Snake Goddess figurines
E337579
Snake Goddess figurines are famous Minoan statuettes depicting bare-breasted female deities holding snakes, often interpreted as symbols of fertility, protection, or religious power in Bronze Age Crete.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Snake Goddess figurines canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3218107 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Snake Goddess figurines Context triple: [Minoan civilization, hasIconicArtifact, Snake Goddess figurines]
-
A.
Lamassu sculptures
Lamassu sculptures are monumental Assyrian protective deities depicted as winged human-headed bulls or lions that once guarded the entrances of palaces and cities in ancient Mesopotamia.
-
B.
The Sleeping Lady figurine
The Sleeping Lady figurine is a prehistoric Maltese statuette, likely representing a reclining female figure associated with fertility or death rituals, discovered in the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.
-
C.
Chacmool sculptures
Chacmool sculptures are Mesoamerican stone figures depicting reclining warriors with upraised heads and bowls or disks on their stomachs, used as ritual altars for offerings, especially in Aztec and Maya temples.
-
D.
Hopi katsina dolls
Hopi katsina dolls are traditional carved wooden figures created by the Hopi people to represent spiritual beings and teach cultural and religious beliefs.
-
E.
Mẫu goddesses
Mẫu goddesses are central mother deities in Vietnamese folk religion, embodying the protective and nurturing powers of nature, fertility, and the ancestral land.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Snake Goddess figurines Target entity description: Snake Goddess figurines are famous Minoan statuettes depicting bare-breasted female deities holding snakes, often interpreted as symbols of fertility, protection, or religious power in Bronze Age Crete.
-
A.
Lamassu sculptures
Lamassu sculptures are monumental Assyrian protective deities depicted as winged human-headed bulls or lions that once guarded the entrances of palaces and cities in ancient Mesopotamia.
-
B.
The Sleeping Lady figurine
The Sleeping Lady figurine is a prehistoric Maltese statuette, likely representing a reclining female figure associated with fertility or death rituals, discovered in the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.
-
C.
Chacmool sculptures
Chacmool sculptures are Mesoamerican stone figures depicting reclining warriors with upraised heads and bowls or disks on their stomachs, used as ritual altars for offerings, especially in Aztec and Maya temples.
-
D.
Hopi katsina dolls
Hopi katsina dolls are traditional carved wooden figures created by the Hopi people to represent spiritual beings and teach cultural and religious beliefs.
-
E.
Mẫu goddesses
Mẫu goddesses are central mother deities in Vietnamese folk religion, embodying the protective and nurturing powers of nature, fertility, and the ancestral land.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Minoan figurine type
ⓘ
archaeological artifact type ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Minoan civilization
ⓘ
surface form:
Bronze Age Crete
|
| category | prehistoric Aegean art ⓘ |
| chronology | circa 1700–1450 BCE ⓘ |
| culture | Minoan civilization ⓘ |
| currentLocation |
Heraklion Archaeological Museum
ⓘ
various archaeological museums ⓘ |
| depicts |
bare-breasted woman
ⓘ
female deity ⓘ |
| discoveredBy |
Arthur Evans
ⓘ
surface form:
Arthur Evans (key Knossos examples)
|
| foundAt |
Knossos
ⓘ
Minoan civilization ⓘ
surface form:
Minoan palaces
|
| foundInContext |
cult rooms
ⓘ
domestic shrines ⓘ |
| hasNotableExample |
First Snake Goddess from Knossos
ⓘ
First Snake Goddess from Knossos ⓘ
surface form:
Second Snake Goddess from Knossos
|
| holds | snakes ⓘ |
| iconographicFeature |
apron
ⓘ
cat or panther on headdress in some examples ⓘ exposed breasts ⓘ flounced skirt ⓘ high headdress ⓘ raised arms ⓘ snakes coiled around arms ⓘ |
| influenced |
modern neopagan iconography
ⓘ
modern reconstructions of Minoan religion ⓘ |
| material |
clay
ⓘ
faience ⓘ ivory ⓘ |
| period |
Late Minoan
ⓘ
Neopalatial period ⓘ
surface form:
Middle Minoan
|
| region |
Aegean Sea
ⓘ
surface form:
Aegean
|
| relatedTo |
Minoan religion
ⓘ
surface form:
Minoan household cult objects
Minoan peak sanctuary figurines ⓘ |
| religiousAssociation | Minoan religion ⓘ |
| religiousRole |
fertility symbol
ⓘ
household cult image ⓘ protective deity ⓘ |
| stylisticFeature |
detailed textile patterns on skirts
ⓘ
emphasis on narrow waist ⓘ polychrome glazing on faience examples ⓘ |
| subjectOf |
interpretations as Great Mother goddess
ⓘ
scholarly debate on Minoan goddesses ⓘ |
| symbolism |
chthonic powers
ⓘ
domestic protection ⓘ female power ⓘ renewal ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Snake Goddess figurines Description of subject: Snake Goddess figurines are famous Minoan statuettes depicting bare-breasted female deities holding snakes, often interpreted as symbols of fertility, protection, or religious power in Bronze Age Crete.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.