Women In Greek Mythology

Improved Essays
Woman in Greek Mythology were viewed unworthy and unfairly as well as sexual objects. Although women, such as the Greek goddess and heroines, still held great power as well as beauty. “The Greeks ' most important legacy is not, as we would like to think, democracy; it is mythology” (Lefkowitz, 2001, p. 207). The essence of this quote written in an article entitled “Women in Greek Myth” by Mary L. Lefkowitz in 2001 is basically that the Greek’s relied and believed greatly in the idea of Greek mythology. Greek mythology was basically the religious practice of the people of ancient Greece because it was basically a form of worship toward the gods and the heroines they thought to be almighty. They also thought of Greek mythology as the essence on which their lives and everything surrounding …show more content…
She was created as a punishment to the men of Greece by Zeus. Pandora, in Greek mythology, was thought to have been the first human woman to walk the earth. Zeus gave her the power over all of the world 's desires and passions, both the positive; hope, joy, faith, and the negative; corruption, destruction, pain. This power was known solely as Pandora 's Box and Greek mythology explains that if the box were to be opened all the destruction would have been released into the world. A women, especially the first human women, with such potential power would have been unheard of for the ancient Greek 's at the time but essentially all she was created for was as a revolt against the men in Greece. Granted she was potentially the first women in Greece surrounded by all men but as her role in society was mainly for destruction she had started a horrible image for women later in Greece. Women were then viewed as the introduction of evil and danger into the world even though Pandora was created for that main purpose by a male god,

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    In this chapter, Foley describes the ideas that other ancient Greek has about woman and how wrong those ideas were. He continues explaining that back in ancient Greek, people used to believe that men will always be superior to woman, and that the only role the woman had to fulfill was to take care of the men. Now he contrast those ideas with the role of women in The Odyssey; a clear example he gives is Circe and Calypso. Both of those goddess manage to control Odysseus while he was in their land. Odysseus was attracted by a unique virtue that only woman can have, beauty; it did not matter how strong or how smart Odysseus was, at the end he was captivated by the glorious looking those goddesses had.…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To account for a community’s customs and rituals as well as to provide a justification to the existence of a social system. In ancient Greece, myths featuring monsters, heroes and heroines as well as gods and goddesses formed a crucial part of the way of life. Stories were handy in explaining everything ranging from the weather to religious rites and helped people to draw meaning from the world around them. Like in most other ancient cultures, women were the subservient gender in ancient Greece. On the one hand, women were widely regarded as troublesome and symbols of negative normative values.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Some women, mostly but not excluding Greek goddess and heroines, were shown great power and were viewed as being beautiful. The women who were scene as very powerful or were worshiped for such influences mostly consisted of the Greek goddess’s and heroines from Greek mythology. This did not exclude outside women who lived during that time for some of them also possessed greater power then women of past generations. Greek goddess’s and heroines were often praised, not only for the power they possessed, but also widely for their menace and stunning beauty. It was very uncommon for a women to ever be considered beautiful or rather for it to be expressed.…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Misogyny In The Odyssey

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Rather, women in Ancient Greek culture were expected to be perfect, faithful wives, serving their husbands, which is relieved in the way Agamemnon regards Clytemnestra. Similar to this belief, women in 20th Century were expect to stay home and raise the family. Despite the progress women have made throughout the years, the misogyny Ancient Greek culture fostered, found in The Odyssey, can still be found in the disproportionate numbers of men and women in the science and engineering…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Even though she is Chryses’s daughter, she also was regarded as a prize, and just god could took her back, this shows women did not have a good social status in the ancient time. In the Odyssey, women also play the similarity role, which is the prize, just like Odysseus says in book 9 of the Odyssey, “I destroyed the city there, killed the men, seized their wives, and captured lots of treasure which we divided up. ”(Bauschatz, 23) They destroyed the city, burned down houses, killed the men, and took their wives, why not just killed their wives with men? Because the women just considered as part of wealth, and can be priced, no one will burn their own money.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Savannah Carlson Mr. Padera Sophomore English A 01 November 2017 Women in Greek Society The roles of women have differed in many societies and ages. In Greek society, women are portrayed negatively and inferior to men, the role they play is to emphasize aspects of men and they’re never given their own true identity, personality or opinion. The negative portrayal of woman is shown in the Iliad and the Odyssey.…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It is implied that Hesiod considers women useless as he compares them metaphorically to a drone and men to the working bees as stated on lines 600 – 605. This comparison explores the issues with gender inequality and the treatment of women. This is reinforced as the very creation of women was set as a punishment from the gods (Theogony 588). Accordingly, Pandora’s myth contains misogynistic themes; she not only portrays how men are inferior to the gods, but also women’s inferiority to men. Evidence for this is given that a male god was responsible for the creation of Pandora (Theogony 574).…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “A goddess is a woman who breaks the mold, she’s who she wants to be… And she offers no apologies.” In greek mythology, there appear to be several different gods and goddesses each owning their own unique statistic(s). Gods and goddesses were immortals looked up to by mortals; mortals praised and worshipped them. Goddesses were powerful woman who were flawless and thought the world of themselves; this was normal.…

