Lady of Elche

The enigmatic Lady of Elche or Lady of Elx (Spanish: Dama de Elche, ; Valencian: Dama d'Elx, ) is a once polychrome stone bust that was discovered by chance in 1897 at L'Alcúdia, an archaeological site on a private estate about two kilometers south of Elx/Elche, Valencia, Spain. The Lady of Elche is generally believed to be a piece of Iberian sculpture from the 4th century BC, though the artisanship suggests strong Hellenistic influences. According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, the Lady of Elche (Alicante, or, Roman Lucentum), is conjectured as having a direct association with Tanit, the goddess of Carthage, that was worshiped by the Punic-Iberians.