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October 13, 2005
Winged Goddesses from Iran
Note (October 15, 2005): The picture below on the left is not of one of the winged goddesses but of the winged figure (male) from gate R at Pasargadae. I leave it up because this blog is intended, among other things, to document my thought process, even when it is wrong.
The Culture Heritage News agency reports the discovery of a bas-relief of four winged goddesses. Supposedly, the first ever winged goddesses discovered in Iran.
"This season of the excavations has led to discovery of four winged goddesses in Rabat Teppe which can be traced back to the Iron Age, about 3000 years ago. This kind of icons has never been seen in any Iranian archaeological site before,” said Reza Heydari, an archaeologist of Western Azarbaijan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization.“These icons are unique and have no counterpart even in Persepolis. In Persepolis there is no sign of women,” he added.
According to him, “the found icons are women with haunches that are similar to deer or cow. Each one of the four goddesses has 2 raised wings.”
The most outward level of the site belongs to the first millennium BC. The archaeologists’ excavation which was started in current year September is an effort for a comparison of the site to the Mushashir’s civilization. Based on historical documents, one of the biggest ancient religion’s temples was based in the location.
[snip]
Mushashir civilization was contemporary with Urartu and Assyria. Due to political situations, Mushashirs sometimes allied with Assyrians or Urartu people. [CHN]
There is a little more at the Iran News website,
LONDON, October 13 (IranMania) - A team of archaeologists has discovered a brick bearing bas-reliefs of four winged goddesses at the 3000-year-old site of Rabat near the town of Sardasht in Iran's West Azarbaijan Province, an archaeologist of the West Azarbaijan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department announced."The artifact was discovered during the first phase of the excavations carried out on the site. Such bas-reliefs have never been seen in any ancient site of the county so far. The upper parts of the goddesses resemble a woman and the lower parts are similar to an animal like a deer or cow with wings on both their sides," Reza Heydari told the Persian service of the Cultural Heritage News (CHN) agency.
"The bas-reliefs are very unique. Similar bas-reliefs depicting winged goddesses have not been found, even at Persepolis with all its grandeur," he said.
In its higher strata, Rabat dates back to some time around 1000 BC. It is one of the richest archaeological sites of northwestern Iran. Archaeologists had estimated the site covered only a four-hectare area, but new studies have extended the area to 25 hectares. [ Iran News ]
The flowing wings of one of the goddesses are very visible in the picture from Cultural Heritage News which I reproduced above on the left.
Posted by Duane Smith at October 13, 2005 4:09 PM | Read more on Archaeology |
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