Miriam Robbins Dexter - interviewed for the Signs out of Time project



Miriam Robbins Dexter Miriam Robbins Dexter holds a B.A. in Classics and a Ph.D. in Indo-European Studies (comparative linguistics, ancient Indo-European languages, archaeology, and comparative mythology), both from UCLA. Her doctoral dissertation, Indo-European Female Figures, along with courses she has taught (and is still teaching) at UCLA, in ancient goddesses and heroines, evolved into her book, Whence the Goddesses: A Source Book. She is the author of twenty scholarly articles and nine encyclopedia articles on ancient female figures. She co-edited an anthology of articles in honor of the archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, Varia on the Indo-European Past: Papers in Memory of Marija Gimbutas (1997), as well as a monograph of Dr. Gimbutas' own collected articles, The Kurgan Culture and the Indo-Europeanization of Europe: Selected articles from 1952 to 1993 (1997). She has also co-edited several volumes of the Proceedings of the UCLA Indo-European conference. She edited and supplemented the book which Professor Gimbutas was writing at the time of her death, The Living Goddesses (University of California Press, Winter, 1999. Paperback version 2001) She is also co-editing conference proceedings for the Institute of Archaeomythology (along with Joan Marler). For thirteen years, she taught courses in Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit language and literature in the department of Classics at the University of Southern California. She is presently teaching in the Women’s Studies and Honors Programs at UCLA

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PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS: Whence the Goddesses: A Source Book. Pergamon Press, Athene Series, 1990

Reprint: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, Athene Series, 1992

BOOKS EDITED and INTRODUCED

Proceedings of the conference, “International Symposium on Neolithic Signs and Symbols: the Earliest Literacy?”, Novi Sad, May 25-June 1,, 2004. Joan Marler and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Sebastopol, Institute of Archaeomythology, Forthcoming (2005).

Proceedings of the conference, “Female Mysteries of the Substratum,” Rila, Bulgaria, June 2-13, 2004. Joan Marler and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Sebastopol: Institute of Archaeomythology, Forthcoming.

Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 2004, Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, Martin Huld, and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man Monograph, Forthcoming (late 2005).

Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 2003, Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, Martin Huld, and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man Monograph, 2005.

The Black Sea Flood and its Aftermath: Papers from the First International Symposium on the Interdisciplinary Significance of the Black Sea Flood, Liguria Study Center, Bogliasco, Italy, June 3-7, 2002. Joan Marler and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds, Forthcoming.

Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 2002, Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, Martin Huld, and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man Monograph, 2003.

Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 2001, Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, Martin Huld, and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man Monograph, 2002

Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 2000, Martin J. Huld, Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man Monograph, 2001

Proceedings of the Tenth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 1998, Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, Miriam Robbins Dexter, and Martin Huld, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man Monograph, 1999.

The Living Goddesses, by Marija Gimbutas, edited and supplemented by Miriam Robbins Dexter. Los Angeles and Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Paperback edition 2001.

Proceedings of the Ninth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 1997, Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, Miriam Robbins Dexter, and Martin Huld, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man Monograph No. 28, 1998.

The Kurgan Culture and the Indo-Europeanization of Europe: Selected articles from 1952 to 1993, by Marija Gimbutas, edited by Miriam Robbins Dexter and Karlene Jones-Bley, Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man, (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph #18), 1997

Varia on the Indo-European Past: Papers in Memory of Marija Gimbutas, edited by Miriam Robbins Dexter and Edgar C. Polomé, Washington, DC, The Institute for the Study of Man (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph #19), 1997

Introduction to re-publication of The Eye Goddess, by O.G.S. Crawford, Delphi Press, 1991

ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES

Articles on Indo-European Female Figures for the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, J.P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams, eds. Garland Publishing, 1997 (see below)

“Prehistoric Goddesses” In The Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion, New York: Macmillan, 1999

ARTICLES

“The Monstrous Goddess: The Degeneration of Ancient Bird and Snake Goddesses into Historic Age Witches and Monsters.” From a lecture given at the New Bulgarian University. Published simultaneously in Bulgarian and English. Ivan Marazov, ed. Late 2005.

“The Roots of Indo-European Patriarchy: Indo-European Female Figures and the Principles of Energy.” In: The Rule of Mars, Cristina Biaggi (ed.) Manchester, Connecticut, Knowledge Ideas and Trends, 2005

“Apotropaia and Fecundity in Eurasian Myth and Iconography: Erotic Female Display Figures,” Miriam Robbins Dexter and Victor H. Mair. In Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 2004, Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, Martin Huld, and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man. Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph No. 50, 2005: pages 97-121.

“‘Beautiful’ Medusa and the Neolithic Bird and Snake” In Proceedings of the conference, “Female Mysteries of the Substratum,” Rila, Bulgaria, June 2-13, 2004. Joan Marler and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds. Sebastopol: Institute of Archaeomythology, Forthcoming.

“Medea of Colchis and her Circumpontic Sisters.” In The Black Sea Flood and its Aftermath: Papers from the First International Symposium on the Interdisciplinary Significance of the Black Sea Flood, Liguria Study Center, Bogliasco, Italy, June 3-7, 2002, Joan Marler and Miriam Robbins Dexter, eds, Forthcoming.

