Once I discovered African mythology, I became insatiable. Her nature, in part, inspired me to write Daughters of Nri, the first book in the Return of the Earth Mother series. And then, of course, there’s Ala, the Igbo earth goddess who completely embodied duality, ruling the underworld while also being credited for fertility, often depicted with a baby in one hand and a sword in another. To China’s Wangmu Niangniang, the goddess of happiness and longevity who could boast of a magical peach tree that kept the people who ate its fruit perpetually young. In due time I realised that every single continent was rich with colourful and intricate mythology of its own.įrom India’s Parvati, a manifestation of the all-powerful divine feminine energy of the universe, Shakti, according to Hindu mythology. Outside of the Egyptians, ancient African mythology seemed obscure and non-existent it stood in my mind as a blank canvas to the exquisite masterpiece that was ancient western mythology. It took a few years before my interest in Roman and Greek mythology sparked a question that I would later discover to be one of the most important that I have ever asked - where are the African myths? For a long time, I believed that they didn’t exist. I put aside her terrible treatment of Medusa, a woman punished for being sexually assaulted, and her general disregard for human life, and instead focused on her display of feminine strength and power. someone viewed women as wise and strategic. She was evidence that even back in 900 B.C. As a young, impressionable and (annoyingly) enthusiastic feminist, Athena with her wit and strength appealed greatly to me.
Frankly, I still get quite a bit excited when I come across her in literature and art. I knew her to be the alluring goddess of wisdom, arts and strategic warfare, and I was completely enthralled. Why We Should All Know More About African MythologyĪthena was the first deity that I remember learning about in school.
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