Mothers, Prostitutes or Sex Goddesses?
Nude Female Imagery in Greek Sanctuaries
Dr. Megan Daniels
UBC Department of Classics, Near East and Religious Studies
Monday January 25, 2021 @ 7:30 PM PST via Zoom (Details below)
The iconography of the nude female in the ancient world spans an area from Iraq to Spain over a
period of more than 2000 years. It emerged within Mesopotamia in the third
millennium BCE, and spread across western Asia in royal, domestic, and funerary
contexts. In the Greek world, this imagery appeared between 800 and 600 BCE, a
time known as the “Greek renaissance” following the Bronze Age collapse.
Modern-day scholars highlighted this period as a time when the Greeks looked to
the more venerable Near East for artistic inspiration, the so-called
Orientalising period, and explained the nude female through the lens of
Orientalism. Scholars working in the Near East and Egypt, on the other hand,
explained this imagery through recourse to a generic “fertility/mother goddess”
and through misogynistic attitudes towards female nudity. In this presentation
I examine how the Orientalising and fertility paradigms have coloured our
interpretation of this imagery. I offer a new interpretation that attempts to
move beyond artistic influence and generic fertility deities and into the realm
of the shared ideologies between Greece and western Asia represented by this
imagery. In doing so, I blur distinctions between “west” and “east” and
reconsider the shifting relationships between humans and their gods in the Iron
Age.
This lecture is presented jointly by Pharos and The Archaeological Institute of America (Vancouver Society)
This 41st Season of Pharos is Generously Sponsored by Nick and Maria Panos
This lecture will be streamed live on Zoom: Non-Pharos members may register to receive the link by sending an email to: PharosVancouver@gmail.com
A link to a video recording for later viewing will be circulated following the lecture.
Next Pharos Lecture: Monday February 22, 2021 @ 19:30 PST
Speaker TBA
