Mythical and Biblical Representation of

Women

Christine and Sandra Porto

Introduction“What else is a woman but a foe to friendship, an

inescapablepunishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a

desirablecalamity, a domestic danger, a delectable detriment, an evil

nature,painted with fair colours?”

- Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347-407).

Myths and ancient stories characterize women as being gifts for men, empty vessels used for reproduction, bearers of all evil, temptresses, as punishment for men,

and as property of men.

Eve “So God created man in his own image, in the image of

God created he him; male and female created he them” “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man” (Genesis 1:22/27).

“Here in my garden you would have lived forever and been happy. But now you must go out into the world to work and suffer, and at the end of your lives—for now your lives will end—you will go back into the dust of the earth, for from the dust of the earth I created you” (Genesis).

Pandora Before Pandora there

was no evil, no sickness or death. Human beings were free from labour and toil and were free. The world was perfect.

She opened the jar and out flew the plagues of mankind. These included such afflictions as disease, pain, sorrow, insanity, envy, work, toil, and death. She quickly replaced the lid, however she was only able to trap one member – hope for mankind.

Eve v.s PandoraSimilarities Each is the first

woman in the world. Each is a central

character in a story of a transition from a perfect world to world of evil, suffering and death.

Differences Eve was created to

help Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Pandora was created to bring punishment to the men who benefited from the crime.

Helen Helen of Sparta was

kidnapped by Paris and taken to Troy.

Helen’s husband had rounded up an impressive army – more than a thousand ships were launched to recapture Helen.

After ten long years of bloodshed, and the complete destruction of the city of the Tory, the Greeks were declared the winner of the Trojan War and Helen was returned home to Sparta to her husband.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiyQOumuSN4

Seductive women of the Odyssey After the Trojan War, Odysseus and his ship of soldiers departed Troy to sail back to Ithaca. Odysseus

encounters the Sirens, Circe, Calypso, Scylla, and Charybdis, who

wereable to control the men on that ship.

the Sirens: the Sirens are creatures with the

head of a female and the body of a bird who lives on an island.

They had an irresistible charm as their songs lured sailors to their death on the rocks surrounding

their island.

Seductive women of the Odyssey…Circe: Circe was a sorceress

who was best known for her ability to turn men into animals with her magic wand.

Calypso: Calypso was a nymph;

nymphs are spirits of nature.

When Odysseus landed on her island, she wanted to take him as her lover and promised him immortality if he would stay with her.

Seductive women of the Odyssey…Scylla and Charybdis: Together they pose life

threatening situations to male sailors.

Scylla was a sea monster who threatened passing ships. She was a 12 foot monster with six heads and destroyed anything in her path.

Charybdis is a monstrous whirlpool that poses a dangerous threat to passing ships

In closing… Throughout history, this notion of women's

inferiority has been fueled by stories like Eve, Pandora, Helen and the women of Homer’s Odyssey.

Sexuality and beauty played a large role in ancient myths as they used their sexuality to tempt men, who were supposedly superior but

yet were too weak to resist them.

Sources Blondell, Ruby. (2010). “Bitch that I Am”: Self-

Blame and Self-Assertion in the Iliad. Transactions of the American Philological Association, Vol. 140, p. 1–32

Encyclopedia Mythica: mythology, folklore, and religion. Retrieved January 24, 2012, from http://www.pantheon.org/

Giesecke. Annette. (Spring, 2007). Mapping Utopia: Homer's Politics and the Birth of the Polis. College Literature, Vol. 34, No. 2.

Gillhouse, Elizabeth. (2011). “Eve was Framed”: Ideostory and (Mis)Representation in Judeo-Christian Creation Stories. Children’s Literature Association, p. 259–275

Holy Bible: Book of Genesis Robert C. Bartlett. (Spring, 2006). An

Introduction to Hesiod's "Works and Days". The Review of Politics, Vol. 68, No. 2,p. 177-205

Thank you!