance as evidenced by these clay figures from 1300 BC of a women ’ s circle dance , representing a worldview of harmony , peace , and reverence for the earth and the cycle of life .
Snakes remained popular inspiration for jewelry through the ages as well ; check out these beautiful gold snake armlets from Roman Egypt of the first century AD , and the Egyptian Fayum mummy portrait of a woman wearing such an armlet . Could she have been a snake dancer ?
A lekythos ( a vessel used to store oil used for religious or funerary purposes ) circa 500 BC reinforces this mystical woman / snake partnership .
The Minoan Snake Goddess is a very familiar iconic image . Art Historian Dr . Christopher Witcombe tells us “ The faïence figurine identified as a “ Snake Goddess ” was discovered in 1903 by the British archaeologist ( Sir ) Arthur Evans in the so-called Temple Repositories on the site of the “ palace ” of Knossos on the Aegean Island of Crete … within a few years of Evans ’ s discovery of them , it was suggested that the figurines represent not a goddess and her votaries but snake-charmers brought over from Egypt for the amusement of the palace at Knossos . While Evans acknowledged that they may be snake charmers , he believed the figures to be the central objects of a religious shrine and so regarded “ snake-charming ” not as some form of sport or
34 The Belly Dance Chronicles � September 2022