Essay Sample on Role of Women in Greek Mythology

Introduction

Greek mythology is one of the fascinating elements of art and literature across the globe. It majorly revolves around the Greek society's activities, which include marriage, love relationships, wars, desperation, and leadership, among other phenomena. The Greek mythology emphasizes the role of women whereby it allocates to the female gender some positive and negative purposes. In essence, this discourse examines various functions of women in the Greek myths by highlighting activities that women undertook in their daily interactions with members of Greek society.

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Many women played deity roles in the Greek myths. The most common one was Athena. Also known as Athene, Athena was a goddess of wisdom, inspiration, and courage, among other things. Her role in warfare is unmatched since she exuded skills that were of enormous significance in the war that the Greeks faced. She is the matron of noble endeavors within Greek society. Being a goddess, Athena did not undergo a normal birth process. She sprung from Zeus' forehead after a terrible headache. Homer's account in the Iliad describes Athena as a warrior who was so revered, and she fought enemies with all her strengths to attain truce (Allan 56). According to the poems in the Odyssey, Athena had no mercy, and she was characterized by excessive anger. For instance, she caused Ajax to get mad during the Trojan War.

The above facts about Athena, the goddess, highlight the blanket role of this woman in Greek society, which is that of a deity. Besides the significant role, Athena practiced several tasks as a goddess, which further highlights the space of women in Greek mythology. For instance, her active participation in the Trojan War underscores the massive function of women since she frustrated the god of war known as Ares despite her feminine nature (Clayton 30). Deaths and injuries characterize any conflict. Besides, it leads to the destruction of properties. Through Athena, the Greek mythology hints that women play a critical role in finding peace by engaging in combats with enemies of their society. Athena, for instance, used her deity powers to help the Greek nation to fight the Troy during the Trojan War. She managed to neutralize the force of the Troy by striking one of the fiercest warriors of the Troy army known as Ajax. Her massive blow to Ajax propelled the Achaean military to victory.

As a goddess, Athena was the matron of the development of cities. Greek mythology attributes the growth and development of Athens city to her. Therefore, she portrays the role of women in Greek mythology in the positive light. Any nation desires to have great cities, which wield strong economic bonds grounded on the flow of goods and services. Athens is one of the best cities in the world, which is also known for civilization. Since the growth of this city is attributed to Athena, a woman, there is no doubt that Greek mythology had a great honor to the female gender. Furthermore, various artistic elements like weaving and spinning are known to have been the discovery of Athena (Clayton 29-30). These activities were favorite in Greek society, and they were accorded utmost respect and value. Given that the Greek mythology attributes these valuables to Athena, the woman, and goddess, there is no doubt that the Greek mythology held women in high esteem.

As a goddess, Athena's role somewhat taints the positive image of women in Greek society since, in some instances, the Greek mythology portrays her in a bad light. For example, she was the custodian of the son of Hephaestus whose name was Ericthonius (Clayton 64-75). Ericthonius was a two-in-one creature in that a section of his body was a serpent and the other one was a man. The goddess Athena always put this creature in a cover and placed it on her chest. When she was away, she left it to her servants to watch over it without opening the content. She was full of anger that she often struck anyone who opened it with lightning. Together with Hermes, Athena sought to help Perseus to murder Medusa. She offered her shield to Perseus to protect her against Medusa. She then aided Perseus to slit the throat of Medusa using a sword (Clayton 99-100). Athena's killing of people does not augur well with the norms and ethics of the society. In every community, members aspire to have peace and tranquility. They also look forward to a leader who promotes love and unity. However, the female deity, Athena, failed in fostering unity and peace owing to her ruthless and angry nature. Even though these events occurred through a single female person, they go to the extent of portraying a picture of women in Greek mythology as villains.

