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Neolithic Settlement
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Littlestone
Littlestone
5386 posts

Re: Neolithic Settlement
Jun 06, 2013, 13:30
Just to clarify, Rhiannon, I’m not saying that Minerva in her manifestation as a healing deity was not worshiped at Bath. What I am questioning is whether that was the primary manifestation of the deity there.

The link you provide is an interesting one, though even there it’s explained that the model of a breast was, “...either to ask for help in healing or as thanks for a successful birth of a child.” Perhaps we could add other possibilities – the successful rearing of children and continued fertility for example? Which are we to choose? There are two very different concepts there (healing and fertility) and we can’t just pick one over the other because we prefer concept A more than concept B – the evidence has to be stronger.

As far as I know the worship of the multiple-breasted goddess Artemis was not practised here but knowledge of her would surely have been known (according to Wiki her temple at Ephesus, in present-day Turkey, was only finally destroyed in 401). That might be a completely irrelevant piece of information in this discussion, and it’s only mentioned to illustrate that there’s not just one explanation of the model breast at Bath but possibly many.

As an aside, I remember going into a little Greek Orthodox church in Cyprus a few years ago; hanging in one corner were various body parts made from wax. It would be a mistake to conclude that the church was dedicated to the saint of healing (though it might have been) nor that the worship of that saint over the worship of god goes on there :-)
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Re: Neolithic Settlement (Rhiannon)
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