Breasts have been cultural and fashion icons, helped launch social movements, boosted showbiz careers and have provided some of the most famous images in art. And, for some women, their ample bosom has been their most outstanding, distinctive or memorable feature. Here we explore some of the most famous breasts of the past and present.

Artemis of Ephesus

The goddess Artemis of Ephesus is featured in a sculpture with multiple breasts, believed to symbolise fertility. Due to a curse, Artemis assisted her mother's delivery of her brother through a difficult labour and became known as the patroness of childbirth.

The spherical objects arranged in neat rows on her torso are traditionally interpreted as breasts, signifying that she is the mother and nurturer of all life. However, some scholars have claimed they may represent the testicles of a bull, which were known for centuries as fertility symbols in Asia.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII became queen of Egypt at the age of 17 in 51 BC. She was known for her beauty and attracted powerful men such as Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

Tragically, Cleopatra's breasts are famous primarily because of her death. After Antony and Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian, their Roman rival, she committed suicide supposedly by allowing a poisonous snake to bite her breast. She had the asp (Egyptian cobra) brought to her hidden in a basket of figs. When the guards entered to see Cleopatra, she was already dead.

Marie Antoinette

It is believed that in the late 1700s, Queen Marie Antoinette's breasts were the model for the shallow, broad-rimmed champagne coupes that are still often used today.

Another story suggests that she had a set of breast-shaped porcelain milk bowls created for her by a French porcelain factory that were modelled on her own. She was a devotee of the ‘back to nature' movement, which replaced the aristocratic custom of wet-nursing with bourgeois norms of maternal breastfeeding.

Jane Russell

Comedian Bob Hope once introduced the voluptuous actress as ‘the two and only Jane Russell.' In 1940, she made her motion picture debut in The Outlaw, but the film was kept out of cinemas for three years because of censorship issues surrounding the way her assets was portrayed.

Together with Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth, Russell personified the sensuous sweater girl look; wearing a tight sweater in order to emphasise the bustline. A famous photo of her with her breasts pushed forcefully against her bodice was a popular pin-up with Service men during World War II.

Jayne Mansfield

American actress Jayne Mansfield was one of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s. Her breasts were so much a part of her image that Tonight Show host Jack Paar once introduced her by saying, ‘Here they are, Jayne Mansfield.'

When her movie career began to dim, she was known to stage publicity stunts for media attention. The most famous incident occurred in April 1957 during a dinner party honouring Sophia Loren. Photographs of the encounter were published around the world. The most famous image showed Loren raising an eyebrow at the American actress who had leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline and exposing one nipple.

A similar incident occurred during a film festival in Berlin when her second husband, Mickey Hargitay, picked her up, resulting in the full exposure of both breasts.

Carol Doda

Lounge entertainer Carol Doda made international news in 1964 by dancing topless at the Condor Club, San Francisco. The 20-year-old performer was the first noted entertainer of the era to do so. Many waitresses and dancers across the US soon followed and she became an American cultural icon of the 1960s.

Encouraged by her success, Doda enhanced her bust size from 34B to 44D with a series of silicone injections. She became renowned for her breasts, which became known as Doda's ‘twin 44s' and ‘the new Twin Peaks of San Francisco.'

Dolly Parton

Country music star Dolly Parton was once quoted as saying her breasts are more famous than she is. Of the surgically enhanced pair, which she nicknamed ‘shock' and ‘awe,' she said, ‘My breasts have served me well - I don't know if I'm supporting them or they're supporting me.'

She had silicone implants in both her twenties and her thirties, but had to have them reduced after 30 years to relieve pressure on her back and shoulders.

Parton's breasts are so deeply ingrained in popular culture that Dolly the sheep was actually named after her, as it was cloned from a cell taken from part of an adult ewe's mammary gland.

Madonna

Pop star Madonna's breasts have been the focus of many performances and appearances throughout her long-spanning career. In 1990, French fashion guru Jean-Paul Gaultier designed the cone-shaped bra for her Blonde Ambition tour. Inspired by that worn by Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s, it immediately became infamous. Today, it is still considered one of her trademark looks.

Madonna turned heads at Gaultier's fall runway show in 1992. The topless singer walked down the catwalk at the charity event, which raised US$750,000 - along with eyebrows - for the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

Janet Jackson

Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Texas, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson's breast, adorned with a nipple shield, was exposed by Justin Timberlake.

The pop star's infamous ‘wardrobe malfunction' led to a crackdown and widespread debate on perceived ‘indecency' in broadcasting. The incident resulted in a record $550,000 fine levied by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against the CBS television network, as well as an increase of the FCC fine per violation from $27,500 to $325,000.

Pamela Anderson

Due to her multiple breast enhancements over the years, the name Pamela Anderson has become synonymous with breast implants. After modelling for Playboy magazine in 1989, she boosted her chest to a 36DD and became a sex symbol of the 90s.

Since the days they were confined behind a red swimsuit in Baywatch, her breasts have made numerous ‘accidental' public appearances, including at Paris Fashion Week 2009. While walking on the runway next to British designer Vivienne Westwood, her black wrap ensemble came undone to reveal her left breast. Later that year at a New Zealand fashion show, the buxom blonde was wrapped in a sheer white scarf, which fell as she accepted flowers at the end.