Female Divinity in Antiquity: Their Effect on Women in Ancient Greece
Student paper for credit in HIST 2210, LC
Written by: H. Wolf
In ancient Greece, it’s impossible to look far without finding religion or mythology intertwined with everyday life. The world of antiquity is seemingly shaped by the idea of a greater unknown that pulls the strings. Such an idea isn’t unique to ancient Greece- cultures and places all over the world have their own ideas and beliefs on how the world functions- however, all these global beliefs are unique in themselves. The Greeks were one of many cultures that explained the mysteries and functions of the universe through stories of a pantheon; a large group or family of gods, goddesses and divine figures. The Greek gods are a large group and one could undoubtedly spend an entire paper talking about the intricacies of their relations and how their myths interconnect. However, at the core of anything involving religion or spirituality one must first take a look at what religion is and in turn, what belief is. From there, it’s easier to look at the effects of religion and divinity on the everyday.
The definition of religion is something that has been explored and pondered by many anthropologists through the years and that reveals it is not a simple matter in itself. Religion does not have one consistent definition, but one of the more well known ones is by Anthony Wallace who said Religion is: “A set of rituals, rationalized by myth, which mobilizes supernatural power for the purpose of achieving or preventing transformations of state in man and nature.” (Eller, 2015, p. 7). If we take this to be the basic definition for sake of argument it leads us to the idea of ritual and its impact on not only religion but on those that practice it. One may wonder what rituals have to do with the overall topic discussed here and to that one should ask themselves what a ritual entails. Many people often think of ritual as a sacred act with intricate symbols, components, words or dances- and that is indeed the case in some examples and in some walks of life; however, at its basis, a ritual can simply be a set of routine actions done for religious, personal or spiritual reasons. A ritual can be as complicated as a coming of age ceremony or as simple as bathing in the morning, as long as there is a meaning or certain amount of belief involved it can arguably be called a ritual. This leads to the broader subject of what the previously mentioned “belief” really is and how it ties into the idea of religion and mythology. Belief as a feeling or concept is not something that can be truly and accurately defined in terms of religion or mythology, given that every person and culture has its own definition that is undeniably true to them. If something is true to one’s own culture and life, how is it possible for others to define such as being “really true” or not? This is the issue of belief in many aspects of religious anthropology and the study of myth. A myth is a story of often fantastical proportions involving larger than life figures and characters, like Odysseus or Hercules but to these cultures they are no less real than a historical event recorded a hundred years ago. The actuality of an event happening does not define its believability in terms of culture and religion; this as an idea can be used to broadly explain “belief” at its core. Myth as a subset of religion-- at its broadest definition—can then be seen as a conduit of ritual. Myths often show the ideals, principles and expectations of the culture and world they come from, sometimes in grand or absurd ways and sometimes in subtle or adoptable ways, but they remain nonetheless. For example, in the story of Poseidon and Athena’s competition over control of Athens and Attica, Poseidon gives the people the gift of a beautiful spring (in some versions it’s actually a horse!), whereas Athena provides a olive tree. In the end Athena ends up the victor due to the usefulness of her gift to the people- given the importance of olives in ancient Greece- as opposed to Poseidon’s aesthetically pleasing yet inferior offer of water when they were already surrounded by waters (Morford et al.) This tells us not only where the name Athens comes from and how Athena became their patron goddess, an origin story of sorts, but it also allows us to infer that the ancient Greeks and Athenians as people prioritized practicality as well as the useful sustainability of a renewable food product. This myth, although an origin story of names and patronage still holds ideals and principles inside its framework.
With this idea of belief, religion and myth in one’s mind, it becomes easier to encompass other issues, concepts and ideas into the overall framework of thought. If myth is something that encourages belief and thus creates rituals that one lives by- it would seem safe to say that myth, and belief in myth, leads to real world perspectives and views. The belief in these myths- and in turn these ideals and principals- affects how someone sees the world around them. Belief affects perception, and perception affects how one interfaces and interacts with the world surrounding them on an everyday basis. This leads into the main matter of this paper and this research: how did the representation of female divinity affect the life and representation of the average woman?
In ancient myths and legends, it’s clear that the divine are quite different from the average person in many ways. They can do things unimaginable to the common people with powers far beyond anything considered normal and often they represent what that culture considers perfect or ideal. This is shown in case of Hercules and the way the Spartans sought to emulate his immense power as his “predecessors” certainly shows the power of belief and myth as a whole. The issue and idea of representation in “Media” is certainly not an unknown one nowadays, but it’s not as new as one may assume by its wording. Now we hear “media” and we assume it must be information from the television, internet or various tabloids that we’ve become so accustomed to; however, in antiquity it seems reasonable to call myth, song, poem and legend a form of media- a way to share entertainment and news throughout the land, whether it be historically proven or from the whims of artisans and wordsmith alike. Similar to current times, those who are represented aren’t always the ones in charge of their own representation; there were few women poets or writers and even fewer who have survived the onward march of time. This means that all the common accounts of women were written or recorded by men, without the thoughts and opinions of the subject of their musings being put into consideration. To ask what poets recorded of female divinity is to really ask what men of antiquity thought the perfect woman was. When looking at a topic such as this, it’s important to remember that myth and religion are not separate entities that are sterilized and unaltered by those who view them, but rather- much like culture itself- they are fluid and adapt to the people that inspire and perpetuate them. The idea of a goddess would be affected by what was written and said about her- how people perceived her based on the culture surrounding them. This essentially means that while female divinity affects the standards placed on women, women also affect the standards placed on female divinity; a give and take of perception, principles and ideas.
