Old Babylonian Astarte and Child Figurine

$625.54

An Old Babylonian terracotta fragment of female deity Astarte. The goddess is here portrayed nude while tenderly holding a child feeding from her breast. These mass-produced fertility figurines are the most common type of Babylonian votive statuettes, and served as votive offerings or as amulets for conception and childbirth.

Date: Circa 1900-1700 BC
Period: Old Babylonian Period
Provenance: Ex private London based collection, 1980’s-2000’s
Condition: Fine, with signs of aging and earthly encrustations to the surface.

SOLD

Astarte represents the Hellenised form of the goddess Ishtar (Akkadian), Astarte (Phoenician), or Inanna (Sumerian). She was the most important female deity in Mesopotamia through the second millennium BC. She was identified with the planet Venus, and the sunrise. She was the goddess of both sexual love and warfare. The Greeks identified her with Aphrodite as her worship spread through Cyprus. This type of figurine is the most common type of Babylonian votive.

Weight 139.8 g
Dimensions H 8.5 cm
Culture

Pottery and Porcelain

Region

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