Late Egyptian Goddesses
Hellenization in the Ptolemaic period
Video course in 11 parts. Auset to isis, her syncretism with Demeter, Aphrodite, Fortuna, and other goddesses. Isis Thermoutis, her serpent form. Isis Sothis, of the dog-star Sirius. Egyptian Baubos, erotic and also ceremonial. Besit, ecstatic dancing dwarf goddess. Ptolemaic queens, scientists and philosophers, including Hypatía. Amazon imagery. The persistance of goddesses in Coptic weaving. Forced christianization, supercession of Kemetic religion, and defacements of goddesses: Auset, Neith, Hathor. The last devotees of Isis, the Beja.
Course Curriculum
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PreviewAuset to Isis (8:24)
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StartIsis-Demeter; Thermoutis, Isis of the Snakes (8:16)
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StartIsis-Sothis, Isis-Fortuna and other forms; international spread of isis (4:39)
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StartIsis-Aphrodite / Ashtart; many Egyptian Baubo figurines (12:11)
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StartBes and Besit, and their symbolic meanings (8:28)
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StartGreco-Roman Isis veneration (6:11)
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StartPtolemaic queens (5:15)
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StartMary of Egypt, Cleopatra the Chemist, Maria Hebraea, Hypatia (6:53)
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StartAmazon figures; Coptic weaving; persistence of pagan themes (4:32)
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StartForced christianization / supercession of Kemetic religion (4:01)
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StartGnostic Goddess; Isis Lactans > christian Madonnas (7:53)
Your Instructor
Max Dashu founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970 to research and document global women's history, reflecting the full spectrum of the world's peoples. She uses images to teach, scanning the cultural record: archaeology, history, art, orature, linguistics and spiritual philosophies. From her collection of some 50,000 images, she has created 130 visual talks on female cultural heritages, foregrouding Indigenous traditions, with attention to patterns of conquest and domination. She is internationally known for her expertise on ancient female iconography, matricultures and patriarchal systems, medicine women and shamans, witch hunts, and female spheres of power.
Dashu's legendary visual talks bring to light female realities usually hidden from view, from ancient female figurines to women leaders, priestesses, clan mothers, philosophers, warriors and rebels. Her courses scan the cultural record—archaeology, history, art, orature, linguistics, and spiritual philosophies—making this knowledge more accessible to all education backgrounds.
Dashu has been presenting her visual talks for more than four decades, at universities, conferences, museums, community centers, bookstores, galleries, libraries and schools, in North America, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Austria, Australia, Mexico and Guatemala.
Max Dashu's book Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1000 (Veleda Press, 2016) has been acclaimed as a sourcebook on European ancestral traditions. Her forthcoming book on women in Hellenic myth and history is Vol II in her 16-volume series Secret History of the Witches.
Dashu has published in various journals and anthologies, including Goddesses in World Mythology (Praeger 2010) and the Encyclopedia of Women in World Religion (ABC-Clio 2018). She created two videos: Women's Power in Global Perspective (2008) and Woman Shaman: The Ancients (2013). Her daily posts on the Suppressed Histories Facebook page are followed by 181,000 people, and 72,000 more have viewed her articles on Academia.edu.