The Great Goddess

Examples of The Great Goddess in the following topics:

• Teotihuacan

  • As a religious center, Teotihuacan displayed its most prominent gods and goddesses in murals and architecture.
  • The Great Goddess of Teotihuacan appears to be the most prominent of these deities, and she likely represented the underworld, war, creation, water, and the earth.
  • The city's broad central avenue, called "Avenue of the Dead" (a translation from its Nahuatl name Miccoatli), is flanked by impressive ceremonial architecture, including the immense Pyramid of the Sun (third largest in the World after the Great Pyramid of Cholula and the Great Pyramid of Giza) and the Pyramid of the Moon.
  • Further down the Avenue of the Dead is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent.
  • This powerful goddess was associated with darkness, mystery, death, and creation.

• The Minoans

  • It is likely that the original hierarchies of the local elites were replaced by monarchist power structures— a precondition for the creation of the great palaces.
  • The Minoans seem to have worshiped primarily goddesses, and can be described as a "matriarchal religion."
  • While some of these depictions of women are speculated to be images of worshippers and priestesses officiating at religious ceremonies, as opposed to the deity, several goddesses appear to be portrayed.
  • These include a mother goddess of fertility, a mistress of the animals, a protectress of cities, the household, the harvest, and the underworld, to name a few.
  • The goddesses are often depicted with serpents, birds, or poppies, and are often shown with a figure of an animal upon her head.

• Sculpture of the Old Kingdom

  • Kings used reliefs to record victories in battle, royal decrees, and religious scenes, and sculptures of kings, goddesses, and gods were common as well.
  • The Great Sphinx, located among the Pyramids of Giza, is the largest monolith statue in the world, standing 241 feet long, 63 feet wide, and 66.34 feet high.
  • It is commonly believed that the head of the Great Sphinx is that of the Fourth Dynasty (2680-2565 BCE) pharaoh Khafre, whose pyramid stands directly behind the giant sculpture.
  • The Great Sphinx, located among the Pyramids of Giza, is the largest monolith statue in the world.
  • This sculpture was created in the Fourth Dynasty, and represents the goddess Hathor, King Menkaure, and the goddess Bat.

• Hatshepsut

  • Hatshepsut's reign was very successful, marked by an extended period of peace and wealth-building, trading expeditions and great building projects.
  • She had twin obelisks, at the time the tallest in the world, erected at the entrance to the temple.
  • The Temple of Pakhet was built at Beni Hasan, and represented a synthesis of two lioness war goddesses.
  • The cavernous underground temple, cut into the rock cliffs on the eastern side of the Nile, was admired by the Greeks during their occupation of Egypt, who compared the goddess to their hunter goddess, Artemis.
  • The erasure of Hatshepsut's name—whatever the reason or the person ordering it—almost caused her to disappear from Egypt's archaeological and written records; however, the erasures were sporadic and haphazard, leaving enough for Egyptologists to piece together the history of this great Pharaoh.

• The Origins of Etruria

  • The Etruscans were a sixth to third century BCE Mediterranean civilization from whom the Romans derived a great deal of cultural influence.
  • The main hypotheses state that the Etruscans were indigenous to the region, probably stemming from the Villanovan culture or from the Near East.
  • The Etruscan name for family was lautn, and at the center of the lautn was the married couple.
  • One appears to be divinities of an indigenous nature: Catha and Usil, the sun; Tivr, the moon; Selvans, a civil god; Turan, the goddess of love; Laran, the god of war; Leinth, the goddess of death; Maris; Thalna; Turms; and the ever-popular Fufluns, whose name is related in some unknown way to the city of Populonia and the populus Romanus, the Roman people.
  • Ruling over this pantheon of lesser deities were higher ones that seem to reflect the Indo-European system: Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife (Juno), and Cel, the earth goddess.

• The Ancient Greek Gods and Their Temples

  • City-states claimed individual gods and goddess as their patrons.
  • Best known among the pantheon are the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses who resided on Mt.
  • It also includes Zeus's sister and wife, Hera, the goddess of marriage, frequently jealous and vindictive of Zeus's other lovers; their sisters Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, and Demeter, the goddess of grain and culture.
  • Additionally, Zeus's children, including Athena (goddess of warfare and wisdom), Hermes (a messenger god and god of commerce), the twins Apollo (god of the sun, music, and prophecy) and Artemis (goddess of the hunt and of wild animals), Dionysos  (god of wine and theatre), Aphrodite (goddess of beauty and love), who was married to Hephaestus (deformed god of the forge), and Ares (god of war and lover of Aphrodite) are also part of the traditional pantheon.
  • Rituals and animal sacrifices in honor of the god or goddess would take place outside, in front of the temple.

• Jain Architecture

  • It originated in the Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE.
  • Chandragupta Maurya (born c. 340 BCE, ruled c. 320–298 BCE), the founder of the great Maurya Empire, had succeeded in conquering almost the entire Indian subcontinent; however he abdicated his throne at the age of 42 to become a Jain monk.
  • Samprati, also an emperor of the Maurya dynasty and the grandson of Ashoka the Great (304–232 BCE) also became a Jain.
  • The largest temple in the complex, the Vimal Vasahi Temple, was built in 1021 and is dedicated to the Tirthankara Rishabha.
  • The pillars in the main hall are carved into the likenesses of women playing musical instruments and the 16 vidyadevis, or goddesses of knowledge; each holds a symbol representing her individual branch of learning.

• The Mesopotamian Cultures

  • The Sumerian city of Eridu, which at that time bordered the Persian Gulf, is believed to be the world's first city.
  • At each city center stood a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city.
  • The transition from the Ubaid period to the Uruk period is marked by a gradual shift to a great variety of unpainted pottery mass-produced by specialists on fast wheels.
  • The later Sumerian pantheon (gods and goddesses) was likely modeled upon this political structure.
  • Battle formations on a fragment of the Stele of the Vultures.

• Sculpture of the Aztecs

  • A great deal of Aztec sculpture incorporated the skull motif; today this is known in Mexico as "skull art."
  • During the late Postclassic period (c.1200–1521), these mirrors, symbolizing rulership and power, were used in rituals to spiritually access the Aztec underworld and communicate with the realm of the dead.
  • One of the most well known Aztec sculptures is the Calendar Stone.
  • Also known as the Mexican Sun Stone, Stone of the Sun, or Stone of the Five Eras, it is a large monolithic sculpture that was excavated in the Zócalo, Mexico City's main square, on December 17, 1790.
  • The monolith of the Stone of the Sun, also known as the Aztec calendar stone (National Museum of Anthropology and History, Mexico City).

• Academic Architecture

  • The Beaux-Arts style had widespread influence outside of France, including on the architecture of the United States in the period from 1880-1920.
  • Beaux-Arts training made great use of agrafes (clasps that links one architectural detail to another), interpenetration of forms, "speaking architecture" (architecture parlante) in which supposed appropriateness of symbolism could be taken to literal-minded extremes.
  • Beaux-Arts building decoration presenting images of the Roman goddesses Pomona and Diana.
  • Note the naturalism of the postures and the channeled rustication of the stonework.
  • The Palais Garnier (1861-75) is an exemplar of the Beaux Arts style.