Gardens of Goddesses: Spiritual Retreats in Ephesus

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Votive Statuette of an Enthroned AthenaCULTUREGreek, AtticPERIODArchaicDATE6th Century BCEMEDIUMCeramic, pigmentCREDIT L...
19/05/2026

Votive Statuette of an Enthroned Athena
CULTUREGreek, Attic
PERIODArchaic
DATE6th Century BCE
MEDIUMCeramic, pigment
CREDIT LINECarlos Collection of Ancient Art
DIMENSIONS4 1/2 x 2 7/16 x 2 1/8 in. (11.4 x 6.2 x 5.4 cm)
OBJECT NUMBER2000.006.003

Emory Museum

Clay figurine of Artemis Kourotroplios500-480 BCClayH. 21 cm.Collection Number Δ 1434The goddess is seated frontally on ...
19/05/2026

Clay figurine of Artemis Kourotroplios
500-480 BC
Clay
H. 21 cm.
Collection Number Δ 1434
The goddess is seated frontally on a throne without a back-rest, her feet on a low stool, shown in relief at the base of the figurine. She wears closed shoes, a long chiton and an himation that hangs from her head over her back and upper arms. Her face is framed by a row of curls. She holds on her lap a little girl with her hair in a snood. She too wears a long garment from beneath which her feet hang. The child raises her hands toward the face of the goddess and rests her head against her left breast.

Attic type of figurine, mould-made, type known from finds in the temple of Artemis at Brauron in Attica and from a complete figurine in the Louvre Museum (CA 805). The goddess is represented as kourotrophos in her capacity as protectress of children, especially the little girls who served her as “bears”, from their childhood years to their adulthood and their transition to married life.

PUBLICATION
– Vlassopoulou C. 2006. Cataloque no. 43, in Choremi-Spetsieri Α. – Zarkadas Α. (eds), The Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum. Ancient Art, Athens, 66.

Canellopoulos Museum Logo

A ROMAN MARBLE STELECirca 2nd Century A.D.With pilasters supporting a triangular pediment, the palmette acroteria with r...
12/05/2026

A ROMAN MARBLE STELE
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
With pilasters supporting a triangular pediment, the palmette acroteria with rosettes in between, a shield at the center, the shaft sculpted in shallow relief with a frontal bust of the goddess Cybele, wearing a tunic and a mantle which is pulled up over the back of her headdress, her crown in the shape of a turreted city wall, the bust flanked by two couchant lions, with an inscription above: ΛOYKKEIA ΦIΛHMATIN MHTPIΘEΩN EYXHN, reading that Loukkeia, a pr******te, made this vow to the mother of the Gods
20 1/8 in. (51.1 cm) high

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Lady of GaleraThis statuette depicting Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of fertility, was made in the seventh century B.C...
02/05/2026

Lady of Galera
This statuette depicting Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of fertility, was made in the seventh century B.C. in the eastern Mediterranean. It was found in a royal Iberian tomb at Galera, Spain.

Cyprus, land of fertility figurinesNumerous intriguingly shaped inters*x figurines dating back 5,000 years, and presumab...
02/05/2026

Cyprus, land of fertility figurines

Numerous intriguingly shaped inters*x figurines dating back 5,000 years, and presumably connected with fertility, have been found on the island of Cyprus. Arms outstretched, they have the body of a woman, and marked breasts and vulvas, but their heads and necks are clearly ph**li. Some of these figurines are tiny, made of the pale green stone picrolite. Some are small enough to hold in the palm of the hand; others are pierced so that they can be worn around the neck. The object shown here is the “Lady of Lemba,” a 14-inch-high limestone figure with wide hips and a pregnant belly. She is the incarnation of s*x and procreation, the mixing and mingling of bodies. Statues and figurines like this one represent an increase in goddess cults in the Mediterranean and surrounding cultures. These embodiments of s*x and procreation were also forerunners of Aphrodite.
Print Collector/Getty

Marble relief of the goddess NemesisNemesis, whose name is related to a verbal root meaning "to apportion" "or to give o...
25/04/2026

Marble relief of the goddess Nemesis

Nemesis, whose name is related to a verbal root meaning "to apportion" "or to give one one's due," was a deity who punished acts of hubris -- overweening arrogance, a key moral failing in ancient Greek thought. She had a cult from a very early period in the Attic deme of Rhamnous, where a beautiful Roman-era statue of her has been found (now in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples). Nemesis gained in importance in the Hellenistic period, when she was connected with the goddess Tyche (Fortune): Nemesis could be seen as one who balanced out the uneven gifts of Tyche.

This marble relief dates to the 3rd century BCE (early Hellenistic period) and was found at Brindisi (=ancient Brundisium), Italy. In it, Nemesis is shown wearing the polos, a cylindrical headdress that came to Greece from mother-goddesses of the ancient Near East, and holding a phiale, a flat dish used for pouring libations. She tramples on a defeated enemy, perhaps representing hubris. Two winged figures of Nike (Victory) flank her headdress, while six others attend her, three to a side.

Now in the Museo archeologico provinciale "Francesco Ribezzo" (MAPRI), Brindisi, Italy.

