Africa_(goddess) | TriviaQuestions.online

⭐ In the context of Personification, how are continents often represented in the arts and early religions?

Continents, like Africa, are frequently personified, meaning they are represented as having human characteristics or being embodied by a deity, reflecting cultural perceptions and beliefs about those lands.

⭐ Core Definition: Africa (goddess)

In ancient Roman religion, Africa, (Latin: Dea Africa) was a goddess and the personification of Africa in the early centuries of the common era. She was originally a North African fertility and abundance deity worshipped by the Berbers and the tribe of Ifri. Her iconography typically included an elephant-mask headdress, a cornucopia, a military standard, and a lion.

To the Romans, "Africa" was only their imperial province, roughly equating to modern north-east Algeria, Tunisia and coastal Libya. Therefore, the goddess was not given sub-Saharan African characteristics; she was thought of as Berber. After her image was revived in the Renaissance, she was reduced to a personification of Africa with no divine pretensions.

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👉 Africa (goddess) in the context of Personification

Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person. In the arts, many things are commonly personified, including: places, especially cities, countries, and continents; elements of the natural world, such as trees, the four seasons, the "four elements", the four cardinal winds, and the five senses; moral abstractions, especially the four cardinal virtues and seven deadly sins; the nine Muses; and death.

In many polytheistic early religions, deities had a strong element of personification, suggested by descriptions such as "god of". In ancient Greek religion, and the related ancient Roman religion, this was perhaps especially strong, in particular among the minor deities. Many such deities, such as the tyches or tutelary deities for major cities, survived the arrival of Christianity, now as symbolic personifications stripped of religious significance. An exception was the winged goddess of victory, Victoria/Nike, who developed into the visualisation of the Christian angel.

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