Greek mythology presents Pandora as the first mortal woman to be formed by the gods. She is believed to have been created from clay (McMullan). The formation of Pandora was an order by Zeus to Hephaistos. Pandora was endowed with unmatched beauty, which left many men admiring her. Nonetheless, her cunning nature spelled doom to most men that desired her hand in marriage. Among the men who wooed her, a gullible man named Epitheus, who was a brother to Prometheus, managed to get her as a bride. Zeus gave Pandora a gift, which was a storage jar known as Pithos. This jar was tightly covered for it contained both the evil spirits and the Elpis, which were signs of hope. The instructions given to her were never to open the jar, but she went against them by unlocking it. Unfortunately, it let out the evil spirits that spelled trouble to humankind. Her act of opening the jar made her a symbol for troublesomeness, which got attributed to all women in Greek society. Therefore, Greek mythology drew a line between men and women, whereby men were associated with nobleness while women were associated with trickery and evil. Consequently, it is evident that Homes uses this lady in the Odyssey to highlight the negative attributes of women in Greek society.

Helen of Troy is another woman who is familiar in Greek mythology. Also known as Helen of Sparta, Helen of Troy is deemed to have been a fair woman with no match on the globe (Clayton 166-172). Her beauty attracted King Menelaus of Sparta who made her his wife. According to Greek mythology, the fair lady was a daughter of Zeus and Leda. Her marital relationship with King Menelaus of Sparta did not prosper since the Prince of Paris abducted Helen of Troy; an act that sparked off the Trojan War. From the above occurrences, Greek mythology seems to attach women to the role of serving men as wives. Men look out for beauty in women. They perceive beautiful women as the right persons to marry. They also believe that having beautiful women in their homes adds to their ego as well as promoting their status in society. That is why even after Helen of Troy got married to the king of Sparta, the prince of Paris went ahead to abduct her to get the share of her beauty.

Greek mythology uses Helen of Troy to portray women as sources of evil in society. Women are associated with beauty, and Helen's enchantress spread doom in society since it tempted the prince of Paris. Notwithstanding her marital status, the prince of Paris went ahead to abduct her to make her his wife (Homer, Butler& Lang 88-91). Greek mythology presents Helen of Sparta as an agent of evil since, through her, the Trojan War began. The king of Sparta had no option but to wage an attack against the Troy when he realized that the prince of Troy had kidnapped his wife. The Trojan War led to many killings of people from both the Achaeans and the Troy. Besides, lots of property got destroyed through a war that sparked off as a result of a woman called Helen of Troy.

Atalanta is an epitome of a strong-willed woman, who went against all the odds to survive. The Greek myth presents her as a woman whose father abandoned her when young. However, a bear took over her custody and raised her (Clayton 137-139). Atalanta's interaction with the bear taught her the skill of hunting making her one of the best huntresses in Greek society. Unlike other women, marriage was not her portion, as she vowed to remain single and focus on her hunting activities. She also participated in the fight of the Calydonian Boar, a creature that Artemis sent to the Greek society as a punishment for failing to offer sacrifices to the gods. Therefore, the roles assigned to Atalanta positively portray women by associating them with heroic acts. Through Atalanta, Greek mythology describes women as not agents or dependants of men but as independent people who are willing to execute chores and tasks that men perform. This character offers a huge boost to the struggle by women in the society as they seek to demystify the notion that women are exclusively designed to carry out house tasks and child care.

Conclusion

In conclusion, just like any other society, Greek society had myths that portray their female members positively and negatively. They achieve this aim by allocating various roles to the women in their tales. Many women play different purposes, and Athena seems to play protagonist and antagonist roles in Greek mythology. Pandora and Helen of Sparta get regarded as villains whose actions lead to misery and suffering to the Greek society since their acts majorly cause curses and war respectively. Atalanta, however, offers a panacea to the otherwise condemned Greek female gender. Portrayed as a hardworking and resilient woman, Atalanta gets the roles of a woman who struggles through hardship to make the Greek society better through her hunting and fighting spirit. In essence, the Greek mythology sits on the fence as far as the perception of a woman is concerned.

Works Cited

Allan, William. Homer: The Iliad. A&C Black, 2012.

Clayton, Sally. Greek Myths. Frances Lincoln Children's Bks, 2014.

Homer, Samuel Butler, and Andrew Lang. The Iliad and the Odyssey, 2013

McMullan, Kate. Myth-O-Mania: Keep a Lid on It, Pandora! Capstone, 2012.