Chapter 4 Summary and Analysis

The Northern tribes leave no record of when or why they adopt a male deity; they enter history only upon contact with the Goddess-worshiping Middle Easterners. These "battle ax cultures" are pastoral, patriarchal, warlike and expansive, coming southward in sporadic waves over the course of thousands of years, beginning before written records. The vanguard is aggressive warriors and a priestly caste, which then rule the indigenous peoples to whom they feel culturally superior. The invasions are as much religious crusades as territorial conquests. They establish themselves on the Iranian plateau by the fourth millennium BCE, in Anatolia in the late fourth early third, and in the Middle East soon after 2000 BCE, pushing southward into Mesopotamia and Canaan. Myths in every region witness how the locals react to the suppression of Goddess worship and the "intricate interlacing" of opposing political theologies. Surviving...