goddesses.[1] “The nature-worship of the Hellenes was pre-eminently concerned with Mother-earth—with Ge-meter, and this divine power in its varied personal forms was perhaps of all others the nearest and dearest to the popular heart: so much of their ritual was concerned directly with her. And some scholars have supposed, erroneously, I think, but not unnaturally, that all the leading Hellenic goddesses arose from this aboriginal animistic idea.”[2]
At present our knowledge of these primitive Mother deities is far from being complete. As their cults and that of Mother Earth arc widespread in India, it may be worth considering whether a description of them may throw some much-needed light on the origin and development of the Western Mothers.
The question of the transmission of culture is still a subject of active controversy, and I shall not attempt to decide whether India and the Mediterranean are in any true sense contiguous cultures. It may be admitted that the quest of the precious metals or minerals, incense, pepper and many other things may have led to early trade intercourse by the Red Sea route. But I do not think that any scholar, in the present state of our knowledge, would be inclined to trace much connexion in theology or ritual between India and Egypt. The case of the relations of India to Babylonia, the latter country forming a link with the West, is still obscure. There appears to be no Indian deity who can be compared with the Babylonian En-lil or Bel of Nippur, conceived as the god of earth par excellence; Mesopotamian religion has no parallel figure to the Grecian Ge, and though Ishtar possessed vegetative
- ↑ Farnell, op. cit. 94 et seq.
- ↑ Ibid. 114; Id. Cults of the Greek States, iii. 1 et seqq., and compare Miss J. E. Harrison, Journal Hellenic Society, xix. (1899), 205, 208, 220 et seq.; Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 263 et seqq.: Themis, 166 et seqq.; Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens, 44.
