Johann Jakob Bachofen
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| - | '''Johann Jakob Bachofen''' (1815 – 1887) was a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] [[anthropologist]] and [[sociologist]], who is most often connected with his research into the matriarchal clans around which primates evolved into hominids, or ''Mutterrecht'', the title of his seminal 1861 book ''Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient World.'' This presented a radically new view of the role of women in a broad range of ancient societies. Bachofen assembled documentation demonstrating that motherhood is the source of human society, religion, morality, and decorum and he drew upon Lycia, Crete, Greece, Egypt, India, Central Asia, North Africa, and Spain. He concluded the work by connecting archaic mother right with the Christian veneration of the Virgin Mary. Bachofen's conclusions about archaic [[matriarchy]] still echo today. | + | '''Johann Jakob Bachofen''' (22 December 1815 – 25 November 1887) was a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] [[antiquarian]], [[jurist]], [[philologist]], and [[anthropologist]], professor for [[Roman law]] at the [[University of Basel]] from 1841 to 1845. |
| - | There was little initial reaction to Bachofen’s theory of cultural evolution, largely because of his impenetrable literary style, but eventually, as well as furious criticism, the book inspired several generations of ethnologists, social philosophers, and even writers: [[Lewis Henry Morgan]], [[Friedrich Engels]], who drew on Bachofen for ''Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State,'' [[Thomas Mann]], [[Jane Ellen Harrison]], who was inspired by Bachofen to devote her career to mythology, [[Walter Benjamin]], [[Erich Fromm]], [[Robert Graves]], [[Rainer Maria Rilke]], [[Joseph Campbell]], [[Otto Gross]] and opponents such as [[Julius Evola]]. | + | Bachofen is most often connected with his theories surrounding prehistoric [[matriarchy]], or ''[[Das Mutterrecht]]'', the title of his seminal 1861 book ''Mother Right: an investigation of the religious and juridical character of matriarchy in the Ancient World.'' Bachofen assembled documentation demonstrating that [[motherhood]] is the source of human society, religion, morality, and decorum. He postulated an archaic "mother-right" within the context of a primeval [[Matriarchal religion]] or ''[[Urreligion]]''. |
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| - | Friedrich Engels analysed Bachofen's views as follows: | + | |
| - | :"(1) That [[Primitive promiscuity|originally man lived in a state of sexual promiscuity]], to describe which Bachofen uses the mistaken term "[[hetaerism]]"; | + | |
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| - | :(2) that such promiscuity excludes any certainty of [[paternity]], and that descent could therefore be reckoned only in the female line, according to mother-right, and that this was originally the case amongst all the peoples of antiquity; | + | |
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| - | :(3) that since women, as mothers, were the only parents of the younger generation that were known with certainty, they held a position of such high respect and honor that it became the foundation, in Bachofen's conception, of a regular rule of women ([[gynaecocracy]]); | + | |
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| - | :(4) that the transition to monogamy, where the woman belonged to one man exclusively, involved a violation of a primitive religious law (that is, actually a violation of the traditional right of the other men to this woman), and that in order to expiate this violation or to purchase indulgence for it the woman had to surrender herself for a limited period." (Friedrich Engels, 1891: see link below) | + | |
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| - | Though Bachofen applied [[evolution]]ary theories to the development of culture in a manner that is no longer considered valid, and though modern archaeology and literary analysis have invalidated many details of his historical conclusions, the origins of all modern studies of the role of women in classical antiquity begin with Bachofen, extending him, correcting him, denying his conclusions. | + | |
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| - | Bachofen proposed four phases of cultural evolution which absorbed each other: | + | |
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| - | 1) [[Hetairism]]. A wild nomadic '[[tellurian]]' phase, characterised by him as communistic and [[polyamourous]]. Whose dominant deity he believed to have been an earthy proto [[Aphrodite]]. | + | |
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| - | 2) Das Mutterrecht. A matriarchal 'lunar' phase based on agriculture, characterised by him by the emergence of [[chthonic]] [[mystery cult]]s and [[law]]. Whose dominant deity was an early [[Demeter]] according to Bachofen. | + | |
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| - | 3) The [[Dionysian]]. A transitional phase when earlier traditions were masculinised as patriarchy began to emerge. Whose dominant deity was the original [[Dionysos]]. | + | |
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| - | 4) The [[Apollonian]]. The patriarchal 'solar' phase, in which all trace of the Matriarchal and Dionysian past was eradicated and modern civilisation emerged. | + | |
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| - | While based on an imaginative interpretation of the existing archeological evidence of his time, this model tells us as much about Bachofen's own time as it does the past. | + | |
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| - | A selection of Bachofen's writings was translated as ''Myth, Religion and Mother Right'' (1967). A fuller edited English edition in several volumes is being published. | + | |
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| - | As has been noted by [[Joseph Campbell]] [Occidental Mythology] and others, Bachofen's theories stand in radical opposition to the Aryan origin theories of religion, culture and society, and both Campbell and writers such as Evola have suggested that Bachofen's theories only adequately explain the development of religion among the pre-Aryan cultures of the Mediterranean and the Levant, and possibly Southern Asia, but that a separate, patriarchal development existed among the Aryan tribes which conquered Europe and Asia. | + | |
| + | Bachofen became an important precursor of 20th-century theories of matriarchy, such as the [[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old European culture]] postulated by [[Marija Gimbutas]] from the 1950s, and the field of [[feminist theology]] and "[[Matriarchal Studies]]" in [[second-wave feminism|1970s feminism]]. | ||
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Johann Jakob Bachofen (22 December 1815 – 25 November 1887) was a Swiss antiquarian, jurist, philologist, and anthropologist, professor for Roman law at the University of Basel from 1841 to 1845.
Bachofen is most often connected with his theories surrounding prehistoric matriarchy, or Das Mutterrecht, the title of his seminal 1861 book Mother Right: an investigation of the religious and juridical character of matriarchy in the Ancient World. Bachofen assembled documentation demonstrating that motherhood is the source of human society, religion, morality, and decorum. He postulated an archaic "mother-right" within the context of a primeval Matriarchal religion or Urreligion.
Bachofen became an important precursor of 20th-century theories of matriarchy, such as the Old European culture postulated by Marija Gimbutas from the 1950s, and the field of feminist theology and "Matriarchal Studies" in 1970s feminism.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Johann Jakob Bachofen" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
