In her 2025 Master’s thesis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mother Goddess or Divine Mortal? A Reconsideration of ma-te-re te-i-ja in PY Fr 1202, Maija Oline Gierhart offers a bold reinterpretation of one of the most enigmatic figures in the Linear B corpus: ma-te-re te-i-ja, recorded uniquely in the Pylos tablet PY Fr 1202. Long assumed to be a mother goddess—perhaps an early form of Demeter or even Kybele—this figure has been shrouded in scholarly speculation, often entangled in anachronistic assumptions or the urge to project later Greek religion onto Mycenaean material.
Gierhart’s thesis breaks from these inherited models. Through a careful contextual and linguistic analysis, she argues that ma-te-re te-i-ja should not be seen as a deity at all, but rather as a “divine mortal”—a priestly figure analogous to the Anatolian šiwanzanniš, a title known from Hittite texts and typically applied to queens who held ritual authority. This reinterpretation not only reconfigures our understanding of the PY Fr 1202 tablet but also situates Mycenaean religious practice within broader networks of diplomatic and cultic exchange across the Aegean and western Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age.
This article presents the main findings of Gierhart’s thesis in a clear, structured format, intended as an accessible and respectful representation of her original contribution.
Context: The Perfumed Oil Tablets from Pylos
PY Fr 1202 is part of a broader class of Linear B texts known as the Fr tablets, which detail the production and disbursement of perfumed olive oil from the palace of Pylos. These tablets, often linked to religious offerings, were economic records—administrative documents that nonetheless give precious insight into the ideological and ceremonial dimensions of Mycenaean society.
© Hellenic Ministry of Culture (HOCRED)
© The Palace of Nestor Excavations, Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati (photo by Emile Seraphis)
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Tablet PY Fr 1202, along with its counterpart PY Fr 1206, is distinctive for two reasons: it records an unusually large amount of oil (approximately 160 liters), and it includes a rare personal or divine name—ma-te-re te-i-ja. This name does not appear anywhere else in the corpus. The similarity in handwriting and findspot of PY Fr 1202 and PY Fr 1206 (both written by the same scribe, Hand 2, and found in Room 38 of the Palace of Nestor) has led scholars to treat them as thematically linked.
PY Fr 1206 refers to po-ti-ni-ja a-si-wi-ja—that is, “Potnia of Assuwa (Asia?),” likely a reference to a goddess associated with the Anatolian region of Assuwa. This tablet has been widely interpreted as evidence of either Anatolian cult importation into Pylos or cross-Aegean religious transactions. Gierhart uses this contextual framework to inform her reading of PY Fr 1202, while at the same time questioning the assumptions that have traditionally led to interpreting ma-te-re te-i-ja as a deity.
Challenging the “Mother Goddess” Paradigm
The designation ma-te-re te-i-ja has typically been read as a theonym, translated either as “Mother of the Gods” or “Divine Mother.” Gierhart systematically critiques these interpretations.
First, she addresses the linguistic construction. In Mycenaean Greek, te-i-ja (equivalent to Classical Greek θεῖα) is most likely an adjective meaning “divine,” not a genitive phrase like “of the gods.” Thus, the phrase more accurately reads “Divine Mother,” not “Mother of the Gods.” While this may seem a minor distinction, it significantly undermines efforts to identify the figure with the later Greek goddess Meter Theon (Μήτηρ Θεῶν) or the Phrygian Kybele. Gierhart notes that such identifications are rooted more in retrojection than evidence: Kybele’s cult is well-attested only from the Iron Age onward and is primarily Phrygian, not Mycenaean.
She also critiques the popular idea—based on early 20th-century scholarship—that the Minoan and Mycenaean world centered around a pan-Mediterranean “Great Mother Goddess.” Drawing on the critiques of scholars like Sarah Morris and Lisa Bendall, Gierhart argues that these universalizing models are methodologically flawed and often reflect modern cultural ideologies more than ancient realities.
