Copyright 1995 by Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. mother goddess The symbol and mythology of the mother goddess is found in many diverse cultures of the ancient world. She represents the creative power of all nature and the processes of fecundity, along with the periodic renewal of life. Representations of the mother goddess date from Paleolithic times; an early example is the VENUS OF WILLENDORF figure, found near Vienna. As a mythological and cult figure the mother goddess has appeared in many localized forms, such as ISIS, the "goddess of many names," and the Phrygian Magna Mater. She represents different aspects of the feminine archetype as typified in KALI, LAKSHMI, and the other goddesses of Hindu mythology (see SHAKTI), or in Coatlicue in the Aztec world. The Neolithic settlement of Catal Huyuk (c.7000 BC) in Anatolia provides archaeological evidence that the cult of the mother goddess experienced a long continuity. The chief deity was a goddess who simultaneously incorporated the roles of young woman, mother in childbirth, and old woman. Between the 5th and 3d millennia BC the cult became established in the Fertile Crescent, in the Indus Valley, and around the Aegean Sea. In the eastern Mediterranean the cult found its fullest expression in Minoan Crete, the site of the famous "snake goddess" figurine. The worship of a great goddess was particularly dominant in Middle Eastern religions, especially in the cults of CYBELE and ISHTAR. Both were fertility goddesses involved with a young male consort who dies and is continually reborn. This element of the dying male deity, representing vegetation, is a later development in the cult of the mother goddess and is regarded as a transition from her primal state of being an unmarried mother to having a son, a lover, or both. The Egyptian cult of Isis is concerned with a variant of this relationship, focusing on the death and resurrection of her brother-husband, OSIRIS. In Greek mythology, APHRODITE is frequently portrayed with a young male lover of this kind, as in the myth of ADONIS. The most important cult activity in Greco-Roman culture--the initiation rites of the ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES--was based on the power of DEMETER and her daughter PERSEPHONE to ensure the yearly renewal of all life forms. Further cultural integration occurred with the adoption of the Egyptian Isis cult by the Greco-Roman world. Isis became a universal goddess, incorporating local forms of Greek and Roman goddesses, and was identified with a fertility mystery cult. The cult of Isis persisted during the first four centuries of the Christian era, until persecution finally halted cult activities. In Christianity the figure of the Virgin Mary as theotokos, or the "Mother of God," has clear affinities with that of the ancient mother goddess. Her role, however, is diminished, and that of the divine child is central. Bibliography: Bachofen, J. J., Myth, Religion, and Mother Right, trans. by Ralph Manheim (1967); Friedrich, Paul, The Meaning of Aphrodite (1978); Graves, Robert, The White Goddess (1947; amended and enl. ed., 1983); James, E. O., The Cult of the Mother Goddess (1959; repr. 1961); Matthews, C., ed., Voices of the Goddess (1990); Neumann, Erich, The Great Mother, trans. by Ralph Mannheim (1972); Preston, J. J., ed., Mother Worship (1982); Witt, R. E., Isis in the Graeco-Roman World (1971).