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The Living Goddesses Paperback – January 12, 2001

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 135 ratings

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The Living Goddesses crowns a lifetime of innovative, influential work by one of the twentieth-century's most remarkable scholars. Marija Gimbutas wrote and taught with rare clarity in her original―and originally shocking―interpretation of prehistoric European civilization. Gimbutas flew in the face of contemporary archaeology when she reconstructed goddess-centered cultures that predated historic patriarchal cultures by many thousands of years.

This volume, which was close to completion at the time of her death, contains the distillation of her studies, combined with new discoveries, insights, and analysis. Editor Miriam Robbins Dexter has added introductory and concluding remarks, summaries, and annotations. The first part of the book is an accessible, beautifully illustrated summation of all Gimbutas's earlier work on "Old European" religion, together with her ideas on the roles of males and females in ancient matrilineal cultures. The second part of the book brings her knowledge to bear on what we know of the goddesses today―those who, in many places and in many forms, live on.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wide-ranging and fascinating, "The Living Goddesses "should intrigue the curious and delight most feminist scholars."--"Library Journal"

From the Inside Flap

"The quintessence of decades of research. . . . It excellently illustrates the various manifestations of the Goddess in the Minoan world and in ancient Greece, among the Etruscans and the Basques, in Celtic, Germanic, and Baltic religion. . . . For sure, the ideas of Marija Gimbutas about the 'Old European' civilization are controversial, but they are built on strong arguments and valid bases, which make it indispensable for her dissident colleagues to take heed of her writings."--Edgar Polomé, Editor of the Journal of Indo-European Studies

"The overall view of 'Old Europe' Marija Gimbutas presents is not only readable but spellbinding. . . . Archaeological findings, folklore, and historical texts, including images and texts from ancient Greece and the ancient Near East, are drawn on, and together they produce a coherent, seamless imagery."--Kees Bolle, University of California, Los Angeles

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; First Edition (January 12, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 306 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520229150
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520229150
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.9 x 0.7 x 10.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 135 ratings

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4.7 out of 5 stars
135 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book interesting and well-written about Goddess cultures. They appreciate the extensive addition to history and the author's views on core issues that helped her prove her theories. Many readers describe the female deity as amazing and a treasure trove of history on the Goddess. However, opinions are mixed on readability - some find it easy to read and well-written, while others find it difficult to read with mistakes and unreadable sentences on every page.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

7 customers mention "Interest"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and well-written. They appreciate the extensive addition to history, the archaeological and spiritual aspects, and the points at the core that help the author prove her theories. The book brings all of the author's ideas together in a readable version.

"An absolute treasure trove of history on the Goddess. Fascinating from an archaeological and spiritual standpoint...." Read more

"...There are very interesting points on the core that helped the author to prove her theories...." Read more

"Very interesting and well written info about the Goddess cultures. If your into cultural anthropology with a feminist twist this is the book for you." Read more

"Marija Gimbutas, I'm grateful for the extensive addition to history you brought us." Read more

5 customers mention "Female deity"5 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's discussion of female deities. They find it interesting and informative, especially for ecofeminists and those interested in women's spirituality or the origins of patriarchy. The book provides a treasure trove of history on the Goddess.

"An absolute treasure trove of history on the Goddess. Fascinating from an archaeological and spiritual standpoint...." Read more

"...This book is a classic that all ecofeminists and those interested in women's spirituality, or origins of patriarchy definitely appreciate." Read more

"Fascinating view of the ancient people and their worship of the female deity." Read more

"The Lady is amazing." Read more

5 customers mention "Readability"3 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed reviews about the book's readability. Some find it readable and well-written, providing interesting information about Goddess cultures. Others mention difficulty reading due to lack of direction and mistakes on every page.

"Very interesting and well written info about the Goddess cultures. If your into cultural anthropology with a feminist twist this is the book for you." Read more

"...and text accompany the ilustrations is so tiny that it is very difficult to read. Sometimes the font changes in size or in type...." Read more

"Good reading, Great Goddess!..." Read more

"There are copying mistakes on every page - 1 unreadable sentence on each page. Unfortunately I apparently missed the return window :..." Read more

