Friday, July 18, 2008

You Gorgeous Thing!




Wow. I was flicking through the May/June 2008 issue of Minerva Magazine and found, on page 47 this gorgeous pic. In a run-dwn of the 109th annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Jerome M. Eisenberg included several abstracts of some of the papers presented. The paper to which this image belongs is 'Aphrodite, Isis, Eileithyia: Dedications, Representations, or Instruments of Magic?' By Maya B. Muratov (New York University). The figure pictured here is "A particular type of terracotta figurine of a seated, dressed or nude woman with articulated arms, usually with an elaborate stephane (tiara-like crown), high-soled sandals, and intricate jewellery, is often termed an 'Oriental Aphrodite'. Dating between the 1st century BC and early 1st century AD, they are found in Asia Minor and the Greek islands of Delos and Thasos... They should be considered not just as votive representations of the deities, but as instruments used in magical rituals concerned with childbirth and fertility. Several recently discovered standing female figurines even have openings in their stomachs containing representations of foetuses." Like this one here. How cute is that!?! Then of course I immediately thought of Salvador Dali's 'Venus de Milo with Drawers'.

5 comments:

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Interesting prehensile toes (or bird claws???) gripping th`e stand!

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Oops, sorry about the typo.(*Thinks: I must use Preview, I must use Preview...*)

Caroline Tully said...

They are actually platform shoes, but they look like weird toes, I agree.

Yewtree said...

Hi, I have nominated Necropolis Now for the I love your blog award.

David Blue said...

What postures would the articulated arms have held? Have any been recovered?