Ancient Babylonia - Great Mother Goddess
In ancient Near Eastern religions, mother goddess, the great symbol of the
earth's fertility. She was worshiped under many names and attributes. Similar
figures have been known in every part of the world. Essentially she was represented
as the creative force in all nature, the mother of all things, responsible
particularly for the periodic renewal of life. The later forms of her cult
involved the worship of a male deity, variously considered her son, lover, or both
(e.g., Adonis, Attis, and Osiris), whose death and resurrection symbolized the
regenerative powers of the earth (see fertility rites). Although the Great Mother
was the dominant figure in ancient Middle Eastern religions, she was also
worshiped in Greece, Rome, and W Asia. In Phrygia and Lydia she was known as Cybele;
among the Babylonians and Assyrians she was identified as Ishtar; in Syria and
Palestine she appeared as Astarte; among the Egyptians she was called Isis; in
Greece she was variously worshiped as Gaea, Hera, Rhea, Aphrodite, and
Demeter; and in Rome she was identified as Maia, Ops, Tellus, and Ceres. Even this
listing, however, is by no means complete. Many attributes of the Virgin Mary make
her the Christian equivalent of the Great Mother, particularly in her great
beneficence, in her double image as mother and virgin, and in her son, who is God
and who dies and is resurrected.
Ancient Babylonia
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