Terracotta and Stone Stele
Terracotta and Stone Stele Woman at the window in Cypro-Phoenician forms. Hathor-related cults on Cyprus produced representations of a goddess in several designs similar to the ivory woman at the window-on a bronze stand (Enkomi, thirteenth century), terracotta and stone stele (top, from Kition, sixth century), masks and model shrines (bottom, from Idalion, sixth century). The Phoenecian ivory motif seems to be a melding of Egyptian and Minoan conventions to portray a goddess well-known on Cyprus. Legend reported by Plutarch calls such a statue in a Salamis sanctuary Aphrodite Parakyptousa, "looking sideways with glances of love" (Plutarch, Erot., cited in Barnett 1957, page 149), but commentators fail to emphasize that the occasion for her appearance at the window was a funeral procession, and her demeanor was cold. Drawings from Caubet 1979, plate VII, numbers 1 and 2, and plate IX, number 3. One should not be tempted to conclude that iconoclastic bib...