It would be unthinkable that no Ephesian–Theran links existed.  And indeed we have lots of evidence that they did, such as votary dedications to ‘The Cretan Lady of Ephesus’.  On Thera as at the Ephesian Artemisium, priestesses and, later, Eunuch priests each went through three stages, as postulant (Kore), as initiatiant (Persephone), and then a (Demeter like?) post-priestess role.  These stages we know of for Ephesus from sources such as Pliny and Plutarch.  On Thera they are illustrated pictorially by such obvious devices as dress and flat chests (for the crocus-gathering Kore stage).
Small, exposed breasts and shaved or partly-shaved heads is for when the initiated ‘Persephone’ has shed blood on the illustrated butterfly (horned) altar of The Mother.   This may not merely refer to a natural first menstruation.    Perhaps we may draw an analogy with a ceremony depicted in the Stanley Baker and Sir Michael Cane film, ‘Zulu’.  Here girls ritually deflowered themselves en masse prior to the Isandalwana battle and to marriage. The exquisite Cycladic statuettes which were usually buried with women in Neolithic times may have served a similar purpose.   Such deflowering, as with the hatred of the very meaningful pig, may illustrate a principle that ‘what Patriarchy most denigrates, Matriarchy most values’.   If so, we may recognize a further assertion of Matriarchal Power in female control of female virginity.
Mature women wear full heads of swept-back hair.   Their costumes in particular manifest décolletage. The enthroned Minoan Goddess/Queen is attended by griffins, by monkeys and by a Kore offering crocuses, a plant used to alleviate menstrual pain.

In comparing these two periods, separated by 1500 years, we can recognize changes from mother-daughter to father-son-power.  Lincoln, in his ‘Emerging from the Chrysalis’, a  work on female menarchal initiation, and N.Marianatos have both used the Persephone Myth to throw light on Aegean ritual.

From the Theran murals, much concerning the rituals and beliefs of the originally matriarchal Ephesian Artemisium may be gleaned.  There are numerous very interesting Minoan allusions on the 2000 year old Great Artemis Statue.  Primarily, the overall noble harmony suggests an Egypto-Cretan, that is non-Greek, origin.  There is a strange shape linking the head and torso of the statue.  This, no doubt, physically strengthens the work, a matter especially relevant because of its massive polos crown.  But, interestingly, this support resembles the shape of the famous Knossos Throne.  With both works, the griffin symbol is dominant.  The upper portion of the Artemis torso invites semi-inverted comparison with the décolletage of the elegant women of Thera and Crete.  Necklaces of ornamental dragonflies and water birds are seen on the Theran Goddess.

Before the eruption of volcanic Thera Island (Santorini) 3500 years before the present, sea trade in the Aegean and the Mediterranean was under the suzerainty of the Cretan
Minoan Empire.  From the East Mediterranean Basin and the inhospitable Black Sea, many very significant rivers such as the Don, Danube and, pre-eminently the Nile, may be accessed. Thus the fascinating Egyptian Pharonocracy, source of immense knowledge, and skills beyond the dreams of most Bronze Age Folk, was visited by Cretans, Phoenicians, and, eventually, Ionians.

From the Carian, Herodotus, a major source for this work, we learn of the strong, original connections between Minoan Crete and the earliest settlers along the Ephesian coastline.   Crete had trading settlements on the Nile Delta too.

Herodotus was only one of those famed Ionian illuminate who about 2500 years ago, from Thales on, was strongly drawn to the wonders of the Egyptian Temple.   This was facilitated by Persian Imperial Conquests.   In a mere 500 years, in tiny settlements, such as Pirene, Smyrna, and Miletos, these Fathers supposedly laid the foundations of Western Science!  Wow!  It doesn’t compare with the size, community focused-ness and time-embedded-ness of Pharaonic Egypt, let alone what went before that. At best they half-copied some ideas. But a whole machine now exists to prove and maintain the false image of triumphant Ionia.
The Schwallers note that Egypt’s lore was accessible but hidden.  The protective mind-set which was its matrix was an effective protection from unworthy use.