This painting, a detail from Aghia Triadha, Crete, provides evidence for Minoan religion. Dated from around 1400 b.c., it shows 2 scenes.
On the left, a lady pours a drink offering, a libation into a large receptacle. The receptacle rests between posts crowned with the Cretan double ax symbol, a bird resting on top. A procession follows her; a woman with two vessels on a pole across her shoulder, and a man, perhaps a priest because of his long robe, plays a lyre.
The scene is split there, and the right side of the fresco is facing the other way, to the right. Three men approach steps, carrying models of bulls and a Minoan boat. The steps lead to a tomb (not shown), where the objects will be left as an offering.
The evidence in this painting suggests that Minoans believed in life after death, and it is possible that the libation consists of bull’s blood, bull sacrifice being depicted in other art in Crete.
As in Egyptian art, Minoans used colors to distinguish the sexes, men are painted in a dark reddish-brown color. Both men and women wore their hair long, in waved locks over the shoulder and down the back.
Although the painting is divided into two scenes which may portray two different locations, or two different points in time, the uniformity of the striped and flowery border suggests the continuity of action, the interconnectedness of the two sides of the painting.