Forbidden Fruit (click to see full collection)
Oxidized brass pendant with a soft dark golden glow is 2" x 1 1/4". Sterling silver chain is 18" long.
This fig pendant is part of my Forbidden Fruit series, which includes four fruits meaningful to many cultures throughout history. The fig symbolized fertility and abundance in ancient Greece, Rome and the Christian Bible. It was mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as a vital part of Alcinous' royal garden:
"Therein grow trees, tall and luxuriant, pears and pomegranates and apple-trees with their bright fruit, and sweet figs, and luxuriant olives. Of these the fruit perishes not nor fails in winter or in summer, but lasts throughout the year; and ever does the west wind, as it blows, quicken to life some plants and ripen others; pear upon pear waxes and ripens, apple upon apple, cluster upon cluster, and fig upon fig..."
The fig was the fruit of Hathor, patron goddess all the pleasures enjoyed by Egyptians thousands of years ago: love, music, cosmetics, perfume, alcohol. Hathor was the embodiment of single-minded focus, whether in pursuit of joy or vengeance.