“Colchian Medea and her Circumpontic Sisters,” presented at conference, “The interdisciplinary significance of the catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea, c. 5500 BC” Liguria, Italy, June, 2002. Published in ReVision, vol. 25 (1), summer, 2002, 3-14.

“The Sheela na gigs, Sexuality, and the goddess in Ancient Ireland” Miriam Robbins Dexter and Starr Goode. In the Irish Journal of Feminist Studies 4 (2), Mary Condren, ed., 2002, 50-75.

“The Sheela-na-gigs: Tracing the Legacy of Prehistoric and Pre-Christian Goddesses in Medieval Irish Iconography,” Miriam Robbins Dexter and Starr Goode. Presented at the International History of Religions Conference, Durban, South Africa, August 7-11, 2000.

“Sexuality, the Sheela na gigs, and the Goddess in Ancient Ireland.” ReVision, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Summer 2000): 38-48 (Starr Goode and Miriam Robbins Dexter). Presented at the First International Conference of the Institute of Archaeomythology, "Deepening the Disciplines," July 13-18, 1998, Madouri, Greece.

“Dawn and Sun in Indo-European Myth: Gender and Geography” in Collectanea Philologia IV Ignatio Richardo Danka sexagenario oblata, ∫odz, Poland: 103-122. Krzysztof Witczak and Piotr Stalmaszczyk, eds. ∫odz University Press, 2000.

“Queen Medb, Female Autonomy in Ancient Ireland, and Matrilineal Traditions” in Proceedings of the Ninth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference, 1997: 95-122. Karlene Jones-Bley, Angela della Volpe, Miriam Robbins Dexter, and Martin Huld, eds. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man Monograph No. 28, 1998.

“The Brown Bull of Cooley and Matriliny in Celtic Ireland" in From the Realm of the Ancestors: Essays in Honor of Marija Gimbutas: 218-236. Joan Marler, ed. Manchester, Connecticut: Knowledge Ideas and Trends, 1997

“Born of the Foam” in Studies in honor of Jaan Puhvel: 83-102. John Greppin and Edgar C. Polomé, eds., Part II: Mythology and Religion (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph # 21). Washington, DC, The Institute for the Study of Man, 1997

“The Frightful Goddess: Birds, Snakes and Witches” in Varia on the Indo-European Past: Papers in Memory of Marija Gimbutas: 124-154. Miriam Robbins Dexter and Edgar C. Polomé, eds. (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph #19). Washington, DC, The Institute for the Study of Man, 1997

“Dawn Goddess” In Mallory, J.P. and Douglas Q. Adams, eds., The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 148-149. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997

“Earth Goddess” In Mallory, J.P. and Douglas Q. Adams, eds., The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 174. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.

“Fortune Goddesses” In Mallory, J.P. and Douglas Q. Adams, eds., The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 212. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.

“Goddesses” In Mallory, J.P. and Douglas Q. Adams, eds., The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 231-232. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.

“Horse Goddess” In Mallory, J.P. and Douglas Q. Adams, eds., The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 279-281. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.

“River Goddess” In Mallory, J.P. and Douglas Q. Adams, eds., The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 487. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997

“Sun Goddess” In Mallory, J.P. and Douglas Q. Adams, eds., The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 556. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.

“Transfunctional Goddess” In Mallory, J.P. and Douglas Q. Adams, eds., The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, 595-596. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.

“Dawn-Maid and Sun-Maid: Celestial Goddesses among the Proto-Indo-Europeans” in The Indo-Europeanization of Northern Europe: 228-246.
Karlene Jones-Bley and Martin E. Huld, eds. (Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph #17). Washington, DC: The Institute for the Study of Man, 1996; presented at the International Conference, “The Indo-Europeanization of Northern Europe,” Vilnius, Lithuania, September 1-7, 1994

“The Hippomorphic Goddess and Her Offspring” in Journal of Indo-European Studies 18 (3-4): 285-307 (Fall/Winter 1990); presented at the second multidisciplinary International Conference on the "Transformation of European and Anatolian Culture in Prehistory," Dublin, Ireland, September, 1989.

“Reflections on the Goddess *Donu” in Mankind Quarterly 30 (1-2): 45-58, (Fall/Winter 1990); presented at the first Indo-European Convivium, UCLA, "Indo-European and Universals", May, 1989.

“Indo-European Reflections of Virginity and Autonomy.” Mankind Quarterly, 26 (1-2): 57-74 (Fall/Winter 1985); presented at the International Congress of Anthropology and Ethnography, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, August, 1983.
“Proto-Indo-European Sun Maidens and Gods of the Moon.” Mankind Quarterly 25 (1-2): 137-144 (Fall/Winter 1984); presented to the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast, Berkeley, California, November, 1980.

“The Assimilation of Pre-Indo-European Female Figures into the Indo-European Pantheons.” Journal of Indo-European Studies 8 (1-2): 19-29 (Spring/Summer 1980); presented at (the first) multidisciplinary International Conference, "The Transformation of European and Anatolian Culture, 4500-2500 B.C. and its Legacy", Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, September, 1979.

“Dionysos, a Poet of Syracuse.” Translation from the Lithuanian, in Lietuvi Dienos Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 6: 18-19, 1969.

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