dylanelizabeth's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Learning the original myths was empowering in a way I didn’t realise something could be, all myths presented simply and are incredibly accessible. Great for anyone with any level of understanding of Greek mythology.
libra17's review
5.0
Years ago, I signed up for an elective on folklore, and promptly panicked when I recieved the book list. There was no real textbook for the class, but there was a list of about 25 books on the syllabus. I found out later that, due to some formatting issues, the required reading and suggested reading lists had been put together, but by that I had already purchased the lot and started reading them. Lost Goddesses of Early Greece is one of the books that I probably never would have stumbled across or read if not a formatting error. It's a formatting error that I am grateful for, as the book is amazing.
Lost Goddesses of Early Greece is a deceptively simple book. Most people don't think about how old myths are or how they evolve over unimaginable lengths of time. Most people just think of the classical greek myths and go 'that's about as old as it gets, unless you want to read Gilgamesh.' I know that's what I thought, prior to reading Lost Goddesses. It had never really occurred to me that, yes, there was something that pre-dated classical Greece, that it was a culture and tradition different than classical Greece, and that we actually know about it (perhaps not as much as we know about other periods of history, but it's not completely lost in the mists of time, either). Spretnack does a wonderful job of explaining how this gap in knowledge came to be, why it exists, and filling in the gap by explaining what we now know about pre-Hellenic times, though understandably hampered by the fact that these traditions were largely oral and they were targeted for extinction due to political reasons over time. Then, she goes on to focus on individual godesses to explain what their characters were originally like, how their characters were changed to the Hellenic veraions that most of us would be familiar with, and offers possible explainations for the alterations. Then comes my favorite part of the book: Spretnack writes a short 'myth' for each goddess to illustrate their character in the pre-Hellenic era. Though Spretnack's academic analysis is wonderful, it is the stories that keep me coming back to this book. Though short, the stories accurately present for the modern reader what these goddesses would have been like for pre-Hellenic worshippers. Their stories are caring, uplifting, and empowering, and I cannot thank Charlene Spretnack for writing a book that makes these stories and their history accesible for the average reader.
Lost Goddesses of Early Greece is a book that I adore, and one that I would highly recommend (especially over a book about classical greek mythology).
Lost Goddesses of Early Greece is a deceptively simple book. Most people don't think about how old myths are or how they evolve over unimaginable lengths of time. Most people just think of the classical greek myths and go 'that's about as old as it gets, unless you want to read Gilgamesh.' I know that's what I thought, prior to reading Lost Goddesses. It had never really occurred to me that, yes, there was something that pre-dated classical Greece, that it was a culture and tradition different than classical Greece, and that we actually know about it (perhaps not as much as we know about other periods of history, but it's not completely lost in the mists of time, either). Spretnack does a wonderful job of explaining how this gap in knowledge came to be, why it exists, and filling in the gap by explaining what we now know about pre-Hellenic times, though understandably hampered by the fact that these traditions were largely oral and they were targeted for extinction due to political reasons over time. Then, she goes on to focus on individual godesses to explain what their characters were originally like, how their characters were changed to the Hellenic veraions that most of us would be familiar with, and offers possible explainations for the alterations. Then comes my favorite part of the book: Spretnack writes a short 'myth' for each goddess to illustrate their character in the pre-Hellenic era. Though Spretnack's academic analysis is wonderful, it is the stories that keep me coming back to this book. Though short, the stories accurately present for the modern reader what these goddesses would have been like for pre-Hellenic worshippers. Their stories are caring, uplifting, and empowering, and I cannot thank Charlene Spretnack for writing a book that makes these stories and their history accesible for the average reader.
Lost Goddesses of Early Greece is a book that I adore, and one that I would highly recommend (especially over a book about classical greek mythology).
editor_b's review
3.0
This collection attempts to reconstruct the mythology of really ancient Greece — the stuff that came before the myths with which we are generally familiar today. Charlene Spretnak makes a convincing case that the versions we know were filtered and transformed by conquering patriarchal cultures. This book invites us to imagine what those myths might have looked like in the preceding oral tradition. It's an ecofeminist project with spiritual ramifications.
Strangely enough, I liked the introductory material (the preface, the introduction to the book as a whole and the introductions to the individual myths themselves) better than the myths themselves. That's nothing to sneeze at, as the introductory material makes up the bulk of this slim volume. It's scholarly and there are footnotes citing sources.
The myths themselves are exceedingly brief. Many are only two or three pages long, and they are double spaced. These have no footnotes and the sources are not clear to me. I interpreted them as poetic in nature. Spretnak describes moving through several stages in her process: research, study, meditate, and "then become that Goddess as much as possible" before the act of composition. That mix of scholarship and spirituality might disturb some people, but I don't have a problem with it as long as it's acknowledged.
