Goddess and Female Figurines

From the Rezan Has Museum Collection
Goddess and Female Figurines
From Earth to Goddess: The Power of the Female Image

As Rezan Has Museum, we invite you to discover the transformation of a symbol that is thousands of years old with special works selected from our collection. The Goddess and Female Figurines exhibition traces the images of women that were shaped in Anatolia from the Neolithic Period to the Roman Period.

Our selection, which consists of 22 artifacts in the Archaeology of Daily Life exhibition, some of which will be exhibited for the first time, includes figurines and idols produced with different techniques from terracotta to bronze, from stone carving to molding. The selection will allow you to follow the ways of thinking dating back thousands of years and the transformation journey of female depiction throughout history.

This journey, which began with the fertility goddesses of the Neolithic Period, symbolizes the admiration for the cycle of nature and the continuity of life. Mother goddess figurines and idols appear as symbols of a world of belief where women are identified with fertility, integrated with nature, and placed at the center of holiness.

The forms and symbols that diversified in the Chalcolithic Age merged with social roles and identities in the Bronze and Iron Ages and became representatives not only of fertility but also of wisdom, order, and war. These layered meanings are clearly seen in the shapes of the figures, the symbols they carry, and their materials.

When we come to the Hellenistic and Roman periods, goddesses become more individualized figures intertwined with mythological stories. In this process, figurines stand out as both an artistic expression and a carrier of social memory.

Each figurine is a silent but powerful witness of a period, a society, and a belief system, a reflection of the relationship it establishes with the sacred, nature, society, and time.
You can visit the Goddess and Women Figurines exhibition at Rezan Has Museum starting on May 12.