Snake Goddess from Knossos

Snake Goddess from Knossos
c. 1600 – 1550 BCE (New Palace Period)
Crete/Minoan Culture.
Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete.

Encyclopedia Mythica has this article by Dr Alena Trckova-Flamee, Ph.D., where she writes:

The Snake Goddess was one of the Minoan divinities associated closely with the snake cult. She is called also Household Goddess due to her attribute of the snake, which is connected with welfare of the Minoan house. But the snake is also symbol of the underworld deity, so the Snake Goddess is related to chthonic aspects too.The first, who identified this Minoan Goddess and who described her domestic and chthonic role and her cult, was A. Evans. He tried to find parallels in the Egyptian religion and linked the Snake Goddess with an Egyptian Goddess of the Nile Delta, Wazet (Wadjyt). From his point of view the attribute of goddess – snake – was a form of underworld spirit, which had a domestic and a friendly significance. M.P. Nilsson hold a snake as personification of the Snake Goddess and he believed, that her chthonic form is one of the aspects of the Great Mother.

The following article explores further on the subject of the Master of the Beasts subject:

T. Negus, “Daniel in the Den of Lions: Early Medieval Carvings and their Origins.,” Folk Life. Journal of Ethnological Studies., vol. 44, pp. 63-77, 2005.
[Bibtex]

@Article{tinanegus2005,
  Title                    = {Daniel in the Den of Lions: Early Medieval Carvings and their Origins.},
  Author                   = {Tina Negus},
  Journal                  = {Folk Life. Journal of Ethnological Studies.},
  Year                     = {2005},
  Pages                    = {63-77},
  Volume                   = {44},

  File                     = {tinanegus2005.pdf:tinanegus2005.pdf:PDF},
  Owner                    = {trismegisto},
  Timestamp                = {2016.01.02},
  Url                      = {http://www.green-man-of-cercles.org/articles/daniel_in_the_den_of_lions.pdf}
}

For further (and further, and further) fun, have a look at this Flickr group called “Daniel, Gilgamesh and The Master of Beasts”.