CHAPTER 5: ELEPHANTS CAN JAM: IBM INNOVATION JAMS FOR
5.10 I MPLICATIONS AND C ONCLUSIONS
Both in Europe and Asia Minor, Goddess is represented in temples, archaeologi-cal sites, carvings, and ancestral groves. Areas around and within the Mediterranean Sea are particularly replete with monuments standing in honor of Goddess, and each season archaeological digs uncover new information that shapes and informs herstory, or the record of the Divine Feminine. In the British Isles, for example, carvings of Sheila-na-Gigs (see: Goddess Focus, Ireland, page 73), spirals, and mer-maids symbolize aspects of the Mother, while in other areas of Europe and around the Mediterranean, she is represented in the forms of lunar crescents, fish, horns of consecration, vulvas, swastikas, and serpents. Worship of Goddess is thriving within contemporary traditions rooted in older practices associated with trees.
Groves house her shrines in natural settings, and single trees, called clootie trees, are tied with strips of prayer cloth to invoke her blessings.
Goddess was alive for many peoples across the continent of Europe and Anatolia, or Turkey, since the Ice Age over 30,000 years ago! Finds such as the Earth Mother of Willendorf stand as evidence of her early relationship with humankind. In the oldest megalithic structures on Earth, located in Malta, ancient builders toiled for unknown periods of time creating her likeness in female shaped temples. Though not universally accepted, some see these “Fat Ladies” as images of Goddess. Moving forward in time, other artifacts of Goddess reveal her as the Mistress of Animals (Catal Hüyük, Turkey), and as Fish Mother (Lepinski Vir, Yugoslavia, 6000 BCE), as identified by the contro-versial and beloved archaeologist Marija Gimbutas. Figurines from Neolithic Europe establish Goddess as a continuing influence for the next 3,000 years, to about 3500 BCE. She lived on during the Iron and Bronze Ages and through the introduction of monotheism. Many scholars and goddess advocates alike
speculate that women-centered matrifocal societies thrived such as on the island of Minoan Crete in Greece until about 1600 BCE. At the time of the birth of Jesus Christ, Goddess was still a dominant force in society and the ris-ing power of patriarchal belief systems had to contend with the formidable cults of Demeter, Isis, and Artemis. In fact, the Apostle Paul was run out of Ephesus by an angry mob when they believed he insulted their Goddess by calling her a mere idol fashioned by the hands of man. We will delve into these accounts in greater detail when the individual sacred sites of the Goddess are explored.
What aspects of Goddess the patriarchy could not obliterate they absorbed and incorporated into a new spin. One obvious example is the imagery of Mary holding Jesus which was co-opted from the Goddess Isis on the throne, holding her son Horus. Another instance may be found in Classical Greece as goddesses are suddenly born from male gods, taking on personas with less dignity, indepen-dence, and sophistication under the thumb of patriarchy. A case in point is the Goddess Hera. Once stately and self-possessed, she became subordinate to the patriarch Zeus of the Olympian pantheon with her character described as jealous and petulant. Some scholars believe the incessant squabbling of Zeus and Hera reflects the disharmony of the emerging patriarchal paradigm.
In the fourth century, the current accumulated volumes now included in the Bible were codified and circulated throughout the Mediterranean world.
Churches were built directly upon pagan temples and shrines of gods and god-desses after the reign of Constantine the Great, a habit greatly increased during the reign of Theodosius I (379-395 CE), an emperor famous for ordering all pagan temples closed in the year 391 CE. With the rise of patriarchy came new ideas about Goddess, women, and the subjugation of sexuality. The Feminine Principle was a growing threat to the incoming male-dominated leadership and had to be dealt with. Sexuality and the female body, synonymous with Goddess, became taboo, a temptation to man, and a polluting influence on thought and behavior.
Over time, “the feminine” was toppled by the encroaching male-dominated regime. Once beloved, Goddess, who sustained life from womb to tomb, was sud-denly being cast as a demon by the new religious status quo. Isis’ temples lasted in the ancient world until the time of Justinian’s reign (527-565 CE). According to scholar Elinor Gadon, the closing of the last temple of Isis in Gaul likely marked the official end of Goddess worship in the West.
The Goddess has been with humans since the earliest days of our beginning and devotees believe she will remain with them until the end of time. Just look-ing at some of the monuments built in her honor, some created by seemlook-ingly unfathomable means for their time, speak volumes toward understanding the magnitude of devotion which Goddess inspired. There is probably no better time than the present to seek out the ancient people — too numerous to name
— who venerated her, many of whom are our ancestors. There is probably no better time to seek the contemporary people who venerate her, many of whom are our neighbors, friends, and travel companions. There is no better way to make this journey to seek herstory than through the lens of her sacred sites. And so the journey begins ...
