Customer Reviews

The Great Goddesses of Egypt

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At last, a scholarly work that makes accessible information that proves what those of us who have been steeped in ancient Egyptian lore have known all along. Using the latest scholarly material, and her own brilliant insights, Barbara Lesko aptly demonstrates that the ancient goddesses of Egypt were NOT considered merely consorts of more supreme male dieties, but were highly evolved and viewed as significant creative forces in their own right. Dr. Lesko examines extant evidence of the ancient cults of Isis, Hathor, Neith, Mut and others to present a coherent, comprehensive and chronological picture of how various feminine deities were incorporated into the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians and their neighbors, spanning the nearly 6,000 years of recorded history. For perhaps the first time, this material is presented in a format accessible to non-historians and to non-academicians.

In addition, Dr. Lesko shows us that, in the end, the powerful attributes of the goddesses assimilated into one super-goddess, i.e., Isis. The cult of Isis grew to be very powerful, and became so resonant with the common people that its adherents covered much of the known ancient world. Remanants of Isian worship have been found in such far-reaching locations as Pompei, Santorini, Crete, Malta, Turkey, Southern France and even as far north as England and Scotland -- a testiment to the enduring popularity of the divine feminine creative force in the lives of these ancient peoples. In addition, Dr. Lesko postulates that the remnants of the cult of Isis may also have merged with the Christian Marian cults, where the super-goddess was often venerated in the form of Black Madonnas and Christian cathedrals dedicated to the mother of Christ. Interestingly, Dr. Lesko also points out that the cult of Isis still has many adherents around the world today.

This book is a ground-breaking scholarly contribution to a field that has been dominated soley by the patriarchal perspective. Dr. Lesko skillfully avoids the pitfalls of much of the goddess-focused literature by sticking to documented fact and avoiding politically-inspired cliches. Her book is clearly and concisely written. One does not have to be an expert Egyptologist to follow it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested the study of ancient Egypt, ancient religions, and the veneration of the archetypal Mother goddess.

This book chronicles the goddesses who inspired Ancient Egypt's greatness, for they were important to the poor and the elite alike. The author focuses on Nut, Neith, Nekhbet, Wadjet, Hathor, Mut, and Isis. Some of the goddesses had their origins in the Predynastic whereas others were later political creations. A few of these goddesses, Lesko argues, can be traced through an association with various animals to African clan divinities. These great goddesses were believed to protect and nuture Kemet (the land of Egypt) and its pharaoh. The book has many black and white illustrations accompanying the text. It is a great reference and resource for consultation by students and scholars.

This is a great reference and in depth exploration into the many goddesses of a land I love....Egypt. It is not a picture book of any sort, it's power is in it's informational material.I found this book on my quest for knowledge of Hathor. This book gave me more then enough...and opened my eyes to interest in other deities of Egypt. I highly recommend it!

Great Goddesses of Egypt examines the changing images and history of seven of the most important Egyptian goddesses, from Nekhbet to Mut and Isis. Some were prehistoric figures; others political figures of later times: Great Goddesses of Egypt deserves ongoing mention as an excellent resource introducing the facts about early Egyptian goddesses.

I bought this book because it was recommended in another book by Geraldine Pinch. I also recognized the author, Barbara Lesko, whose name is also attached to several collaborative works such as _Pharaoh's Workers: The Village of Deir el-Medina_. I was expecting a work of similar caliber, one that would present scholarly conclusions that rested squarely on the evidence presented. Frankly, I was disappointed.
This book does present some interesting bits of historical trivia, I will give it that. I could tell where Pinch got her citations from Lesko's information. There's also a bit of information on festivals toward the end of _Goddesses_ that I found new and illuminating. But to get to these juicy tidbits, I had to slog through what essentially amounted to academic bra-burning. After first contending that, just because neighboring civilizations also had primitive Mother Goddess creatrix-figures, prehistoric Egypt just HAD to have them as well, Lesko then goes on to paint Hathor as an 'invention' of the 'male-dominated' Heliopolitan clergy and Mut as a 'wise crone' whose union to Amun was a political convenience. Then she spent a chapter of glowing review on Isis, ending on the statement that "she was salvation". By the end of it, I found myself wondering if this author is a closet Dianic Wiccan, and that is not the sort of impression I need to come away with after reading what's supposed to be an scholarly work.
So readers, take this book with a grain of salt. She does dig up some little-known information on several goddesses, but the info is best taken separately from her overtly gender-biased assertions.

Written by an egyptologist, this book is well-researched and yet at the same time easy to read and provides information lots of information in one book that I have only been able to glean from many different texts. It includes info on how the goddesses were viewed over time in relation to the culture and to the male gods. I thoroughly enjoyed it.The Great Goddesses of Egypt

Basically, an adequate book for beginners, but nothing original or new. Ms. Lesko takes other scholars' ideas, most notably Dr. Jan Assman and waters them down for popular consumption. This is acceptable for an amateur egyptologist like Ms. Lesko to do as long as the original work is cited. Fortunately, she uses good judgement in choosing scholarly works that are exceptional. Serious students of Egyptology, however, should go right to the source and forego this book.

It would have been nice if the seller had said it was an old, discarded library book. The book itself is OK, but I was disappointed to find out that the person selling it didn't disclose the fact that it was a discarded library book. I don't know why, but that bothers me.