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Ancient Goddesses in New York

An Online Guide to Discovering the Sacred Feminine in
Museums, Temples, and Public Places

Goddess in the Harbor

 

The Goddess of Liberty was inspired by the Roman Goddess Libertas and modeled after the famous Athena Parthenos.

 

 

A Goddess in the NY Harbor

 Photo: Bartholdi-Liberty Enlightening World-1884/Public Domain

 

"Our Goddess of Liberty stands guard over the imperial harbor of New York." - Walter Hayward, from The New York Times, November 15, 1931

 

 

A Mother to the Masses

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

 

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 

-Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus, 1883

Liberty Enlightening the World

Image: Publisher Currier & Ives (American-Great Bartholdi Statue-1885)/Public Domain

 

She was created to be a beacon of light and given the moniker: "Liberty Enlightening the World."

A Divine Giant

New York Statue-1878

 

Liberty's delivery to New York was delayed. Her head came before her body. But her colossal size made her a force to be reckoned with. People were amazed by a statue so big you could climb up and look out at the harbor through her eyes. How could she be anything less than a goddess?

The Temple of Liberty

 New York Statue-1886
 
Once you visit her you will never forget. On the inside, she is like a uniquely built building. You must climb winding stairs through narrowing spaces to get to her crown. You may want to turn back as the space gets tighter and the climb gets harder, but there is nowhere to go but up. Once you reach her inner heights, you can take a moment and breathe. She looks out on New York and the world and you can feel her power from within.

Modeled After Athena of the Parthenon

Adam Eastland / Alamy Stock Photo

Does she look familiar? This statue of Athena is a copy from AD 200-250 of the original from 438 BC. She resides at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. She is a Roman version (called Varvakeion Athena) and is considered to be the most faithful and best-preserved copy of the cult statue of the Athena Parthenos by Phidias, which was erected in the Parthenon in 438 B.C.  Some experts believe she was a model for the Statue of Liberty. "Much of the appearance of the Statue of Liberty derived from copies of the Athena Parthenos, especially as described by a Frenchman in 1876 as showing asexual androgyny and virginal maternity, and by descriptions of the statue of Hera at Argos," writes Victoria Larson, in An American Symbol & its Classical Context: The Statue of Liberty.

Born with the Qualities of Ancient Goddess Libertas

 Goddesses-mogelijk tekenaar -Wit-Concordia-Pax-Libertas-1705 - 1754.

 

People forget, or they may have never known, that the Goddess of Liberty is linked to the ancient goddess, Libertas. She is the Roman goddess who was the personification of Liberty. Her name is Latin for the words "Liberty" or Freedom.

Libertas Had Temples and Shrines

Libertas was given a Roman temple and she was also honored at the Temple of Jupiter Libertas. A small shrine was also built to her on the property of Cicero's home. But as Brittanica points out, "...By consecrating the property to a goddess, Clodius was rendering it uninhabitable," and the shrine was dismantled. It has been said that the Roman Senate voted to build a temple to Libertas to Julius Caesar but that it fell through. A statue of Libertas was reportedly set up in the Forum, the most important venue of its kind in ancient Rome. 

Liberatis is Also Known as Eleutheria

 Liberatis Engraving by Pierre François Sweerts, Published 1612

 

Wikipedia points out that, "The Greek equivalent of the goddess Libertas is Eleutheria, the personification of liberty. There are many post-classical depictions of liberty as a person which often retain some of the iconography of the Roman goddess."

Libertas and Athena Combined on Coin

 Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
 

There were many coins honoring Libertas and Liberty in the US and many other countries. This coin was designed by artist Medalist Augustin Dupré. It is a "French-American Liberty-Libertas" from 1782. It seems to combine the Libertas with the look and protective actions of Athena. The baby is meant to be a nation.

 
 

Goddess Columbia: After Libertas, Before Liberty

 Photo: Brian Logan / Alamy Stock Photo

Goddess Columbia in Troy, New York.

 
 Before Liberty came to the New York Harbor, Columbia was an emblem of the "New Heaven" of the American colonies. In the early 18th century, she was "portrayed as a goddess, draped in a neoclassical gown and holding a sword, an olive branch, and a laurel wreath as metaphors for justice, peace and victory," according to Cari Shane, in Smithsonia Magazine. "As Lady Columbia's image spread across the country, particularly after the Revolution, she came to embody the nation's highest aspirations—and its colonial ambitions. Though largely forgotten today, she reigned for two centuries as our collective emblem, and her biography offers a tale in miniature of the development of a young democracy." So there has always been a sacred female holding the torch (sword, horn, scepter, or other symbol) of the the goddess.

An Ancient Standing Goddess

Statue of Liberty Image 1945-1965, by Gillon

 

"As American culture changed, the Greco-Roman divine Columbia began to fade. The Statue of Liberty became a new female avatar for the nation," writes Shane. Although she had her roots in ancient goddesses she became a goddess for modern times. She welcomed immigrants to a new land and presided over the United States from her sacred spot in the New York Harbor. She captured the imagination of millions and she represented the promise of freedom.

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