According to ancient sources, the labrys was above all a symbol of the original Cretan culture known as Minoan. This very rich and advanced civilisation, whose origins lie between 3000 and 2000 BC, was among the few in which the cult of the Great Snake Goddess survived for a long time and in which men and women held equal standing.
Judging from surviving artefacts, which favour natural rather than martial motifs, it was a peaceful civilisation with a strong cult of the dead, its own still-undeciphered script, and highly advanced, practical architecture. Natural disasters repeatedly disrupted its history. Many scholars believe this sophisticated Mediterranean culture gave rise to the myth of legendary Atlantis.
The labrys was an attribute of the Great Goddess and a symbol of fertility and abundance; by extension it became a symbol of protection against evil powers and negative energy. Later, in the hands of the Amazons, it stood for independence, freedom and equality between men and women.
The link between labrys and labyrinth appears in several independent myths. In one of them, double-headed axes mounted on staffs were used as protective objects in the dance ceremonies of priestesses consecrated to the Great Goddess. Later the labrys motif became a paving pattern in the places where those dances were held. From this the idea of the labyrinth may have grown — first as a principle of symmetrical repetition of a single pattern, and later as a maze.
