What happened to the Goddess in religions?

Question

Historically, the first deities ever worshiped the world over where goddesses. Female gods were far more accepted than male ones. It made sense, as the people saw life being born only from the female, it would stand that the world around them would have to have come from a female womb.

Even in ancient Greek mythology (which became predominantly patriarchal later on), Rhea was the one to bring forth life into the world (by mating with her son whom she gave birth to parthenogenetically).

Minoan society, for example, had not a single male god image which leads historians to believe that there were no male gods to balance out the pantheon.

Even in Judaism, Yaweh had a wife, a goddess, for a short time. Ishtar was arguably one of the most powerful deities in the ancient Mesopotamia.

So what happened? If worship started out with goddesses, when did it switch over to males? And more importantly: why?

Hestia-- Actually, Linear B came around after the invasion (or joining with) the Mycenaeans. There as Linear B is not original Minoan, it was influenced by Greek (Mycenaean) ideas. If you want to argue that male gods showed up in original Minoan culture, you would have to find the evidence in Linear A (pure Minaon) which has not been translated. Therefor, perhap YOU should do your research before you say that I have not done mine?
As for confusing Rhea, forgive me, I was typing th question off the top of my head and failed to look up the info in one of my books. Thank you for the correction.
Also, in no way was I making a veiled point of saying that all goddesses are or came from the same goddess. That was not my intention nor did I voice that in any way in my question.
Please refrain from placing words in my mouth.

Answer 1

You might be interested in this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Alphabet-Versus-Goddess-Conflict-Between/dp/0140196013
I've been meaning to read it for some time but haven't gotten to it yet, so I can't tell you how good or not it is.

But the basic idea is that as society moved towards an abstract alphabet-based form of literacy we lost the image-based way of thinking and seeing the world. The consequences of that included the shift from matriarchal deities to patriarchal societies including patriarchal religions.
It's an interesting theory, anyway.

Peace to you.

Answer 2

You're taking fragmented bits of history and attempting to portray it as a unified whole. We have NO idea whether the first gods people worshipped were male or female. NONE. There just isn't enough evidence left in the (pre)historic record.

Yahweh never had a wife in Judaism. It apperas the Hebrew people were once polytheistic, but that religion is not "Judaism." It was the religion that was the precursor to Judaism. There is little writing from this period so exactly what was being believed is still murky to us.

So Ishtar was a powerful goddess. So what? Out of hundreds of Mesopotamian deities, having one female be powerful doesn't prove anything. Honestly, it doesn't even suggest anything. You can't generalize about several systems of belief based on a single example.

Now, we SUSPECT that pre-agrarian cultures were generally more egalitarian than agrarian cultures. (again, its hard to be sure, because there's little to no writings from these cultures) In nomadic societies men and women can contribute roughly equally. However, much of the work required in agrarian cultures with permanent settlements cannot be easily contributed to by women because they are constantly getting pregnant or nursing or rearing children. We believe that's why their status tends to geneally lower as ancient cultures get more permanent and more sophisticated. It would certainly make sense that female goddesses would also lose status as this process happened., although even that is a generalization. Greek society was incredibly misogynistic and patriarchal, yet there are strong women in their pantheon. Athena in particular comes to mind.

When one goes to monotheism with this mentality, it makes sense that they would choose a male god over a goddess. Ancient Hebrew culture was also very patriarchal. Men were head of the household and controlled the family. The focus was on the father not the mother, so it would make little sense for their religion to focus on a mother instead of a father. After all, once you start talking about an omnipotent god that is responsible for everything, how can you connect that with something that is considered second class? Christianity and Islam are simply built off the Jewish model (which was perfectly acceptable because both evolved in other equally patriarchal cultures.)

Answer 3

The worship of a Goddess to the almost exclusion of a male God is a theory that is not credible to many Pagans. And there IS evidence of Male Gods in Minoan culture based on the archeological evidence of Dionysus being worshiped (found in Linear B inscriptions)

Also, if you are going to use Greek Mythology PLEASE get your Goddess names correct. Rhea was the DAUGHTER of Gaea and Ouranos -- and it was NOT generally believed that Gaea gave birth to Ouranos parthenogenically.

While I will agree that there is archeological evidence for a Goddess in Ancient Judea, and even that Ishtar was one of the best known and most powerful deities of Mesopotamia, I can reasonably state that you have not done adequate research into Hellenic beliefs of the Classical and Minoan periods.

Please do such research before posting incorrect information here .... Especially as you seem to be making the veiled argument that "all Goddesses are aspects of a single Goddess" which MOST "Hard Polytheists" will most emphatically NOT agree with.........

Answer 4

Many other cultures too worshipped Goddess first

Like Chinese, was recorded as a matriarchal society, that worshipped Nu Wa, the progenitor of mankind.

However, as the different groups and cultures clashed, the male dominated the society, as the strength of arms, prevailed over the nuturing aspect. The transfer of a food gathering to a hunting society too emphazied the superior strength in men.

Hence, male gods took over the supreme deity role. Furthermore, the female aspects were vilified by most cultures, deeming them unclean, or like Christianity, as the cause for the sins.

Hence, subsequent woman were brought up in a patriarchal society, where they were taught to be subserviant to the males.

Answer 5

Oestre, Ashtaroth, Venus, the Virgin Mary, or perhaps Maya in Buddhism are each and every of a similar element by employing chum, this is all reliable, this is yet differently of telling an historic tale and passing down historic information from one technology to the subsequent. at the same time as those religions could be discomforting for those that could no longer understand or study the writing on the wall, some people do understand those thoughts, and their meanings.

Answer 6

Yeah Christianity.
But I can honestly say in Asatru the goddesses are just as important, if not more at times then the gods. Freyja is not a woman to be trifled with. Neither is Frigga now that I think about it. I always feel like a little kid around her. LOL And they ARE seperate. All of them.

Answer 7

Just as the pendulum swings, so does faith. There are many theories as to the why, fear of women's strengths, their innate ability to understand "gut feelings" or intuition. What difference does it make in the long run? They are not gone, not really. They are still very much around and are still very much respected to many.

Maybe someday the pendulum will no longer swing so long and things will begin to balance out.

As for me, it has been Hel who has helped me with my rebirth. The Lwa who has stood by me and protected me has been Erzulie Dantor and she is still very much with me.

Answer 8

Ancient Middle Eastern dogmas happened.

Answer 9

Christianity is what happened. Though some believe that Mary is the Goddess aspect of that religion.

Answer 10

Men and Women are created in God's image - Man is the head, the logic - women are the heart, the nurturers.. God has created BOTH sexes in "His" image... The "gods" and "goddesses" are not real - when you call on them, they will not, can not answer you... If men and women worked together, instead of trying to over analyze everything, we could make a pretty good team and appreciate our differences!