The Labrys (Labris) is a double-sided hatchet or axe, which, in accordance with archaeological data, was widely used in ancient Europe, Africa and Asia as both a battle weapon and harvesting tool. It can be said with some certainty that “the Labrys peoples” had a large ethnic, social, and cultural inheritance from the hunters-fishers of the forest cultures. The motives of the Labrys are found in ceramic ornaments of the Bronze Age agricultural societies of different geographical locations. This symbol is Typical for the art of Neolithic "Old Europe", for Minoan, Thracian, Greek (and Byzantine) art and mythology. It played a significant ritual role in the ancient Mediterranean region and was closely connected with the cult of the Mother Goddess.

V. Danilenko, analyzing in his work “Kosmogony of Prehistorical Societies” spiral ornaments, which were widely used to decorate ceramic pots of the Early Bronze Age agricultural European societies², describes a basic ornamental motive of the double-edged axe. The Labrys is used in the ornaments in close connection with the sun disk, “earthy” motives of an ox, and such symbols of the sky as a bird and dragon. In many patterns, the Labrys seems to untite all those symbolic elements together. In some pots, the Labrys also has a additional element of “eyes”, painted on its edges, which is interpreted by V. Danilenko as one more association with the sky and the solar cult. The motives of the ceramic ornaments of the Tripol culture seem to be tightly related to those of ancient Crete, where the similar symbolism is observed. The below-indicated pattern dated back to the Minoan civilization features a flying anthropomorfal Labrys with its head in a form of a shining solar disk: Thus, the Labrys, as a cosmic and, in some cases, solar symbol, which connects together opposite elements of earth and sky, is a typical motive of art on the ceramic ornaments of Crete, Tripol, and other cultures. The Labrys seems to compose a core of their symbolic plot, being a basic character directly connected with the sun, which reflects some important functions between the sun and the sky³.

The most multiple and dramatic archaeological finds of the Labrys relate to the Minoan civilization of Crete (which reached its peak in the 2nd millennium BC). Some Minoan Labrys patterns have been found which are taller than a man and which might have been used during sacrifices of bulls; some were made of gold and most likely were used for ritual purposes; images of the Labrys were inscribed in stone, included in art compositions painted on pottery, and accompanied statues of the Mother Goddess (as her “ceremonial skepters”).

In his work “The Labrys Symbol, Initiatic or Sacrifical?” Leo Dubal analyzes some of the Cretean archaeological finds of the Labrys, including the below indicated 4000 years old piece of rock reported by Waites, which displays the Mother Goddess holding two double-axes in her hands: In Dubal’s opinion, the “cult of the Labrys” could have initially been typical for Caria (Asia Minor) – the land inhibited by matrifocal tribes - and then spread to the Minoan civilization of Crete where the symbol was connected to the cult of the Mother Goddess and played both initiatic and sacrifial roles. In feminist interpretations (particularly by Marija Gimbutas) ⁴, the Labrys is also considered as a symbol of the Mother Goddess and compared to the shape of a butterfly rather than an axe, and, thus, stands for rebirth and transformation. In other sourses, the Lybris is interpreted as the female labia at the entrance of the womb – the sacred gates for a new life.

The word labyrinthos – another initiatic symbol, which recalls the path to birth and could be a metaphor for life itself - is probably connected with the word labrys. In the context of the myth of Theseus, the labyrinth of Greek mythology is frequently associated with the Minoan palace of Knossos. As Leo Dubal points out, “the world “Labyrinth” originally meant “The Home of Labrys”.

To the Classical Greeks the Labrys was known as pelekus πέλεκυς or a sagaris - the Greek name for a weapon used by Scythian tribes (Herodot, 1.215, 4.5), by the Persians, Mossynoeci, and others, and, according to Aristarchus (PAmh.2.12 ii 10), by the Amazons. ⁵

On Greek vase paintings, the Labrys sometimes appears in scenes of animal sacrifice, particularly as a weapon for the slaying of bulls. On the "Perseus Vase" in Berlin (F1704; ca 570–560 BC), Hephaestus ritually flees his act of slicing open the head of Zeus to free Athena: over his shoulder is the instrument he has used, the double-headed axe: The double-axe also appears in Thracian art. On the Aleksandrovo kurgan fresco (Bulgaria, 4th century BC), there is a hunting-scene where a boar is attacked by a mounted hunter and a naked man wielding a double-axe. The scene is interpreted as mythological, the naked man representing Zalmoxis, the Thracian solar god corresponding to Zeus:

In English the first appearance of the word "labrys" is reported in Oxford English Dictionary from Journal of Hellenic Studies XXI. 108 (1901): "It seems natural to interpret names of Carian sanctuaries like Labranda⁶ in the most literal sense as the place of the sacred labrys, which was the Lydian (or Carian) name for the Greek πέλεκυς, or double-edged axe." And, p. 109, "On Carian coins indeed of quite late date the labrys, set up on its long pillar-like handle, with two dependent fillets, has much the appearance of a cult image."

The doble-headed axe also plays role in African mythology under the name “oshe” as the main attribute of Shango or Changó (in Latin America) - the Deity of Thunder, or the Sky Father – representing swift and balanced justice. As God Shango is a major symbol of African resistance against an enslaving European culture, his double-headed axe should also be seen as a symbolic weapon against discrimination and as an amulet protecting from negative influences.

Today, primiraly influenced by traditions that link the Amazons, a legendary race of independent female warriers, with the double-headed battle axe, the Labrys is used as a symbol associated with female and matristic power and as an internationally accepted symbol of lesbianism, signifying lesbian identity, pride, and solidarity.

The use of the Labrys is also observed in rituals of neo-pagan Wiccan religion, where it is connected with female enpowerment and witchcraft and described as a “demonic symbol”. Lou Sloat's Texas Ritualistic Crime Information Network Occult Crime Manual lists double headed axes in an untitled list of symbols attributed to Satanism.

During the period of Greek Fascism (1936-1941), the Labrys was used as main symbol of the Greek Fascist Youth EON (“Ethniki Organosi Neolaias”), as the regime's leader, Ioannis Metaxas, believed it to be the first symbol of all Hellenic civilizations.

The summary of different symbolic meanings of the Labrys:

In ancient agricultural societies the Labrys is a cosmic and solar symbol (V. Danilenko), connecting together elements of the earth (harvest, ox) and the sky (bird and dragon) and reflecting some important functions between the sun and the sky.

The shape of the Labrys resembles a butterfly (M. Gimbutas) – a symbols of rebirth, reincarnation, and transformation; its shape could also be linked to a female labya – sacret gates for a new life.

In the Minoan civilization of Crete the Labrys is a widely used initiatic and sacrifial symbol (L. Dubal), connected to the cult of the Mother Goddess and linked to symbolism of the labyrinthos (path to birth, metaphor for life). Symbolism of the Labrys is also connected to the Amazons – a mythical civilization of female warriors; it stands for feminine and matristic power, signifies female empowerment, and, in this connection, has been adopted by lesbianism as a symbol of lesbian identity, pride, and solidarity.

For members of the neo-pagan religious group of Wicca the Labrys also stands for magical female power, yet as a “demonic symbol” connected to Satanism and witchcraft (L. Sloat).

The Labrys is one of the attributes of Zalmoxis, the Thracian solar god corresponding to Zeus; it is also a ritual weapon of Hepaestus. In African myphology it is linked to Shango, the Deity of Thunder, or the Sky Father, and considered to be a symbol of swift and balanced justice, as well as a symbolic weapon against discrimination and amulet protecting from negative influences.

During the Second World War the Labrys, considered to be a symbol of the Hellenic civilization, was adopted by the youth fascist organization of Greece.

Lada Pascar

¹ Neolithic Europe refers to the time between the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods in Europe, roughly from 7000 BCE (the time of the first farming societies in Greece) to 1700 BCE (the beginning of the Bronze Age in northwest Europe).

² including the “Early Tripol Culture”, found on the territory of modern Romania, Moldova and Ukraine

³ V. Danilenko

⁴ Marija Gimbutas “The Civilization of the Goddess” (1991),

⁵ The weapon was probably a kind of battle-axe, described as single-edged by some authors, and as double-edged by others. Possibly from this arose an attribution of the invention of the battle-axe to the Amazons by medieval and Renaissance authors (e.g. Johannes Aventinus), and a (modern) association of the Amazons with the Labrys.

⁶ “Labraunda” (alternatively” Labranda”) in the mountains near the coast of Caria in Asia Minor was held sacred by the Carians and Mysians.

2005-10-27