Tits and necklaces

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Jane J
Jane May 5, 2005 09:25:47
Replying to PeterH

I remember once reading an article about that statue at the temple of Ephesus (Sir David Attenborough, I think >swoon!<) and he proposed that those lines of round things hanging round her torso were not multiple breasts (they're too low for bristols, after all) but were bull's testicles. Lots of 'em! Draped round the figure of the goddess. This would fit quite nicely with bull cult theories.

S StoneLifter
StoneLifter May 5, 2005 10:28:49
Replying to Jane

In one of the later scenes of Arrabal's Viva La Muerte there's a scene in an abattoir where a bull is slaughtered and the animal's testes removed - they are more the shape of a partially-filled weather balloon - rounded (in the sense of elliptical) rather than circular.

Another approach is to look at those beaten gold pieces. Those little moons. There are rows of embossed roundpoints made with a metal punch - there's plenty on the Mold Cape (he finds) - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1897131.stm

If anyone can name the Dutch child's nonsense song in Viva La Muerte I'd be very grateful.

P PeterH
PeterH May 5, 2005 10:47:21
Replying to Jane

Yes - Artemis was another name for Diana the Huntress The theory I once heard is that the testicles were hunting trophies, but of bulls or men? Diana was a virgin huntress so it makes no sense to see the breasts in a nurturing, suckling context. On the other hand if she was a virgin, she would have no healthy interest in mens' testicles. So maybe they were hunting trophies - bulls' balls.

Seems to me that ideas in the ancient world were interconnected to a much greater degree than hitherto thought. We may know something about ancient tools, weapons, buildings and tombs, but we know next to nothing about how they thought.

S StoneLifter
StoneLifter May 5, 2005 12:39:20
Replying to Jane

There's another picture of this punched necklace pattern here - http://www.brigantesnation.com/SiteResearch/BronzeAge/Kirkhaugh/Kirkhaugh.htm