Notes Introduction 1. Trans. Mackail (1934, 275). 2. The literature that has come the closest proposes the existence of the hieros gamos, or rite of sacred marriage, in ancient West Asia and the ancient Mediterranean world. According to some scholars, the sacred marriage was a ritual act of sexual intercourse between a king and priestess as a means of guaranteeing abundance and fertility for the people. This idea has itself received its share of critique. See, for example, Nissinen and Uro (2008). The present work in part reframes the sacred marriage concept by considering women’s agency in it, a much-neglected theme. 3. For a summary of current scientifi c thinking on parthenogenesis, see Chapter 8. 4. For feminist analyses of pre-Greek goddesses, see, for example, Spretnak (1978), Dexter (1990), Baring and Cashford (1991), and Downing (1992). 5. For further discussion of hieros gamos, see Chapter 1. 6. It is based closely on my doctoral dissertation, Bearing the Holy Ones: A Study of the Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece (Rigoglioso 2007). 7. For mention of the parthenogenetic aspects of various goddesses, see, for example, Davis (1971, 33); Spretnak (1978, 20); Daly ([1978] 1990, 84); Dexter (1990, 172–3); Sjöö and Mor (1991, 27–30); Reis (1991; 34–53); Ruether (1992; 18); and, more extensively, Hwang (2005, passim). For claims of successful virgin births among indigenous tribes in Australia and Melanesia, see, for example, Roth (1903); Malinowski (1913, 1927, 1929); Montagu ([1937] 1974); Leach (1969); and Spiro (1968). For other, more controversial, claims, see Bernard (n.d.) and Melchizedek (2000, 2:282–5). For briefer discussions of virgin birth in ancient Greece, see, for example, Graves ([1875] 2004); Hartland (1894; 1909–10); Rhys (1922); Boslooper (1962); Warner (1976); Sissa (1990); Drewerman (1994); and Miller (2003). 8. Her work builds upon that of Ricoeur (e.g., 1965, 40–4; 1970, 32–6), who fi rst articulated the concept of hermeneutics as an exercise of “suspicion” (soupçon). 212 Notes 9. Although I am distinguishing here between myth and legend, I use the terms interchangeably throughout the book, along with story. 10. For a history of human diffusion, see, for example, Cavalli-Sforza et al. (1994). 11. For a modern consideration of gnostic epistemology, see Kripal (2007). Chapter 1 1. For those not familiar with ancient Greek, I occasionally indicate where the stress should fall on certain key terms. Parthenos is accented on the second syllable: parthénos. 2. I refrain from using the term immaculate conception as a synonym for divine birth because it has a precise meaning in Christian doctrine that is in fact unrelated to virginal conception. There, it refers simply to the idea that the Virgin Mary was born “exempt from all stain of original sin” (Holweck 1910, 674). Its use as a reference to Mary’s virginal conception of Jesus is incorrect. 3. This theory received yet another confi rmation in the summer of 2007 by the Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, which uncovered evidence of the worship of a pre-Olympian deity in the archaeological layers under an altar to Zeus on the summit of Mount Lykaion in Arcadia in Greece (Wilford 2008). 4. For the classical exposition of matriarchy (one that is interesting but in many ways problematic from a feminist viewpoint), see Bachofen ([1861] 1897), portions of which can be found in English translation in Bachofen (1973, [1861] 2005). For a recent critique of theories of matriarchy, see Eller (2000). For a counterresponse to Eller, see Dashu (2000) and Marler (2005). I rely on the defi nition of matriarchy proposed by Göttner- Abendroth (2001). A classical matriarchy possesses specifi c traits at four levels: the economic, social, political, and cultural. At the economic level, a matriarchy is characterized by reciprocity. Women have the power of distribution of goods, and inheritance is passed down through the mother’s line. Yet, the society is egalitarian and includes mechanisms for distributing wealth to prevent goods from being accumulated by special individuals or groups. At the social level, a matriarchy is matrilocal; people live in large clans, and kinship is acknowledged exclusively in the female line. At the political level, a matriarchy is governed by communal and consensual decision mak- ing, and is characterized by leadership that is shared in complemen- tary fashion between the genders. Decisions begin in the clan house and are carried out to the village level via delegates, who may be the oldest women of the clans or the brothers and sons they have chosen as representatives. On the cultural level, a matriarchy is characterized by religious traditions in which divinity is seen as imminent in the Notes 213 earth, nature, and the cosmos, and in which there is no separation between sacred and secular. Everyday tasks take on ritual meaning, the cycles