Goddesses
Throughout the history of civilization, goddesses have played a vital role, until they were gradually displaced by the idea of a single male god. Even so, through syncretism, the history of Christianity has seen how many goddesses were assimilated into the official pantheon, transformed into saints. Even the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, though lacking the status of a divinity in official dogma, receives a cult so significant in certain sectors of Catholicism that she is undoubtedly a central deity. Believers attribute miracles of every kind to her various local manifestations, many of them specifically related to protection and healing.
The Great Mother or Goddess appears in antiquity under different names:
| **Civilization** | **Goddess**
|
| Sumer | Inanna or the priestess Enheduanna
|
| Babylon | [Ishtar](https://mitologiasumeria.idoneos.com/296324)
|
| Canaan | Anath
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| Phoenicia | Astarte
|
| Egypt | Isis
|
| China | Nü Kua
|
| Greece | Artemis, Athena, Minerva, Circe, Medea, Aphrodite
|
| Scandinavia | Freya
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| Australia | Kunapipi
|
| India | Kali
Making a brief review of the female figure as a divinity, it is clear to observe that she is linked to the domestication of plants and animals. She is often credited with the invention of agriculture, since it was women who first began to bury seeds in the ground. Likewise, wisdom, healing power, and the discovery of the arts of communication (such as the invention of writing systems) appear repeatedly as creations attributed to goddesses.
For the Egyptians, [Isis](https://mitologiaegipcia.idoneos.com/index.php/313986), who possesses both human and divine powers, is the inventor of agriculture. Isis was also recognized as a great healer. Furthermore, the cobra was the hieroglyphic sign for the word "goddess" and was known as the eye ("uzait"), symbol of clairvoyance and mystical wisdom. The cobra goddess Ua Zit was already a female deity of Lower Egypt in pre-dynastic times. Also notable is Maat, the goddess of justice.
In the [Mesopotamian tradition](https://mitologiasumeria.idoneos.com/), the goddess Ninlil appears, revered for teaching the cultivation of the land. It is also said that the goddess Nidaba, in Sumer, was the inventor of clay tablets and the art of writing.
In [Indian mythology](https://mitologiaindia.idoneos.com/), it is the goddess Sarasvati who invented the alphabet.
Offerings of grain to Demeter (bearer of the secrets of Mother Earth) and to Hera (symbol of perseverance, loyalty, and faithfulness) were common in [ancient Greek religion](https://religionesarcaicas.idoneos.com/index.php/372938). Demeter is also credited with the virtue of being a great lawgiver and dispenser of wisdom. She is even assigned a twin goddess, Kore, who is responsible for revealing mystical truths to the most advanced [initiates at Eleusis](/index.php/301750).
And among the [ancient Celts](https://mitologiacelta.idoneos.com/), Cerridwen was worshipped as the goddess of intelligence and knowledge |