A Study on the Female Images in Ancient Greek Mythologies

A Study on the Female Images in Ancient Greek Mythologies

Class: 1-14

Name: 钱丹妮

Student’s Number: 140110128

Abstract The ancient Hebrew civilization and the ancient Greek civilization are worldly acknowledged as the sources of the spirit of Western civilization. The ancient Greek mythology serve to show us that although the world and our knowledge of it may change, humanity remains the same by narrating different stories of numerous gods, goddesses and heroes. And goddesses are well distinguished by their mercurial and glamorous personalities in spite of those strong and mighty male gods and heroes. Nowadays, issues like feminism and women’s social status are attracting global attention. The modern perception of women can be traced to the ancient Greek mythology, there is no doubt that those female images in the ancient Greek mythology directly effect our basic understanding towards women now. The acknowledgment has been widely accepted.

Key Words: ancient Greek myths; female goddess; women consciousness

Ⅰ

As the Chinese proverb holds -- "women hold up half the sky." This is quoted all over the world and women have a special role in world's history and present. There are six female goddesses in the Olympian gods, from which we can see female images play significant role in ancient Greek mythology.

Each of them has unique, mysterious background and distinctive personality. For instance, Hera, the goddess of marriage and protector of married women, was petty and cruel and is most often shown administering some sort of revenge on one of Zeus’ lovers; Athena is the goddess of war and Wisdom, she was always giving precious advice and stood by on any danger. Athena protected the heroes as they went out to war and saved them on their coming back; Demeter was a peace-loving deity and the source of all growth and life, she was most appreciated for introducing wheat to mankind, making man different from animals; Aphrodite may have been the most attractive goddess, but according to the Iliad (the famous poem by Homer) , she was a rather weak, frightful goddess; Hestia was a kind, forgiving goddess and had a discrete character. She never left her residence, the sacred mountain of Olympus and never participated in any disputes or wars.

Those characters make those goddesses less divine but more humanized. They are like miniatures of modern women.

Ⅱ

People regard Greek mythologies as the representative of the patriarchal society. The bodies and the images of women have been materialized and sexualized as objects that men pursued and manipulate. Even they were denigrated as the embodiment of evil because of their mysteries and beauty. Helen of Troy was one of the most important females in Greek mythology. As the fuse of the ten-year Trojan war, Helen became the prototype in the art and literature creation. In the traditional literature, the image of Helen is full of contradictory. On the one hand, some people thought Helen was shameless and unfaithful, they used “Helen of Troy” to substitute dangerous. The Greek poet Alkaios said Helen violated the moral standard of Greek women and she should take all the responsibilities of the war. On the other hand, Helen has incomparable beauty of body. She satisfies all the fantasies towards women and inspires loads of poets and writers.