The significance of the nudity, obesity and sexuality of the Maltese goddess figures

Abstract

This is an examination of the Maltese Goddess figures from the late Neolithic (3000 - 2500 B.c.) that represent the continuation of a philosophical idea given visual form from a long line offemale figures originating in the Paleolithic. Thirty of these figures, both nude and clothed, have been found in the late Maltese temples and in the Hypogeum. The product of local development, they share two important characteristics: obesity and lack of sexual traits. After evaluating the figures themselves and what has been said about them, I concluded that the nude and clothed figures represented two main aspects of the Goddess. Their obesity was important because itimplied power, sanctity and fecundity, because it strengthened their symbolic connection with the temples which they resembled in shape. And their sexlessness signified their universal quality - female in identification, but beyond the dualism of male and female.