Images of Woman and Child from the Bronze Age

Reconsidering Fertility, Maternity, and Gender in the Ancient World

• Author(s): Stephanie Lynn Budin,
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Pages: 384
• ISBN_10: 0521193044
  ISBN_13: 9780521193047
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Art / History / Prehistoric , Art / History / Ancient & Classical , Art / Subjects & Themes / Human Figure , History / Ancient / General , Body, Mind & Spirit / Goddess Worship , Religion / Ancient , Social Science / Archaeology , Social Science / Women's Studies ,

Description:... This book is a study of the woman-and-child motif - known as the kourotrophos - as it appeared in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean. Stephanie Lynn Budin argues that, contrary to many current beliefs, the image was not a universal symbol of maternity or a depiction of a mother goddess. In most of the ancient world, kourotrophic iconography was relatively rare in comparison to other images of women and served a number of different symbolic functions, ranging from honoring the king of Egypt to adding strength to magical spells to depicting scenes of daily life. This work provides an in-depth examination of ancient kourotrophoi and engages with a variety of debates that they have spawned, including their role in the rise of patriarchy and what they say about ancient constructions of gender.