Cahier du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 32, 2002
THE GODDESS OF ACHNA: HEPTASTOLOS
Stella M. LUBSEN-ADMIRAAL
Since earliest times, man has associated the number seven with all that he holds holy. In fact, as Mauss puts it, man has thought that the world itself is organised in sevens.1 A female terracotta votive from Achna in Cyprus, now in the T.N. Zintilis Collection, is eloquently expressive of this intuition.2
In the following I shall describe a figurine that I call the «Goddess of Achna », and examine its seven-fold vestment, usually referred to as the Cypriot Costume , in its cultural context. This is a particular suitable subject with which to honour Marguerite Yon, as she showed her interest in these matters almost thirty years ago.3 Marguerite Yon's observations concerning Archaic sculptures, including their dress, were based on and followed by numerous studies by distinguished scholars on Archaic terracotta moulded female figurines associated with the cult of the Cypriot goddess.4 The present study on an unpublished terracotta in the T.N. Zintilis Collection is presented in friendship to the directrice of the excavations of Kition-Bamboula in Larnaca (Fig. 1-2).
The Cypriot Costume is related to the deity's local guise at Achna. Her priestesses and/or female worshippers may also have worn it while involved in special ceremonies in her sanctuary where these figurines were offered as votives. The costume consists of seven items. The figurine may thus represent the goddess as a Heptastolos or «She
1. Mauss 1968, 310 ; see also note 52.
2. 1 thank T.N. Zintilis for permitting the publication of this figurine and A. Hermary for inviting me to contribute to this volume. J.M. Webb, J.M. Hemelrijk and H. Hoffmann read earlier versions of this text and offered valuable suggestions for its improvement. I would not have been able to analyse this complicated Cypriot Costume without generous support and specialised information by J. Karageorghis, whom I would like to thank warmly. I am also grateful to K. Glessen for useful comments and to E. Frésard who made the two drawings of the proposed reconstruction of the costume.
3. Yon 1974.
4. For example : Myres 1914, 351 ; Pierides 1962, 159 ff. ; Schmidt 1968, 99-103 ; J. Karageorghis 1977, 1980 and 1999, 48ff. ; Yon, Caubet 1988, 1-16 ; Hermary 1988 ; Laffineur 1991, 171-181 ; Caubet 1992a, 128-151 and 1992b, 261-267 ; V. Karageorghis 1993, 55 ff. ; Fourrier et al. 1998, 332-333 ; Giesen 1999, 99-106, n.b. notes 11-15 ; Karageorghis, Loizou Hadjigavriel 1999, 4-8. Giesen 1999 is an important pioneering study on Geometric and Archaic Cypriot female dress and the production of textiles ; this study follows her typology.
