Mycenaean double axe symbol, painted on ceramic. (National Museum, Crete) - The Labrys is the doubleheaded axe, known to the Classical Greeks as pelekus but which predated the arrival of the Hellenes in the Aegean world. Representations of the labrys are on Neolithic finds of "Old Europe", and the labrys is continued in Minoan Thracian, Greek (and Byzantine) art and mythology. It also appears in African mythology (see Shango). Today, it is sometimes used as a symbol associated with female and matristic power. - TopFoto / Fortean