The Role of Women in Greek Mythology

The role of women in the Greek myths was much bigger than the role of women in Ancient Greece. In Ancient Greece, meaning all of the Greek city-states such as Sparta, Athena, and many more, a woman’s job was to care for the children, cook and clean unless she had servants or slaves to do that for her, and have more children. Women were thought of as lowly and insignificant. Somehow though, strong and powerful female figures were created by the very same people who had given women such a lowly role in society.

Artemis, goddess of the hunt and of children, was well known for asking her father, Zeus, to promise never to force her to marry. She was strong, fierce, unforgiving, and not someone to mess with. An unfortunate hunter called Actaeon saw the goddess naked. Artemis turned him into a stag and motioned for his own dogs to tear him to pieces. Another time, when she heard a woman called Niobe insult her mother Leto, Artemis and her brother Apollo came down from Olympus and killed all of Niobe’s fourteen children. In some versions of this myth, Artemis spared the youngest girl, Iphigenia, who she forced to kill men for the rest of her life.

Atlanta, also a mythological figure created by the Ancient Greek people, was a girl, a mortal, who was the exact opposite from the average Greek woman in the ancient days. She was very athletic. She could run faster than anyone, she could hunt to the level just short of Artemis herself. Rumor has it that she went with Jason to capture the Golden Fleece. When Artemis released her Calydonian boar to kill everyone in the city, Atlanta was the one who killed it.

In Greek Mythology, women were either very fierce like Artemis and Atlanta, or weak, like these two examples.

Helen of Troy sat in her castle while thousands of men died. Her current husband, Paris of Troy, stole her from Menelaus of Sparta, and because of that and because of her beauty, Sparta and Troy had a ten year long war over Helen. Not only that, but other city-states such as Athens joined.

The Princess Andromeda was tied to a rock (that is the sign of her being portrayed as a “weakling”) and a big, strong, man, Perseus had to save her.

In all, a woman was usually defined by three things: her wits, her beauty, or her bad deeds.

Ariadne was defined by her wits. She is known for helping Theseus (a man) find his way out of the labyrinth after killing the minotaur. Helen of Troy was known for her beauty. At the time of the Trojan War, she was known as the most beautiful woman on Earth. Ariadne was known for boasting that she was better than the goddess Athena, a very stupid thing to do in Greek Mythology and Ancient Greece.

Back then, women were, in many ways, not as “good” as men.