This imposing ceramic sculpture is a votive figure from the middle of the first millennium BC, and represents a deity in the Phoenician pantheon. It shows a goddess standing on an ornate double integral pedestal base, dressed in a long robe that covers the back of the ornate hair and stretches down to the ground. Her face has been eroded with t passage of time, but still retains the graceful lines of forehead, eyes and jawline. An eminence on her left arm suggests that she was originally depicted as carrying a child; her right hand is raised in benediction. Her upright stance and austere pose are reminiscent of the Archaic Period Greek statues which the Phoenicians inspired, and with which this piece is roughly contemporary. The back of the piece is almost completely plain, implying that it was always meant to be viewed from the front rather than in the round, which is appropriate for figures destined for shrines. The piece retains some calcareous concretions from its long interment in the Mediterranean.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East