When God Was a Woman

Here, archeologically documented, is the story of the religion of the Goddess. Known by many names--Astarte, Isis, Ishtar, among others--she reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. Beyond being worshiped for fertility, she was revered as the wise creator and the one source of universal order. Under her, women's roles differed markedly from those in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures. Women bought and sold property was passed from mother to daughter. How did the change come about? By documenting the wholesale rewriting of myth and religious dogmas, Merlin Stone details a most ancient conspiracy: the patriarchal re-imagining of the Goddess as a wanton, depraved figure. This is the portrait that laid the foundation for one of culture's greatest shams--the legend of Adam and fallen Eve.