CHAPTER V.

Predominance of the Goddess.

Importance of the phenomenon in the history of religions--In Mesopotamia and other Semitic regions the chief deity male, except Astarte at Sidon--Evidence from Hittite kingdoms doubtful, but at points on the Asia-Minor coast, such as Ephesos, and notably in Phrygia, the supremacy of the goddess well attested--The same true on the whole of Cretan religion--The earliest Hellenes, like other Aryan communities, probably inclined to exalt the male deity, and did not develop the cult of Virgin goddesses--Therefore Athena and Artemis probably pre-Hellenic