The city is a maternal symbol, a woman who harbours the inhabitants in herself like children:
It is therefore understandable that the three mother-goddesses, Rhea, Cybele, and Diana, all wear the mural crown (fig. 258.24b) . The Old Testament treats the cities of Jerusalem, Babylon, etc. just as if they were women
CW5 ¶ 30320 CW5 Ser: 2 Par 303 (a) FigNo 258.24b
Strong, unconquered cities are virgins; colonies are sons and daughters. Cities are also harlots
CW5 ¶ 305We find a similar symbolism in the myth of Ogyges, the prehistoric king of Egypt who reigned in Thebes, and whose wife was appropriately called Thebe
CW5 ¶ 306The Boeotian city of Thebes founded by Cadmus received on that account the cognomen “Ogygian.” This cognomen was also applied to the great Flood, which was called “Ogygian” because it happened under Ogyges. We shall see later on that this coincidence can hardly be accidental
CW5 ¶ 306RELATION BETWEEN CITY AND WOMAN
The fact that the city and the wife of Ogyges both have the same name indicates that there must be some relation between the city and the woman, which is not difficult to understand because the city is identical with the woman
CW5 ¶ 306There is a similar idea in Hindu mythology, where Indra appears as the husband of Urvara. But Urvara means the “fertile land.” In the same way the seizure of a country by the king was regarded as his marriage with the land
CW5 ¶ 306Similar ideas must also have existed in Europe. Princes at their accession had to guarantee a good harvest. The Swedish king Domaldi was actually killed as a result of failure of the crops.In the Hindu Ramayana, the hero Rama marries Sita, the furrow
CW5 ¶ 306To the same circle of ideas belongs the Chinese custom of the emperor's having to plough a furrow on ascending the throne
CW5 ¶ 306CONTINUOUS COHABITATION
The idea of the soil as feminine also embraces the idea of continuous cohabitation with the woman, a physical interpenetration. The god Shiva, as Mahadeva and Parvati, is both male and female: he has even given one half of his body to his wife Parvati as a dwelling-place (fig. 258.23)
CW5 ¶ 30621 CW5 Ser: 12 Par 306 (i) FigNo 258.23
The motif of continuous cohabitation is expressed in the well-known lingam symbol found everywhere in Indian temples: the base is a female symbol, and within it stands the phallus (fig. 258.25) . This symbol is rather like the phallic baskets and chests of the Greeks
CW5 ¶ 30622 CW5 Ser: 13 Par 306 (j) FigNo 258.25
The chest or casket is a female symbol (fig. 258.53) , i.e., the womb, a common enough conception in the older mythologies. The chest, barrel, or basket with its precious contents was often thought of as floating on the water, thus forming an analogy to the course of the sun. The sun sails over the sea like an immortal god who every evening is immersed in the maternal waters and is born anew in the morning
CW5 ¶ 30623 CW5 Ser: 14 Par 306 (k) FigNo 258.53 gg
Another form of the same motif is the Persian idea of the tree of life, which stands in the lake of rain, Vouru-Kasha. The seeds of this tree were mixed with the water and so maintained the fertility of the earth. The Vendidad, says that the waters flow “to the sea Vouru-Kasha, towards the well-watered tree, whereon grow the seeds of my plants of every kind”
CW5 ¶ 306