As adults, when a child asks about the beginning of civilization, we should be able to confidently explain where these places were and what the ancient peoples believed about the world. However, due to the suppression of women’s history under the patriarchy, our true origins remain untaught. Instead, much of ancient history is lost under biblical myths written at least 25 centuries after the first great cities were built. The reason behind this suppression has been extensively proven: the earliest law, government, medicine, agriculture, architecture, metallurgy, wheeled vehicles, ceramics, textiles, and written language were developed in societies that worshiped a Goddess—not a god.
She was widely known as the Queen of the Heavens but bore many names in varying countries spanning from Western Europe all the way to Eastern Asia. These goddesses consistently shared much of the same mythology and symbolism, which strongly suggests the existence of a single source divinity across multiple cultures, much like today’s common concept of God.
In Mesopotamia, She was revered for teaching her people the importance of agriculture. Surrounding the Mediterranean, She was invoked as a law-maker, revered for Her righteous wisdom, counsel, and justice. In nearly all areas of the world, She was depicted as a healer, casting priestesses as the role of physicians within these ancient societies, rarely priests.
Confirming these myths are archaeological records revealing the earliest evidence of agriculture residing in Mesopotamia, as well as the first reports of female judges in the court of law being the Assyrian women of Nimrud (modern day Iraq). At these sites, archaeologists have found agricultural tools, storage jars, and even clay ovens. Nearby in the Halaf region (modern day Syria), archaeologists uncovered artifacts from one of the most sophisticated prehistoric cultures in the ancient Middle East. These sites revealed developed cities with cobbled streets as well as art depicting metalwork and vehicles, suggesting that the wheel’s origin— along with the art of agriculture and architecture— was originally introduced by a society that revered female figures.
Historical accounts from the travels of ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus reveal the powerful roles that women held in these societies 49 years before the birth of Christ. He reports that in North Africa, namely Ethiopia and Libya, women regularly carried arms while men took care of the children: “The men looked after domestic affairs and did as they were told by their wives. They were not allowed to undertake war service or to exercise any functions of government, or to fill any public office, such as might have given them more spirit to set themselves up against the women. The children were handed over immediately after birth to the men.”
Several centuries before Diodorus, Herodotus of Greece wrote of Egypt, citing full female economic autonomy: “Women go in the marketplace, transact affairs and occupy themselves with business, while the husbands stay home and weave.” Additionally, love poems discovered in Egyptian tombs suggest it was women who did the courting, oftentimes pursuing the male with intoxicants to reduce the risk of rejection.
In Sumer, the earliest evidence of written language was found in the form of land rental records. Dating back 5,000 years, these documents indicate that the invention of writing can be credited to women, specifically businesswomen. In 1946, archaeologists uncovered the laws of the ancient Sumerian state of Eshnunna (modern-day Iraq), dating back to as early as 2000 BCE. In them we read: “If a man rejects his wife after she bears a child and takes another wife, he shall be driven from the house and from whatever he owns.”
It was only after a history of violent invasions of the northern Indo-Europeans that many women first experienced gender-based oppression. In their earliest developments, these northern tribes had yet to develop language, religion, or legal systems as they exist today. Unlike the Goddess worshipping tribes, Indo-Europeans worshipped a male deity and lived in patrilineal societies. Over a period of at least one thousand to possibly three thousand years, these tribes invaded in waves of migrations. The worship of the female deity lasted all the way into the classical periods of Greece and Rome. She was not totally suppressed until the time of the Christian emperors of Rome and Byzantium, who closed down the last Goddess temples in about 500 AD.
Interestingly, most sections of the Old Testament have been proven to be written by an exclusive patrilineal group within the Hebrew tribes called the Levites. Scholars have analyzed the Bible in accordance with the ancient artifacts found in these societies and found that the Old Testament is filled with sections that are specifically tailored to diminish the preceding Goddess-worshipping religions. It is in my next article that I will unpack the archaeological evidence and references at our current disposal, including the infamous creation story of Adam and Eve.
