TY  - BOOK
AU  - Budin,Stephanie Lynn
TI  - Images of woman and child from the Bronze Age: reconsidering fertility, maternity, and gender in the ancient world 
SN  - 9780521193047
PY  - 2011///.
CY  - Cambridge: 
PB  - Cambridge University Press, 
KW  - Bronze age
KW  - Mediterranean Region
KW  - Art, Prehistoric
KW  - Sculpture, Prehistoric
KW  - Figurines, Prehistoric
KW  - Mother goddesses
KW  - Mothers in art
KW  - antiquities
N1  - Stephanie Lynn Budin teaches at Rutgers University, Camden. She is the author of The Myth of Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity (Cambridge, 2008) and numerous articles on ancient religion and iconography; Includes bibliographical references and index; Introduction - Kourotrophic iconography in the ancient near East and Mediterranean: origins and meanings -- Egypt -- The Levant and Anatolia -- Mesopotamia and Iran -- Cyprus -- The Aegean -- Conclusions
N2  - "This book is a study of the woman-and-child motif as it appeared in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean, focusing on Egypt, the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Iran, Cyprus, and the Aegean. Rather than being a universal symbol of maternity, or a depiction of a mother goddess, the woman-and-child motif, called by the technical name kourotrophos, was relatively rare in comparison with other images of women in antiquity, and served a number of different symbolic functions, ranging from honoring the king of Egypt to giving extra oomph to magical spells"-- This book is a study of the woman-and-child motif - known as the kourotrophos - as it appeared in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean. Stephanie Lynn Budin argues that, contrary to many current beliefs, the image was not a universal symbol of maternity or a depiction of a mother goddess. In most of the ancient world, kourotrophic iconography was relatively rare in comparison to other images of women and served a number of different symbolic functions, ranging from honoring the king of Egypt to adding strength to magical spells to depicting scenes of daily life. This work provides an in-depth examination of ancient kourotrophoi and engages with a variety of debates that they have spawned, including their role in the rise of patriarchy and what they say about ancient constructions of gender. Review: 'The book debunks several long-held and unsubstantiated beliefs in the literature, and reorients our thinking about images of women and children towards a context-specific approach.' Allison Thomason, Near Eastern Archaeology
ER  -