The Virgin Mary:
the iconography of a goddess
Angie M. Kenna
April 17, 2001
GHR 260:Religious Foundations of Greek
Institutions
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.
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.
Isaiah 7:14
• Isaiah 7:14:
“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 1:20-23
“’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’.”
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
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/~hcfll004/nicolaus.html
Leonardo da Vinci
Leda and Her Two Sons Castor
and Pollux.
Painting (c.XV-XVI century).
Borghese Gallery, Rome,
Italy.
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