バウボー
バウボー（古代ギリシャ語：Βαυβώ）は、ギリシア神話に登場する老婆で、特に初期オルペウス教の神話に登場する。歓楽の女神として知られ、下品で性的に自由な姿で描かれ、娘のペルセポネーを失ったデーメーテールが嘆くときに一緒に戯れたとされる。
学問的な議論
In The Greek Myths (1955), Robert Graves writes that when the disguised Demeter was the guest of King Celeus in Eleusis, the king's lame maid Iambe:
Graves writes:
The following excerpt is taken from Clement of Alexandria's Exhortation to the Greeks, from a 1919 English translation:
Baubo figurines
Figurines known as Baubos are found in a number of settings, usually with Greek connections. They were mass-produced in a number of styles, but the basic figure always exposes the vulva in some way:
- A plump woman with her legs held apart, gesturing to her exposed vulva.
- A naked splay-legged figure holding a harp on the back of a boar.
- A naked headless torso with the face in the body and the vulva in the chin of the face.
- A seated figure with an exaggerated vulva filling the space between the legs.
- A naked squatting figure with her hands on her genitalia
The figurines usually had elaborate headdresses, and some hold cups or harps. Some figurines have a loop moulded into the head, which seems to indicate that they were suspended in some way (possibly as an amulet).
See also
Bibliography
The following books are mostly about medieval sexual sculpture but have sections on Baubo:
- Dr. Jørgen Andersen, The Witch on the Wall: Medieval Erotic Sculpture in the British Isles, 1977.
- Miriam Robbins Dexter and Victor H. Mair, Sacred Display: Divine and Magical Female Figures of Eurasia. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2010.
- Anthony Weir and James Jerman, Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches, 1986.
External links
- Examples of Baubo figurines
- Baubo in Clement of Alexandria's Exhortation to the Greeks The story of Baubo as related by Clement of Alexandria.
- Baubo figurines from the temple of Demeter at Priene, Turkey Face-in-body Baubo figurines.
