The document summarizes key figures and myths from ancient Greek culture relating to representations of women. It discusses goddesses like Aphrodite, Hera, and Artemis and their roles in ancient Greek myths. It also references archaeological sites and traditions that provide context on cultural depictions and worship of female figures dating back thousands of years, including sites in Crete, Cyprus, and Santorini. The document examines how written sources like Hesiod and visual arts helped shape understandings of women in ancient Greek society.

1. Hvem er den vakreste av alle? Kvinnebilder og symbolikk i gamle greske myter.
Alexandra Angeletaki, arkeolog NTNU
A
Seksjon for kultur- og vitenskapshistor

2. Å SE!

3. Leda og Zevs
Helena og
Klitemnistra
Pollux og
Castor
Maleriet af Leda og svanen er udført af Francesco Melzi i 1508.

4. Agamemnons folk fører den være og midjesmækre Briseis bort fra
Akilleus’ telt, men hun vil nødigt skilles fra Akilleus. Maleri af Johann
Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein fra 1733.
Den trojanske
krigenri af Johann Heinrich Wilhelm
bein fra 1733.

5. But Hera, indignant at not defeating the goddesses, made an airy nothing of
my marriage with Paris; she gave to the son of king Priam not me, but an
image, alive and breathing, that she fashioned out of the sky and made to look
like me; [35] and he thinks he has me—an idle fancy, for he doesn't have me.
And in turn the plans of Zeus added further troubles to these; for he brought a
war upon the land of the Hellenes and the unhappy Phrygians, so that he might
lighten mother earth [40] of her crowded mass of mortals, and bring fame to
the bravest man of Hellas. So I was set up as the Hellenes' spear-prize, to test
the courage of the Trojans; or rather not me, but my name. Hermes caught me
up in the folds of the air and [45] hid me in a cloud—for Zeus was not
neglectful of me—and he set me down here in the house of Proteus, having
selected the most self-controlled of all mankind, so that I might keep my bed
pure for Menelaos. And so I am here, while my wretched husband [50] has
gathered an army and gone over to the towers of Ilion to hunt down and
recover me.
Euripides. The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two
volumes. 2. Helen, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.The Annenberg
CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

6. Helenus ("ousted by
Deiphobus")
Achilles (Afterlife)
Enarsphorus (Plutarch)
Idas (Plutarch)
Lynceus (Plutarch)
Corythus (Parthenius)
Theoclymenus (attempt -
in Euripides)

7. Pandora: allbegavet og
Hesiod

8. [60] So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he
bade famous Hephaestus make haste and mix earth with water
and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion
a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in
face; and Athene to teach her needlework and the weaving of the
varied web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head
and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged
Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless
mind and a deceitful nature.
Fra Hesiod
http://www.perseus.t
ufts.edu/hopper/

9. And Prometheus had a son Deucalion.4 He reigning in the regions about Phthia, married
Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, the first woman fashioned by the gods.5 And
when Zeus would destroy the men of the Bronze Age, Deucalion by the advice of Prometheus
constructed a chest,6 and having stored it with provisions he embarked in it with Pyrrha. But
Zeus by pouring heavy rain from heaven flooded the greater part of Greece, so that all men were
destroyed, except a few who fled to the high mountains in the neighborhood. It was then that
the mountains in Thessaly parted, and that all the world outside the Isthmus
and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. But Deucalion, floating in the chest over the sea for nine
days and as many nights, drifted to Parnassus, and there, when the rain ceased, he landed and
sacrificed to Zeus, the god of Escape. And Zeus sent Hermes to him and allowed him to choose
what he would, and he chose to get men. And at the bidding of Zeus he took up stones and threw
them over his head, and the stones which Deucalion threw became men, and the stones which
Pyrrha threw became women.
Fra Appolodorus :

10. MYTER OG VIRKELIGHETEN!

11. Myter og deres betydning!
•Skriftlige kilder
•Hesiod
•Homer
•Aiskylos-Sofokles-Euripides
•Pindar - Plutarch
•Arkeologiske funn
•De store gudinnene fra øst
•Helligdommer og ritualer
•Inskripsjoner.

12. Skriftlige kilder

13. ARKEOLOGISKE TRADISJONER
Evans

14. Afrodite eller Moder-jord
25000 år f.kr.

15. Gaya

16. Kypros

17. But Earth, grieved at the destruction of her children, who had been
cast into Tartarus, persuaded the Titans to attack their father and
gave Cronus an adamantine sickle. And they, all but Ocean,
attacked him, and Cronus cut off his father's genitals and threw
them into the sea; and from the drops of the flowing blood were
born Furies, to wit, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera.6 And, having
dethroned their father, they brought up their brethren who had
been hurled down to Tartarus, and committed the sovereignty to
Cronus. [5]
Apollodorus. Apollodorus, The Library, with an English
Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2
Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London,
William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.

