The nurturing Earth Goddess, the Great Mother worshipped at the dawn of civilization—historical fact or consoling fiction? While Goddess mythologies proliferate and the public devours books by artists, psychotherapists, and enthusiastic amateurs, it is remarkable that those in the field of prehistory have remained largely silent. Did Goddess worship really exist? What actually remains from the earliest cultures, and what can it tell us? What can we learn about the early stages of human religion from the study of prehistoric carvings, pictures, pottery, figurines, and temples? In Ancient Goddesses, historians and archaeologists write accessibly about this intriguing and controversial topic for the first time. Considering a number of significant early civilizations—Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt; “Old Europe;” Early North West Europe; “Celtic” civilization; the Prehistoric Aegean; Malta; the Ancient Near East; Old Testament Israel; Çatalhöyük; and Archaic Greece—these experts review the most recent evidence so that readers can make up their own minds. Contributors include Ruth Tringham and Margaret Conkey, University of California, Berkeley; Lynn Meskell, New College, Oxford; Fekri Hassan, University College, London; Karel van der Toorn, University of Amsterdam; Joan Westenholz, Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem; Elizabeth Shee Twohig, University College, Cork; Caroline Malone, New Hall, Cambridge; Mary Voyatzis, University of Arizona; and Miranda Green, University of Wales College.

The history of the divine is the history of human thought. For as long as men and women have pondered the mysteries of their existence, they have answered their own questions with stories of gods and goddesses. Belief in these deities shaped whole civilizations, yet today many of their names and images lie buried. The Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities makes those names available to the general reader as well as the scholar. This reference work lists all the known gods through recorded history. Alphabetically arranged entries provide the name of each deity (with alternate spellings), as well as notes on names that may be linguistically or functionally related. The tribe or culture that worshiped the deity is identified, and the god's origins and functions are explained. An extensive bibliography provides opportunities for further research and an exhaustive index provides access to the entries through virtually all names, forms and kinds of deities.

Ancient peoples believed as firmly in their gods and goddesses as people believe in their religions today. These books help children understand how people lived in ancient times, what they believed, and why. How the seasons worked, why natural disasters happened and what happened to people when they died. Many of the myths have parallels in modern religions and culture. This title deals with the lives and beliefs of the people of Ancient Greece.

A book on Greek mythology with genealogical tables tracing the lineage of the many divine gods and important figures in these mythological tales.

This book is a collection of studies about the Greek and Roman goddesses—Artemis and Diana—who ruled creatures of the wild. Although they arose separately in Greek and Roman cultures, they were often treated as equivalent. These goddesses had the power of giving birth, health and death. Diana’s temples were built at places where three roads meet, writes Servius (ad Aen. IV.511), outside the city itself, and so they were common, safe meeting places which belonged to no one but were the sites for federal councils, hosted by the goddess. Artemis was associated in particular with bears, and Diana with deer, but both were generally associated with wild animals, as well as with the different phases of life. This volume will be useful not only for researchers on this subject, but also for courses in Greek and Roman studies, mythology, history, and women’s studies.