There are an estimated and staggering 10,000 distinct religions in the world, with Christianity in all its variants being the largest, reeling in more than two billion followers (Vaughan, no date). There are many disputes on the origins, moral values and stories of the Bible, but generally speaking, Christianity follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. Similarly, the second-most followed religion is Islam with 1.8 billion practising worldwide, centred around the belief that Muhammad was the god named Allah’s true prophet. Other major faith groups include Buddhists, who believe in the principles of Gautama Buddha, a religious leader who lived in India around 2,500 years ago. Needless to say, what links these faiths at a glance would be their tendencies to follow the teachings of individual, influential men, who encourage the worship of their respective deities, also generally thought of as male. It would be understandable to assume most of the ancient and modern world’s religions are predominantly centred around male gods and leaders, but with so many different outlooks and cultures that have spanned across history, there have been plenty of opportunities for women to demand significance.
The history of religions blooms with powerful women and goddesses, many of whom have epic tales of heroic conquest or tragic struggles to succession to make them both memorable and inspirational. Such stories date back to ‘the earliest writings we know of’ (Gordon, 2019), with nearly every polytheistic religion (one with more than one deity) mentioning a goddess or two. And while whole generations of people grow up referring to the almighty He of their religion as they pray, there are still a significant number of faiths both in history and today that also incorporate the worship of holy women — in this article, we will explore a selection of powerful goddesses who feature most prominently in ancient worlds and cultures.
ISHTAR
Going back to the very beginnings of culture as we know it, records allude to the oldest religions of the world being linked to a Mesopotamian civilisation called Sumer, existing from the 5th to 3rd millennium B.C. The Sumerians worshipped an array of different deities including a few important Babylonian goddesses; the most notable is Ishtar (otherwise known as Inanna or the Queen of Heaven), who represented love, bravery, fertility and war. She was also associated with sensuality but was curiously never connected to the principles of motherhood or marriage, but is linked to ancient symbols such as a lion whose roar resembled thunder, linking her to the sky god An, or objects such as an eight-pointed star or reed bundles. Art derived from Ishtar has been commonly sighted depicted in warm-toned terracotta or stone carvings and models dating back to many thousands of years ago. She is known today as an inspiration to Greek and Roman cultures via her traits and associations being very close to those of the goddesses Aphrodite and Venus.
APHRODITE/VENUS
Aphrodite (Greek) and Venus (Roman) are two of the most recognised holy names of the ancient world, and many beautiful temples and other places of worship that have since been made into tourist attractions have these holy women to cite as their inspiration. As Classical Rome was heavily influenced by Ancient Greece, these two goddesses are often thought of as one of the same: the embodiment of love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. Aphrodite’s cult is believed to have originated from cultures who worshipped the goddess Ishtar, and Venus followed shortly after, with figures such as Julius Caesar believing her importance so high that he claimed her as an ancestor. The two goddesses are representative of the sensual nature of the female form, often painted or sculpted nude and with great care by some of the most famous artists to have lived, and have been involved in the most notable classic literature and poetry such as in the Roman texts of Virgil or Homer’s epic tales of Ancient Greece.
CIRCE
Additionally, Homer and those inspired by him helped to bring many Ancient Greek deities to mainstream attention and create interesting narratives, and many brutal tales of certain goddesses have been brought to light. One particularly famous example is that of Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios and ocean nymph Perse, a banished goddess and witch laying claim to her island where she would offer the sailors who visited her bountiful feasts of food and wine but then turn them into pigs with her staff or wand. Circe is first mentioned in Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey, where the main protagonist Odysseus finds himself on her island on his journey home from war. In this text, she is generally thought of as a villain as an explanation is not awarded for why she developed the habit of turning men into animals, but the goddess is prominent now in modern literature where her story is spun in much more deep and feminist-friendly retellings and shines creative light on her potentially tragic backstory. For example, she is the main focus of Madeline Miller’s very popular novel titled after her.
Figure 1: The witch-goddess Circe from Greek mythology, Morgan Forbes.
ISIS
Another link to the ancient world is Isis, an Egyptian goddess believed to be so powerful she could perform magic, offer protection to and heal the sick, and bring back the dead. First mentioned in her culture’s Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2181 B.C.), she was one of the main figures in the Osiris myth, as Osiris was not only the infamous king of the Underworld and god of fertility but also her husband; however, in Egypt’s New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 B.C.), her physical characteristics were slowly changed as she took on the traits and looks of earlier goddesses, adorning a headdress inspired by the goddess Hathor, for example. As a role model for females, Isis claims inspiration for a cult that spread throughout the Roman Empire, and was the subject of worship from England to Afghanistan, only decreasing in popularity with the rise of Christianity. She was linked to a large number of other deities as she was the mother of the god Horus, and the daughter of the Earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut, and her symbols and associated objects include select hieroglyphs, green wings to symbolise life and resurrection, a staff, and animals such as cows, birds or scorpions.
FREYA
Last but not least, the deity Freya (or Freyja, meaning ‘Lady’ in Old Norse), most well-renowned of the Norse pagan goddesses, is not a force to be reckoned with. As another goddess of love and fertility, Freyja is said to be involved in the practice of magic such as Isis, using her spells for seeing and influencing the future. She is the daughter of Njörd, the sea god, and sister of Freyr. Freya is often depicted as riding a boar with golden bristles as pigs were sacred to her, collecting offerings such as mead, meat, honey and more from those who wished to gain her favour. She wears a cloak of falcon feathers, adorns a necklace called Brísingamen, and can also be seen commanding a chariot pulled by two cats. Freya presides over Fólkvangr, the afterlife realm where she receives half of those who die honourably in battle, while the other half go to Valhalla. While the Christianisation of Scandinavia tried to demonise the Nordic society’s native deities, Freya’s legacy carried on in Scandinavian folklore. She is perhaps one of the truest representations of both beautiful but equally powerful holy women in our world’s diverse history, giving females yet another example of an important model to look up to.
References
Gordon, E. A. (2019). ‘Goddesses Of The Ancient World: Legends Of Powerful Religious Deities’, Magellan TV [online]. 6 October 2019. Available at: https://www.magellantv.com/articles/goddesses-of-the-ancient-world-legends-of-powerful-religious-deities (Accessed 22/02/22).
Hamilton, E. (2017). Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. Special edn. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers.
Miller, M. (2018). Circe. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Vaughan, D. (no date). ‘What Is the Most Widely Practiced Religion in the World?’, Britannica [online]. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-the-most-widely-practiced-religion-in-the-world (Accessed 15/02/22).
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