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Ancient Goddesses
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| Aphrodite
of Melos Bust |
|
 Size: 9"H (23 cm) |
Louvre Museum, Paris. 200 B.C. Aphrodite was the symbol of female beauty and Goddess of Love, identified in Rome with Venus. Although Homer describes Aphrodite as the daughter of Zeus and Dion, the more popular view was that she was conceived in the foam of the ocean from the seed of Uranus. Dropped there when he was castrated, her name meaning "foam-born". Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but she loved Ares and she was known for her many love affairs, notably with Adonis and Anchises. Aphrodite the most beautiful woman in the world, inspired lust in all the humans and other creatures of the planet. No one could escape the traps that she set to amuse herself with the doings of love-crazed men and women. The passion which she planted in the human soul was the force that propelled fertilization and reproduction (Venus Genetrix). Her symbols were the laurel, the pomegranate, the dove, the swan, the hare and the ram, all of them connected with physical love and reproduction. Item Name: Aphrodite of Melos Bust
|
| Nile
River Egyptian Goddess |
|
 Size: 11"H (28cm) |
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York. 4000 B.C. The image of the bird Goddess appeared in Egypt in early predynastic times (4000 b.c.) as funerary figures with strongly beaked faces and winglike arms and hands. These painted terracota figures, less than a foot high and much alike, were found in graves in Mohamerian, near Edfu. They serve as a superb blend of bird, woman and deity. Their greatly enlarged posteriors are a representation of the cosmic or primal egg. In Egyptian myth, the generation of the primal egg takes place in what is known as the time of non-being where the sublime goose appears among the imperishable stars. While the world is still flooded by silence, the voice of the great cackler breaks the stillness, and she lays the egg containing the germ of life. From her egg burst forth a bird of celestial light. The cosmic matter from which the universe is formed comes from the primal egg. Item Name: Nile River Egyptian Goddess
|
| Venus
of Willendorf Prehistoric Goddess |
|
|
Size: 8"H (20cm) |
Natural History Museum, Vienna. 30,000 B.C. The Venus of Willendorf was found by the researcher Szombathy on 8/7/1908. It is made out of limestone and still has some signs of red pigmentation; it fits in the palm of a hand. It is one of the most obese representations of the Paleolithic statuary. She represents the Earth and its fertility and continuation of life, the Mother Goddess, the universal female principle even if it is in its most primitive conception. Women were recognized as the life-givers and sustainers. They were revered as priestesses. Upper Paleolithic female figures, such as this one are found from the Pyrenees mountains to Siberia, indicating that East and West were once united in honoring the Goddess. The vast majority (over 90%) of human images from 30,000 to 5,000 B.V. are female. Item Name: Venus of Willendorf Prehistoric Goddess
|
| Dreamer
of Malta Female Sleeping Statue |
|
 Size: 9.5"L x 5.5"H (24 x 14cm) |
National Archaeological Museum, Valetta, Malta. 3000
B.C. The most spectacular monument in Malta is the enormous, labyrinthine underground sanctuary known as the Hypogeum which may have been the ceremonial center of the island encompassing more than 6,000 square meters in three levels. This catacomb-like structure seems to have been at once temple, tomb and healing center. The main hall leads into the oracle room where two identical small sculptures of a woman were found lying on the floor where they were probably left when the shrine was abandoned. The dreamer is lying on her side on a low couch, one enormous right forearm underneath her head, the other draped across her heavy breast. She is ample-hipped and topless. Dressed in a full length, bell-shaped skirt she clearly appears to be asleep, almost visibly dreaming. The figures were probably part of a ceremony of dream incubation. Item Name: Dreamer of Malta Female Sleeping Statue
|
| Venus
of Willendorf Prehistoric Goddess, Small |
|
 Size: 4.5 x 2 x 1.75 |
The Venus of Willendorf was found by the researcher
Szombathy on 8/7/1908. It is made out of limestone and still has
some signs of red pigmentation; it fits in the palm of a hand. It is
one of the most obese representations of the Paleolithic and
continuation of life, the Mother Goddess, the universal female
principle even if it is in its most primitive conception. Women were
recognized as the life-givers and sustainers. They were revered as
priestesses, Upper Paleolithic female figures, such as this one are
found from the Pyrenees Mountains to Siberia, indicating that East
and West were once united in honoring the Goddess. The vast majority
(over 90%) of human images from 30,000 to 5,000 B.C. are female.