of the seasons and other astronomical events are celebrated, and frequently the universe is conceived as a female or divine Mother. In short, the classical matriarchy is, in essence, an egalitarian society in which the female principle is considered foundational and central. This corresponds with Sanday’s observation (1998, para. 2) that the term matriarchy itself should be redefi ned as “mother origin,” since it derives from the Greek mêtêr (mother), and archê, which can mean “beginning,” “origin,” or “fi rst principle.” I contend that pre- and early Greek society evinced aspects of this type of matriarchal struc- ture (if already partly patriarchalized, as I explain further below), and I provide support for this assertion throughout this book. 5. Occurrences can be found in Sophocles, frag. 310 (in Kerenyi 1975, 44 n14) and Plato (Charmides 153a). 6. While controversy surrounds Gimbutas’s methods and conclusions (e.g., Goodison and Morris 1998; Hayden 1993; Meskell 1995; Tring- ham and Conkey 1998), the viewpoint I adopt is in accord with those of archaeologists and other scholars who are verifying and expanding upon various aspects of Gimbutas’s theories (e.g., Nikolov forthcom- ing; C. Lazarovici 2008; G. Lazarovici 2008; Dergachev 2007; Yakar 1997, 2007; Brukner 2006; Christ 1996; Keller 1996; Spretnak 1996). Along with these scholars, I fi nd that Gimbutas’s theories have tremendous heuristic utility for the interpretation of not only archaeological artifacts, but also iconography, mythological motifs, and historical texts. That prominent classics scholars such as those cited earlier independently held to similar theoretical views puts, I believe, the assumption of an earlier matriarchal substratum in Greece, upon which my analysis is based, on fi rm, even if not conclusive, footing. 7. Entheos is accented on the fi rst syllable: éntheos. 8. One ancient literary example of entheos is found in Euripides (Hippolytus 141). 9. Wasson et al. (1978) and Eyer (1993) argue that entheogens were used to stimulate the culminating experience of initiates during the Eleusinian Mysteries, for example. See also Hillman (2008) for a his- tory of the widespread use of entheogens in the ancient world. 10. See Chapter 8 for further discussion of this topic. 11. On Egyptian terrain, this theoretical concept is supported in part by Troy (1986, 53), who notes that the roles of Egyptian royal women and priestesses were based on identifi cation with the primary goddess of the pantheon. 12. Jerry L. Hall, ViaGene Fertility director, personal communication, August 19, 2004. One important exception is the honeybee, which I discuss at length in Chapter 7. 13. I contend this idea would have persisted even though, according to Hall (personal communication, August 19, 2004), theoretically a 214 Notes parthenogenetically produced daughter would not in fact be a “clone” of the mother, given that each egg is genetically different and represents a unique combination of the mother’s genes. What would have been stressed in the condition of daughter-bearing par- thenogenesis was the symbolism of the mother essentially “creating (herself) out of herself,” not technical scientifi c details (which may or may not have been understood). Moreover, given that, in the case of parthenogenesis, theoretically all genetic material would come from the mother, the parthenogenetic daughter would tend to look very similar to the mother, thus emphasizing the “twinning” aspect. 14. Space constraints preclude an analysis of the parthenogenetic aspects of the mythology and cult of Demeter and Persephone in this book. See my forthcoming Virgin Mother Goddesses of Antiquity. 15. The fragment is preserved in Plato: For from whomsoever Persephone shall accept requital for ancient wrong, the souls of these she restores in the ninth year to the upper sun again; from them arise glorious kings and men of splendid might and surpassing wisdom, and for all remaining time are they called holy heroes amongst mankind. (Plato Meno 81b, 1925, trans. Lamb) I contend this references the sacrifi cial death and apotheosis of divinely born children that I am positing here. 16. My interpretation differs somewhat from that of Frazer, whose work has infl uenced the general understanding of the purpose of the divine king and his sacrifi ce. According to Frazer (e.g., 1905, 291–7; [1906–15] 1935, 2.1:318–23, 4:9–160), early communities regarded their kings as gods incarnate. The king was not supposed to grow old because his divine powers would dwindle with the decay of his body; therefore, he was put to a violent death at the fi rst signs of aging. When he was killed, the divinity left his body to take its place in a younger person. Cook (1904 passim) similarly argues that the early Greek kings, honored as embodiments of Zeus and actually called by his name, were within traditional memory killed as soon as they began to exhibit old age.