Mother Goddesses During Greek and Roman Periods - Essay Example

Mother goddesses during Greek and Roman periods This research paper is focused on similarities and differences ofmother goddess’ changes during Greek and Roman periods in accordance with the following layout: Introduction 1) Greek mother goddesses; 2) Roman mother goddesses; 3) Mother goddess: who is she? 4) Comparative overview of Greek and Roman mother goddesses; 5) The Mother Goddess as a Cross-cultural Phenomenon. Conclusion Introduction Mother goddess: this cult can be traced in myths, religions and beliefs of many nations. Whichever mother goddess was worshiped Gaea, Hera, Rhea, Aphrodite, and Demeter in Greece and Maia, Ops, Tellus, and Ceres in Rome, she was an embodiment of fertility (Great mother goddess, 2002). Why do we pay attention to mother goddess exactly? The reason is that minds of early ages considered a birth of a new life gave by mother goddess with no partner. Consequently we can understand why god mothers were worshipped to such an extent in Greece and Rome. Greek mother goddesses are perceived as anthropomorphic creatures endowed by strong fertile and protective potential. Their anthropomorphism depends on changing ideals of the society of that time. Nevertheless the most important gods and goddesses made a transition into Roman culture and were preserved though not in the fullest extent. Derivatives of Greek mother goddesses found its place in Roman culture. With a certain degree of discrepancy, they survived and have still been worshipped in Rome. Though mother goddesses let them be transformed, it can be assessed not like their vulnerability, but like ability to be flexible. At this point we can remember of Western man, an easily adaptive creature, a future citizen of the world. While considering Greek mother goddesses’ transformation, we should remember of the context of Western civilization in order to draw parallels with modernity and find its underpinnings in the past. Greek mother goddesses During Greek period a mother goddess was presented in forms of Cybele. Further on Romans worshipped this mother goddess and named her Magna Mater. Moreover Greeks and eastern civilizations worshipped Gaia and Rhea. We can also trace similar features of mother goddess among Olympian goddesses in Hera and Demeter (Motz, 1997). Another goddess, the Minoan goddess, called during Greek period as Potnia theron, "Mistress of the Animals", was endowed with features of mother goddess too. Hellenes also worshipped a cult located in Epheus. It was a mother goddess with whose cult embodiment was decorated with rings and V-shaped piece of decorative cloth with round shaped protuberances. Later this goddess was identified with Artemis (Mother goddess). Roman mother goddesses The most known Roman mother goddess, Venus, was an equivalent of Aphrodite from Greek mythology. Romans worshipped this mother goddess while perceived her as their creator. Other mother goddesses worshipped during Roman period were Magna Dea or ‘Great goddess’ (trans. from Latin) (Gimbutas, 1989). This mother goddess is an intriguing image which can be referred either to goddess at the head of pantheon (e.g. Minerva, Juno) or can be considered as a goddess worshipped in a monotheistic manner. Moreover transformed Demeter and Kore from Greek into Roman culture, they were also worshipped during Rome period though now their names were Ceres and Proserpina. Mother goddess: who is she? How can we identify whether goddess is an ordinary protector or a fertility symbol? Mother goddess…who is she? We’ll try to give answers to these questions in this section of the research paper. As a matter of fact, the main quality attributed to mother goddess is her fertility. Though this term is an ambiguous one too, we should clarify its meaning. Fertility may be applied to different issues such as earth creation, child birth, plants growth etc. We can suppose that people of early ages knew exactly for which functions they appreciated mother goddesses. Moreover, the importance of mother goddess is also a vague question. Whether mother goddess was worshipped because of the fact that she gave food to people (Earth Mother) or whether she combined both function of new lives birth and protected nature (Gaea). The distinction is as follows: Earth mother isn’t always endowed with ability to give birth; she can be a mere nature creator and supporter. In one way or another, the main role of mother goddess is protection and creation. What is more interesting is the fact that mother could have been even a protector of gods (like Rhea a mother goddess of Olympian gods). The mother goddess also plays a role of ruler. She leads ranks of followers and worshippers. They pray for her and hope for her protection. On the example of Cybele, we can see that mother goddess had divine consorts with divine rulers. Comparative overview of Greek and Roman mother goddesses Let us consider some mother goddesses in detail in order to distinguish they functions and roles properly. Gaea is an embodiment of earth in Greek mythology. In Roman mythology this mother goddess was known as Tellus or Terra (Prseton, 1982). Both of them are goddesses-creators. Gaea gave birth to weird hundred-handed creatures and powerful children. She created Heaven (Uranus), Sea (Pontus) and Mountains (Ourea). Finally, Gaea married her own son (Uranus) and this marriage was a sign of separation of earth and heaven. Uranus was killed by another son of Gaea, Cronus. Therefore this mother goddess embodies not only fertility, but also strength of character and decisiveness. Further on Gaea continued her active partaking in divine intrigues. With her help Cronus’s youngest son overthrown Cronus. We can conclude that Gaea plays a crucial role in her divination. She was the first to hold the oracle at Delphi (Mother goddess). Power of Gaea was of a large scope. This mother goddesses was cruel enough and brought disaster to violators during Greek period. Rhea or Magna Mater in Greek mythology was a mother goddess too. Rhea was an offspring of Gaea and Uranus. Tragic divine consort was made between Cronus and Rhea. Though Cronus swallowed their five children, being scared to be overthrown by them, Rhea was afraid to loose all her remained children. She preserved Zeus, the most significant figure of Greek mythology (Mother goddess). Cybele (Kybele) was another mother goddess in Greek mythology. But moreover this mother goddess was worshipped in Rome too. Parallels can be drawn among Rhea and Demeter (Ceres). Cybele can be considered