Goddess

Goddess figures appear in many religious traditions as representations of divine feminine power. Such figures may be associated with fertility, protection, wisdom, or cosmic order, reflecting the spiritual ideas and symbolic systems of the cultures that venerated them.

Ancient stone relief depicting a lion attacking a human figure while others flee or react

Gigantomachy Frieze, Delphi (530–525 BCE)

Antiquities Europe Greece Sculpture

This frieze at Delphi is one of the most vivid surviving images of divine combat from ancient Greece. Carved around 530–525 BCE, it shows the Gigantomachy, the mythic battle in which the Olympian gods confront the Giants.

Ancient circular stone relief depicting a central figure surrounded by warriors and musicians in dynamic poses

The Strangford Shield (200–300 CE)

Antiquities Europe Rome Sculpture

This compact marble relief shield preserves the memory of one of the most celebrated images of Athena in the ancient world. Known as the Strangford Shield, it is a Roman copy of the shield..

Ancient marble statue fragment depicting a draped figure holding a staff and two smaller figures carved on a vertical slab beside it, with Greek inscription on the base

Aphrodite Marble Statue (2nd–3rd century CE)

Antiquities Europe Rome Sculpture

This fragmentary marble statuette represents Aphrodite, known to the Romans as Venus, in a semi-nude form that remained deeply influential across the ancient Mediterranean.

Ancient seated female figure statue with a headdress, holding an object in her raised right hand

Enthroned Cybele Statuette (c.400-300 BCE)

Antiquities Europe Greece Sculpture

Seated on a throne and holding a feline companion, Cybele appears not as an ordinary woman but as a divine presence marked by authority, protection, and command over the natural world.

Vajravarahi tantric Buddhist female deity sculpture, 11th century

Vajravarahi: Tantric Female Deity (1000s–1100s CE)

Antiquities Asia Nepal Sculpture

Dating to the 1000s–1100s in Nepal, the sculpture captures her in a dynamic, ecstatic tantric pose symbolizing the transformative energy of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Senufo sculpture of a nursing woman with child, 1800s–1900s

Nursing Woman with Child (1800s-1900s CE)

Antiquities Africa Sculpture Senufo

A nursing woman bends toward her child, offering nourishment and protection. Yet beneath this seemingly simple motif lies a dense network of ideas about ancestry, knowledge, and what it means to become fully human within Senufo society in West Africa.

Mother Goddess sculpture from Rajasthan, Post-Gupta period, c. 600 CE

Mother Goddess (c.600 CE)

Antiquities Asia India Sculpture

The mother goddess captures an intimate, everyday moment of maternal care—playful, protective, and deeply human—making it one of the most expressive and relatable representations of motherhood in early medieval Indian art.

Roman marble torso of Venus inspired by the Aphrodite of Knidos

Torso of Venus (1-200 CE)

Antiquities Europe Rome Sculpture

This elegant, fragmentary venus piece captures the graceful contrapposto pose and idealized nude female form characteristic of classical Greek sculpture, specifically inspired by Praxiteles's renowned Aphrodite of Knidos (ca. 350 BCE).

Attic red-figure lekythos, terracotta oil flask, c. 490 BCE

Red-Figure Lekythos (c.490 BCE)

Antiquities Ceremonial & Religious Europe Greece

Crafted in Attic ceramic tradition, this lekythos not only served practical purposes but also embodied the artistic pinnacle of late Archaic Greece, blending heroism and sensuality in a way that invites viewers to explore ancient myths and daily life.