Bearing the holy ones: A study of the cult of divine birth in ancient Greece.

摘要

This dissertation argues that various priestesshoods existed in ancient Greece in which women endeavored to conceive and give birth through non-ordinary (often parthenogenetic) means as an elevated form of spiritual practice. It posits that the intended purpose of this practice was to give birth to a "holy one"—a hero or heroine, gifted spiritual leader, or what was considered to be a supernatural being. It further shows that virginity was often considered an important requirement for such a practice. The work draws its supporting data from Greek myths, legends, and historical accounts, to which feminist hermeneutical and neo-euhemeristic analyses have been applied.;The dissertation begins by examining the cult of divine birth in ancient Egypt, as well as Greek beliefs and practices pointing to a general openness to the idea of miraculous birth in antiquity. It follows by arguing that Ge/Gaia, Metis, Athena/Neith, Artemis, and Hera were originally considered parthenogenetic creatrixes, or "Virgin Mothers." It then explores the possibility that various heroine and "nymph" figures were thought to be parthenogenetic priestesses patterned after such goddesses, and it posits a trajectory for the disruption and transformation of their divine birth practices under the influence of patriarchal Olympian religion. The work also presents the case that the priestesshoods at the oracular centers of Dodona and Delphi were at some point parthenogenetic in nature. Finally, it explores biographies and miraculous birth legends associated with several historical Greek women, among them Parthenis/Pythais, the mother of Pythagoras; Perictione, the mother of Plato; and Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great.