The Lady of Elche is a bust in polychrome limestone discovered accidentally in 1897 in the Spanish town of the same name and now housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid.
The sculpture that represents a young woman with fine and regular features, richly dressed and in an attitude of great dignity, originally, had to be completely coloured (traces of yellow, red and blue pigments have been found): it is adorned with earrings hanging down to the shoulders, three necklaces (two with pendants and the third with an amulet) but the most unique characteristic consist of two big coils called rodetes, featured on the lady’s elaborate headdress, positioned on either side of her head.
Historians do not know with certainty if the bust was part of a full-length statue or it was a funerary urn, as well as it is unclear whether it was the representation of a goddess or the portrait of an aristocratic even if her wacky hairstyle would suggest a ceremonial headdress probably belonging to a priestess.
The origin of the sculpture is puzzling and has become a matter of heated debate: although the Lady of Elche is generally classified as Iberian sculpture of 4° century BC, the features and the style suggest instead strong Hellenistic influence because the features of the face, in fact, are typical of the Greek art even if the clothing and the jewelry are in sharp contrast with it.
Art historian John F. Moffitt argues that the shape of the lady’s eyes and nose are “too delicate to have been carved in pre-Christian Spain” and according to Encyclopedia of Religion, the Lady of Elche would have a direct connection with Tanit, a goddess of Carthage adored by the Punic-Iberians: she was one of Baal’s consorts, who was father of years and man in Ras Shamra’s texts and was considered the forefather of the Gods.
Some other researchers, going further, have hypothesized that the origins of the bust could be linked to artistic traditions related to the lost continent of Atlantis: Elche would once have been a city belonging to an Atlantic colony.
It is not by chance that the solar symbol associated with the goddess tanit reminds us that the Sun Cult was the dominant religion of Atlantis, and later inherited from all the ancient cultures of the world, from the Egyptians to the Incas.
In addition, the headdress itself is very similar to the ancient decorations used by the young single Hopi women, the indigenous American population of the South-West of the USA.
“Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars.”
-Robert E. Howard, The Complete Chronicles of Conan
Resources related to Lady of Elche (or Lady of Atlantis)
- AncientOrigins
- The Vintage News
- ARCHEOTRAVEL
Cover image by WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Article image by Jose Pijoan / Public domain
Article image 2 by Edward S. Curtis
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