figure
- Museum number
- 1899,1229.1
- Description
-
Terracotta figurine of an elaborately dressed and jewelled worshipper or a goddess with up-raised arms; wheel-made cylindrical body splaying outwards at the bottom, upper parts modelled and much detail added in paint, such as the eyes and eyebrows; the arms, at right angles to the body, were added separately left arm missing); triangular face with schematic, but expressive features such as the amygdaloid eyes; hair painted as a single mass falling onto the shoulders; the woman wears a very large, wedge-shaped headdress tapering outwards, elaborately decorated with geometric designs in black and red: horizontal bands framing registers of lozenges and triangles; around her neck is a double choker of beads in red and black, with a large central stud, her loop-shaped earrings carry smaller studs; three red and black bands on each arm may represent bracelets, four bands on the lower body the hem (only the upper one well preserved) may be the hem of an over-garment, above which is the upper loop of a sash (better preserved on other examples); hanging from her neck is a double-cord pendant extending to below her breasts and ending in tassels; the back of the figure is mostly plain, except for black intersecting lines on the rear-side of the headdress.
- Production date
- 750 BC-600 BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 36.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- This item and GR 1899,12-29.2-3 are said to have been found in the same tomb. The '4' pencilled on the upper and lower fragments does not represent a tomb number however - an error made by Walters in his vase catalgue where he interepreted the pencilled numbers on some of the vessels as referring to tombs. Archival sources suggest that no tomb inventory was made by Welch or Christian when they conducted their excavations.
The iconographic type known as the 'goddess with uplifted arms' may have originated in Crete and found its way to Cyprus at the end of the Late Bronze Age (12th-11th centuries BC). This figure may represent either a divinity - the 'Great Goddess of Cyprus' later assimilated with Phoenician Astarte and Greek Aphrodite - or else an elite worshipper or priestess (perhaps in the Sanctuary of Palaepaphos near where it was found) (Karageorghis 2005, 34-35 and fig. 29; also Karageorghis 1977, 141).
Bibliography:
Karageorghis J. 2004, Kypris. The Aphrodite of Cyprus. Ancient sources and archaeological evidence (Nicosia: A.G. Leventis Foundation).
Karageorghis J. 1977, La Grande Déesse de Chypre et son culte (Lyon).
- Location
- On display (G72/dc3)
- Acquisition date
- 1899
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1899,1229.1
