Associated object

Statuette of a female offering to Ishtar

Syrian, Middle Bronze Age

2000 - 1750 BC

LFRD 3725

Freud’s project in Totem and Taboo saw him attempt to trace the roots of the Oedipus Complex back to pre-history. Inspired by thinkers such as Frazer, Darwin and Robertson-Smith, Freud’s ‘cultural big-bang’ was played out between the primal father and his sons. Female sexuality remained an enigma under this framework. This statuette of a female offering to Ishtar, the Akkadian goddess of war and sexual love, originates from the Orontes valley in modern-day Syria.