CYPRESS
E
vidence for a settlement near Old Paphos, Cypress extends back at least 5,000 years. Excavations have revealed thousands of terra-cotta female figu-rines of the Archaic and Classical periods. Archaeologists believe the Goddesswas worshipped here before the Chalcolithic period (3800-2300 BCE), though by what name she was venerated is not completely certain. Many possible names for this ancient goddess are extant from dedications uncovered at the archaeological site, including Wanassa, Paphia, or Golgia. Some of the female figurines depicted women with uplifted arms while others portrayed pregnant females with uplifted arms in the process of giving birth. By the time of the arrival of the Greeks, Paphos was in full swing as an established religious center. That is not to say the Greeks did not make their mark in Paphos since archaeological evidence seems to suggest both the Arcadian King, Tegea, known for his exploits in the Trojan War, and the indig-enous King Kinyras, both contributed to the herstory of Aphrodite’s temple. Homer records both a sacred grove and a great altar located at Paphos. The holy site contin-ued to retain its prominent position in the ancient world largely due to the temple of Aphrodite, until of course Theodosius I outlawed pagan religion in 391 CE.
Palaepaphos
Aphrodite, mistaken too long as simply the “Boudoir Babe,” reveals her true iden-tity at her temple near Old Paphos, or Palaepaphos, renowned throughout antiquity for its fabulous wealth and reputation as a great religious center. Like the Goddess, her temple displayed a blend of Aegean and Oriental flavor. This was considered her most important shrine — for here she was believed to have been birthed from the sea foam, a metaphor for the semen of her father. Aphrodite is very, very old, and many believed she was around at the beginning of creation. In actuality, she was a universal Mother Goddess of prehistory, probably hailing from the Near East, and is likely of a non-Indo European origin. Ancient records place one of her earliest temples in Syria.
Older than the Olympians, she appears on the scene long before her relationship as the daughter of Zeus in Classical Greece literature, the role usually cast for her by popular culture today. The close proximity of her temple in Cypress to Anatolia, Crete, and Mesopotamia greatly influenced the blend of traditions making up the Cypriac Goddess worshipped here for over 1,500 years. Without a doubt, she is more than just a beautiful woman rising from the sea foam, the beguiler of Paris, or the adulterous wife of Hephaistos. In fact, her persona certainly warrants a reintroduc-tion to contemporary travelers and readers due to stereotypical misinformareintroduc-tion that seems so pervasive — such as her portrayal in the much loved television series, Xena, Warrior Princess! This much is certain, from her sanctuary on Cypress a clearer image of Aphrodite is allowed to emerge.
Aphrodite, whose name in Greek (aphros) means foam, reflects her unusual birth.
According to the ancient poet Hesiod, in the beginning there was Chaos, but soon the Great Mother Earth, or Gaia, and her consort, Ouranos, the Heavens, bore numerous sons and daughters. Yet, the youngest, Kronos, hated their father. One night Kronos took a sickle from Gaia, cut off Ourano’s genitals, and threw them into the sea. In this headstrong act, Kronos severed Earth from Heaven, thereby reveal-ing light between his parents. From where the genitals of Ouranos were discarded in the waters there suddenly emerged foam, and moments later, Aphrodite emerged from the deep. Thus, her birth was a central part of early creation myths. Not far from her temple in Paphos is Petra tou Remiou, or “Aphrodite’s Rock,” where she is said to have first emerged from the foam of the sea and made her first steps onto land. As her feet touched the soil, grass was said to have sprouted to life, invigorated by the fertile touch of Goddess. Visitors can see these three large rocks that emerge from the bay.
An artistic rendering of this birth is the famous painting, The Birth of Venus, created by the artist Botticelli, depicting Aphrodite rising from a large scallop shell, a motif of female genitals. It reflects a version of her birth story, where, after Aphrodite arrived via her shell on the shores of Cypress, she was greeted by the Hours. They proceeded to assist her from the water, clothing her in heavenly garments. This tale of her birth was essential to her worshippers at the temple at Paphos, shedding light on some of the rituals occurring here and exposing a far deeper meaning. Her emergence from the waters at birth became synonymous with the cycle of the seasons, namely the renewal of the Earth, symbolized by the renewal of Aphrodite’s virginity. Obviously it was not impossible to regain virginity once lost if you were a Goddess! (Of course, virginity of a Goddess held a different meaning than for mere mortals.) The Hours were actually the seasons, who assisted by the Graces, would take part in welcoming the birth of Aphrodite as the Maiden, or a metaphor for spring. This was probably enacted by ritually bathing and clothing a statue of Aphrodite or Aphrodite’s priestess, as her earthly incarnation. A terra-cotta bath tub was found in a sanctuary building during excavations.
With the strong possi-bility of Oriental origins, Aphrodite logically shares traits with Babylonian Inanna/
Ishtar, Philistine Atargatis, Phoenician Astarte, and the Semitic Ashtoreth. Aphrodite, Isis, and Inanna/Ishtar, were all considered the embodiment of the heavenly planet Venus, the name by which Aphrodite was called in Rome. The story of Aphrodite’s son-lover Adonis mirrors that of Dumuzi and Tammuz, the consorts of Inanna and Astarte respec-tively, as well as Attis, the con-sort of Cybele. With her close proximity to the Middle East, it is no surprise that she shares several titles. Being the daugh-ter of Heaven and Sea, she is again associated with Astarte (Virgin of the Sea), and Asherah (Lady of the Sea). Like life itself originating from water, so was Aphrodite a creatrix.
The rites of Aphrodite estab-lished here were celebrated under the sign of Pisces, the fish. Naturally, other than the fish, Aphrodite’s other nautical symbol became the net, typi-cally tied around her waist or
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