Item Name: Venus of Willendorf Prehistoric Goddess, Small
|
| Venus
of Lespugue Prehistoric Goddess |
|
 Size: 8"H (20cm) |
L'Home Museum, Paris, 25.000B.C. The Venus of Lespugue was found in 1922 by Saint Perrier in the cave of Les Rideaux. The sculpture is made out of mammoth ivory and measures 5.75"high. The breasts are deteriorated but they have been restored in this reproduction so that we can appreciate the original look of the statue. She represents the Earth and it's fertility and the continuation of life, The Mother Goddess, the universal female principle even if it is in its most primitive conception.Upper Paleolithic female figures such as this one are found from the Pyrenees mountains to Siberia, indicating that East and West were once united in honoring the Goddess. The vast majority (over 90%) of human images from 30,000 to 5,000 b.c. are female. Women were recognized as the life-givers and sustainers and they were revered as priestesses. Item Name: Venus of Lespugue Prehistoric Goddess
|
| Diana
of Ephesus Goddess Statue |
|
 Size: 11.5"H (29cm) |
Ephesus Museum, Turkey. 150 A.D. Greek Know in Rome as Diana and in Greece as Artemis, she is the twin sister of Apollo and daughter of Zeus and Leto. Artemis was always a virgin, an eternally young, untamed girl, nourishing all life. Thus Diana has many breasts because she has so many children to feed. Her hands form the gesture of bestowing worldly and spiritual blessings. She is crowned with the Goddess’s sacred vessel, and the lunar disk makes a halo around her head. Diana is the Earth herself, whose mountains are breast and whose body is a dwelling place for all living creatures. Even in the patriarchal era, her worship was so strong that her temple at Ephesus was considered one on the seven wonders of the ancient world. Item Name: Diana of Ephesus Goddess Statue
|
| Ishtar
/ Inanna Mesopotamian Goddess |
|
 Size: 11.5"H (29cm) |
Louvre Museum, Paris. 2000 B.C. So common in the Mesopotamian area were the clay figurines of Ishtar/Inanna/Astarte in her characteristic breast-offering pose, that this has come to be known among archaeologists as "The Ishtar Pose". She was addressed as "Mother of the Fruitful Breast", Queen of Heaven, Light of the World, Creator of People, Mother of Deities, River of Life, Etc. The breast-offering pose suggested her function as the Goddess of all nourishment and fertility. Ishtar, also known as Innana in Sumeria is, above all, a lunar Goddess who gives life as the waxing moon and then withdraws it as the waning moon. The light and dark dimensions to her power, her dying and resurrected son-lover Tammuz, who annually descends to the underworld and rises again from it-all suggest a lunar mythology which revolves around the connection made between the light and dark lunar phases and rhythmic alteration of the Earth's fertility. Item Name: Ishtar / Inanna Mesopotamian Goddess
|
| Turriga
Neolithic Mother Goddess from Italy |
|
 Size: 8"H (20cm) |
National Archaeological Museum of Cagliary, Italy,
3200 - 2800 BC This mother goddess was found in Senorbi, a Turriga locality in the island of Sardinia, Italy, in the ruins of a neolithic village. Its form clearly represents fertility and is very reminecent of the Cycladic art from Greece. Item Name: Turriga Neolithic Mother Goddess from Italy
|
| Athena
Standing with Shield Statue |
|
 Size: 10.5"H (27cm) |
Athena was the Greek Goddess of wisdom and women's
crafts. She was also a defender against evil and a warrior Goddess
par excellence. She was the daughter of Zeus and Metis. When Metis
became pregnant, Gaia and Uranus told Zeus that after giving birth
to a daughter, she would then have a son by Zeus who would later
dethrone him. On Gaia's advice, Zeus swallowed Metis. When the time
came for the child to be born, Zeus was afflicted with a dreadful
headache and sought the help of Hephaestus who split his skull with
a bronze axe to relieve the pain. A girl in full armour sprang forth
from his head: It was Athena. Athena's attributes were the spear,
the helmet and the Aegis (a goat-skin shield). She attached the
Gorgon's head which Perseus had given her to her shield, and this
turned to stone every living thing that looked at it.
