The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word And Image (Compass)

Unfortunately though this is an extremely interesting and well written work I can only give 3 stars (possibly 2 stars), mainly because of its flawed core contention: that the alphabet and monotheism appeared at the same time as the Jewish Exodus together with a moral understanding of Law. Though Shlain remarks that it is both mysterious and an amazing coincidence that such a seminal change in human history should have taken place in one of the most remote places on earth, the Sinai desert, in fact it is none of these.Such a view arises from accepting at face value the Bible as, “the primary source of information concerning the birth of Judaism.” (Ch.9) For a writer of such broad interests and wide ranging reading Shlain shows no awareness of the revolution in understanding caused by the findings of biblical archaeology over recent decades. For example, just a short time after the publication of his book in 1998 the Israeli paper Haaretz published an article by Zeev Herzog: “Truth from the Holy Land: After 70 years of archaeological excavations in the Land of Israel it is clear that the biblical period did not exist….the Patriarchal stories, the Exodus, the Conquest and empires of David and Solomon are just folk stories.”Whatever one may think of the Bible’s theology and ideology as a reliable source of historical evidence it has virtually no value at all. What to Shlain is a mysterious coincidence of epochal magnitude at a specific historical moment is actually no such thing: the cult of Yahweh arose in seventh century BCE prompted by the Jerusalem prophets at the time of Josiah five centuries after the supposed time of Moses, himself a retrojected literary construction – why and how all this came about is discussed, for example, in detail by two leading Israeli archaeologists, Israel Finkelstein and Amihai Mazar in ‘The Quest for the Historical Israel’. Only after the Exile under Hellenic and Zorastrianism influences – in a period often referred to as the Axial Age - did monotheism proper emerge in the sixth century BCE. Subsequent redactions of the bible texts in the light of this understanding give us the book we have today.The beginnings of the alphabet emerged long before the time of the putative Exodus event in the 12th century BCE. Dennise Schmandt-Besserat has shown convincingly how writing emerges from economic activity ( a view that would tie in perfectly with the decisive role of a trading people such as the Phonecians – of whom Shlain is somewhat dismissive) and the first writing can be traced back as far as 4000BCE to the Tartaria tablets of the Vinca culture on the Danube. As a true alphabet uses letters for both vowels and consonants, which early Hebrew does not (having no written vowels), the first true alphabet is usually regarded as Greek.The real reason for understanding the diminishment of the role of women in society – the object of Shlain’s quest – is to be found within the context of much wider social changes in the Near East after the fourth millennium BCE, not patriarch warriors from the east but in the rise of the city and what we understand to be civilization. Here the social scientist Erich Fromm gave a much more penetrating analysis in his work ‘The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness’ in which he perceptively summarizes the change from the Neolithic matriarchal agricultural societies: “No longer was the fertility of the soil the source of all life and creativity, but the intellect which produced new inventions, techniques, abstract thinking, and the state with its laws. No longer the womb, but the mind became the creative power, and simultaneously, not women, but men dominated society.” It is a view supported, for example, by Lewis Mumford in his monumental work ‘The City in History.’

This book is published in 1998. There has been massive leaps in neuro science since. However the fundamentals are still the same and the ancient history and mythology applied to neuroscience in this book is incredible. That was my favourite part. History by itself is pointless unless we know how it has helped us evolve to become a better race

A little bit dated in places but this really does make you think. eg Why were all the statues of goddesses removed all around the Med at the exact same time that people learnt to read? Why were women persecuted for witchcraft far far more than men? Why has society destroyed the earth at the exact same time that it claims to be better educated than ever before?

Really good book. It’s basically a history lesson from the women’s perspective.

Bought a second copy for my brother in Australia - who lent his edition out and had it pinched. That says it all, really. Excellent, prompt service, by the way....

This book was engrossing and Excellent informative read. I would gladly recommend this book to others as I am certain that they would enjoy and learn from it.

fascinating. great study of language and its effects on women.

important read