Goddesses in World Mythology

by Martha Anne, Dorothy Imel

Overview

Covering 30,000 years of goddess worship, this fascinating book is the first and most comprehensive biographical dictionary devoted exclusively to mythological deities.

Spanning 30,000 years of goddess worship, Goddesses in World Mythology provides access to nearly 11,500 entries from many cultures: Greek, Celtic, Indian, African, Chinese, Slavic, Mesoamerican, Japanese, and more. Organized alphabetically within geographical regions such as Egypt, the Far East, Oceania, North America, and the Himalayan region, entries identify each goddess by her most common anthropological, mythological, or religious name, then identifies the culture recognizing that goddess, summarizing her powers or attributes, often providing a brief story characterizing her personality and motivations.

The most comprehensive and comprehensible work of its kind, Goddesses in World Mythology features two indexes that divide the goddesses by name and attribute, over 2,000 cross references that guide the reader to other entries, and an extensive bibliography. This unique and easy to use guide shows that goddesses were not just wives, sisters, mothers, or fertility figures, but supreme deities themselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874367157
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/30/1993
Series:	Mythology and Religion Series
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	658
Sales rank:	854,307
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.44(d)

About the Author

Martha Ann Imel has an advanced degree in religious studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO.

Dorothy Myers Imel is a professional writer and editor.

Editorial Reviews

This comprehensive guide is the first of its kind and covers 30,000 years of goddess worship. For academic and large public libraries.” —Library Jourbanal

From the Publisher

This excellent dictionary compiles information on 9500 female deities, deified women, female spirits, nymphs, and fairies. The entries are alphabetically listed under geographic locations: Africa, Central and Mesoamerican, Eastern Europe, Egypt, the Far East, the Greek and Roman empires, the Himalayas, the Indian subcontinent, the Near East, North America, Northern Europe, Oceana, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe. Each entry lists the name, country of origin, major attribute and characterization of the goddess in question, and entries marked with an icon relate succinctly a portion of her legend. A name index and an index by attribute are included, and an extensive bibliography provides an excellent resource for further scholarship. Highly recommended for any reference collection.-Gail Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology Lib., Alfred

Library Journal

A massive compendium of goddesses in the mythologies of people throughout the world, including such far corners as the Himalayas and Oceania. The information includes the region and the people, attributes, the translation of the name, a description, often a story a few sentences long, synonymy, other names or spellings, cross-references, and bibliographic references. Indexed by name and attribute. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

The authors aim "to compile as much accurate information as possible about goddesses," thus "adding to the pool of potential female role models, both fierce and gentle." The scope includes monsters, evil spirits, and witches. Ann has a graduate degree in religious studies; Imel is a professional writer. Twelve consultants are listed, most from the University of Colorado Entries are listed geographically, within 12 regions (Africa, Indian Subcontinent, Western Europe, etc.). They vary in scope; they may note region, people, attributes, description, translation of name, synonyms, cross-references, variant forms, and citations to the bibliography. For example, "Esesar", a goddess of the Gbanya people of Ghana, has the attributes of earth and nature. She is described as an "earth goddess whose husband is the sky god, Ebore," and a reference is given to a source in the bibliography. Typically terse, few entries include detail. Occasionally, longer entries relate stories about the goddess and are highlighted with an icon that is specific to that chapter. Goddesses are indexed by name and by attribute (e.g., agriculture, household affairs), subdivided by region. The bibliography, to which entries are keyed, is lengthy No new ground is broken here; however, the more than 8,000 entries make this larger than any other collection of women deities. Whether this is a way to identify role models is debatable. Leach's more general "Guide to the Gods" ["RBB" Mr 15 92] is cited often here and is preferred for most libraries. Specialized collections (e.g., women's studies, anthropology, religion) will want to consider "Goddesses in World Mythology".

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