|
|
Asian Mother -goddess: The general features of t religion and mythology, such as the pan-|of anthropomorphic gods, can be traced i the early feudal period in the develop-f Greek culture known as the Mycenaean :1580-1100 B. c.). Many features of Greek t particularly the chthonic (chthon means '), have their origin in pre-Greek cults. fluence is harder to assess.
Mals or snakes or the earth's fertility and with childbirth. These may be different aspects of a single goddess or possibly separate deities. Analogy with Asian mother -goddess cults suggests a single mother-goddess of the fertility of all nature. She appears as the mistress of animals, as a snake-goddess, or as a domestic goddess, and has different titles. She has a younger male consort, who might appropriately be called the master of animals.
Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, was originally an Asian mother -goddess mother-goddess. The myth of her and Adonis is a version of the Syrian legend of Tammuz, and her cult at Paphos (in Cyprus) was non-Greek in origin. Hesiod makes ner spring from the blood drops of Uranus' genitals; in Homer she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Legends linking her with romantic love and especially with Eros (here equivalent to Cupid) are late, obscuring her primitive nature.
Thus the Olympian deities existed in pre-Homeric Greece. Artemis in Homer is the mistress of animals; she thus shows a continuous line of development from the Minoan goddess. Demeter similarly goes back to the Cretan goddess in her aspect of Mother Earth. Athena descends from the Cretan snake-goddess, who is also depicted as a bird, and reappears at Mycenae with a shield, as is appropriate for a warrior's goddess. She is the forerunner of the Homeric Athena, who lived on the Acropolis with her sacred snake, bird, shield, and tree. |
|
|
|
|
