Fortune and Prosperity: Goddesses and Enchantresses

[Dave Monroe]

Fortune and Prosperity: Goddesses and Enchantresses
SHOW EXAMINES ANCIENT FEMALE POWER

Spotlight on goddesses, spellcraft and witching power

Chieti, April 6
Powerful goddesses, spellcraft and the witching powers
of women are the focus of a popular new exhibit in
this central Italian city

The show in Chieti's Civitella Museum combines ancient
archaeological finds with more recent artefacts to
create a journey through centuries of female power,
accompanied by haunting music.

The statues of three goddesses comprise the core of
the exhibit, which features some 200 items in total.

As well as a terracotta figure of an unknown female
deity there are two marble sculptures representing the
Greek goddesses of love and fertility, Aphrodite and
Demeter.

All three icons of female power have been
painstakingly restored after being unearthed in an
archaeological site near Luco dei Marsi, a town
southwest of Chieti.

The importance of the statues in Abruzzan history
stems from the ancient worship of a deity known as
Angizia or Angitia, a local incarnation of the mother
goddess.

Angitia was a healing and snake goddess, who was
especially revered by the Marsi, a warlike tribe of
people who lived in the area from pre-Roman times.

Over the centuries, she came to be associated with a
number of female divinities from other cultures. 
However, worship of the original Angitia remained at
the heart of local religious practice.

The cult of Angitia has provided archaeologists with
enormous insight into the dialect spoken at the time,
much of which has been garnered from inscriptions
dedicated to her. Her chief temple and grove stood at
the southwest corner of Lake Fucinus, not far from the
modern town of Luco dei Marsi.

The exhibit's organizers have arranged the finds
against a backdrop of a forest, introducing visitors
to a variety of female divinities.

As well as statuettes and sculptures, the items on
display include ancient amulets and talismans, jewels 
and votive objects, as well as good-luck charms from
the 17th century onwards.

The exhibit particularly seeks to draw out the links
between female power and the natural world, starting
with a symbolic tree that greets visitors when they
enter.

The leaves overhang a branch of coral and a large
shell, both Neolithic finds, laid on the blood-red
ochre earth that was used during funeral rites in the
Stone Age.

Those stopping under the tree, which symbolizes
fertility, prosperity and protection, can hear stories
of myths and legends, while pipe music, evoking the
ancient sound of the Aeolian harp, accompanies the
visitor throughout.

Fortuna e Prosperita: Dee e Maghe nell'Abruzzo Antico
(Fortune and Prosperity: Goddesses and Enchantresses
In Ancient Abruzzo) is open 10am to 8pm Tuesday to
Sunday until May 17.

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news-detailed.asp?newsid=1462

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