The Virgin Mary: the iconography of a goddess

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The Virgin Marythe iconography of a goddess

• Angie M. Kenna
• April 17, 2001
• GHR 260Religious Foundations of Greek
  Institutions

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Five Dogmas of Virgin Mary

• Mary, Mother of God. 431. Luke. Matthew.
• Mary, the Perpetual Virgin. 649. Infancy Gospel
  of James.
• Mary Immaculate (her immaculate conception, born
  without original sin). 1854. Pope Pius IX in
  Infancy Gospel of James.
• Assumption of Mary. Body and Soul into heaven
  exalted as Queen of the Universe. Nov. 1950.
  Pope Pius XII
• Mary, Mother of the Church. Nov. 21, 1964 (One of
  the Feast Days). Pope Paul VI Second Vatican
  Council.

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Portion of the Litany of Loreto

• Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God,
  Holy Virgin of virgins, Mother of Christ,
  Mother of the Church, Mother of divine grace,
  Mother most pure, Mother most chaste, Mother
  inviolate, Mother undefiled, Mother most
  amiable, Mother most admirable, Mother of good
  counsel, Mother of our Creator, Mother of our
  Savior, Virgin most prudent, Virgin most
  venerable, Virgin most renowned, Virgin most
  powerful, Virgin most merciful, Virgin most
  faithful, Mirror of justice, Seat of wisdom,
  Cause of our joy, Spiritual vessel, Vessel of
  honor,

• Singular vessel of devotion, Mystical rose,
  Tower of David, Tower of ivory, House of gold,
  Ark of the covenant, Gate of heaven, Morning
  star, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners,
  Comforter of the afflicted, Help of Christians,
  Queen of angels, Queen of patriarchs, Queen of
  prophets, Queen of apostles, Queen of martyrs,
  Queen of confessors, Queen of virgins, Queen
  of all saints, Queen conceived without original
  sin, Queen assumed into heaven, Queen of the
  most holy Rosary, Queen of families Queen of
  peace.

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Isaiah 714

• Isaiah 714
• Behold a(n) almâh shall be with child, and
  shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
  name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God is
  with us.
• Translation of almah in Septuagint parthenos,
  rather than neanis.

• Matthew 120-23
• Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take
  May home with you to be your wife. It is through
  the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. She will
  bear a son and you shall give him the name
  Jesus, for he will save his people from their
  sins. All this happened in order to fulfill what
  the Lord declared through the prophet, A virgin
  (parthenos) will conceive and bear a son, and he
  shall be called Emmanuel, a name which means God
  is with us.

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Waiting for a Virgin

• New Testament writers as Hellenized Jews.
• Familiar with hero birth story according to
  Gregory Riley in One Jesus Many Christs the
  writers of the Gospels and their readers
  expected a work like the story of Jesus to be
  the story of a hero.(69)

Our Lady crushing the head of a serpent from
http//olrl.org/webpics/picsml.jpg
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• In the Aenid, Virgil traces the founding of Rome,
  modeled after the Homeric epics. The dead hero
  Anchises talks with his son, Aeneas, in Elysium,
  giving him a prophesy.
• This man, this is he whom you have often heard
  promised to you, Augustus Caesar, offspring of a
  god, who will again found the Golden Age.

Cameo of Augustus Caesar http//www.csun.edu/hc
fll004/nicolaus.html
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• Leonardo da Vinci
• Leda and Her Two Sons Castor and Pollux.
• Painting (c.XV-XVI century). Borghese Gallery,
  Rome, Italy.

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• But Zeus loved Semele and bedded with her unknown
  to Hera. Now Zeus had agreed to do for her
  whatever she asked, and deceived by Hera she
  asked that he would come to her as he came when
  he was wooing Hera. Unable to refuse, Zeus came
  to her bridal chamber in a chariot, with
  lightnings and thunderings, and launched a
  thunderbolt. But Semele expired of fright, and
  Zeus,snatching the sixth-month abortive child
  from the fire, sewed it in his thigh. On the
  death of Semele the other daughters of Cadmus
  spread a report that Semele had bedded with a
  mortal man, and had falsely
  accused Zeus, and that therefore she had been
  blasted by thunder. But at the proper time Zeus
  undid the stitches and gave birth to Dionysus,
  and entrusted him to Hermes. And he conveyed him
  to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to rear
  him as a girl. Apollodorus 3.4.3

Hermes and the Birth of Dionysus
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