The religious worship of primitive people consisted for the most part in invocations to the Great Mother, the fructifying principle throughout nature, from whom were derived all earthly benefits. Later the Great Mother came to be worshipped under various appellations, namely, Cybele, or Astarte, in Asia Minor, Athene in Greece, Minerva in Rome, and Isis or Neith in Egypt. Finally, as is well known, these goddesses were dethroned by an all-powerful male God, an anthropomorphic deity whose chief attribute was virile might. This change in the god-idea was coincident with, and dependent upon, a corresponding change in the relations of the sexes which took place at a certain period in human history. The god-idea is now and ever has been in strict accord with the existing conceptions concerning the relative importance of the sex-functions in human beings.
During thousands of years of life on “earth” the mother was the only recognized parent. As the giver of life and the protector of offspring she was regarded as the Creator and Preserver of the race. She represented the constructive element in human society. Later, however, when man began to contest the supremacy of woman, her hitherto unquestioned prerogatives began to be claimed by him. It was at this juncture in human affairs that the contention arose over the relative importance of the sexes in the processes of reproduction. Not only in the traditions and legends of early historic peoples but in their histories as well there is much evidence given to prove that this contention was as fierce as that which at the present time is going on between the sexes. As a result of this contention both female and male gods were worshipped. Those who recognized the mother as the giver of life continued to worship the female principle, while those who accepted the new doctrine enunciated by Apollo, namely, that the soul of the child is derived from the father and the mother is only a nurse to his heaven-born offspring, accepted the new religion. When the dominion of man over woman was complete the female principle throughout nature and in the god-idea was practically unrecognized or wholly ignored. Throughout the historic period male power has been supreme not only on the earth but also in heaven. Classical history is not wanting in references to this change in the relations of the sexes and in the god-idea which took place at a certain stage of human development.