Antiquities Exhibits

In the first millennium BCE, Osiris and Isis became the most widely worshipped Egyptian deities, and Isis absorbed traits from many other goddesses. Rulers in Egypt and its neighbor to the south, Nubia, built temples dedicated primarily to Isis, and her temple at Philae was a religious center for Egyptians and Nubians alike. Her reputed magical power was greater than that of all other gods, and she was said to protect the kingdom from its enemies, govern the skies and the natural world, and have power over fate itself. In the Hellenistic period (323–30 BCE), when Egypt was ruled and settled by Greeks, Isis was worshipped by Greeks and Egyptians, along with a new god, Serapis. Their worship diffused into the wider Mediterranean world. Isis's Greek devotees ascribed to her traits taken from Greek deities, such as the invention of marriage and the protection of ships at sea, and she retained strong links with Egypt and other Egyptian deities who were popular in the Hellenistic world, ...

The worship of Epona, "the sole Celtic divinity ultimately worshipped in Rome itself",  was the patroness of cavalry and widespread in the Roman Empire between the first and third centuries CE.  This is unusual for a Celtic deity, most of whom were associated with specific localities.  Evidence of her worship was first found in the Danubian provinces and scholar Fernand Benoît asserted that she had been introduced in the limes of Gaul by horsemen from the east.  However, although the name is Gaulish, dedicatory inscriptions to Epona are in Latin or, rarely, Greek. They were made not only by Celts, but also by Germans, Romans, and other inhabitants of the Roman Empire. An inscription to Epona from Mainz, Germany, identifies the dedicator as Syrian. Epona's feast day in the Roman calendar was given as December 18 on a rustic calendar from Guidizzolo, Italy. She was incorporated into the imperial cult by being invoked on behalf of the Emperor, as Epona Augusta or Epona ...

 Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, the Moon, and chastity, was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo.   Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia. Much like Athena and Hestia, Artemis preferred to remain a maiden and is sworn never to marry.  Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities and was assimilated into the Roman pantheon as Diana. The most important sanctuary of Diana for the ancient Romans was located at Aricia, some eleven miles outside of Rome on the shore of lake Nemi, which was known as the speculum Dianae (mirror of Diana). One of the most famous myths involving Artemis is the story of Artemis (Diana) and Actaeon.  According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman Ovid[24] having accidentally seen Diana on Mount Cithaeron while she was bathing, he was changed by her into a stag, then pursued ...

Hecate or Hekate is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches or a key. In later periods she is often depicted in triple form. She is variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. Her earliest appearance in literature was in Hesiod's Theogony in the late 8th century BCE as a goddess of great honor with domains in sky, earth, and sea. Her place of origin is debated by scholars, but she had popular followings amongst the witches of Thessaly and an important sanctuary among the Carians of Asia Minor in Lagina.  Hecate was one of several deities worshiped in ancient Athens as a protector of the oikos (household), alongside Zeus, Hestia, Hermes, and Apollo.  Some scholars have suggested Hecate was originally considered an aspect of Artemis prior to the latter's adoption into the Olympian pantheon. Artemis would have, a...

This morning while searching for additional information about rare Roman funerary cippi recovered on Cyprus, I stumbled across this little figurine of "emerging" Aphrodite in the collections of the Museum of Cycladic Art. The reason it caught my attention is the pose is strikingly similar to the fresco of Venus in the triclinium of the House of the Prince of Naples that I studied earlier this year.  At the time, I was  wondering why the fresco was identified as Venus (Aphrodite) when the other main fresco in the room was identified as Bacchus (Dionysus), since Ariadne was the consort of Dionysus, not Venus.  Dr. Wallace-Hadrill had patiently explained to me that the goddess in the triclinium was identified as Venus because she is depicted wringing the sea water from her hair as described in Greek mythology (Hesiod's "Theogony" to be exact) but up until now I had never seen other ancient artwork with Venus in that particular pose. According to the museum, the eme...

Despite the Roman association between Minerva and Athena and the frequent depiction of both goddesses with armor, unlike Athena, Minerva was not considered a war goddess in the Roman pantheon. The Romans had their own war goddess Bellona, originally an ancient Sabine goddess of war identified with Nerio, the consort of the war god Mars, and later with the Greek war goddess Enyo.  Bellona's main attribute is the military helmet that was worn on her head much like Athena.  Bellona  is often depcicted holding a sword, spear, or shield, and brandishing a torch or whip as she rides into battle in a four-horse chariot.  Bellona had a temple near the Theatre of Marcellus dedicated in 296 BCE near the Circus Flaminius by Appius Claudius Caecus, during the war with the Etruscans and Samnites. The Roman Campus Martius area, in which Bellona’s temple was situated, had extraterritorial status. Ambassadors from foreign states, who were not allowed to enter the city proper, stayed...

