Bronze Head of the Goddess Anahit

Anahit is the mother goddess of Armenian mythology, goddess of fertility and love, daughter (or wife) of Aramazd. She was called “Great Lady”, “Gold-born” and “Golden Mother”.

The photograph shows the surviving head (38.1 cm high) of a bronze statue found at Satala. In 1872 a local peasant found it in his garden and took it to Constantinople; through antique dealers the head reached Italy, and Alessandro Castellani sold it to the British Museum, where it has been displayed for more than 100 years. In 1874 the British vice-consul in Trebizond, Alfred Biliotti, also sent a fragment of the left hand holding the edge of a veil. A copy of the statue is in the History Museum of Armenia.