If we look at the role of many women in antiquity, we will see aspects of this mirrored on the divine that surround them. For instance, if we look at this chart, from “Women in Classical Antiquity”(McClure, 2020, p. 27) we can see common “Women’s Roles” scattered amongst the roles of the goddesses present, whereas the male gods tend to be more varied. For example, Athena is not just the goddess of military strategy and wisdom, but also of weaving; although this isn’t inherently a bad thing, it reflects the fact that often crafts and work done inside was seen as lesser than- perhaps because of the fact that a woman’s place was seen as being indoors. If we look at Ares, the god of war, bloodlust and aggression, his domains seem more focused and lack the divergence- they remain focused on his sphere of influence. Perhaps by saying he stays within his “sphere of influence” we are revealing something about Athena as well. Despite her being a well revered deity and the patron goddess of Athens itself, it may be safe to say that the importance of weaving- an activity often seen as “women’s work” in many cultures- is a reminder of her place in an exceedingly patriarchal society; it’s a reminder of her womanhood. On the topic of Athena and womanhood, quite often being weak willed, cowardly or petty was seen as a feminine trait in ancient Greece: “Cowardly or unheroic behaviour invites comparison of the hero to a woman.” (McClure, 2020, p. 27). Despite her place of reverence, Athena was not entirely immune to the stereotypical portrayal of women as petty, nasty or emotionally unstable. In one of the more well known myths involving Athena, we see her become enraged when a mortal woman, Arachne, boasts about being a better weaver than Athena. The goddess and the woman get into a competition in which Athena weaves an image glorifying the gods and Arachne weaves an image mocking the gods. Despite Arachne being shown as the better weaver through skill, Athena is furious over the mockery and the shame of losing so she turns Arachne into a spider, amusedly saying that she can now weave as much as she likes (Myth Arachne and Athena). There is an underlying theme of being a gracious winner and not outshining your superiors in this myth, but through our current lens we can also draw attention to the stereotypes being portrayed here. Weaving is seen as a women’s activity, Athena and Arachne are both women and this is a competition. These are all basic facts, however, when we look into their behaviour from a modern standpoint it begins to perpetuate the common idea of women as “unheroic” or “emotionally unstable” in the way they are both portrayed as unsportsmanlike- Arachne for her mockery of the gods and Athena in her sore losing. Although one of the women in this story is a mortal and the other a goddess they are both portrayed as a caricature of what is considered negative femininity. This is an example of the image of common women reflecting on divine women.
With a push and pull relationship such as this we need to look at the other side of the spectrum; our original question- how does the portrayal of female divinity affect the common woman in antiquity? To answer this, we must look at some media dedicated to female divinity itself. One of the most popular depictions of the gods and goddesses comes from the “Homeric Hymns”, poems by Homer dedicated to the various members of the Greek pantheon. The poem “To Demeter” is one that has been studied by many specialists in the field for its portrayal of the mother-daughter bond and that is what makes it a good candidate for comparing the treatment of divinity and the common individual. In looking at the beginning of the poem, it’s easy to pick out what adjectives and traits are used to positively describe female divinity. “I begin to sing of the lovely-haired Demeter, the goddess august, of her and her slender-ankled daughter-“ (Athanassakis, 1976, p. 1) Immediately we are given an image of a delicate and pretty individual. “Lovely-haired” and “slender-ankled” both give off the image of a fair and petite person, a more feminine image that focuses on appearance and gentleness.
In comparison to other deities such as Ares “Mighty Ares, golden-helmeted rider of chariots, stout-hearted, shield-carrying and bronze-geared savior of cities, strong-handed and unweary lord of the spear.” (Athanassakis, 1976, p. 58). This description focuses heavily on the ideal image of manliness in war and his deeds as opposed to the almost superficial images presented in the beginning of Demeter’s poem. His deeds are presented in comparison to what he’s done for others and the ordeals he has gone through, as opposed to the poem “To Demeter” in which most of her deeds and ordeals stem from the woman’s role as a mother and keeper of the household. In one instance she is disguised as a mortal after losing her daughter and upon finding a group of young women asks- “let me go to someone’s house, a man’s and a woman’s, to work for them in such tasks as befit a woman past her prime. I shall be a good nurse to a newborn…I shall take care of the house…and mind his wife’s work.” (Athanassakis, 1976, p. 5), It makes the roles of the common woman very clear. This is a divine woman, and yet she clearly shows that she is in fact still adhering to the rules and traditions of the everyday woman in ancient Greece. Just as with the previous example of Athena the poems and myths presenting female divinity were less a reflection of the ideals of the women at the time, but rather what the ideal woman looked like and behaved like according to the men of the time.
As the voices of women were often expressed in an altered way through the men that controlled the outlets of media, it is not entirely surprising to say that both divine women and regular women faced the same issue of misrepresentation. It is a self-regulating factor of the influencer and the influenced, between the everyday and the divine, fluidly dynamic like culture itself but so rigid that it does little to change throughout the years despite shifts in power.
In conclusion, the answer to the question “How did the portrayal of divine women affect the life of the common woman?” is rather complicated. To say that female divinity produced an unobtainable goal of femininity for the average woman is not entirely wrong. To say that female divinity has been moulded to show a gilded version of the average woman’s plight is also not wrong. Similar to the idea of Ying and Yang in Eastern Asia, representation and misrepresentation are a push and pull force and to say they are isolated and separate- much like that of Religion and Myth- would be an astronomical misunderstanding of the subject as a whole. Myths often represent and reflect those that share them and when the represented are not the ones sharing them, the message becomes muddled into a knot of religious ideal, ritualistic understanding and ultimately of belief.
References
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Myth Arachne and Athena. https://www.mwpai.org/assets/Education/MA-Resources-9-15-2016/Myth-Arachne-and-Athena.pdf.
