Scan barcode
glj's review against another edition
5.0
Very enjoyable. It's helpful to know these are mostly transcribed lectures in order to understand the odd prose at times.
booksladycma's review against another edition
4.0
This was good. It linked the histories together in a clear way and explained the Greek mythology, particularly, in a way I haven't seen before.
ipacho's review against another edition
5.0
There is a constant quote from Goethe throughout the book: "the eternal feminine draws us up", and it summarizes this voyage through history looking for the Godess and how it survived up to our days. There ate all the Zeitgeist comparisons of christianity with middle eastern religions, but Campbell's position goes beyond mere criticism: his is one of understanding the various sincretic procesess that ocurred with and within it, so the Godess survived. Amazing and powerful read.
kyouma's review
5.0
Fantastic. Campbell goes through the history of goddess worship dating back to 4000 BC, and details the types of societies and environments that lead to goddess worship.
That discussion leads to an overview of the broad history of European religion, from the polytheistic "indo-europeans" (who would become Greek and Hindu), and the monotheistic Semites. The discussion of Christianity as a hybrid of those two groups (Christ being a Greek-style hero in a Hebrew tradition) is thrilling, as is the idea Mary represents a rebirth in the Christian tradition of Goddess worship.
A core insight is that peaceful, agricultural, and/or foraging societies are more likely to worship Goddesses. Warring, hunting, and/or dessert societies, on the other hand, are more likely to worship Gods. Campbell draws a clear divide between indo-European religions and Semitic ones, where the former incorporates local Gods and Goddesses into its ideology, and the latter overwrites them with a single male God figure.
Politically, this is a story about the history of the rape and oppression of women by invading societies, and their gradual re-assertion as Europe settled.
But more importantly, this is a book about the dangers to our collective psyche of papering-over the stories of people we live alongside. It's a very sympathetic telling of the stories of Goddesses that places more hope in the future of women than their past.
That discussion leads to an overview of the broad history of European religion, from the polytheistic "indo-europeans" (who would become Greek and Hindu), and the monotheistic Semites. The discussion of Christianity as a hybrid of those two groups (Christ being a Greek-style hero in a Hebrew tradition) is thrilling, as is the idea Mary represents a rebirth in the Christian tradition of Goddess worship.
A core insight is that peaceful, agricultural, and/or foraging societies are more likely to worship Goddesses. Warring, hunting, and/or dessert societies, on the other hand, are more likely to worship Gods. Campbell draws a clear divide between indo-European religions and Semitic ones, where the former incorporates local Gods and Goddesses into its ideology, and the latter overwrites them with a single male God figure.
Politically, this is a story about the history of the rape and oppression of women by invading societies, and their gradual re-assertion as Europe settled.
But more importantly, this is a book about the dangers to our collective psyche of papering-over the stories of people we live alongside. It's a very sympathetic telling of the stories of Goddesses that places more hope in the future of women than their past.
ivydally's review
4.0
Read the chapters I needed (up to the Gods and Goddess of Ancient Greece). Its been a while since I read anything even close to scholarly, and I really enjoyed Campbell's cross-cultural approach to understanding both the power of the Goddess and how that power was eventually stripped away as Creator Father figures took over. My only complaint is that the illustrations were small and in black and white. Some of the works he refers to as evidence for his theories are difficult to see, and you have to accept his interpretation of the artifacts since you can't make out details.