Activity

A new vision

Characters:

Timarete Daughter of Micón, the Younger, of Athens (Timareta)

Theme: From Archaic to Hellenistic art. Characteristics and differences.

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Personal, social and learning to learn competence

Citizen Competition

Competence in cultural awareness and expressions

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > Classical culture > 3rd ESO > Continuity of cultural heritage. Literature, art and science

Enunciation

<img title="Women's Legacy logo" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/images/LogoWL.svg" /><hr />Timarete was born in Athens during the 5th century BC and she was the daughter of Micon of Athens, a painter and sculptor of some works related to the Olympic Games of antiquity. She made a panel painting of the goddess Artemis, which was preserved for many years in the temple of this deity in Ephesus. The image was taken out during processions in the festivities dedicated to the goddess.&nbsp;
Artemis of Ephesus is the result of the fusion of what four other divinities represented: Cybele, Potnia Theron ("Mistress of the Beasts"), Selene and Olympian Artemis. In order to establish the similarities and differences between them, read their respective descriptions and look at their images; afterwards, answer a few simple questions about the texts read, go through the different representations that Artemis Ephesia has experienced in art and make your own version, highlighting what strikes you most about the effigy of the goddess or what is said about her in her description.
Timareta painted with wax and tempera on board. It would be very interesting, if possible, to use the same materials and technique that she used.&nbsp; &nbsp; Discover the goddesses. Look at the images
<img src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/725/Cibeles_y_Potnia.jpg" alt="" width="447" height="374" />
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<img src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/726/Artemisa_y_Selene.jpg" alt="" width="451" height="284" />
Read about each one of the deities.&nbsp; &nbsp; Cybele: The origin of the Phrygian Kybele is found in the Pessinus region, in Anatolia (Asia Minor) and dates back long before the birth of Jesus Christ, as she has been worshipped since Neolithic times. She is the goddess of the earth, fertility and rebirth. Originally she was a meteorite, a black stone that was venerated for its celestial origin as the mother of gods, of men and mistress of nature and the entire animal kingdom. Her cult spread along the Mediterranean through the Phrygian sailors and, in Greece, she was identified with Rhea, the mother of gods such as Zeus, Hades and Poseidon, and the Cretan Potnia Theron, "Mistress of animals".&nbsp;
From her Phrygian sanctuary in Pessinus (in present-day Turkey), the goddess was transferred to the Metroon &minus;temple of the Mother Goddess&minus; in Pergamon, where the black stone was venerated until the Second Punic War in the 3rd century BC. Rome was then going through an important crisis, threatened by Hannibal's Carthaginian troops. Faced with this situation, the Romans turned to the Sibylline Books, which gave as a solution looking for the "Cybele Stone". On April 10th, 204 BC, the Magna Mater arrived in Rome and luck changed so much for the Romans that they built a temple on the Palatine in her honor. &nbsp;
She is usually represented with a crown of oak or, sometimes, small towers that symbolize the cities that she protected. She appears seated on a throne, accompanied by at least one lion, or on a chariot pulled by two lions. In her hand she might hold the tympanum &minus;a tambourine&minus;, given the close relationship the goddess has with ritual music.&nbsp;
The positions that this goddess had been holding were already held by other divinities in Western cultures: Rhea and Demeter in Greece; and Ops and Ceres in Rome, all of them associated with the Earth, nurturing mothers par excellence, owners of what is hidden in nature, of the mysterious, of the primordial. Thus, although Cybele maintained her attributions, her identity was diluted, becoming the goddess Rhea in Greece &nbsp;and, in Rome, although to a lesser extent, to her equivalent, the Sabine Ops.&nbsp;
Potnia Theron: Potnia is a female deity associated with the control of the natural world that we find in the eastern Mediterranean since the Bronze Age. Her representations are abundant in Asia Minor (Lydia, Ephesus) and Crete. There are representations of her from the Minoan and Mycenaean era and, although there are earlier representations, she was the most important deity in Greece by the end of the Bronze Age, specifically during the Mycenaean period (1600-1100 AD). She is mentioned on the Knossos and Pylos Linear B tablets as PO-TI-NI-JA, "mistress." In Corfu, worship was paid to a potnia identified with Artemis, who is not the goddess of the Olympian religion, but the same deity that in Arcadia was venerated as the wife of Zeus, mistress of the animal world, who was at the same time the protective goddess of the offspring of the human womb. In Sparta she was identified with Artemis Orthia; in Ephesus, with Opis, a local goddess also called anassa, "sovereign", who became identified with Artemis.
According to the sources, Opis was also a fertility goddess, mistress of life, invoked by various names. In The Iliad, the Potnia Theron is a formula applied to Artemis as mistress of the animals, and, by extension, of natural life. The animal that most frequently escorts her is the lion. There are also representations with aquatic birds and deer; with a panther and a deer; with a male goat; or with eagles. Sometimes she also appears with reptiles and rabbits. Finally, in the Greek Olympian religion, the place of Potnia disappeared and her divine qualities were dispersed among many goddesses such as Demeter, Artemis, Athena and Persephone.&nbsp;
Olympian Artemis: In Greek mythology, Artemis was one of the most worshipped deities, one of the oldest. She is the Greek goddess of the hunt, wild animals, virgin land, births, virginity, and maidens the one who brought and relieved women's illnesses. &nbsp;
She was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows. The stag and the cypress were sacred to her. In The Iliad, she is referred to as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron, "Wild Artemis" and "Mistress of the Animals". &nbsp;
The figure of Artemis even assumed the role of Ilithyia, goddess of birth, as an assistant to childbirth, and ended up being identified with Selene, a titan who was the Greek goddess of the Moon (which is why she is sometimes represented with a moon growing above her head). She was also identified with the Roman goddess Diana and the Greek Hecate, goddess of crossroads.&nbsp; &nbsp; Selene: She was the titan who personified the moon, daughter of the titans Hyperion and Tea. Her equivalent in Roman mythology was the goddess Luna. She ended up being identified with Artemis, just as her brother, Helios &minus;the Sun&minus;, was identified with Apollo, brother of Artemis.&nbsp;
Answer: &nbsp; &nbsp; -&nbsp;What do the goddesses Cybele, the Mistress of the beasts, and Artemis have in common?&nbsp;
- With which Greek goddess was the Mistress of the beasts identified?&nbsp; &nbsp; In Ephesus, the primitive goddess Opis had been identified with the Phrygian Cybele and, when the Ionians settled in that territory, they in turn identified this goddess with the Greek one who most resembled her. Thus, they gave her the name Artemis, and aspects of the Greek Artemis were attributed to her, such as identification with the moon.&nbsp; &nbsp; Answer:&nbsp;
- What was Opis goddess of?&nbsp;
- Why did the Ionians identify Opis with Artemis? &nbsp; &nbsp; Looks at the pictures representing Artemis of Ephesus.
 <img src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/727/Artemisa_efesia.jpg" alt="" width="586" height="343" />
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<img src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/728/Artemisa_efesia_detalle.jpg" alt="" width="642" height="361" />
Now look at some of the different representations that art has made of her in different periods.
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<img src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/729/Artemisa_arte.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="491" />
Answer:&nbsp;
- How do you imagine this goddess? What feature of theirs strikes you most? Paint it as Timarete painted it, with wax or tempera on board, and add your own interpretation. But first, consider this:
There are several theories regarding the globular peduncles that cover part of her chest and waist: one of them interprets them as "multiple breasts" and, therefore, unequivocal symbols of the goddess's fecundity, associated with fertility. Nowadays, iconographic criticism, based on the absence of nipples, relates the protuberances to the representation of the testicles of the bovines that were sacrificed in the festivals held in their honour. Another recent theory relates these protuberances to the representation of bunches of dates or acorns.

