From: CeiSerith@...
Message: 17946
Date: 2003-01-22
>3. The Earth Mother *DHeg^Hom
Are you sure the earth is female in Indo-European mythology? Granted we
do find Gea but the Greek mythologies were affected by native preIE
Balkan beliefs as well as beliefs imported from across the Mediterranean.
As much as I hate to buy into any sort of "Goddess" mentality, I would think that the earth was indeed female among IEs. It isn't just in Greece and the Balkans, but among the Slavs (Moist Mother Earth) and the Vedics.
David Fickett-Wilbar