Item Name: Athena Standing with Shield Statue
|
| Cycladic
Head on Marble Base |
|
 Size: 5.5"H (14cm) |
Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, 2800-2300 B.C. During the period between 3200 and 2000 B.C. the small Cycladic islands (Cyclades, Greece) in the Aegean became home to a flourishing pre-Greek culture. The most prominent craft in Cycladic culture was stone-cutting, especially marble sculpture. The abundance of high quality, white marble on the islands, encouraged its wide use for the creation of a wide range of artifacts. Among these, Cycladic Statues are the most distinctive Cycladic creation because of the great numbers in which they are found, and the significance they held for their owners. The majority of Cycladic Figurines show women, nude with the arms folded over the belly and the long feet, soles slopping downwards. We do not know whether they were meant to show mortals or deities, but probably symbolized the worship of the 'Mother Goddess'. In this case, the statues may have been conceived as representations of the Goddess, or companions to her. Item Name: Cycladic Head on Marble Base
|
| Venus
of Laussel Prehistoric Cave Relief |
|
 Size: 10"H (25cm) |
Dordogne, France. 20,000 B.C. The original is 17 inches tall and was found in the entrance to a cave that was both a dwelling place and a ceremonial site. She was painted red, the color of life, blood and rebirth. Paleolithic sculptors chiselled her out of limestone with tools of flint, and gave her to hold in her right hand a bison's horn, crescent-shaped like the moon,which is notched with thirteen marks representing the thirteen days of the waxing moon and the thirteen months of the lunar year. With her left hand she points to her swelling womb. Her head is tilted towards the crescent moon, drawing a curve of relationship from her fingers on the womb up through the incline of her head to the crescent horn in her hand, so creating a connection between the waxing phase of the moon and the fecundity of the human womb. Item Name: Venus of Laussel Prehistoric Cave Relief
|
| Athena
Wearing Helmet Relief |
|
 Size: 11"H (28cm) |
Piraeus Museum, Athens 380 B.C. Athena was the Goddess of wisdom and women's crafts in the mythology of the Greeks. She was also a defender against evil and as such she was a warrior Goddess par excellence. She was the daughter of Zeus and Metis. When Metis became pregnant, Gaia and Uranus told Zeus that after giving birth to a daughter, she would then have a son by Zeus who would later dethrone him. On Gaia's advice, Zeus swallowed Metis. When the time came for the child to be born, Zeus was afflicted with a dreadful headache and sought the help of Hephaestus who split his skull with a bronze axe to relieve the pain. A girl in full armor sprang forth from his head: It was Athena. Athena's attributes were the spear, the helmet and the Aegis (a goat-skin shield). She attached the Gorgon's head which Perseus had given her to her shield, and this turned to stone every living thing that looked at it. Item Name: Athena Wearing Helmet Relief
|
| Harvest
Goddess from Mohenjo Daro |
|
 Size: 7.5"H (19cm) |
National Archaeological Museum, Pakistan, 2600 BC This figurine was found in the ancient city of Mojenjo-Daro. Most human figurines found in the ruins of that culture are feminine which indicates that women had a high standing in that society. Mohenjo Daro, or "Mound of the Dead" is an ancient Indus Valley Civilization city that flourished between 2600 and 1900 BCE. It was one of the first world and ancient Indian cities. The site was discovered in the 1920s and lies in Pakistan's Sindh province. Item Name: Harvest Goddess from Mohenjo Daro
|
| Aphrodite
of Melos Statue |
|
 Size: 12.5"H (32cm) |
Louvre Museum, Paris. 200 B.C. Her graceful body symbolizes an ideal of beauty that many long for but none attain. The French named her the Venus of Milo. In 1820 a peasant named Yorgos found her broken body in an underground cavern on the Aegean island of Melos. Later she was taken out of Greece under unclear circumstances to be taken to Paris where she was to be admired by the millions of visitors to that country's great museum-the Louvre! Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love, identified in Rome with Venus. Although Homer describes Aphrodite as the daughter of Zeus and Dion, the more popular view was that she was conceived in the foam of the ocean from the seed of Uranus. Dropped there when he was castrated, her name meaning "foam-born". Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but she loved Ares and she was known for her many love affairs, notably with Adonis and Anchises. Item Name: Aphrodite of Melos Statue
|
| Minoan
Snake Goddess from Knossos Palace |
|
 Size: 12"H (30.5cm) |
Herakleion Museum, Crete, Greece. 1600 B.C. This figurine represents an agricultural fertility Goddess or her Priestess. The original was found in a storage room in the Palace of Knossos, Crete. She is a votive offering and not a cult figure and therefore, probably represents a Priestess who is perhaps a princess of the palace. Although she is dressed in the garb of her deity, a Cretan Earth Mother, she is a personification of Earth from which all life springs and returns. She carries the snakes, symbols of death and rebirth. Crouching on her crown is a lion cub, usually associated with royal houses. In her crown are poppy pods, indicating the use of opium in her worship. Item Name: Minoan Snake Goddess from Knossos Palace
|
| Artemis
the Huntress with Stag Statue |
|
 Size: 11.5"H x 6.25"W x 4.75"L |
