ITEM NUMBER: G-54 ITEM NAME: Greek Sphinx SIZE: 9"H (23cm) ITEM TYPE: Statue on marble base ITEM MATERIAL: Casting stone ITEM FINISH: Antique stone finish RETAIL PRICE: $69.00 _______________________________ Delphi Museum, Greece. 460 B.C. The Greek Sphinx had a woman's head, lion's body, serpent's tail and eagle's wings. Sent by Hera to punish Thebes for displeasing the Goddess, she settled on Mount Phicium, near the city and asked everyone who passed by to answer a riddle she had learned from the three Muses: "What being, with only one voice, has sometimes two feet, sometimes three, sometimes four and is weakest when it has the most?" Anyone unable to render the correct answer was immediately slain. One day Oedipus chanced along that road and guessed the answer: "Man, because he crawls on all four as an infant, stands firmly on his two feet in his youth and leans on a staff in his old age." Completely shattered by her defeat, the Sphinx threw herself from the mountain and Oedipus was acclaimed King. The people from the island of Naxos gave this sphinx to the city of Delphi as a gift to the oracle.

The Goddess Shrine -  Item Number - GC-4 From the Neolithic and Bronze Ages into the first great civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China - one vital religious theme was shared - a deep respect for the power of the feminine, symbolized by the Great Goddess - nurturer of the Earth, protectress of cities, source of life, Queen of both Heaven and the Underworld. Her names included: Hathor, Juno, Isis, Sedna, Demeter, Tara, Artemis, Ixcel, Innana, Ishtar, Menerva, Lakshimi, Aditi, Persephone, Bastet, Sekhemet, Coatlique, and many more. This shadowbox piece is a remarkable combination of sculptural artifacts, found objects, natural materials, and much more. The centerpiece of the shrine is the figure of Hathor, complimented by the small talisman faces below. At the top are small glass vials full of various semiprecious gemstones. There will be some variation in the other found objects, but you can expect some of these: different shells, feathers, quartz crystals, ancient coins and keys, dichroic glass, brass bells, fossils, and other small sculptures. Size - 5 inches wide by 20 inches tall . Price - $98.00

ITEM NUMBER: G-16 ITEM NAME: Aphrodite (Venus Genetrix) SIZE: 12"H (30cm) ITEM TYPE: Statue ITEM MATERIAL: Bonded marble ITEM FINISH: Antique stone finish RETAIL PRICE: $49.00 ______________________________________ The Louvre Museum, Paris, 5th Century B.C. Aphrodite was the symbol of female beauty and Goddess of Love, identified in Rome with Venus. Although Homer describes Aphrodite as the daughter of Zeus and Dion, the more popular view was that she was conceived in the foam of the ocean from the seed of Uranus. Dropped there when he was castrated, her name meaning "foam-born". Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but she loved Ares and she was known for her many love affairs, notably with Adonis and Anchises. Aphrodite the most beautiful woman in the world, inspired lust in all the humans and other creatures of the planet. No one could escape the traps that she set to amuse herself with the doings of love-crazed men and women. The passion which she planted in the human soul was the force that propelled fertilization and reproduction (Venus Genetrix). Her symbols were the laurel, the pomegranate, the dove, the swan, the hare and the ram, all of them connected with physical love and reproduction.

ITEM NUMBER: N-72 ITEM NAME: Demeter Relief SIZE: 14.5"H x 11"W (37x28cm) ITEM TYPE: Wall plaque ITEM MATERIAL: Casting stone ITEM FINISH: Antique stone finish with color detail RETAIL PRICE: $79.00 ________________________________________ Versailles Municipal Library, France. 18th century This relief represents Demeter, maternal Goddess of the Earth, and especially of cultivated land. One of her attributes is wheat, shown here on her head. The name Demeter means Earth Goddess (De=Earth, Meter=Goddess) The adventures of Demeter and her daughter Persephone constitute the central myth of The Eleusinian Mysteries, the most important mysteries of classic Greece. Her symbols are the ears of wheat and a torch. The ears of wheat are the sacred fruit of the Goddess of Farming and Cereals, and the torch alludes to the rituals of the Eleusinian Mysteries which took place at night by torch light. Demeter is credited with teaching humans how to cultivate crops, a task that she assigned to Triptolemus.

ITEM NUMBER: G-10 ITEM NAME: Greek Sphinx SIZE: 10"H (25cm) ITEM TYPE: Statue ITEM MATERIAL: Casting stone ITEM FINISH: Antique stone finish RETAIL PRICE: $69.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 540-530 B.C. This sphinx was a part of a Attic grave monument of the middle archaic period that reflected the opulence of the wealthy class of that time. The sphinx was placced atop a tall shaft, decorated with high relief sculpture and crowned by a cavetto capital. The shaft was supported by a rectangular base. All together the monument stands over 13 feet high. The sphinx is shown crouching instead of seated. The greek sphinx had a woman's head, lion's body, serpent's tail and eagle's wind. In Greek myth the sphinx was sent by Hera to punish Thebes for displeasing the Goddess. The sphinx settled on Mount Phicium, near the city and asked everyone who passed by to answer a riddle she had learned from the three muses: "What being, with only one voice, has sometimes two feet, sometimes three, sometimes four and is weakest when it has the most?" Anyone unable to render the correct answer was immediately slain. One day Oedipus chanced along that road and guessed the answer: "Man, because he crawls on all four as an infant, stands firmly on his two feet in his youth and leans on a staff in his old age." Completely shattered by her defeat, the sphinx threw herself from the mountain and Oedipus was acclaimed king.

SOLD OUT