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THE STATUE OF ÁRTEMIS EPHESIA... also with the assistance provided for a woman in labour.? If we accept the hypothesis that different replicas of the cult statue reflect the different feasts of the goddess, then the garment with the Cancer or the Rankenfrau and the female figures could be connected with one of the greatest celebrations of Artemis Ephesia, her birthday.*° It is also interesting that there was an increase in the numbers of the curetes and hierourgoi, who were responsible for the celebration of the mysteries, in the same century as the one to which the replicas of the cult statue have been dated. It is possible that there is a connection between these two phenomena." But all this is indirect evidence. Up to this point, I could prove only with reference to one part of the sculptures that they are interpretable in the mirror of a relevant source describing the journey of the souls in the universe or the astral sphere. The question is whether this kind of visualization of the journey of the soul became a feature of the statue as part of the mystery of the goddess or was only shown on the basis of the goddess’ role as a midwife. (Another question is how these ornaments got on the statue.’’) Portefaix’s interpretation, according to which some parts of the statue are related to death and others to life, is an approach which uses an overly broad brush to draw conclusions about the content of the mysteries on these grounds. Given the lack of sources and the great variation in the adornments, we are very far from having proved beyond a doubt that some statues or a part of the statues could be visual representations of the mysteries. At the same time, research into the allegorical interpretations of the other parts of the statues may bring us a bit closer to an understanding of the significances of Artemis Ephesia (as might the discovery of new sources), and this may offer further insights into the depths of second-century religious life and the roles of this ancestral and mysterious goddess in that religious life. 3° Strab. XIV, 1, 20. 10 For the celebration of goddess, see Oster, Ephesus as a Religious Center, 1709-1711. “| Guy MacLean Rogers, The Mysteries of Artemis at Ephesos, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2012, 128-129; 178-180. 12 Itis possible “that some elements of Mithraist religion infiltrated in the theology ofthe other cult[.]” see Anna Judit Töth’s article in this collection of essays. « 57 « Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassanyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 57 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:12
