Analysis: The Berlin Kore

The “Berlin Goddess” Kore The Berlin Kore is a piece of Archean art that stands out among the rest. The statue, also referred to as the “Berlin Goddess”, stands more than 6 feet tall (76’’in.) and is made out of white marble with blue-grey streaks. Traces of red paint can be seen on the statue's robe; the robe was once painted red. These colors are almost completely faded from the marble statue. The statue type is known as a "kore", which can mean daughter, maiden, young woman, or even a goddess. The Berlin Kore is a standing Archaic stone statue of a draped, unmarried female—these statues were usually created to be life-size. The statue is clothed in a thick robe and tasseled cloak (Sutherland, Susan). It is a funerary statue, which means

Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the god of the underworld, and was forced to be his wife. Persephone was gathering flowers in the field along with Artemis and Athena when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a crevice in the earth. When Demeter discovered that her daughter had disappeared, she searched for her all over the world. In most versions of the Greek myth, Demeter neglects the earth’s vegetation in the depths of her despair and this causes nothing to grow from the earth. According to author, Mark Cartwright’s web-article in the Ancient History Encyclopedia, “…Persephone did not love Hades and to punish him, she decided she would not eat or drink. Hades, who was God of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone and wanted to marry her, but Demeter refused to allow it.” Zeus sent Hermes to persuade Hades to release Persephone from the underworld, before giving her up, Hades put a pomegranate kernel in the girl’s mouth, knowing the divine taste would compel her to return to him. In other versions of the Greek myth, Persephone could have been released if she hadn’t eaten anything in the underworld during her imprisonment, but at the last moment, Hades gave her a pomegranate seed. As a compromise, it was decided that Persephone would be released but she would have to return to the underworld for 3 months of the

This story is symbolic of the changing seasons and the perennial change from summer to winter and the return of life in the spring as seen in agriculture. The question of who the statue was made for is still unanswered; whether it was a girl or a goddess, the pomegranate can have various meanings. The pomegranate held by the figure may imply that the statue was given as a part of a marriage or in memory of a deceased individual, with the pomegranate being a gift to a god or goddess. Although, if the statue resembles a goddess (as indicated by the Polos fertility headdress), the pomegranate might indicate that she is the goddess Persephone. Today, the statue can be found in the Altes Museum, in Berlin, Germany. The statue was purchased by the Altes Museum in 1924, when found during the cemetery excavation in Keratea, Attica. Today, the Berlin kore bears witness to how the Archean society strived to present themselves. One day, our present day society will leave its mark on the earth too, in hopes of being reminisced. What do you want to be remembered