Lady Liberty: Goddess of New York Harbor



(Colossus of Rhodes)

Lady Liberty, one of America’s leading symbols, has quite the interfaith background.

Although Americans are no slouches when it comes to soaking up the July rays, sun worshipping actually began long ago.  For the ancient Greeks, Helios was the focus of this worship.  Wikipedia reports that Helios was “the personification of the sun in Greek mythology.”  Also

known as Titan or Hyperion, Helios was often depicted wearing a crown that resembled the sun’s rays.

The Colossus of Rhodes is a famous representation of Helios.  This gigantic bronze statue was designed by Chares of Lindos in 292 BCE.  One of the Seven Wonders of the World, it commemorated the victory of Rhodes over the invading Macedonians. This impressive statue was placed in the harbor entrance, and was said to “kindle the

the lovely torch of freedom and independence.”  (Is this beginning to sound familiar?)

Enter Libertas…   Libertas had been around for a good long while, but first achieved goddess status circa 238 BCE.  How so?  Roman politician Tiberius Gracchus honored her by ordering construction of her very first temple.  (If ever a politician needed a goddess on his side, Gracchus did.  He ended up being beaten to death with Senate chairs - the furniture kind - then thrown into his namesake, the Tiber River).  Libertas was associated with (what else?) liberty.

All this must have been swirling through Freemason Frederic Auguste Bartholdi’s head as he designed the

Statue of Liberty.  Lady Liberty ended up sporting a Roman robe, an aureole crown, and a torch.  However,

another “Lady Liberty” of sorts was determined to change this statue's mood from ancient hubris to modern

humility.

That other “Lady Liberty” was champion of Jewish rights, Emma Lazarus.  It was she who wrote the Statue of Liberty’s famous sonnet lines:  Give me your tired, your poor…  Within 14 poetic lines, Lazarus had changed the “brazen” Old Colossus to the “Mother of Exiles” New Colossus.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Bartholdi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Lazarus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_of_Rhodes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios

Copyright July 5, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved