"Hercules, Theseus and
Perseus overthrew the ancient powers of darkness. They laid the
foundations of man's great achievement, civilisation, and were the
first to worship the gods of light. They delivered humanity from the
gross materialism in which it had hitherto been steeped; they were the
awakeners of spiritual life, which is a higher life than the life of the
senses; they were as incorruptible as the sun from whence they came, the
heroes of a new civilisation distinguished by gentleness, a higher
endeavour and a new dispensation." (Bachofen.)
Heinrich Schurtz has proved (though not in connection with matriarchy)
that side by side with the family, unions of unmarried men existed in
many countries at a very early time. The object of these unions, which
had nothing of the rigidity of blood-relationship, was fellowship. As
soon as the boys had outgrown the care of their mother they were
compelled to combine for the purpose of playing games and later on for
war and hunting; these men's unions therefore were the outcome of the
necessary conditions of life.
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