The Louvre Museum, Paris, 4th Century B.C. Artemis, also known by her Roman name Diana, was the Greek goddess of hunting and archery. She is often represented as a huntress with bow and quiver on her shoulder and dogs or deer at her side. The Greeks worshipped Artemis as the goddess of chastity and the guardian of youths and maidens. At the time of the difficult transition from adolescence to adulthood, the ancient Greeks used to invoke the support of Artemis and held special rites dedicated to her. Artemis was a pure virgen who had never known the joys of love and marriage. Artemis greatest joy was run through the dense forest hunting with her golden bow, accompanied by her dogs and her favorite animal, the deer. She was renowned for her skill at archery. No god or mortal could match her for accuracy. Artemis also came to be looked up as the moon goddess, just as her twin brother Apollo was viewed as the sun god. The ancient original of this reproduction was found in the villa of the Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli near Rome. Item Name: Artemis the Huntress with Stag Statue
|
| Aphrodite
of Melos Sculpture - Large |
|
 Size: 20"H (50cm) |
Louvre Museum, Paris. 200 B.C. Her graceful body symbolizes an ideal of beauty that many long for but none attain. The French named her the Venus of Milo. In 1820 a peasant named Yorgos found her broken body in an underground cavern on the Aegean island of Melos. Later she was taken out of Greece under unclear circumstances to be taken to Paris where she was to be admired by the millions of visitors to that country's great museum-the Louvre! Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love, identified in Rome with Venus. Although Homer describes Aphrodite as the daughter of Zeus and Dion, the more popular view was that she was conceived in the foam of the ocean from the seed of Uranus. Dropped there when he was castrated, her name meaning "foam-born". Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but she loved Ares and she was known for her many love affairs, notably with Adonis and Anchises. Item Name: Aphrodite of Melos Sculpture - Large
|
| Aphrodite
(Venus Genetrix) Holding Fruit Statue |
|
 Size: 12"H (30cm) |
The Louvre Museum, Paris, 5th Century B.C. Aphrodite was the symbol of female beauty and Goddess of Love, identified in Rome with Venus. Although Homer describes Aphrodite as the daughter of Zeus and Dion, the more popular view was that she was conceived in the foam of the ocean from the seed of Uranus. Dropped there when he was castrated, her name meaning "foam-born". Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but she loved Ares and she was known for her many love affairs, notably with Adonis and Anchises. Aphrodite the most beautiful woman in the world, inspired lust in all the humans and other creatures of the planet. No one could escape the traps that she set to amuse herself with the doings of love-crazed men and women. The passion which she planted in the human soul was the force that propelled fertilization and reproduction (Venus Genetrix). Her symbols were the laurel, the pomegranate, the dove, the swan, the hare and the ram, all of them connected with physical love and reproduction. Item Name: Aphrodite (Venus Genetrix) Holding Fruit Statue
|
| Demeter
Goddess of Earth Relief from Versailles |
|
 Size: 14.5"H x 11"W (37 x 28cm) |
Versailles Municipal Library, France. 18th century This relief represents Demeter, maternal Goddess of the Earth, and especially of cultivated land. One of her attributes is wheat, shown here on her head. The name Demeter means Earth Goddess (De=Earth, Meter=Goddess) The adventures of Demeter and her daughter Persephone constitute the central myth of The Eleusinian Mysteries, the most important mysteries of classic Greece. Her symbols are the ears of wheat and a torch. The ears of wheat are the sacred fruit of the Goddess of Farming and Cereals, and the torch alludes to the rituals of the Eleusinian Mysteries which took place at night by torch light. Demeter is credited with teaching humans how to cultivate crops, a task that she assigned to Triptolemus. Item Name: Demeter Goddess of Earth Relief from Versailles
|
| Hecate
Greek Triple Goddess Statue |
|
 Size: 10.5"H (27cm) |
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Hecate may have originally originated from the Egyptian midwife Goddess Hekat. In Greece, Hecate was one of the many names for the original feminine trinity ruling Heaven, Earth and the Underworld. Greeks tended to emphasize her crone or underworld aspect. Hecate was called "Most lovely one", a title of the moon. She was associated with the moon in all three of her aspects. Some said she was Hecate Selene, the Moon in Heaven; Artemis the Huntress on Earth and Persephone the Destroyer in the Underworld. Sometimes she was part of the Queen of Heaven Trinity: Hebe the Virgin, Hera the Mother and Hecate the Crone. Item Name: Hecate Greek Triple Goddess Statue
|
| Cycladic
Goddess Standing Statue |
|
 Size: 9.5 x 3.25 x 3.25 |
Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, 2800-2300 B.C. During the period between 3200 and 2000 B.C. the small Cycladic islands (Cyclades, Greece) in the Aegean became home to a flourishing pre-Greek culture. The most prominent craft in Cycladic culture was stone-cutting, especially marble sculpture. The abundance of high quality, white marble on the islands, encouraged its wide use for the creation of a wide range of artifacts. Among these, Cycladic Statues are the most distinctive Cycladic creation because of the great numbers in which they are found, and the significance they held for their owners. The majority of Cycladic Figurines show women, nude with the arms folded over the belly and the long feet, soles slopping downwards. We do not know whether they were meant to show mortals or deities, but probably symbolized the worship of the 'Mother Goddess'. In this case, the statues may have been conceived as representations of the Goddess, or companions to her. Item Name: Cycladic Goddess Standing Statue
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