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Portrayal of women in greek and roman mythology
Portrayal of women in greek and roman mythology
Essay on female figures in literature
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I chose the two goddess’ named Aphrodite & Artemis. I think they both had interesting stories about themselves and I think they have an essential part in classical mythology. There are many books, websites, and articles to find out more and more about them. I picked these two specifically because I remember doing them in a reading response. I think the most important way to connect and contrast between these two goddess’ is to know background information.
The first goddess is Aphrodite, and she played a big part in mythology during her time. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, pleasure, and beauty She is very well connected to the goddess, but Artemis is the main focus with her. Aphrodite came fro a very strange way. It started off when Cronus cut off Uranus’s genitals and threw them in the sea and Aphrodite rose upon them. Now according. Homer’s lliad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Aphrodite has many other names that people knew her by too. Some of the names were Cytherea and Cypris. They both mean the lady of. These are actually places that they claim where she was a...
The goddesses Played a vital role in Greek society for they were responsible for many aspects of Greek. life, i.e., a life of a child. birth, harvest, etc. Accompanying the 6 major goddesses (Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter and Artemis) we have the lesser divinities such as the Muses, the Graces, the Fates, etc. The second level of women used in Greek mythology is that of the human.
Aphrodite is one of the most famous figures of Greek mythology, because Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and sexual rapture. She was desired by nearly all of the Greek gods. Aphrodite was one of the twelve main gods on Mt. Olympus, and she was the most powerful goddess when it came to members of the opposite sex. There are many origins to Aphrodite's birth. Some of them are: She arose full-grown out of the foam of the sea, She is the daughter of Zeus and Dionne, She is the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, which would make her a Titaness, or She is the daughter of Titans Oceanus and Tethys, making her an Oceanid. (Dittus 34-35) “The most common origin of her birth is her being foam-born, which is what her name means” (Parin 45). This origin says that Aphrodite arose nude and full-grown out of the foam of the sea and riding into the shore of Cythera on a scallop shell. She found Cythera to be too small of an island, so she went to live in Paphos, in Cyprus, which is still the principal seat of her worship.
For as long as I can remember, there has been a woman, who goes by Medusa. She is from Athens, Greece. Medusa obeyed all the Greek gods & goddess, all except the goddess of wisdom, which is my official title. I am Athena, goddess of wisdom. Medusa is established as woman who is all about herself. Throughout my tale you will understand why they conceive this opinion.
Circe and Calypso were mentioned prior but, a few other goddesses I find important are Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena. Hera’s role involves carrying out her duties as a wife to Zeus, at times though, Hera stands up for what she thinks is right regardless of her husband’s opinion. In book 14 of The Iliad, Hera’s mischievous side comes out when she uses magic to trick both Aphrodite and Zeus in order to help the Achaeans behind her husband’s back. This implies that Hera is a bit of a nuisance to Zeus and her loyalty teeters at times making her untrustworthy. As for Aphrodite, her roles in both of the epics involved some kind of unfaithfulness whether on her part or on another’s.
Artemis was born of Leto and Zeus, on the island of Delos, later helping with the delivery of her twin brother, Apollo. Some sources state that her actual birthplace is not Delos, but an island called Ortygia. Although the two islands could be one and the same, it is not clear. In helping with the birth of her brother Artemis fulfilled her role as a goddess of childbirth (which she shares with Eileithyia and Hera). She is the goddess of chastity, the hunt and the moon, too. But I'll get more into those later.
Frida and Artemisia are both sensational women artists from before I was born. Artemisia Gentileschi once said, “My illustrious lordship, i’ll show you what a woman can do.” Frida and Artemisia were both very powerful women and they showed that through their artwork. These women are very similar and yet very different at the same time.
