Collection Item – Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities

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Statuette; 1st or 2nd Century AD; 176.91

From:UC Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities

Name/TitleStatuette

About this objectRoman marble statuette of the goddess Cybele.

Cybele Tristis, sad or mourning Cybele, is a rare representation of this goddess. Cybele is usually depicted in art and literature as a wild and exotic earth goddess. Only twelve known representations exist of Cybele in a state of mourning, shown here by the hand-to-head gesture. She sits on a throne, wearing a mural crown (decorated with illustrations of city walls); her left elbow rests on a lion and she holds a sacrificial dish in her right hand.

The way the goddess is represented suggests that the statuette was used in a funerary context, possibly with Cybele as a protector of the dead. Originally a Phrygian goddess of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Cybele became the embodiment of the earth goddess and gained fame and following throughout much of the ancient world. The cult surrounding her culminated in the goddess being hailed in Rome as the Magna Mater (Great Mother).

Date Made1st or 2nd Century AD

Place MadeTurkey

Place NotesLikely to belong to a small sub group of monuments from Bithynia and Mysia.

Medium and MaterialsStone; Marble

Style and IconographyRoman

TechniqueCarving (processes)

MeasurementsHeight 41.5cm; Width 19.7cm; Depth 25.5cm

Subject and Association KeywordsAnimals in art

Subject and Association KeywordsWomen in art

Subject and Association KeywordsClothing and dress

Subject and Association KeywordsGoddesses in art

Subject and Association KeywordsMourning customs

Subject and Association KeywordsArt and religion

Named CollectionThe James Logie Memorial Collection, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Object TypeSculpture

Object number176.91