The cult of Aphrodite in Greece was imported from, or at least influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia, which, in turn, was influenced by the cult of the Mesopotamian goddess known as "Ishtar" to the East Semitic peoples and as "Inanna" to the Sumerians. Pausanias states that the first to establish a cult of Aphrodite were the Assyrians, followed by the Paphians of Cyprus and then the Phoenicians at Ascalon. The Phoenicians, in turn, taught her worship to the people of Cythera. Aphrodite took on Inanna-Ishtar's associations with sexuality and procreation. Furthermore, she was known as Ourania, which means "heavenly", a title corresponding to Inanna's role as the Queen of Heaven. Early artistic and literary portrayals of Aphrodite are extremely similar on Inanna-Ishtar. Like Inanna-Ishtar, Aphrodite was also a warrior goddess. The second-century CE Greek geographer Pausanias records that, in Sparta, Aphrodite was worshipped as Aphrodite Arei...

 Salus, personification of the security and welfare of the Roman people, 200-250 CE Salus was the Roman personification of health and well being, and came to be very closely associated with the Greek goddess Hygieia, the daughter of the healing god Asclepius. She is often represented in works of art with the same attributes as Hygeia – in particular both are frequently depicted with a snake wrapped around one arm. However, they each kept their own separate identities, and served very different functions. While both deities protected individual health, Salus was also responsible for the prosperity of the Roman state and its rulers. In this regard, she personified the security and welfare of the Roman people, and was therefore an especially important deity for the city of Rome. She had a temple and cult on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, and various representations of the goddess appeared on Imperial Roman coins. Because the Getty’s statue is close to life-size, it may have been a cult im...

 Senhouse Roman Museum is built upon the site of Alauna, a castrum or fort in Roman Britannia just north of the town of Maryport in Cumbria. It was linked by a Roman road to the Roman fort and settlement at Derventio (Papcastle) to the southeast, and thence by another road northeast to the regional hub of Luguvalium (Carlisle). The fort was established around 122 CE as a command and supply base for the coastal defences of Hadrian's Wall at its western extremity. There are substantial remains of the Roman fort, which was one of a series along the Cumbrian coast intended to prevent Hadrian's Wall being outflanked by crossing the Solway Firth.  Geo-magnetic surveys have revealed a large Roman town surrounding the fort. An archaeological dig discovered evidence of a second, earlier, larger fort next to, and partially under the present remains. The Roman fort site was owned from the 16th century by generations of the Senhouse family. The main building on the site was constructed as...

Bronze fountain statuette of Cybele on a cart drawn by lions, Roman, 2nd half of 2nd century C.E. at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This bronze fountain ornament represents the cult image of the goddess Cybele enthroned on a cart drawn by two lions. Spouts formerly projecting from the open mouths of the lions. The original cart, harness, and thr one no longer survive. The rear left wheel is a 19th century restoration. Originally a Phrygian Mother Goddess, the cult was adopted and adapted by Greek colonists of Asia Minor and spread to mainland Greece and its more distant western colonies around the 6th century B.C.E. Rites included the presence of a divine Phrygian castrate shepherd-consort Attis, who was probably a Greek invention, and was represented by members of a eunuch mendicant priesthood. Rome officially adopted her cult during the Second Punic War (218 to 201 B.C.E.), after dire prodigies, including a meteor shower, a failed harvest and famine, seemed to w...

Apollo's twin sister Artemis "Buried by Vesuvius" at the Getty Villa until October 28, 2019. The goddess Artemis was the daughter of Zeus, king of the gods, and the Titaness, Leto. Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities and her temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In this incarnation of her, traces of copper inlay remain on the lips and she once had inset eyes.  Parts of the nose, chest, and drapery are eighteenth-century restorations. The figure has been variously identified as the Ptolemaic queen Berenike, the poet Sappho, and an Amazon. Her identification as the goddess Artemis is based on comparisons to other works, as well as the bust’s findspot near an image of Artemis’ twin brother, Apollo . This sculpture is larger and more naturalistic than the archaic style of Apollo's sculpture, however. She was found at the east end of the rectangular peristyle of the Villa dei Papiri on April 29, 1756....

Art from the Chalcolithic to the Byzantine Period. Ongoing. At the Hecht Museum of the University of Haifa in Haifa, Israel.  The Hecht Museum's collections from the Chalcolithic period to the Byzantine period include coins, weights, Semitic seals, jewelry, artifacts from the Temple Mount excavations, Phoenician metalworking, woodworking, stone vessels, glass making, and mosaics. The museum is also home to the Ma'agan Michael Ship, the wreck of a fifth-century BCE merchantman. Image: Figurine of the Phoenician goddess Tanit. She was equivalent to the moon-goddess Astarte, and later worshipped in Roman Carthage in her Romanized form as Dea Caelestis, Juno Caelestis, or simply Caelestis.  Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Hanay.

Art of the Ancient World.  Ongoing.  At the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. This idealized female head, said to have been found at Memphis in Egypt, leaves it unclear who is represented. The flawless features and loosely fastened, undulating hair, are appropriate for a goddess such as Artemis or Aphrodite; the style may show the influence of Skopas, one of the leading Greek sculptors of the fourth century. Yet the head also bears a marked resemblance-especially the long, delicate nose-to portraits of Arsinoë II, queen of Egypt in the 270s B.C.; the ribbon in her hair could be a diadem, signature headgear of later Greek royalty. Image courtesy of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts is home to one of the world’s premiere encyclopedic collections of antiquities, featuring more than 85,000 works of art from Egypt, Nubia, the Near East, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and Anatolia. These works range in date from about 6500 BCE to 600...