Symbols of the Prehistoric Goddess in Old Europe: Continuity and Significance in the Early Christian Era

Valerie Abrahamsen, ThD

47 Seaverns Avenue #1R

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

  The all-powerful, life-giving goddess of the Neolithic era is preserved in Old Europe, Greece, and elsewhere on millions of figurines, shrines, grave monuments, and everyday objects and architectural features. Her symbolic representations include beaked heads of the Bird Goddess, bulls' horns resembling the crescent moon and women's reproductive anatomy, and V's and chevrons symbolizing the goddess' fertile pubic triangle. Millennia later, in Christian contexts on the same soil, these and other goddess symbols appear on paintings and sarcophagi and in mosaics and illuminated manuscripts. While they seemingly reflect people's adoration of Moses, Christ, Mary, or female deities of the Graeco-Roman pantheon, they also point to an underground survival -- especially among women -- of the earlier deity. This persistence is significant for the development of Western civilization: first, our ancestors venerated a female deity and fashioned a non-violent, highly developed society based on her worship; second, seemingly androcentric Jewish or Christian symbols were originally female; and third, people calling themselves Jews or Christians throughout history continued to revere a female deity while the worshipped the One God. This paper, focusing on the early Christian era, will explore these issues using symbols such as the cross and the labyrinth.