Women in Mythology

Eve

God said to Adam …

Genesis 2:15 “Of every tree of the garden you are

free to eat; but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.”

Eden: Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel

Raphael: The Fall Adam & Eve

The Punishment

Genesis 3:16:“And to the woman [God] said, ‘I will

make most severe your pains in childbearing; in pain shall you bear children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.’ ”

Succubi

Succubi

Female demons who force men to have intercourse with them

Lilith

Lilith

First wife of Adam (Judaism)Refused to have sex in missionary

position; wanted equalityGoddess of the dark moonMother of succubiDemon of the night

Kidnaps/eats/kills babies; seduces (sleeping) men to propagate demon children

The Lilin

Demon children of Lilith and Samael

Lilith-John Collie

r

Lady LilithDante Gabriel Rossetti

Lilith

Adopted by feminists and religious/spiritual groups as a symbol of female empowerment and equality

Pandora

Pandora

• The first woman• Created by the gods (Hephaestus in particular)

and bestowed with unique gifts from each (including curiosity)

• Given to Epimetheus as a wife• Opens the jar/box that contains all the evils of

the world (disease, death, sorrow)• When she slams to jar/box shut, hopelessness

remains trapped inside

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

John W. Waterhouse

John W. Waterhouse

This painting by Waterhouse isn’t actually a Pandora painting; it’s Psyche Opening the Golden Box; but it is so

beautiful

Unknown Artist

Unknown Artist(this is from a Russian postcard … I don't know

whether Maul is the artist or the postcard publisher)

Sculptures

Pandorasculpted by Chauncey Ives (1864)

Pandorasculpted by Chauncey Ives (1858)

Persephone

Goddess of Spring/Queen of the Underworld/

Wife of Hades

• Origin story to explain the seasons• Her mother, Demeter, is the goddess of the

harvest

• Persephone was abducted by Hades and eventually rescued by Hermes

• Because she consumed food (pomegranate seeds) in the Underworld, she was forced to return for several months each year (winter)

The Rape of Proserpina Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Persephone's Return, by Frederick Lord Leighton

Sirens

The Siren and the Fisherman, by Frederic Lord Leighton

The SirenJohn

William Waterhouse

Harpies

Harpies in the wood of the suicidesGustave Doré

Valkyries

Valkyries

• Norse mythology• Demigoddesses of death • Decide who will die in battle

The Ride of the ValkyriesWilliam T. Maud

The Fates

A Golden Thread by John Strudwick

Moirae (Greek mythology)

• Clotho: spun the thread of life

• Lachesis: measured the thread of life

• Atropos: cut the thread of life & chose the manner of a person's death

Parcae (Roman mythology)

• Nona: spun the thread of life

• Decima: measured the thread of life

• Morta: cut the thread of life & chose the manner of a person's death

Gorgons

• Stheno (Might) • Euryale (Wide Flowing Sea) • Medusa (Queen/Ruler)

Perseus slaying the Gorgon, Medusa by Cellini

Graeae

• personified the white foam of the sea• shared one eye, one ear and one

tooth • grey-haired from birth • guardians of the Gorgons

– Enyo (horror) – Deino (dread) – Pemphredo (alarm)

The Graeae by L.W. Messacar

The Furies

The Muses

Goddesses of Art & Science

Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon by Claude Lorrain

The Graces

The Three Graces by

Jean-Baptiste Regnault

Female Trinity/Triple Goddess