Printing error
1 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2008
    Having become an admirer of Marija Gimbutas long ago, I come to this book after reading "Understanding Early Civilizations" by Bruce G. Trigger. The "civilizations" he discusses are all much later than the widespread Old European "culture" Gimbutas explored. With roots in the Paleolithic it spans millennia, flowering in so called Minoan civilization and still surviving in folk culture today.
    It embodies a kind of "proto-European" religion centered on the most basic of human experiences, life and death. These are seen through the eyes of people whose brains are just as complex as our own, living in a time when social organization was based on extended family and tribe.
    The clear miracle of birth would naturally be the focus of awe. Death would have been a far closer companion than it is today and the cycles of nature would be very familiar. Hardwired as our species is for abstraction, and by extension religion, it is natural that the cycle of birth, death and regeneration would be central to the earliest belief system. That it would be female centered is not a surprise.
    The social organization of that early time was probably based on the realities of surviving that include a very high value on child bearing females. Being able to attribute paternity was simply not important. Humans are not strictly monogamous as has been pretended in more recent times. The important thing was to enable reproduction and protect the young. If a woman could get more than one man to provide for her and her offspring, all the better. Young men could more easily be spared from the community to find mates elsewhere.
    Then, of course, times changed. The human population grew and the horse was domesticated. Mounted Steppe nomads began numerous incursions on the settled, by then agricultural, population. They added a warrior ethic to the old religion and the hierarchy that led to kings and commoners took root. That development is what supposedly led to what we now define as Civilization. That definition is of course in flux. Trigger has allowed that the once essential ingredient, a written language, is no longer necessary.
    What appears to be universal in the civilizations he includes are warfare and human sacrifice.
    A little known and inconvenient truth is that human beings were better fed and had more leisure as hunter-gatherers. I suspect that people, especially the female half of that category, were better off where the Great Goddess was honored. While females were central, the essential contribution of males was appreciated.
    Much of the iconography of the Goddess religion is still in use. Christianity can be seen as the primacy of the dying vegetation god and the mourning rituals leading to his resurrection. Mother Mary and the child Jesus hold a central position. Regardless of the militaristic nature of much that went on in the so called "Christian era", the ideal is still "Peace on Earth".
    It annoys me that there is so much resistance to Gimbutas' well documented research and its message. Just the other day I saw a biblical archaeology TV special in which they discussed Lilith the supposed first wife of Adam who was created equal and not from his rib. They described how she had been demonized and they identified as a "monster" a winged woman with bird feet. If they had even the slightest familiarity with Gimbutas, they would have recognized the old Goddess immediately.
    40 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2012
    The basics of archeology show it to be an exacting science. An archeological site is carefully mapped and often photographed to record exactly how it appeared before it is disturbed. Then as the site is examined each artifact, bones and other material objects are carefully notated as to where they were found and with what other objects. The idea is that even an archeologist whose was not present at the site can still get a pretty accurate idea what was discovered. If the site has some unique or interesting characteristics, the lead archeologist will then write it up describing in detail what was found and, usually, providing a plausible hypothesis on the original purpose of the site and as much about the humans associated with it as is possible within the limits of the physical evidence. Most archeologists stop here and devote themselves to cataloguing their findings.

    Marja Gimbutas, fortunately is not "most archeologists" and goes far beyond the basics of archeology. Using physical evidence from multiple sites in Europe and the Anatolian Peninsula, historical references, and the examples of known "old European" peoples (the Basque, the Etruscans, and the Minoans) she developed a wide ranging theory of the cultures of Europe from the upper Paleolithic until the invading waves of the Indo-European speaking peoples from about 5,000 BCE.

    The core of her theory is that the peoples of what she calls old Europe (pre Indo-European) from at least the upper Paleolithic through the Megalithic twilight of the Neolithic were matriarchal, peaceful peoples, who worshipped various forms of what she calls `earth goddesses' and reflect an egalitarian society. Gimbutas argues that the widely spread artifacts that more conventional archeologists consider "fertility images' in reality are images of earth goddesses who play a key role in the old European religious concepts of birth, death, and regeneration that Gimbutas theorizes was core to the old European belief system.

    So has Gimbutas uncovered important clues about the builders of megaliths like Stonehenge and indeed Europe from upper Paleolithic through much of the Neolithic? Perhaps or perhaps not, but at least she has put forward a plausible, evidence based theory that could explain a little understood period in human development.
    29 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2022
    An absolute treasure trove of history on the Goddess. Fascinating from an archaeological and spiritual standpoint. I will keep and reread this book forever.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2024
    For special collection and study!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2014
    The Living Godesses von Marija Gimbutas

    ist für mich das besste und umfangreichste Buch über die vor
    allem europaeischen Religionen des Neoliths bis Eisenzeit und
    noch darüber hinaus. Es ist das lezte und nicht beendetes
    Buch von Prof. Marija Gimbutas, geschrieben unmittelbar vor ihrem
    Tode (beendet wurde es von ihrer Kollegin). Ich denke, sie wollte
    ihr enormes Wissen allen zugänglich machen, nicht nur den angehörigen
    der Wissenschaft. Im Buch befindet sich in kurzer Form das Wichtigste
    aus ihren Werken.

    Wer das Buch gelesen hat, hat eine Ahnung gewonnen über unsere
    Wurzeln. Aber auch über unsere grausame Geschichte.

    Das alle Wichtigste aber ist die Erkenntnis, dass die weibliche
    Göttlichkeit nicht die männliche Göttlichkeit ausgeschlossen
    hat. Das Patriarchat hat also nicht etwa den fehlenden männlichen
    Gott gebracht, sondern hauptsächlich den "fehlenden" Kriegsgott.

    Nicht die Männer sind schlecht, sondern der Krieg! Der Kriegsgott
    ist weiter darüber hinaus deshalb schlecht, weil er die weibliche
    Göttlichkeit ausgeschlossen hat. Insbesondere im Christentum.

    Dieses Buch braucht wenigstens auf Deutsch zugänglich gemacht werden!
    7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars requires indepth reading
    Reviewed in Canada on April 12, 2024
    This is an earlier version of his work. As an abstract painter my main objective in using his ideas is to give articulation to my perceptual experiences during the creative process of doing; viewing and evaluating. This book is a goldmine for the serious artist.
  • Mike
    5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative yet stimulating
    Reviewed in Sweden on September 26, 2024
    Whether or not you agree with Gimbutas' historical hypothesis, her assiduous and cogent use of historical and archaeological sources deserves to be taken seriously.
  • Larcho
    5.0 out of 5 stars M.Gimbutas
    Reviewed in Japan on March 28, 2018
    All books of M.Gimbutas are a treasure.
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best way to understand ancient symbology
    Reviewed in India on July 16, 2016
    One of the most insightful books that I have come across. This is the best way to understand ancient symbology.
  • Gordon Toumaniantz
    5.0 out of 5 stars An archeologist who really went in with a big wooden ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2014
    An archeologist who really went in with a big wooden spoon. Three cheers for her - but I fear we'll have to wait for the next generation of matriarchal & patriarchal archeologists to actually start talking to each other. Marija's friend and colleague who completed the book is too reserved to continue the heady words....