GODDESS AT THE BEGINNING

BY LINDA C. ENEIX


Cool stone walls curve and vault overhead, and disappear in shadows cast by oil lamps. Red pigment outlines endless rolling spirals in limestone tissue. Somewhere drums are beating the heartbeat of the earth. Dull vibration comes through the stone flooring and travels up the bones of the living. Outside is sky and sea and gusty wind. Inside is the womb of Goddess.

Every day, new evidence reveals the scope and magnitude of the goddess in prehistory. Modern archaeology is uncovering surprising facts that are quickly making our history and reference books outmoded. Predating the circle of Stonehenge, the palaces of Crete, and the pyramids of Egypt, the megalithic limestone temples of Malta present unarguable testimony to her importance. Fine figurines, statuettes, domestic and ritual earthenware reinforce the staggering impact of the structures themselves, acknowledged to be the earliest free-standing architecture still in existence. For the first time, we have been given a clear glimpse into the world of the Great Goddess.

The neolithic people on the Mediterranean islands of Malta and her smaller sister Gozo have been called one of the most important and purest goddess cultures in the world. Along with most of "civilization" in ancient times, they worshipped a goddess of fertility and abundance, an Earth Mother of creation and regeneration. They were a peaceful artistic community, enviably "in-tune" with all that surrounded them. Nearly 6,000 years ago, these particular people took advantage of their environment and in the relative isolation of their islands advanced a style of spiritual expression unlike anything found elsewhere in the region. Successful for more than a thousand years they continued to develop and to thrive with no trace of conflict or war. The islands may even have been a holy place of pilgrimage. As we know, not much survived of the early matrifocal people of mainland Europe once they were overrun and assimilated by aggressive Indo-European tribes identified by Archaeologist and author Dr. Marija Gimbutas in The Language of the

Goddess, (1989, San Francisco: Harper and Row.) With the mobility of mounted horses and the authority of metal weapons, the invaders made relatively quick work of establishing a new order in the old world by around 2,500 BC. A successful takeover would have demanded the smashing and widescale eradication of any pre-existing Goddess Spirituality. With a few exceptions, myths and legends were all that remained to carry memory of the ancient times. Over subsequent millennia, recorded history managed to distort or destroy most of that as well. The one clear remnant that comes down to us today in such terms as Mother Nature and Mother Earth. (The ancient goddess survives in a margarine commercial.)

In her book, The Goddess of Malta, Lady of the Waters and the Earth, (1992, Haarlem, Holland: Inanna-Fia) Dutch Art Historian and Cultural Anthropologist dra. Veronica Veen writes: "Many people in the Western world, not only women but men as well, have started realizing during the past years, that they have to cope with living in a patriarchal society and culture. However, male dominance, as expressed in the great world religions and most social systems as well, is only extremely young compared with the history of mankind. Of the proverbial 24 hours, maybe just five minutes.

"During the past 15 years the book market, especially in America, has been flooded with the so-called goddess-books. These often display an admittedly enthusiastic, but carefree amateurism in which the supporting archaeological evidence is rather outdated, apart from the numerous wild associations and interpretations. But recently also a few serious volumes, like that of Gimbutas have been published. Although ancient Malta has started to be included now, real insight is still lacking. Malta’s prehistory is clearly a case on its own and has to be dealt with accordingly."

It’s natural to be skeptical about the importance of a civilization which is neither recorded in the Bible nor described in the hieroglyphics of an Egyptian tomb. How is it that the Maltese "fertility cults" have been such a secret? It’s likely that the early people who developed written language knew nothing about them.

As if under some spell of protection, the megalithic temples of Malta were overlooked or ignored for many thousands of years. Abandoned for some reason at around 2500 BC, they sat in isolated silence for centuries. The roofs fell in. Weeds grew between the stones. Through a long and complicated history of foreign occupation and resettlement of the Maltese archipelago, the debris of ages continued to collect in Malta’s temples until 1827 when Ggantija became the first to be cleared. Until very recently they were thought to be something the Romans left behind, or perhaps heathen temples built by the Phoenicians during their long stay on the island. Scientific excavation did not begin until the 1920’s when Malta’s pioneer archaeologist Sir Themistocles Zammit undertook the project. In the mid-1970’s Dr. Colin Renfrew of Cambridge University in England used Bristlecone Pine calibration to accurately date the earliest structures to a staggering 3,800 BC. (That’s more than a thousand years ahead of the pyramids of Egypt.) There is some further speculation that they may be even older than that. What really went on in these temples? That’s something everyone would like to know. Even after nearly 5,000 years they are still powerful spaces. It’s not unusual to see visitors who have walked in the temples deeply moved by what they’ve experienced. Guards tell stories about strange goings-on in the dark of the night; dancing and candles; people who sleep on the cold stone floors; sunrise ceremonials and odd gifts left on the altars. Wild speculation and educated guesses abound. What we have as evidence are great fire pits and libation holes, huge stone vessels and stunning finely decorated pottery, animal bones and goat horns placed in carved recesses, an obsidian ceremonial blade hidden inside an altar compartment, solar equinox and solstice alignment, lunar calibration, and traces of red ochre pigment. The temple stones are carved with spirals and pitted with mystic decoration. Sagging slightly like “slabs of soft cheese,” the straight lines of the limestone blocks melt into curved walls and breast-shaped chambers - fantastic feats of engineering. Sophisticated chambering and definition of space defy the passing of millennia. And there are the goddesses. The largest would be around eight feet tall if unknowing farmers hadn’t chipped and plowed away her top half. (Local peasants still tell legends of a giantess who carried a megalith on her head.) Sculptures in stone and in clay portray her naked, standing or comfortably seated, always with one hand resting over her belly in a timeless maternal gesture. There are also clothed figures which may be the Goddess or her priestesses. Without exception, she is big. Fat. Abundant. In a tremendously enlightening trans-disciplinary approach to the evidence, Dra. Veen’s studies move beyond figuration to iconology. "Their whole way of thinking was pervaded by symbolism... They had a cyclical world view in which everything was in a continuous state of transformation, under the guidance of the Goddess of life, death and rebirth... The changing of the seasons, the phases of the moon, the menstrual cycle of women, the stages of human life, form a true weaving of cyclical symbolism, characteristic for the Neolithic Age. Change, growth and flowering, birth, death and rebirth are experienced as parts of the same ever ongoing process." (Dra. Veen will share her research with a women’s field study program group in Malta this December.)

Perhaps it’s no accident that so many of the people of today are looking for a "New Age" of values and renewal of feminine self-esteem. An examination of the past beyond curious grave-digging and exploitation may provide some answers for our future.

A poignant plea is made by Maltese architect and poet Richard England:

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