The problem I do have is that the myths just seem to lie there. They are kind of flat and a little dull.
Spretnak herself anticipates this criticism. She writes, "The charge can be leveled against the pre-Hellenic myths that they have less plot design, intrigue, and dramatic tension than does Olympian mythology. This is true." She goes on to explain that this is because of the lack of written records. The myths have been pieced together from extremely fragmentary evidence. More to the point, she notes that "themes of deceit, treachery, alienation, and brutality" simply did not inform the sacred stories of this era. Instead, they "tell of harmonious bonds among humans, animals, and nature."
In other words, these are tales from a utopian Golden Age, and as such they suffer from one of the profound problems of utopian literature: They are kind of a yawn. Perhaps this reflects the values I've internalized, raised as I have been on a diet of modern American entertainment, with all the concomitant violence and misogyny that may imply. (Where are the exploding automobiles?!?) But I don't think so. I think it's just more fun to read about gods behaving badly. (But by all means avoid the book of that title. [b:Ugh|1159679|Gods Behaving Badly|Marie Phillips|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1181503983s/1159679.jpg|2637508].)
I also wonder about the historical accuracy of Spretnak's perspective. This was originally published in 1978 when second wave feminism was in full flower. I'm not a scholar of such matters, so I don't know what the current thinking might be on such matters but I imagine it has evolved. See [b:The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory|174954|The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory Why an Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future|Cynthia Eller|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320403363s/174954.jpg|169007] by Cynthia Eller. I have no problem with historical revisionism per se, but I'm more inclined to read this as forward-looking rather than backward-looking; that is, I'm inclined to see that utopian Golden Age as something to which we may aspire rather than something that existed at some point in the past. I think re-imagining myths is a worthy exercise.
Despite these reservations, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in mythology and/or ecofeminism. You can read it in an afternoon, and it will give you plenty to think about. Even after the details of the myths have faded from memory, the overall concept of a pre-patriarchal mythos will linger on.
I should also say that as a co-founder of the Green Party, Charlene Spretnak is something of a personal hero — or perhaps I should say, a personal Hera.
Strangely enough, I liked the introductory material (the preface, the introduction to the book as a whole and the introductions to the individual myths themselves) better than the myths themselves. That's nothing to sneeze at, as the introductory material makes up the bulk of this slim volume. It's scholarly and there are footnotes citing sources.
The myths themselves are exceedingly brief. Many are only two or three pages long, and they are double spaced. These have no footnotes and the sources are not clear to me. I interpreted them as poetic in nature. Spretnak describes moving through several stages in her process: research, study, meditate, and "then become that Goddess as much as possible" before the act of composition. That mix of scholarship and spirituality might disturb some people, but I don't have a problem with it as long as it's acknowledged.
The problem I do have is that the myths just seem to lie there. They are kind of flat and a little dull.
Spretnak herself anticipates this criticism. She writes, "The charge can be leveled against the pre-Hellenic myths that they have less plot design, intrigue, and dramatic tension than does Olympian mythology. This is true." She goes on to explain that this is because of the lack of written records. The myths have been pieced together from extremely fragmentary evidence. More to the point, she notes that "themes of deceit, treachery, alienation, and brutality" simply did not inform the sacred stories of this era. Instead, they "tell of harmonious bonds among humans, animals, and nature."
In other words, these are tales from a utopian Golden Age, and as such they suffer from one of the profound problems of utopian literature: They are kind of a yawn. Perhaps this reflects the values I've internalized, raised as I have been on a diet of modern American entertainment, with all the concomitant violence and misogyny that may imply. (Where are the exploding automobiles?!?) But I don't think so. I think it's just more fun to read about gods behaving badly. (But by all means avoid the book of that title. [b:Ugh|1159679|Gods Behaving Badly|Marie Phillips|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1181503983s/1159679.jpg|2637508].)
I also wonder about the historical accuracy of Spretnak's perspective. This was originally published in 1978 when second wave feminism was in full flower. I'm not a scholar of such matters, so I don't know what the current thinking might be on such matters but I imagine it has evolved. See [b:The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory|174954|The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory Why an Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future|Cynthia Eller|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320403363s/174954.jpg|169007] by Cynthia Eller. I have no problem with historical revisionism per se, but I'm more inclined to read this as forward-looking rather than backward-looking; that is, I'm inclined to see that utopian Golden Age as something to which we may aspire rather than something that existed at some point in the past. I think re-imagining myths is a worthy exercise.
Despite these reservations, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in mythology and/or ecofeminism. You can read it in an afternoon, and it will give you plenty to think about. Even after the details of the myths have faded from memory, the overall concept of a pre-patriarchal mythos will linger on.
I should also say that as a co-founder of the Green Party, Charlene Spretnak is something of a personal hero — or perhaps I should say, a personal Hera.
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