gh dignified by the title "Mother of the Gods,"
and even by that of "Queen of Heaven," is utterly without power.

Not only is it plain that the titles and attributes of female gods have
been appropriated by males, but it is also true that the more ancient
deities, which are now known to have been female, have by later
investigators been represented as male.

The interpretations which have hitherto been put upon the Babylonian
and Assyrian deities by many of those who have attempted to unravel the
mysteries of an earlier stage of religious worship, is doubtless due to
the fact that since the so-called historic period began, the qualities
which have been considered godlike have all been masculine; it has
therefore never occurred to the minds of these writers that the ancients
may have entertained quite different notions from their own regarding
the attributes of a Deity; hence, whenever the sex of a god has appeared
doubtful, especially if it be in the least degree powerful or
important, it has at once been denominated as masculine, and this, too,
notwithstanding the fact that such rendering has oftentimes involved
inconsistencies, contradictions, and absurdities which it is impossible
to reconcile either with established facts or with common sense.

Unless the symbols representing religious belief and worship are viewed
in the light of later developed facts in mythology, archaeology, and
philology, there occur many seeming absurdities and numberless facts
which it is found difficult to reconcile with each other; especially
is this true in regard to some of the symbols used to express the
distinctive female and male qualities. The serpent, for instance,
although a male symbol, in certain ages of the world's history appears
as a beautiful woman.

This is accounted for by the fact that a woman and a serpent once stood
for the god-idea. Together they constituted an indivisible entity--the
creating power in the universe. They therefore became interchangeable
terms. The woman when appearing alone represented both, as did also the
serpent.

"In most ancient languages, probably all, the name for the serpent
signifies Life, and the roots of these words generally also signify the
male and female organs, and sometimes these conjoined. In low French the
words for Phallus and life have the same sound, though, as is sometimes
the case, the spelling and gender differ"; but this fact is thought to
be of no material importance, as "