An Unknown Goddess

更新：2023-11-22

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[00:01.47]Lesson 3
[00:03.33]An unknown goddess
[00:11.92]How did the archaeologists know that the statue was a goddess?
[00:18.64]Some time ago,
[00:19.88]an interesting discovery was made by archaeologists on the Aegean island of Kea.
[00:26.34]An American team explored a temple
[00:29.44]which stands in an ancient city on the promontory of Ayia Irini.
[00:35.24]The city at one time must have been prosperous,
[00:38.74]for it enjoyed a high level of civilization.
[00:42.30]Houses--often three storeys high--were built of stone.
[00:47.75]They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls.
[00:52.22]The city was even equipped with a drainage system,
[00:55.64]for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrow streets.
[01:00.99]The temple which the archaeologists explored
[01:04.30]was used as a place of worship from the fifteenth century B.C. until Roman times.
[01:11.07]In the most sacred room of the temple,
[01:13.58]clay fragments of fifteen statues were found.
[01:17.96]Each of these represented a goddess and had,at one time, been painted.
[01:24.83]The body of one statue was found among remains dating from the 15th century B.C.
[01:31.97]Its missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century B.C.
[01:38.11]This head must have been found in Classical times and carefully preserved.
[01:44.33]It was very old and precious even then.
[01:48.44]When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments,
[01:51.95]they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern-looking woman.
[01:58.61]She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hips.
[02:03.46]She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground.
[02:08.17]Despite her great age, she was very graceful indeed,
[02:12.43]but,so far,the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity.