SOURCE: Introduction to Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths, Beacon Press, 1992, pp. 17-38.

In the following essay, Spretnak discusses the early, pre-Hellenic Greek goddesses and argues that following Greece's invasions by the Ionians, Achaeans, and Dorians, the native oral tradition which embraced matriarchal mythology was incorporated into the patriarchal, Olympic tradition of mythology. Under this system, the once-powerful and compassionate pre-Hellenic goddesses were transformed into jealous, disagreeable, troublesome beings.

Gaia created the world, Pandora gave bountiful gifts, Artemis led Her worshippers in ecstatic dances, Hera rewarded the girls who ran the first Olympic races, and Athena peacefully protected the home. These Goddesses are among the earliest deities known in Greece, but the original mythology surrounding them has been lost. We know their names only through the relatively late myths of the classical period.

Yet for thousands of years before the classical myths took form...