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  Magna Graecia: Greek Art From South Italy and Sicily > About the Exhibition > Gela > Altar with Three Female Figures (about 500-475 BC)
 
 
Altar with Three Female Figures (about 500-475 BC)
Gela, acropolis at Bosco Littorio
Terracotta, painted
Museo Archeologico Regionale di Gela, inv. Sop. BL 30
[Cat. no. 57]

Altar with Three Female Figures (about 500-475 BC)

This large altar (arula) shows three women, probably the goddesses Demeter, Kore and Aphrodite, who wear cylindrical headresses (poloi ) and long garments (peploi).

The goddesses were regarded as responsible for the fertility of nature and, as a result, were very important in an agrarian society. Their cult (religious following) spread from the island of Crete to South Italy and Sicily.

The figures of the three goddesses may have served to demonstrate the piety of the Deinomenid family, rulers of Gela. The register at the top of the altar depicts a zoomachia (animal combat) in which a lioness attacks a bull-an old theme popular in the terracotta workshops of ancient Sicily (see cat. no. 53).


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