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Women and Women's Writings from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages - Sue Blundell (Essay Date 1995)

SUE BLUNDELL (ESSAY DATE 1995)

SOURCE: Blundell, Sue. "Myth: An Introduction." In Women in Ancient Greece, pp. 14-19. London: British Museum Press, 1995.

In the following excerpt, Blundell reviews the principal ways in which women are portrayed in Greek myth: typically as powerful goddesses, royal figures, or destructive monsters, but in many cases as liminal or victimized individuals.

Women in Myth: Goddesses, Royals and Monsters

The heading above refers to the three levels of being which women assume in Greek myth. The divine level is dominated by the figures of the six goddesses (Hera, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hestia) who together with six gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus) form a ruling élite known as the Olympian deities. But there are also many lesser goddesses, the relatives and associates of the Olympians; and a number of divine female collectives,...

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