March 3, 2026Open Access

Between personal and institutional devotion in Mesopotamia : the divine feminine in the Diyala’s glyptic (3rd millennium BC)

Key Points

Goddesses in Mesopotamian glyptic art have multifaceted roles beyond fertility, emphasizing their significance.
The traditional view confines their representation mainly to maternal and sexual characteristics, reducing their agency.
An examination of the glyptic from the Diyala region illustrates a broader understanding of divine feminine.
This interpretation highlights the need to reassess the roles of goddesses, suggesting they held greater power than previously acknowledged.

Abstract

The traditional view that goddesses were associated mainly with the fertility domain in a personal sphere of Mesopotamian religiosity, based on their maternal/ sexual assets, continues to prevail in the scrutiny of particular sources. Indeed, even if the feminine arouses ideas of prosperity in a broad sense, the tendency to typify their roles, as well as to relegate their agency(ies) to a secondary level, still endures.

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Vera Gonçalves (Mon,) studied this question.

www.synapsesocial.com/papers/69a766afbadf0bb9e87ddfcf

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Vera Gonçalves

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Between personal and institutional devotion in Mesopotamia : the divine feminine in the Diyala’s glyptic (3rd millennium BC)

Key Points

Abstract

Citation Network

Connected Papers

Discussion

Cite this study

Authors

Actions

References and Citations

Citation Network

Connected Papers

Discussion