as the most worshipped mother of gods, a great protector, the Great mother of Gods, Mother of All, – these names witness overall mighty of Cybele. She had often being equated with the two other Greek mother goddesses – Rhea and Demeter (Ceres). What is relevant to the theme of our research paper is that Cybele worship was brought to Rome in 204 BC (Beard, 1982). Cybele was presented in the form of black stone which was transported to Rome and located in the Temple of Victory at the Palantine Hill (Mother goddess). It is desirable to mention Demeter, a daughter of Cybele, who was considered to be a mother goddess too. Though it is necessary to mention that there’re really two Demeters, one is a sad Eleusinian mother; the second and more influential is Demeter Melaina, protector of black earth fertility (Merker, 2000). The Greeks worshipped Demeter and built temples to her. Greeks perceived and worshipped her as a mother. Myth of Demeter through every symbol (e.g. pomegranate) underlines motherhood as her primary concern. Vice versa, Romans gave her another name, Ceres, and perceived her as a protector of nature and her fertility functions were completed by other goddesses from Roman mythology (Merker, 2000). Demeter had a daughter, Kore. This goddess has also been transformed in Roman mythology and her name now meant Proserpina. She was perceived not like fertility and agricultural goddess after transformation anymore, like her mother. The Mother Goddess as a Cross-cultural Phenomenon Let us draw our attention to theoretical background of mother goddess phenomenon study in order to find parallels of mythological mother goddesses. In accordance with the research conducted by Edwin James (1959) features of mother goddess cult in ancient age in genetic features of feminine can be traced. Such function as nurturing was high on the agenda for people of early ages. James finds interesting parallels between a Great Mother and Greek and Roman mother goddesses. Moreover, he claims that basing on the early age people’ way of thinking, such functions as nature creation and feeding was high on the agenda. They based their worship underpinnings on observation. Coincidences of changes in nature and their worships were compared and they concluded that mother goddess protected nature and regulated laws of nature. Mother goddesses had common and different features. They gave birth to new lives and protected nature; they protected gods and presented supreme divine power. The tendency of mother goddesses’ worship, i.e. matriarchal supreme of faith, vanished into thin air only after followers of these goddesses in Greece and Rome were completely defeated. The British scientist, Sir Arthur Evans, summed up the main features of form and functions of mother goddesses: he claims that mother goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology gave birth to their children and had divine consorts with divine rulers or gods (Allen, 2001). As far as we can see, mother goddesses after transition from Greek into Roman goddesses lost their functions, but were still important and were worshipped both in Greek and Roman cultures. Nevertheless in conclusion it is relevant to sum up the most common features for Greek and Roman goddesses. Greek goddesses performed not only some kind of function (fertility, protection etc) but also showed their cunning nature and carried out intrigues. Roman goddesses were worshipped more because of their protective function and were perceived more like beneficent deities unlike Greek goddesses, which played an active role in pantheon’ formation and tended to punishments directed on disobedient. Conclusion The cult of Mother Goddess can be traced in myths, religions and beliefs of many nations. Consequently we can understand why god mothers were worshipped to such an extent in Greece and Rome. Derivatives of Greek mother goddesses found its place in Roman culture. With a certain degree of discrepancy, they survived and have still been worshipped in Rome. Though mother goddesses let them be transformed, it can be assessed not like their vulnerability, but like ability to be flexible. In accordance with theoretical background, we can support our explanation of mother goddesses’ changes during Greek and Roman periods in a following way: scholars tended to the idea that transition of Greek goddesses and gods into Roman culture was marked by direct adoption of roles and functions of goddesses and gods. Nevertheless a spirit of different culture occurs and together with names’ change of Greek gods, their functions and roles are changed too. Thus sanctuary remained Greek, but Romans tried to instill their vision into centennial worshipping of previous gods. Roman colonizers failed and didn’t turn Greek gods into Roman ones to the fullest extent. There was a significant gap of functions and generally perceived roles of gods. The oversight of Romans was in that fact that they didn’t penetrate into history of Greece properly; they interpreted and adopted it as they liked. There was no gradual transition from Greek into Roman period, that’s why important functions of mother goddesses were lost and substituted by those ones, which seemed to be more relevant for Romans. Works cited 1. Allen, Charlotte, 2001. The Scholars and the Goddess - Historically Speaking, the "Ancient" Rituals of the Goddess Movement Are Almost Certainly Bunk. The Atlantic Monthly 287 (1), 1 January, p. 18+. 2. Beard, M., North, J. & S. Price., 1998. Religions of Rome. Volume I: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. 3. Gimbutas, M., 1989. The language of the Goddess. Harpercollins. 4. Great Mother Goddess, 2009. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed. New York: Columbia University Press. 5. James, E. 1959. The Cult of the Mother-Goddess: An Archaeological and Documentary Study. London. 6. Merker, G. S., 2000. Corinth XVIII; part 4: The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore: Terracotta Figurines of the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods. Princeton: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens. 7. Mother goddess. [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_goddess [Accessed 28 March 2010] 8. Mother goddess. [Online] Available at: http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/mother.html#Atana [Accessed 28 March 2010] 9. Motz, Lotte, 1997. The Faces of the Goddess. New York: Oxford University Press. 10. Preston, J., 1982. Mother Worship: Theme and Variations. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Read More