They served as priestesses, as functionaries and administrators, and participated in all the sports that Cretan males participated in. These were not backyard sports, either, like croquet. In bull-jumping, as near as we can tell from the representations of it, a bull would charge headlong into a line of jumpers. Each jumper, when the bull was right on top of them, would grab the horns of the bull and vault over the bull in a somersault to land feet first behind the bull. This is not a sport for the squeamish.
Women also seem to have participated in every occupation and trade available to men.
The rapid growth of industry on Crete included skilled craftswomen and entrepreneurs, and the large, top-heavy bureaucracy and priesthood seems to have been equally staffed with women. In fact, the priesthood was dominated by women. Evidence from Cretan-derived settlements on Asia Minor suggest that Cretan society was matrilineal , that is, kinship descent was reckoned through the mother. While we can't be sure that Cretan society was matrilineal, it is a compelling conclusion since the religion was goddess-based. Richard Hooker Change to . . .