ceremonials connected with nature worship, where the procreative
principle in man became identified with the creative energy pervading
all nature, and was used as a magic charm at the time of springtime
planting to insure the fertility of the fields and abundant harvest,[1]
It was also an important part of the ritual in the Phrygian cults, the
cult of the Phoenician Astarte, and the Aphrodite cults. These mystery
religions were widely current in the Græco-Roman world in pre-Christian
times. The cult of Demeter and Dionysius in Greece and Thrace; Cybele
and Attis in Phrygia; Atagartes in Cilicia; Aphrodite and Adonis in
Syria; Ashtart and Eshmun (Adon) in Phoenicia; Ishtar and Tammuz in
Babylonia; Isis, Osiris and Serapis in Egypt, and Mithra in Persia--all
were developed along the same lines.[2] The custom of the sacrifice of
virginity to the gods, and the institution of temple prostitution, also
bear witness to the sacred atmosphere with which the sex act was
surrounded among the early historic peoples.[3] It was this idea of the
mysterious sanctity of sex which did much to raise woman to her position
as divinity and fertility goddess.

The dedication of virgins to various deities, of which the classic
example is the institution of the Vestal Virgins at Rome, and the fact
that at Thebes and elsewhere even the male deities had their priestesses
as well as priests, are other indications that at this time woman was
regarded as divine or as capable of ministering to divinity. The
prophetic powers of woman were universally recognized. The oracles at
Delphi, Argos, Epirus, Thrace and Arcadia were feminine. Indeed the
Sibylline prophetesses were known throughout the Mediterranean basin.[A]

[Footnote A: Farnell[4] found such decided traces of feminine divinity
as to incline him to agree with Bachofen that there was at
one time an age of Mutterrecht which had left its impress on