A mother godess is a goddess, often portrayed as the Earth Mother, who serves as a general fertility deity, the bountiful embodiment of the Earth. As such, not all goddesses should be viewed as manifestations of the mother goddess. This goddess is depicted in Western traditions in many variations, from the rock-cut images of Cybele to Dione ("the Goddess")who was invoked at Dodona along with Zeus, until late Classical times. In the Homeric Hymns (7-6 century BC) there is a hymn to the mother goddess called "Hymn to Gaia, Mother of All". The Sumerians wrote many erotic poems about their mother goddess Ninhursaga (Sex & Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature, G, Leick, Routledge, 2003).