DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0350
RELIGION 297
Of the function of these figures there can be no reason-,
able doubt; they are images of deity, the first awkward
attempts of faith to body forth' its object. But Deitie3
can we discover in these rude representations ldentlfied
any deity we dare name ? That depends largely upon our
Figs. 151, 152. Terra-cotta Idols (Mycenae)
mental attitude. Dr. Schliemann, with his simple trust in
Homer, could have no hesitation in recognizing Athene
glmikopis in the owl-faced idols of Troy, and Hera boopis
in the bovine images of Mycenae. But apart from such
obtrusive criteria, too much like Homeric labels on Myce-
naean works, there are others which speak a language of
their own. For example, we have the oft-recurring figure
of a female with rudely formed arms crossed upon the
breast or even clasping a child, often with the vulva
strongly marked. In these maternal figures we must rec-
ognize the goddess of generation, call her by what name we
will. It was thus, we know, that the Phoenician and other
Orientals represented their Astarte whom the Greeks iden-
tified with Aphrodite, though in certain attributes she may
have been the prototype of Artemis as well. In the gold-
leaf figures we have Aphrodite with her unmistakable
Of the function of these figures there can be no reason-,
able doubt; they are images of deity, the first awkward
attempts of faith to body forth' its object. But Deitie3
can we discover in these rude representations ldentlfied
any deity we dare name ? That depends largely upon our
Figs. 151, 152. Terra-cotta Idols (Mycenae)
mental attitude. Dr. Schliemann, with his simple trust in
Homer, could have no hesitation in recognizing Athene
glmikopis in the owl-faced idols of Troy, and Hera boopis
in the bovine images of Mycenae. But apart from such
obtrusive criteria, too much like Homeric labels on Myce-
naean works, there are others which speak a language of
their own. For example, we have the oft-recurring figure
of a female with rudely formed arms crossed upon the
breast or even clasping a child, often with the vulva
strongly marked. In these maternal figures we must rec-
ognize the goddess of generation, call her by what name we
will. It was thus, we know, that the Phoenician and other
Orientals represented their Astarte whom the Greeks iden-
tified with Aphrodite, though in certain attributes she may
have been the prototype of Artemis as well. In the gold-
leaf figures we have Aphrodite with her unmistakable