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From the Publisher
This book is bold, creative, and courageous, and makes a considerable contribution to feminist re-readings and reinterpretations of religious and mythological traditions from the Graeco-Roman world.”--Marvin Meyer, Ph.D., Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies, Chapman University; Author of The Gospel of Judas, The Gospels of Mary, The Gnostic Bible, and Ancient Christian Magic
“Thought provoking and superbly written, this is the only book to examine thoroughly and seriously the question of divine birth in ancient Greece. Imperative for classical scholars, the book provides stunning insights that should be a fascinating read for anyone who has even the slightest interest in spirituality, religion, feminism, or ancient history.”--Jorge N. Ferrer, Ph.D., Coeditor, The Participatory Turn: Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious Studies
"With this pioneering work, Rigoglioso has illuminated the coherence and the centrality of the seemingly disparate references to divine birth in Greek religion. Her insightful study of the priestesshoods of divine birth brings the subject into focus and suggests new scholarly perspectives."--Charlene Spretnak, author of Lost Goddesses of Early Greece
"Like Joan Breton Connelly's Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece, Rigoglioso's book brings together masses of evidence about women's roles in Greek religion that (patrarchially inclined) scholars have tended to overlook. Rigoglioso argues that the divine birth priestesses engaged in mystical practices intended to allow them to give birth parthenogenetically (without a man). The evidence she brings together in support of this idea is impressive. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in the roles of women in ancient Greek religion."--Carol P. Christ
Overview
Greek religion is filled with strange sexual artifacts––stories of mortal women's couplings with gods, rituals like the basilinna's “marriage” to Dionysus, beliefs in the impregnating power of snakes and deities, and more. In this provocative study, Marguerite Rigoglioso suggests these are remnants of an early Greek cult of divine birth, not unlike that of Egypt. Scouring myth, legend, and history from a female-oriented perspective, she argues that many in the highest echelons of Greek civilization believed ...