A little detective work on the emergence of patriarchy

#WOMBWISDOMWEDNESDAY

The Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts tells the story of a band of heroes Jason gathered around him on the ship the Argo.

The story includes a reference to the White Goddess, which piqued my interest.

It seems that the description of Jason’s journey on the Argos emerged during the precise period when the worship of the ancient Lunar Goddess was being supplanted by the new patriarchal God Zeus.

As part of this transition from Goddess-worship to patriarchal religion, the Lunar Goddess was eventually said to have adopted Zeus as her son.

A few hundred years B.C. a young man known as Apollonius of Rghodes wrote a piece about the two deities which he read out in the library of Alexandria.

He was roundly booed and physically attacked, so much so that he quickly decided to leave for Rhodes.

He stayed there for a number of years and modified his story, so that it no longer challenged the new faith in Zeus.

You see, Apollonius had presented the Lunar Goddess and her nymphs as being more important than Zeus.

After Apollonius returned to Alexandria, he read out his new version of the divine relationships, and was widely applauded and even appointed to librarian in Alexandria.

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