Potnia Theron

The Potnia Theron (Ancient Greek: Ἡ Πότνια Θηρῶν, romanized: Hē Pótnia Therón, lit.

This motif is more common in later Near Eastern and Mesopotamian art with a male figure, called the Master of Animals.

[5] An Artemis-type deity, a "Mistress of the Animals", is often assumed to have existed in prehistoric religion and often referred to as Potnia Theron with some scholars positing a relationship between Artemis and goddesses depicted in Minoan art.

[3][6] An early example of Italian Potnia theròn is in the Museo civico archeologico di Monte Rinaldo [7] in Italy: a plate illustrates a goddess that wears a long dress and holds hands with two lionesses.

In the Aeneid,[8] Virgil mentions that within Psychro's Cave, in Crete, there lived the goddess Cybele whose chariot was drawn by two lions.