The gate of the year

Bronze statue of the goddess Artio, shown both in her human shape and in the shape of a she-bear. The object was part of a group of divine images of the Gallo-Roman period (II century A.D.) discovered in 1832 near the city of Bern, and now in the Historical Museum, Bern, Switzerland.
The bear appears frequently in the Celtic world associated with female divinities, like Artio, the goddess worshipped in the neighborhoods of actual Bern (name also derived from that of the bear), and Andarta, a goddess of wilderness, venerated by the Celts in Switzerland and France. Several aspects seem to relate this divinities to the Greek Artemis, whose name derived as well from the word for “bear” (Greek arkto, Middle Irish art, Welsh arth). The basket of fruits which the goddess has beside her seems an allusion to her function as dispenser of abundance and fertility, as well as the tree with fruits that stands at the back of the bear.

[Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMB_-_Muri_statuette_group_-_Artio_2.jpg]




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Bronze statue of the goddess Artio, shown both in her human shape and in the shape of a she-bear. The object was part of a group of divine images of the Gallo-Roman period (II century A.D.) discovered in 1832 near the city of Bern, and now in the Historical Museum, Bern, Switzerland. The bear appears frequently in the Celtic world associated with female divinities, like Artio, the goddess worshipped in the neighborhoods of actual Bern (name also derived from that of the bear), and Andarta, a goddess of wilderness, venerated by the Celts in Switzerland and France. Several aspects seem to relate this divinities to the Greek Artemis, whose name derived as well from the word for “bear” (Greek arkto, Middle Irish art, Welsh arth). The basket of fruits which the goddess has beside her seems an allusion to her function as dispenser of abundance and fertility, as well as the tree with fruits that stands at the back of the bear. [Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMB_-_Muri_statuette_group_-_Artio_2.jpg]