Who is she?

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blue_moon
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Who is she?

Post by blue_moon »

I've been cleaning spaces and dusting and she was sitting in the middle of my shelf.
Originally i thaught she was egyptian, thats why i picked her up in the first place. But - this little figure never endet up on my egyptian altar shelf.

Today i was reading an article on Hecate, and beside those pictures where she is either 3 women or has three faces, there was this old drawing that looks a bit like my statue.

I googled and mostly found this image in articles on Artemis.

What do you think who she is?
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SpiritTalker
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Re: Who is she?

Post by SpiritTalker »

The "many breasted" Artemis with the animals below represents the nurturing earth-mother. I don't know about three faces along with it,but why not? An artist may have been adding triple-goddess or moon goddess to the earth-mother symbolism, as a universal multi-figure goddess rep.
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Siona
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Re: Who is she?

Post by Siona »

That's definitely Artemis of Ephesus, not Hekate. Maybe it's just not clear in this image, but I don't think those are actually faces on the sides, but part of the 'headdress' she would typically be shown in, just with less detail - something like this https://imgur.com/a/tBNaX

Artemis and Hekate do share a link in much of Greek belief, but Ephesian Artemis tends to share more in common with Kybele than Hekate. Hekate, in any sort of triplicate form, wouldn't have the many breasts and column style body that is shown here, at least not that I have seen.
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blue_moon
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Re: Who is she?

Post by blue_moon »

... i wounder why the ephesian is so different from the hunting Artemis you usually see.

Thanks for confirming and clarifying.
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Re: Who is she?

Post by Lord_of_Nightmares »

blue_moon wrote:... i wounder why the ephesian is so different from the hunting Artemis you usually see.

Thanks for confirming and clarifying.
If I had to make a guess it's a process of Hellenization. Similarly, Romans would say so and so god, for example, is "Mercury of Gauls" even if they were not originally the Mercury of Rome. "Romantization" was the original term for this process.
I am the Earth, The Sun and the Stars
And I am the also the Moon
I am all animal and birds,
And I am the outcast as well, and the thief
I am the low person of dreadful deeds,
And the great person of excellent deeds
I am Female. I am Male and I am Neuter.
- Devi
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blue_moon
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Re: Who is she?

Post by blue_moon »

I know what you mean. But even leaving out the romanizised illustrations Artemis as goddess of Hunt and war has arrow and bow with her.

The euphrasian Artemis is the Artemis of Greece fused with the anatolian Goddess of mother Earth. The feeder of the World.
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Siona
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Re: Who is she?

Post by Siona »

blue_moon wrote:... i wounder why the ephesian is so different from the hunting Artemis you usually see.
Lady Lilith is right, is basically comes down to the Greeks 'merging' their deities with more local deities, or deities taking on attributes of those local deities. The Ephesian Artemis took on traits from Kybele (what are often called breasts could also be bull testicles, which would fit in with Kybele's rituals), and the art style is more 'eastern' than what you'd see in Athens, etc. This makes a lot of sense considering the temple was built at a crossroads of different cultures. That said, although she's well known for her associations with hunting, Artemis is a very complex deity who ruled over a lot of things - in this case, wild animals, which completely adorn the usual Ephesian style statues. So while the imagery is different, it's not out of character for Artemis.
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Re: Who is she?

Post by blue_moon »

Thank you everyone for validating!
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