Feminist Approaches to Myth
The Great Goddess and more…
Two basic aspects of a feminist approach
• Restoration of recovery of “lost” or submerged
evidence or traditions and subsequent revision
(for example, the Great Goddess)
• Interpretation of myth from the standpoint of
gender roles, gender dynamics, evidence of
misogyny and the subjugation of women—what
can myths tell us about culturally sanctioned
toward women and gender?
“Venuses”
Archaeological Evidence Supporting a Lost Tradition of
Great Goddess Worship
Marija Gimbutas
• Archaeologist, 1921-1994, born in Lituania
• Studied pre-Indo-European cultures of ancient
Europe
• Because of the many female figurines unearthed
from the time-period of 30000 BCE to 3000 BCE,
she hypothesized that a woman-centered, peaceloving, cooperative culture preceded the
development of male-dominated, militaristic,
patriarchal culture
http://www.marijagimbutas.com/marija-gimbutas-videos.html
The Great Goddess
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Worship of the great or creator goddess predates the workshop of the patriarchal
gods
We find evidence of the GG in aspects of goddesses from later periods
Gave birth by parthenogenesis
She is the source of life, death and rebirth
She has a triple nature and is all encompassing of heaven, earth and underworld
She embodies three aspects of the female lifecycle: maiden, mother and old
woman
Symbols related to her are: the snake, moon, vessel (jar, vase, pot, oven), bird,
cow
Over time, her attributes are separated out into different deities—e.g., Hera,
Artemis, Demeter, Aphrodite
Triple aspects are reinterpreted—refashioned—from a patriarchal perspective
Patriarchy also gives rise to a new archetype, the hero—singular, linear, dualities vs
integration, cycles
Mistress of Animals,Serpents and Birds
Gimbutas’s Contributions
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Identified a diverse and complex range of Neolithic female divinities, including bird
goddess, mistress of animals, Queen of the Mountains, snake goddess, bearmother, life-giver, earth mother, craft giver, goddess of death--and more--and
designated these as multiple forms of the “Great Goddess”
Identified and deciphered the ideogram system of the European Neolithic,
including many abstract and geometric signs, such as the spiral, comb, hour-glass,
frog, owl, breast, vulva, uterus, snake, pig, boar
Clarified the differences between this “Old European” sign system and the later
Bronze Age symbol systems that reflect the dominance of male gods and use
images of the tools and weapons of war
The Rise of the Hero
Ultimately, the triple aspects of the Great Goddess are reinterpreted from a
patriarchal perspective, and the rise of patriarchy generates a new archetype: the
hero
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Singular
Linear
Death is final
Aim is to achieve immortality
More on the hero when we study the Iliad and Odyssey
Consider Hesiod’s Goddesses from the
Perspective of the Great Goddess Theory
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Gaea is a parthenogenetic goddess, one of the components of the primordial universe and
she includes all levels of the universe within her: upper lower, light dark, life and death—she
mediates between these.
Gaea maintains her functions as source of life and death by conspiring with her children to
castrate Ouranos.
In the next generation, however, Zeus battles with Typhoeus (world serpent, chthonic and
representing the death wielding aspect of the GG, now separated out) and Gaea fades from
view.
Gaea’s triple functions are most commonly syncretized with Demeter. Similarly GG’s
attributes are separated out as virgin (Athena), wife (Hera), and lover (Aphrodite). Her
chthonian attributes are manifested in goddesses such as Hecate and Artemis.
Gaea’s chthonian attributes are manifested in goddesses such as Hecate and Artemis.
Although a positive figure in Hesiod, embodying powers of all of the gods—sea and earth,
victory in battle, fishing, farming, abundance, fertility, wealth, and plenty –because of her
association with the Underworld, Hecate is eventually stripped of her positive associations
and becomes instead identified with unlucky places, the night, crossroads and the moon—
the death-giving functions of the GG.
Video clips to illustrate:
Marija Gimbutas : Youtube, “Signs Out of History,” parts
1-3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozaeuULrLjM
Homeric Hymn to Demeter
• How does a feminist approach help illuminate
the Homeric Hymn to Demeter—either by
suggesting “lost traditions” or the diminished
role of the Great Goddess, or by illuminating
gender roles under patriarchy
• What are some other interpretive approaches
to HHD?
What do we know about women’s roles and
status in Classical Athens from sources other
than myth and literature?
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Free-born women were citizens, but did not vote or participate in the public life of
the democracy (men inhabited agora, law courts, gymnasium)
• Women stayed out of public view, were expected to remain silent and avoid being
discussed by men
• Women’s clothing was intended to conceal—modesty was a female virtue
• Woman’s role was primarily in the home: domestic crafts and child bearing and
rearing
• Women lived in separate quarters of the house, among other women
• Women were treated as legal minors; under the guardian ship of an adult male
(father, husband, brother)
• Women actively participated in religious practice and ritual
How does this knowledge of women correspond to the representation of women in
myth and the literary works that are the sources of Greek myth?