Women In Ancient Greek Mythology And The Degradation Of Women

Greek mythology depicts Minoan culture as placid and matriarchal, while Mycenaean culture appears as more aggressive and patriarchal. After the Mycenaeans conquered the Minoans, their beliefs of a woman’s authority and power decimated, along with their culture. In the anthology Mythology and You written by Donna Rosenberg and Sorelle Baker, the Greek myths portray women as inferior to men by emphasizing their vengeance and gullibility. As the myths progress, the variety of stories displays the moderate overthrow of Minoan culture. Although over time the degradation of women diminishes, many cultures around the world still encourage men’s superiority over women, because of the way women feel the need to meet a certain standard. Ancient Greek mythology depicts women as inferior to men by illustrating their vengeance. In the myth “The Rule of Uranus,” Gaea, the mother goddess, and Uranus, the god of the sky, give birth to many children such as the Hundred- …show more content…
Uranus fears the giants and the Cyclopes possess the potential to eventually overthrow him. To prevent this from happening, Uranus imprisons his children in the underworld. Gaea becomes angered by this and wants to free her children, so with the help of Cronus, her powerful Titan son, she decimates Uranus. Gaea, the mother goddess, receives help from her son to sabotage his own father and her own husband. Ironically, she receives satisfaction from doing this to one of the most important people in her life, rather than supporting his dominance. Thus displaying that women become impulsive when they want revenge and do not thoroughly think about their actions before executing them. Similarly, in the myth “Arachne,” Arachne possesses excessive pride in her weaving skills, and because of it, she receives revenge from Athena. Arachne denies the fact that Athena possesses more