    • 1481 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women In Ancient Athens

    • 1073 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Over the course of human history, there have been variances in the ways women have been treated by society. Some cultures treated women with respect and even sometimes reverently. However, in other cultures, women were deemed weak and therefore inferior and incapable of being in control of their own lives. One of these cultures was the ancient Athenians. Women in ancient Athens were discriminated against in many ways, including the rights they were given and their representation, which affected how they were seen by the rest of the world as well as how they are perceived now.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The quote by Roger D Abrahams “the male ideal of women is projected in hero tales” defines the reasonable judgment of Greek mythology. Women in Greek myths seems to…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Women In The Odyssey

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The role of women in society is an issue discussed throughout The Odyssey by Homer, the Bible, and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. These texts all illustrate different roles for women in society; however, there are some common ideas between the texts. Since these texts were written at different time periods, The Odyssey first, then the Bible, and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman last, a contributing factor to the differences in the views on the role of women in society is the societal norms held at the time. The Odyssey and the Bible agree with the norms of the time while Wollstonecraft wrote against the gender norms held by society at that time.…

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Furthermore, Circe’s role as a generic representation of women in mythology supports the fact that women were created to be an evil burden rather than a benefit, except when they are using their bodies like Circe does after Odysseus negotiates with her. Circe may have expressed xenia initially (the welcoming of guests), but is discovered to be an evil entity as she “laced [a] potion with insidious drugs” when the crew is invited to feast (253). Since the creation of Pandora in Theogony: Work and Days, women have been portrayed as heinous and deceitful, where Circe is no different when it comes to using her appearance to destroy lives of men. Of course, the female seems to be the blight to humankind and is to be blamed for her actions rather…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome can be compared in many ways, such as their geography, the position of women in society and government. Geography helped influence the development of civilizations by allowing permanent settlements, irrigation for crops, and a constant water supply. This led to the increase in human population, which led to cities which resulted in civilizations. The women of ancient civilizations had few rights and men had power over them. They were considered inferior and many people valued women as a baby producer and taking care of the house and children.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Greek Mythology, Pandora was a beautiful woman made by the gods themselves sent down to earth as a punishment for Promethean's theft of fire. Pandora was a cunning, beautiful women, who was as clever as a fox, she was an inspiration for many other characters and left a big mark of Greek culture and even in modern day, Pandora shows up in society and our culture. Pandora was created by Zeus and the other gods to be sent down to earth and marry Prometheus's brother as punishment for Prometheus's disrespect by giving fire back to humanity. Prometheus warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept a gift from the gods but he was in awe of her beauty and charm. On the day of the wedding, Zeus gave Pandora a box and informed her to never open it, he then gave Epimetheus the key telling him to never open the box as well.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the orders of the son of Cronus, the famous lame smith-god [Hephaestus] shaped some clay in the image of a tender girl”. Nothing that harbor even a small amount of respect is described as a “plague”. Hesiod emphasizes this point again when he calls females “the damnable race of women-a plague which men must live with”. Both descriptions clearly show that women had a very low place in Greek society during the time Theogony was written. These same ideas are supported by Homer in the Odyssey.…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays