In Roman times, Dea Caelestis (“the celestial goddess”) was the name given to Tanit, the great Phoenician-Punic goddess —a deity of the heavens, associated with the moon, fertility, and the protection of the city— whose cult spread across the western Mediterranean. Evidence of her presence exists in Hispania: for example, a dedication to Juno/Dea Caelestis in the amphitheater of Itálica (Seville), and in Córdoba a piece inscribed “Dea Caelestis” is preserved in the Archaeological Museum, testimony of her reception in Iberian-Roman territory.

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The Latins spoke of a celestial fire as the origin of the soul. According to tradition, there was a moment called Caelestis Ignis —the celestial fire— in which, through creation, a man or a woman touched a perfect point of universal harmony. That fire was the very spark that keeps the stars in motion, the same force that makes art a bridge between the human and the divine.

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A man in lifts a star: the sign of the instant of artistic perfection, the moment when form, gesture, or note reaches its exact point and aligns with the harmony of the universe. the body in motion recalls the creators and artistst of Antiquity who receive the spark, hold it for a moment, and return it to the world.

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