Observations and context

Timarete is, as the sources make us understand, part of a small number of female artists, including painters and sculptors: Anaxandra, Alcisthene, Aristarete, Calypso, Iaia of Cyzicus, Helen of Egypt and Olympia. She is one of the 999 women from The Heritage Floor featured in Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party (1979). In this work, her name is associated with that of the poet Sappho of Lesbos, who at the same time is represented as one of the 39 women seated in Wing I of the installations’ table.

Artemis of Ephesus is a deity resulting from syncretism with other deities: the Phrygian Mother Goddess Cybele, the Cretan Potnia Theron, "Mistress of the beasts", and the Olympian daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo, Artemis, who, in turn, eventually identified with Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon, and the Potnia Theron. The original form of Cybele −Cybele of Pessinus− was a baetylus, a black stone of meteoric origin. In fact, that's what her name Kybele means, "fallen from the sky". Also the Ephesian Artemis, whose first representation was most likely a xoanon, was represented by a black meteorite stone. These are not the only cases in which a black stone of celestial origin is worshipped: the Islamic religion does the same with a stone located in the Kaaba.

Timarete's work has not reached us, but we know of her through literary sources. It was an image of the goddess Artemis, painted on wood, and kept in the temple of the goddess in the Ionian city of Ephesus. The Artemis painted by Timarete apparently has nothing to do with the Olympian Artemis.

There are several theories regarding the globular peduncles that cover part of her chest and waist: one of them interprets them as "multiple breasts" and, therefore, unequivocal symbols of the goddess's fecundity, associated with fertility. Nowadays, iconographic criticism, based on the absence of nipples, relates the protuberances to the representation of the testicles of the bovines that were sacrificed in the festivals held in their honour. Another recent theory relates these protuberances to the representation of bunches of dates or acorns.

The activity has been assigned to 3rd of ESO, specifically related to the Block Continuity of Cultural Heritage. Literature, Art and Science, but it could also be used in the Block Continuity of cultural heritage. Mythology and Religion, as well as in 1st, 2nd and 4th of ESO, in the same blocks of content.

Description

The activity consists of a journey through the different representations of the divinities Cybele, Potnia Theron, Selene and Olympian Artemis in art, as the Ephesian Artemis is the syncretism of all of them, and it is proposed to the students to create their own version of the goddess of Ephesus.

A new vision

Enunciation

Observations and context

Description

Answer

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