A butterfly or...?

Looking at the iconography you can see that both discs are embellished with the depiction of an insect. But what kind of insect? Is it a bee? Or is it a butterfly? We think that it is most likely a butterfly, since the butterfly played an important part in mortuary cults of the Mycenaean religion and some other cultures as well. It was linked to immortality, which would correspond with the finding place of the balance. (Fig. 12).Schliemann, H. (1878). “The First, Second, and Third Tombs in the Acropolis.”, Mycenae: A Narrative of Research and Discoveries at Mycenae and Tiryns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press:166.

The butterfly on the discs of the balance is depicted quite elaborately; it has round forms, curls, stripes and dots. The bodice is embellished with stripes and small lines; the wings contain long lines from the top bodice to the outer parts of the wings, which have a wavy line with small open dots in them. The head of the butterfly captures the two eyes of the insect, and the antennae end in a nice curl. These features are presumably not made directly onto the material with some sort of stylus, but rather pressed onto the gold disc with an imprint.Schliemann, H. (1878). “The First, Second, and Third Tombs in the Acropolis.”, Mycenae: A Narrative of Research and Discoveries at Mycenae and Tiryns. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press:165.

Butterflies undergo a fascinating transformation in order to become that beautiful creature; they develop from an egg into a caterpillar and then into a chrysalis, from which ultimately a colorful butterfly arises.Konstantinidi-Syvridi, E. (2018). “Mycenae, Shaft Grave III. Tomb of the High Priestess?”, Journal of Prehistoric Religion 26:56 This transformation can be interpreted as a symbol for resurgence.Evans, A. (1930). The Palace of Minos at Knossos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 134. The depictions of butterflies are found not only on the pans of this balance, but they are represented on other objects from this tomb as well. This indicates that butterflies were part of Mycenaean (and of Cretan) religion and funerary rites..Dietrich, B. (1974). The Origins of Greek Religion. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 120-121 The reason that the butterfly is a symbol that is connected to the dead is probably related to the transformation it undergoes: the butterfly emerging from a cocoon. The butterfly thus symbolizes the rebirth of the deceased in his afterlife. Also, from other objects with depictions of butterflies (from Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations), we can deduce that the overall meaning of a butterfly entails “the symbolic representation of the birth of life from death.”Dietrich, B. (1974). The Origins of Greek Religion. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 120-122.