Lady of Cerro de los Santos (Dama del Cerro de los Santos), also known as Gran Dama Oferente, is an Iberian sculpture from the 2nd century BCE, that is now in National Archaeological Museum in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. This limestone sculpture depicts a full-length standing female figure 1.3 metres high. It was found in 1870 in the sanctuary of Cerro de los Santos in Montealegre del Castillo in

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the ...

province,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. The statue is sometimes called the Gran Dama Oferente because she is holding a container in her two hands and appears to be offering it. She is richly clad in three overlapping robes clasped with a

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

, or brooch, at the neck. Braided hair falls past her three necklaces. She is wearing fitted shoes. A ''rodete'' or wheel headgear appears on one side of her hair; if there was a similar one on the other side, it has been broken off. Like another contemporary

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histo ...

n-influenced Iberian female sculpture, the

Lady of Baza The ''Lady of Baza'' (''la Dama de Baza'') is a famous example of Iberian sculpture by the Bastetani. It is a limestone female figure with traces of painted detail in a stuccoed surface that was found on July 22, 1971, by Francisco José Pres ...

, her drapery falls in a zigzag pattern.

References

*''Spain: A History'', by Raymond Carr * F. Gómez, (1982): "Una réplica en barro de la Dama del Cerro de los Santos" in ''Homenaje a C. Fernández Chicarro''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dama Del Cerro De Los Santos 2nd-century BC sculptures Archaeological discoveries in Spain Iberian art Collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Madrid Sculptures of women Sculptures in Madrid Lady of Cerro de los Santos

See also

References