“Lady of Elche” or “Lady of Atlantis”?
There is a controversial artifact whose origins remain unclear. It is called the "Lady of Elche", from the name of the Spanish town where she was found. Despite the debate among scholars, perhaps the statue will forever remain a piece of ancient art of unknown origins and dating.
On August 4, 1897, during some work on a farm in L'Alcúdia, about two kilometers south of Elche, Valencia, Spain, a young 14-year-old worker, Manuel Campello Esclapez, hit something hard with his spade in the ground.
The young man called other workers and they began to dig frantically, until they brought to light a wonderful bust depicting a lady from antiquity.
This “popular” version of the story differs from the official report drawn up by Pedro Ibarra Ruiz, a local official, according to which the discoverer was a certain Antonio Maciá.
The bust, renamed "The Lady of Elche", measures 56 cm in height and on its back has a spherical cavity approximately 18 cm in diameter and 16 cm deep, probably used to preserve relics, sacred objects or the ashes of a deceased person.
Originally, the bust was completely colored, with polychrome paints. The woman depicted is wearing a red tunic, on which rests a large brown cloak with red trim. The woman's lips still retain little red pigment.
The Lady of Elche is generally believed to be a piece of Iberian sculpture from the 4th century BC, although the craftsmanship suggests strong Hellenistic influences. The facial features, in fact, reveal a strong Greek influence, in contrast with the completely native clothing.
According to the Encyclopedia of Religions, the Lady of Elche would have a direct connection with Tanit, a goddess of Carthage worshiped by the Punic-Iberians. Tanit was one of the consorts of Baal, who according to the texts of Ras Shamra was the father of years and man, and was considered the progenitor of the Gods.
The symbol of Tanit was the truncated pyramid bearing a rectangular bar at the top. The sun and crescent moon appear on this bar.
Tanit was the goddess who held the most important place in Carthage and significantly, for a purely commercial city, her effigy appeared on most of the Punic city's coins.
The same phenomenon happened with the discovery of the Lady of Elche, starting a popular interest in pre-Roman Iberian culture, so much so that it appeared on the Spanish one peseta banknote in 1948. According to some, the tradition would continue with the American one-dollar bill, given that the symbol of the “pyramid with the all-seeing eye” would have a common matrix with the Tanit symbol.
Although the artifact is dated to the 4th century BC, some researchers have admitted that the statue could depict a priestess, a noblewoman or perhaps an unknown queen, however an artistic creation whose origins are unknown. The dating is also a matter of speculation: no one knows for sure how old it is.
Some, going beyond possible historical and archaeological verifications, have hypothesized that the origins of the bust may have connections with artistic traditions attributable to the lost continent of Atlantis.
The lady was found near Elche, in a mound that the Arabs called Alcudia (hill) and which in ancient times was surrounded by a river. We also know that the settlement in the Hellenic era was called Helike (later Illici by the Romans), becoming "Elche" for the Arabs.
Is it possible that the Elche mound was once a city belonging to an Atlantean colony? The solar symbol associated with the goddess Tanit reminds us that the cult of the Sun was the dominant religion of Atlantis, and later inherited by all the ancient cultures of the world, from the Egyptians to the Incas.
Furthermore, the serene, almost divine face of this stone lady is wrapped in an unusual ornament, with two scrolls on the sides of the face strangely very similar to the ancient decorations used by young unmarried Hopi women.
These are only suggestions, but what is certain is that the enigmatic face of the Lady of Elche is the icon of the mystery that surrounds her. Most likely, it will forever remain a controversial relic of ancient art with obscure origins and dating.
