The great goddesses of Egypt inspired magnificent temples and art and a literature that speaks of their supreme importance to the ancients -- men and women, royalty and commoners. In this book Barbara S. Lesko follows the changing fortunes, over thousands of years, of the seven most significant Egyptian goddesses: Nut, Neith, Nekhbet, Wadjet, Hathor, Mut, and Isis. Some already appeared in prehistory, and some were later political creations. One became a universally revered goddess of the Greco-Roman world who successfully held her own against Christianity for five hundred years.

Although...