Cult life in Old Europe, priestesses and their predecessors
When agriculture and its way of life spread in Southeastern Europe about 8000 years ago, religious concepts also reached a critical turning point. Mother Earth reigned in hunter-gatherer cultures, and she was considered both Nature itself and its protectress. With the spread of agriculture, the Goddess's functions widened, and she became a benefactress of the growth cycle of plants and their cultivation. With this new role, expanded from her original one as the guardian of Nature, the great goddess of Old Europe was the apex of her own lineage.
Old Europe did not exist in isolation as its religious system developed, with the Goddess figure as its central point. Before the transition to an agricultural society, Southeastern Europe was part of a broad Eurasian cultural zone where hunters worshipped Mother Nature, who was also considered the creatrix of the world. A distant echo of this era is still found in Greek mythology, and relates to the goddess Eurynome. The Greeks themselves remembered that Eurynome was not originally a Greek figure, but represented a Pelasgian, or pre-Greek, tradition.
According to the myth, Eurynome, whose name means "eternal wanderer", travels over the primordial sea before the world was born. Boreas, the north wind, is intrigued by the goddess and charmed by her graces. Boreas wants to have sex with Eurynome and his wish is granted, even though the goddess is not particularly interested in him. Afterwards the goddess turns into a water bird and flees. After a long flight she gets to rest on a little islet. The goddess is pregnant and she lays her egg on the ground. Eurynome falls asleep but nudges the egg in her slumber, and the shell tears open. All of the things in this world tumble out.
This unusual creation story is found not only in Greek mythology but in other Eurasian cultural areas as well. Religious traditions were also preserved in Old Europe, which indicates similarities between Eurasian cultures and that of Old Europe. The earliest preagrarian cultural foundations of Old Europe are rooted in a broad Eurasian stratum. An important phenomenon in hunter culture was shamanism, and more often than not, shamans were women. Women's senses and intuition were considered to be more attuned than men's, guaranteeing a smoother entry into states of trance. When the hunters of Old Europe adopted agriculture, the old traditions and rituals still remained. Goddess worship held a firm position in Old European communities, and women were responsible for cult life and rituals. In the agrarian era, the main focus shifted to the cultivation of grain and vegetables, and the shamans of old became priestesses in the more developed forms of cults.
The privileged role of women in cult life continued in Ancient Greece, where the worship of goddesses of pre-Greek origin was overseen by priestesses. The Oracle of Delphi and the High Priestess of Athena are famous examples of priestesses. New findings from important Ancient Greek sanctuaries, which played a special role in constructing Greek community, show that these cult places were originally devoted to goddesses, and only later to male figures. Community-building was originally facilitated by what in women's philosophy is called the feminine ideal. This holds true for Delphi, Olympia, and the Acropolis in Athens. It is not far-fetched to assume that oracular practice, collective rituals and religious processions functioned as the cornerstones of an entire social system for the Old Europeans as well. But only a distant echo remains of Europe's oldest era in Ancient Greek sanctuaries. This evokes the question of whether the feminine ideal could shape modern community into something more socially and ecologically sustainable.
Ceramic items from a cult place.
Harald Haarmann and Virpi Lehtinen
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