ABSTRACT
The earliest steatopygous idols of terra-cotta or marble are in a squatting position. For this reason specimens at vast distances present striking similarities; for example, a figurine from Knossos is explained by another from Adalia (Pamphylia).2 This attitude and this fullness of form are rendered, in idols made of hard material, by a flat surface with rounded contours; when carved out of marble from the islands, the idols are of the "fiddle-shaped" type. Gradually the goddess assumes an upright posture. Her legs take a vertical position and, in the course of time, become separated.3 She still continues in the same measure to express procreative force, often by the width of her flanks, her enormous navel, and her triangular kteis, 4 and always by the position of her arms held against her bosom to support or press her swollen breasts. In spite of the inevitable evolution of beliefs, in defiance of casual innovations which proved more or less permanent, successive generations faithfully adhered to the traditional type.
