Hey Maggie,
I couldn’t agree more. The shift away from women being a constant symbol for fertility was undeniably for the best. Even just the differences between Hellenistic and Etruscan depictions of women is very interesting, as there wasn’t much time between them (as I understand it). Comparing the differences of Etruscan art and ideals to that of Classical Greek art is even more fascinating, as that is when the prevalent use of symbolic women was present. It makes me wonder what happened during those time periods that made us see such a drastic shift.