Exhibition Title: Secular Goddess: Representation of the Female Form in Minoan Art

Catalog Entry:Goddess of MyrtosHt. 21.1 cm (8.3 in)Knossian Clay Early Minoan IIBMyrtos, Southeast Coast of Crete

Description:The Goddess of Myrtos, measuring just over 21 centimeters in height, is painted with hatched panels, which may represent the Minoan dress. The crosshatching is reminiscent of patterns found on woven cloth. She is clearly bare breasted. The convention of a clothed female figure with her breasts exposed is one that continues throughout Minoan aesthetic history. In the crook of her arm she holds a miniature-pouring vessel that is also paintedin a style that was prevalent in the Early Minoan II period.

This bizarre female form was excavated form the site Fournou Korifi near Myrtos, in Cretehence the name Goddess of Myrtos. The figurine was dated early EMIIBpredating 2000 BCEand was discovered in one of the rooms of a complex from an Early Bronze Age/Early Minoan II period village settlement.

The Goddess of Myrtos is a vessel holding a vessel. She is obviously female, with prominent breasts and an incised pubic triangle. The cross-hatching on her sacred triangle and on the squares drawn on her body perhaps symbolizes woven cloth. A side view of the figure shows that she is stitched together along her sides. The many spindle whorls and loom weights recovered from the site provide material proof of the importance of weaving at Myrtos.

The figurines body is awkwardly shaped. At the top of a very elongatedalmost phallicneck is a small head, which is virtually a pin head in a relation to the scale of the rest of her body. But the head has prominent features: ears that are pierced, eyes that are wide and attentive; clear delineations for the nose and mouth. The figure also has long spindled arms that appear awkward and delicate in relation to the figures body mass. The left arm grasps what appears to be a jug or container in the crook of the elbow; very similar to the way a young child would be held and propped on a mothers hip. The right arm stretches across the body to hold the container by its handle, thus balancing the jug.