The role of a female in mythology and religion changed considerably throughout human history. The concept of a female deity varied greatly between different cultures and civilizations over the millennia of human development. To understand the evolving concept of female deity, I will trace the image of a female god from the origins of human civilizations through the ancient cultures of Egypt and Greece to the contemporary period of Judaism and Christianity. A representative goddess will be used to illustrate each. Based on the information from my review, I will demonstrate the steady decline of the role of the female deity from revered goddess to a mere blessed mortal, and prove that in the contemporary system of values and beliefs, the goddess is dead.
Paleolithic Era (30,000 8,000 BC)
There is little documentation pertaining to goddess worship from the prehistoric era. The first evidence of fertility cult of "Mother Goddess" appeared in the upper Paleolithic era. Miniature......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 4366
Approximate Pages: 17 (260 words per double-spaced page) |