[Freud's identification with men who had 2 mothers: Oedipus, Leonardo da Vinci, Michealangelo and Moses]

In view of the fact that as a child Sigmund Freud was looked after by two mothers--his actual mother and a nursemaid--it is hardly surprising that traces of this pre-oedipal situation, fraught as it was with traumatisation and loss, should be discernible in the works of the creator of psychoanalysis. Freud's continued preoccupation with the Oedipus myth, his interest in "great men" like da Vinci and Michelangelo, and finally his identification with the figure of Moses are pointers not only to the paternal dimension (as long suggested by Freud's biographers) but also to the maternal dimension and its significance for Freud's life and work. The author demonstrates that those mythical and historical figures which Freud identified with--Oedipus, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Moses--themselves all had two mothers and sublimated this traumatic experience into outstanding achievements, the same being true of Freud himself "who solved the famous riddle and was a most powerful man".