Mythology was very important to the men and women of ancient Greece. They worshipped the gods and goddesses, wrote poems about them, and based a great deal of art work off of them. The people of Greece looked to the gods and goddesses for help in all aspects of their lives; including health, agriculture, and war. Reading about Greek mythology can inform people about the society of Greece itself because the Greek gods were created by the people of Greece. Three main goddesses who were worshipped by the Greeks were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. These three goddesses represent three different types of women in Greek society. Sarah Pomeroy, author of Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, believed that “the goddesses are archetypal images of human females, as envisioned by males” (8). Pomeroy understands the significance in the differences between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and what those differences meant for the women of Greece who were required to follow three important rules. The first rule was for the women to live a life of domesticity and motherhood. This was very important to the men in the society. The women were the only ones able to bear children. Also, if they were forced to stay in the house, men could keep a greater control on their wives, and not have to worry about them having affairs. The second important trait was virginity until marriage. Its importance to the Greek culture lied in the fear of a woman’s power. The men of the society felt it best that a woman remained a virgin until she was married; however this same attribute was not required of a man. Their belief can be explained by this quote written by P. Walcot in the article “Greek Attitudes Towards Women: The Mythological Evidence”: “The Greeks believed women...
A good example of the typical type of role a woman would play in classical mythology is the myth of Pandora. Pandora was the first woman to be created; Hephaestus created her on Zeus’s orders. Pandora was only created as a part of Zeus’s plan to punish Prometheus for stealing the secret of fire from Olympus and showing it to the humans. Pandora was given all of the “seductive gifts” by the Olympians upon her creation . Athena gave her the ability to weave and create needlework. Aphrodite gave her beauty and lust. Hermes gave Pandora a shameful way of thinking and a deceitful nature; he gave her a predisposition towards lies and crafty words. Pandora was then dressed and adorned beautifully, along with h...
Aphrodite was one of the nine that were known as the Great Goddesses, “an awful and lovely goddess,” according to Hesiod (Theogony), born of the foam that ensued when Kronos cut off Uranos’ genitals and they fell into the sea. She first walked ashore in Cyprus, and was welcomed by the Seasons (Hours):
Athena was the goddess of war and wisdom. Daughter of Zeus and Metis, but born from only Zeus. Gaea the Earth goddess told Zeus that his child would u...
Born from the remains of the castration of Uranus, Aphrodite arose from the foam in the sea and became known as the goddess of love to those who worshipped her, described by Hesoid. We see another version of her this goddess’s birth as well, from the gods Zeus and Dione, leaving a double tradition of Aphrodite’s birth and a basic duality in her character. Artemis, the Greek goddess of wild things, was born to Zeus and Leto, and remained a virgin goddess who roamed the forests with her female companions. These two goddesses disagreeing viewpoints on sexual relationships naturally set them up to have a conflicting relationship, yet their well-known trait of revenge in their myths bring a similarity to both the goddess of love and of hunting. Their personalities are compared through their primary functions in Greek mythology and physical characteristics, their behavior in myths that they are involved in, their portrayal in Greek art and literature, and if and how they are worshipped in Greek religion.
Instead, they have even found a place among gods and goddess of all cultures. Aphrodite is perhaps the most well known of these goddess. Aphrodite, a goddess of love and beauty. In Greek mythology, it is was said to be sacred to her as she created it. Two colors of roses – the red and the white have separate tales attached to them.
Aphrodite and Athena were both great powerful women who were revered as goddesses in greek mythology. They both were greatly worshipped, however due to their distinct personality traits they were worshipped and spoken about and very different ways. Both goddesses are immortal and female, and both seem to distinguish the incongruous gender roles between men and women throughout ancient Greece. What makes these two goddesses interesting, however, is their differences, which will determine how they will be reflected in myth. On one hand you have Athena, the androgynous goddess of war and wisdom. On the other you have Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexuality. During this time, even among the immortals, women were seen as inferior and less
Throughout all Greek myths, the gods were always created in the image of man. This shows how Greeks viewed men in a positive way and thought that they were more powerful and superior to women. In addition, they thought men and women are unequal and that men were given jobs that required more physical strength. Although women played a role in Greek myths, they were not as important as men. Women had a more easier and feminine jobs than men. In the Greek creation myth, we see Hades as the god of underworld and Aphrodite as the goddess of love. The difference between th...