ABSTRACT
Sandra Billington has paid apt and fitting tribute to the work of Hilda Ellis Davidson. What I wish to do here is to introduce the present volume. The subject-matter is diverse, reflecting the wide range of interests and specializations both of the contributors and of Hilda Ellis Davidson herself. The varied approaches that have been adopted embrace the disciplines of anthropology, archaeology, mythic literature, and folklore. Despite this diversity, two important general points emerge: first, the enormous powers and wide-ranging responsibilities of the goddesses; and, second, the inadvisability of making inferences from the status of female divinities about the position of women in society. A valuable aspect of the approach taken here is that the contributions have not been biased by specifically feminist attitudes but are based entirely upon observations resulting from research. It is necessary to exercise a rigorous approach to scholarship in this emotive subject, and, in a book which explores the veneration of goddesses belonging to many divergent times and cultures, it is essential not to fall into the trap of using evidence from one area and period to account for phenomena observed in another. If comparisons between beliefs and perceptions of differing peoples are made, they must be based upon genuine evidence for similarities rather than on generalizing theory.
