rom chaos, and in the beginning her children have no father.[234]
Traces of such a goddess are to be found in many ancient religions.
Afterwards as a modification, or rather a development, of the
Earth-mother, we have the goddesses of fertility. This idea arose with
the development of agriculture, and was closely connected in the
primitive mind with the sex functions. Demeter is of this type; and
there are many of these mother-deities who once were universally
worshipped. Virgin goddesses are a much later creation, and must be
connected with the patriarchal ideals for women. The original god-idea
symbolised as woman is the free mother; she is the source of all
fertility; she is the goddess of love. The servants of these goddesses
were priestesses, or at a later date men dressed as women. At first
the gods, in so far as they had any existence, appear in the form of
temporary lovers of the goddesses; they are very plainly the
transitory male element needful for fertilisation, and then destined
to disappear.[235] We find very early the brother as the husband and
dependent of the Mother-goddess. Thus Isis did not change or lose her
independent position after her marriage to her brother Osiris; her
importance as a deity remained always greater than his.[236] Only at a
much later stage--the patriarchal stage--was the wandering lover-god
or dependent brother-spouse raised to the position of authority of the
All-Father. We may find in the religious sexual festivals, common to
all civilisations, abundant confirmation of these facts. As one
illustration out of many that might be chosen, I will refer to the
account given by Prof. K. Pearson[237] of the festival of Sakaees, held
in Babylon in honour of the great goddess Mylitta, who was essentially
a mother-goddess of fertility. The festival lasted for five days in
the month of July. It was presided over by the priestess of the
goddess, who represented the goddess herself. She sat enthroned on a
mound which for the time was the sanctuary of the deity, with the
altar with oil and incense before her. To her came the god-lover
represented by a slave, who made homage and worshipped. From her he
received the symbols of kingly power, and she raised him to the throne
by her side. As her accepted lover and lord of the festival, he
remained for five days, during which the law of the goddess prevailed.
Afterwards on the fifth day the god-lover was sacrificed on the pyre.
The male element had