The Anatolian Connection: Reinterpreting the Evidence
The core of Gierhart’s argument is comparative. She proposes that the title ma-te-re te-i-ja is a Mycenaean rendering of the Hittite šiwanzanniš—a priestly title, often translated as “mother of the god,” borne by royal women with ritual functions in Hittite religious life. The šiwanzanniš was not a deity but a queen or high priestess with sacral authority, capable of overseeing cultic offerings and public ceremonies.
By interpreting ma-te-re te-i-ja as a translation of this title, Gierhart reframes the Linear B tablet not as a record of worship toward a deity, but as a disbursement of oil—possibly a year’s worth—to a high-ranking woman, probably abroad. This reading is strengthened by the extraordinarily large quantity of oil involved, which far exceeds the amounts recorded for local deities such as Poseidon or Potnia.
She further points out that the month recorded on PY Fr 1202—me-tu-wo ne-wo, “Month of New Wine”—suggests that the offering coincided with a seasonal or ritual event. This, too, is consistent with gift exchange or ritual diplomacy between ruling elites across the Aegean and Anatolia.
Supporting Evidence: The Use of Theios in Early Greek
Gierhart reinforces her argument by turning to the usage of the adjective θεῖος (divine) in Homeric and Hesiodic poetry. There, the term is rarely used for major gods. Instead, it frequently describes mortals of high status—kings, warriors, and bards—and occasionally minor divine figures like river gods or nymphs. For instance, Thetis, the divine mother of Achilles, is called μήτηρ θεῖα—a strikingly close parallel to ma-te-re te-i-ja.
This suggests that, in archaic Greek usage as well as Mycenaean, theios may have connoted divine favor or sacred function without implying that the person so described was a full deity. It fits, therefore, with a mortal woman of ritual status: a queen-priestess, not a goddess.
Diplomacy, Identity, and Religious Exchange
What, then, was the nature of this priestess, and why would she appear in the Pylian archives?
Gierhart explores several possibilities. The recipient of the oil could have been an Anatolian noblewoman—perhaps even a former princess married into the Pylian elite. Hittite records mention political marriages between Anatolian women and Ahhiyawan (Mycenaean) kings. In such cases, these women often retained priestly roles. Alternatively, she might have remained abroad, and the oil represents a diplomatic gift dispatched across the sea.
She draws parallels with PY Fr 1206, where the oil offering to Potnia of Assuwa may also have been sent outside the Mycenaean sphere. Bendall has noted that the volume of oil in these tablets far exceeds typical local offerings and is consistent with ceremonial shipments—perhaps annual tributes or diplomatic gestures. Such interpretations place Mycenaean Greece within the interregional exchange systems of the Late Bronze Age, resembling the political and religious networks documented in Hittite and Ugaritic archives.
Conclusion: From Divine Name to Sacred Role
Maija Gierhart’s thesis contributes significantly to the study of Mycenaean religion and international diplomacy in the Late Bronze Age. By reinterpreting ma-te-re te-i-ja not as a goddess, but as a translated title for a sacred mortal, she draws attention to the nuanced ways in which language, identity, and ritual status intersected in palace societies.
Her analysis avoids both the overly theological and overly literal approaches of previous decades. Instead, she restores to the PY Fr 1202 tablet its true complexity—as a document reflecting the palace’s role not only in religious administration but in cross-cultural negotiation, religious diplomacy, and elite female agency.
In doing so, Gierhart opens a path toward reevaluating other ambiguous figures in the Linear B corpus, and more broadly, toward understanding the role of women in Mycenaean and Anatolian religious systems not merely as recipients of cult, but as actors, intermediaries, and holders of sacred power.
Citation of Original Work:
Gierhart, Maija Oline. Mother Goddess or Divine Mortal? A Reconsideration of ma-te-re te-i-ja in PY Fr 1202. Master’s Thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2025.