Clay figure of goddess with upraised armsΠ3861ClayMended and restored in a few places. Missing the fingers of the right ...
25/04/2026

Clay figure of goddess with upraised arms
Π3861
Clay
Mended and restored in a few places. Missing the fingers of the right hand.
Height: 21.5 cm.
Knossos
Shrine of the Double Axes
Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙΙΑ2 period.:
1375-1300 BC:
GALLERY:
XI
CASE:
115
EXHIBITION THEMATIC UNIT:
Late Bronze Age - Postpalatial period (1300-1100 BC). Settlements. Sanctuaries. Tombs
Communal shrines
DESCRIPTION
Female figurine with arms raised, elbows bent at right angles, in the characteristic gesture of the female figurines known as “goddesses with upraised arms”. The facial features are painted, as is the particularly elaborate garment covering the torso. The figure is wearing many necklaces and bracelets including a threaded sealstone. The bird perched on her head is usually interpreted as a symbol of the goddess or her epiphany. This is the earliest known figurine displaying what was to become the standardised gesture of the goddesses with upraised arms. However, it differs from later figurines in that only the right hand is turned palm outwards towards the viewer, while the left palm is held parallel to the temple. It is dated on the basis of stylistic attributes to the Late Minoan IIIA2 period. The figurine was found in the Shrine of the Double Axes in the southeast quarter of the palace of Knossos, which is dated to Late Minoan IIIA2-B and is considered the precursor of the bench shrines that predominated in Minoan Crete after the end of the palatial period.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Alexiou, S. "Η Μινωική Θεά μεθ' Υψωμένων Χειρών." Κρητικά Χρονικά ΙΒ' (1958): 179-299, pl. Θ' fig.1. Evans, A.J. The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. Volume II.1. London, 1928, 335-344, fig. 193a. Rethemiotakis, G. Μινωικά Πήλινα Ειδώλια από την Νεοανακτορική έως την Υπομινωική Περίοδο. Βιβλιοθήκη της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας no. 218. Athens, 2001, 14-15, 70-71, 82, 132-134, fig. 28.
AUTHOR:
E. S.

Old Babylonian Plaque of a GoddessA finely modelled Old Babylonian creamy earthenware plaque, depicting an elaborately j...
13/04/2026

Old Babylonian Plaque of a Goddess

A finely modelled Old Babylonian creamy earthenware plaque, depicting an elaborately jewelled goddess. The figure is portrayed with hoop earrings and wearing a long vest, covering the total length of her body. The architecture in which the goddess appears standing, has been rendered through a series of incised lines, echoing real-life wooden architecture. The reverse appears flat and unworked, suggesting that the piece might have been attached to the flat surface of a temple or shrine.



Date: Circa 1894-1650
Period: Old Babylonian Dynasty
Condition: Very fine condition, the plaque is supplied with a custom made display stand.
Dimensions: 6 × 11 cm
Weight: 93.4g

For sale online

Roman marble statuette of the goddess Cybele.Cybele Tristis, sad or mourning Cybele, is a rare representation of this go...
09/04/2026

Roman marble statuette of the goddess Cybele.

Cybele Tristis, sad or mourning Cybele, is a rare representation of this goddess. Cybele is usually depicted in art and literature as a wild and exotic earth goddess. Only twelve known representations exist of Cybele in a state of mourning, shown here by the hand-to-head gesture. She sits on a throne, wearing a mural crown (decorated with illustrations of city walls); her left elbow rests on a lion and she holds a sacrificial dish in her right hand.

The way the goddess is represented suggests that the statuette was used in a funerary context, possibly with Cybele as a protector of the dead. Originally a Phrygian goddess of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Cybele became the embodiment of the earth goddess and gained fame and following throughout much of the ancient world. The cult surrounding her culminated in the goddess being hailed in Rome as the Magna Mater (Great Mother).
Date Made 1st or 2nd Century AD
Place Made Turkey
Place Notes Likely to belong to a small sub group of monuments from Bithynia and Mysia.
Medium and Materials Stone; Marble
Style and Iconography Roman
Technique Carving (processes)
Measurements Height 41.5cm; Width 19.7cm; Depth 25.5cm

© University of Canterbury

A SYRO-PALESTINIAN BRONZE GODDESSCIRCA FIRST HALF OF THE 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.The elongated n**e figure depicted standing ...
09/04/2026

A SYRO-PALESTINIAN BRONZE GODDESS
CIRCA FIRST HALF OF THE 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.
The elongated n**e figure depicted standing with her feet together on an integral plinth, adorned with anklets, bracelets, armlets and a collar, her long hair arranged in three long braids, one on each side of her face and one down the back, her hourglass-shaped body with shallow U-shaped grooves below the navel, her face with a small mouth, the deeply recessed eyes once inlaid, the forehead with a central depression, perhaps also once inlaid
8¾ in. (22.2 cm.) high
Provenance

Diplomatic Private Collection, 1962-1967.

Sold at auction

AN ANATOLIAN STONE MOTHER GODDESSNEOLITHIC PERIOD, CIRCA 6TH MILLENNIUM B.C.Of white-speckled red stone, the steatopygou...
07/04/2026

AN ANATOLIAN STONE MOTHER GODDESS
NEOLITHIC PERIOD, CIRCA 6TH MILLENNIUM B.C.
Of white-speckled red stone, the steatopygous figure seated with her voluminous left leg folded back, the right leg bent at the knee and crossing to her left, her stumpy arms resting on her abdomen, the large head with flat almond-shaped eyes, projecting ears, a rounded nose and slit mouth, the top of the head recessed
1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) high
PROVENANCE

Acquired in 1988.
Anonymous sale; Boisgirard & Associés, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 16 June 2005, lot 123.

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Ephesus

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