Thread: Dissertations and Theses about Gods, Cults & Mythology – a resource

Here are some scholarly works I have come across about mythology, deity and other topics of interest.
They’re free to download. Many are for masters degrees and such, so they’re well sourced and researched. The only drawn-back is some can be outdated, but not all of them are.

• Hekate, Her Role and Character in Greek Literature from before the Fifth Century B.C.
• The Goddess Fortuna in Imperial Rome: Cult, Art, Text
• The Return of Hephaistos, Reconstructing the Fragmented Mythos of the Maker (have to make a (free) account on the site to download, but it’s worth it – the site has tons more articles and texts online)
• The appeal of Asklepios and the politics of healing in the Greco-Roman world
• Domestic Statuary at Pompeii, The Sculptural Repertoires of Venus, Hercules, and Dionysus
• The Cult of Dushara and the Roman Annexation of Nabataea
• The Sacred Tree in Ancient Greek Religion
• The Image of the Goddess Durgā and Her Worship In Banāras
• The Early Cult of Skanda in North India: From Demon to Divine Son
• The Nature of Artemis Ephesia (short article – link goes to direct PDF)
• Athena in The Mediterranean: A Comparative Analysis of the Evidence for Cult Worship of Athena in Athens and the South Italian City-States of Magna Graecia
• The Abjection of the Pythia
• Hanumān
• The Dionysiac mosaics of Greece and the coast of Asia Minor
• The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis in the Roman World
• Indra and Vrtra: A Study of Continuity and Change in the Indian Religious Tradition
• The Canaanite God El: His Role in Ugaritic Literature
• The Transformation of a Goddess: Depictions of Isis throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World
• Maya Ritual and Myth: Human Sacrifice in the Context of the Ballgame and the Relationship to the Popol Vuh (PDF direct link)
• Goddesses in Celtic Religion: cult and mythology – a comparative study of ancient Ireland, Britain and Gaul
• Ancient Near Eastern gods Enki and Ea: diachronical analysis of texts and images from the earliest sources to the Neo-Sumerian period (PDF direct link)
• The God Enki in Sumerian Royal Ideology and Mythology (PDF direct link)
• “Manufacturing Religion” in the Hellenistic Age: The Case of Isis-Demeter Cult (PDF direct link) – Short article
• The Destiny of The World: A Study on the End of The Universe in The Light of Ancient Egyptian Texts (PDF direct link)
• Xbalanque’s marriage : a commentary on the Q’eqchi’ myth of sun and moon – Xbalanque is one of the Mayan Hero Twins.

Also see:
MonSno_LeeDra’s thread:
Theses on Artemis (not mine)


More to come!

ETA:

The Great Goddess of the Levant (PDF direct link) – short, but detailed article. About Asherah, Anat, etc.
The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess (PDF direct link) – snippet, but contains info

ETA2:
FRAU HOLLE: IN THE MARCHEN AND BEYOND AN ANALYSIS OF THE FIGURE FRAU HOLLE IN THE GRIMM BROTHERS FAIRY TALE AND GERMANIC MYTHOLOGY (PDF Direct link)

Also, if you know of any dissertations and theses online for full, free reading or download, please share!
I just ask that they be scholarly, academic texts/works.

Electronic Journal of Mithraic Studies: Papers & Here

The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago — has tons of free, PDF downloads of Kemetic, Middle Eastern and other civilizations and mythologies.

ETA:
A View of Manjusri – Wisdom and its Crown Prince in Pala Period India (Direct PDF download)
(a Buddhist bodhisattva)

Here’s some more —

• Kretan cult and customs, especially in the Classical and Hellenistic periods
• Greek cults of deified abstractions
• Baldr and Lemminkäinen. Approaching the evolution of mythological narrative through the activating power of expression. A case study in Germanic and Finno-Karelian cultural contact and exchange
• Sol: the Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome
  
• Aphrodite, Defender of Cities
• Scar-Lip, Sky-Walker, and Mischief-Monger: The Norse God Loki as Trickster
• Warrior, Lover, Queen, Mother: The Goddess Istar and Her Relationship with Humanity (direct PDF)
• From Sarasvati to Benzaiten
• Hayagriva: the Many Histories of an Indian Deity
• The Asiatic Artemis
• Osun of Osogbo and Osun in the new world: the mythological religious study of a Yoruba goddess
• Origin and Growth of the Worship of Amaterasu (article) (Direct PDF)
• Adoration of the Ram: Five Hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple (uploaded and shared by the author – nice of him!) — FULL BOOK
  

I am bumping this because some of the links still work, and I think there’s a lot of great information here. Anyone else have links? I’ll try to find some to add.

Yup, here’s some more 🙂

• From the Temple to the Witch’s Coven: Journeying West with Kali Ma, Fierce Goddess of Transformation. A Study of Contemporary Kali Worship in North America: Syncretism, Sacred Relationships, and the Gendered Divine
• Let’s talk about sex: a study into the sexual nature of the goddess Inanna
• Certain aspects of the Goddess in the Ancient Near East, 10,000-330 BCE
• Artemis and her cult
• Power and Piety: Augustan Imagery and the Cult of the Magna Mater
• The Theology of Hathor of Dendera: Aural and Visual Scribal Techniques in the Per-wer Sanctuary
• Reflections on the Enigmatic Goddess: The Origins of Hekate and the Development of her Character to the End of the Fifth Century B.C.
• Invoking the blessings of the Tibetan Buddhist Goddess Tara through chanting her mantra to overcome fear (DIRECT PDF LINK)
• Shamanism and Chinese goddesses : Xi wangmu and Nugua (DIRECT PDF LINK)
• "Why Persephone?" investigating the unique position of Persephone as a dying god(dess) offering hope for the afterlife
• She Who Slays the Buffalo-Demon Divinity, Identity, and Authority in Iconography of Mahiasuramardini
• Ambivalent goddesses in patriarchies : a comparative study of Hekate in ancient Greek and Roman religion, and Kali in contemporary Hinduism.
• Shiva’s divine play: art and literature at a South Indian Temple
• Aphrodite : The Goddess at Work in Archaic Greek Poetry
  
• Kali worship and its implications for the study of Bengali women
• The Inuit sea goddess
• The Goddess Hathor and the women of ancient Egypt
• Cults of Artemis in Ancient Greece
• The changing face of Guanyin in East Asian religions

Agaliha, I love you, you know that? How do you find such awesome stuff? You rock!