20. Ishtar eller Astarte
The great goddess (Mother
of Heaven and Earth)
worshipped by Eastern
nations under various
names—Mylitta
in Assyria, Astarte in Phoen
icia: called Heavenly
Aphrodite, or simply the
Heavenly One, by the
Greeks.Herodotus, The
Histories
http://www.perseus.tufts.e
du/hopper/

21. Afrodite som dyrkes i Kypros

22. And through the land of Asia she gallops, straight through
sheep-pasturing Phrygia, and she passes the city of Teuthras
among the Mysians, [550] and the hollow vales of Lydia, across
the mountains of the Cilicians and the Pamphylians, speeding
over ever-flowing rivers and earth deep and rich, and [555] the
land of Aphrodite that teems with wheat.
Aeschylus. Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert
Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes. 2. Suppliant Women.
Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University
Press. 1926.

23. Kykladisk kultur 3200-2000 f.kr.

24. Kreta 3650-1450 f.kr.

25. Marija Gimbutas og «gender»
arkeologi

27. S
Santorini
3000-1600 f.kr.

28. THERA EKSPLOSJONEN ?

29. Mykensk kultur
1600-1100 f.kr.

30. Pylos

31. Demeter

37. HERAION SAMOS 570

40. Every fourth year there is woven for Hera a robe by the Sixteen women,
and the same also hold games called Heraia. The games consist of foot-
races for maidens. These are not all of the same age. The first to run are
the youngest; after them come the next in age, and the last to run are the
oldest of the maidens. They run in the following way : their hair hangs
down, a tunic reaches to a little above the knee, and they bare the right
shoulder as far as the breast. These too have the Olympic stadium
reserved for their games, but the course of the stadium is shortened for
them by about one-sixth of its length. To the winning maidens they give
crowns of olive and a portion of the cow sacrificed to Hera. They may
also dedicate statues with their names inscribed upon them. Those who
administer to the Sixteen are, like the presidents of the games, married
women. The games of the maidens too are traced back to ancient times;
they say that, out of gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops,
Hippodameia assembled the Sixteen Women, and with them
inaugurated the Heraia.
. . .by Pausanias

43. Leto Artemis og Apollo

44. Now Artemis devoted herself to the chase and remained a maid; but Apollo
learned the art of prophecy from Pan, the son of Zeus and Hybris,3 and came
to Delphi, where Themis at that time used to deliver oracles;4 and when the
snake Python, which guarded the oracle, would have hindered him from
approaching the chasm,5 he killed it and took over the oracle.6 Not long
afterwards he slew also Tityus, who was a son of Zeus and Elare, daughter
of Orchomenus; for her, after he had debauched her, Zeus hid under the
earth for fear of Hera, and brought forth to the light the son Tityus, of
monstrous size, whom she had borne in her womb.7 When Latona came
to Pytho, Tityus beheld her, and overpowered by lust drew her to him. But
she called her children to her aid, and they shot him down with their arrows.
And he is punished even after death; for vultures eat his heart in Hades.8 [2]
Apollodorus. Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A.,
F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Første århundre f.kr.

47. PANATHINAIA

48. The statue of Athena is upright, with a tunic reaching to the
feet, and on her breast the head of Medusa is worked in
ivory. She holds a statue of Victory about four cubits high,
and in the other hand a spear; at her feet lies a shield and
near the spear is a serpent. This serpent would be
Erichthonius. On the pedestal is the birth of Pandora in
relief. Hesiod and others have sung how this Pandora was
the first woman; before Pandora was born there was as yet
no womankind. The only portrait statue I remember seeing
here is one of the emperor Hadrian, and at the entrance one
of Iphicrates,3 who accomplished many remarkable
achievements.
Pausanias bok 1.24 fra Perseus digital library
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/

50. BEGREPER OG DEFINISJONER
• Hva er det som
kjennetegner det
hellige?
• Hvordan defineres
det i et samfunn?
• Hvor mye kan man
forstå?

52. And now the expected time of birth was near,
when in the middle of the night she seemed
to see the goddess Isis, standing by
her bed, in company of serious spirit forms;
Isis had crescent horns upon her forehead,
and a bright garland made of golden grain
encircled her fair brow. It was a crown
of regal beauty: and beside her stood
the dog Anubis, and Bubastis, there
the sacred, dappled Apis, and the God
of silence with pressed finger on his lips;
the sacred rattles were there, and Osiris
Ovidius metamorphosis

54. AFRODITE

55. Kvinnen og gresk tragedie!
•Alkestis (438), Medeia (431),
Heraklidene (430?), Hippolyt
os (428), Hekabe og Androm
akhe (ca.
425), Hiketidene (424?), Hera
kles og Elektra (ca. 420–
415), De trojanske
kvinner (415), Ifigeneia blant
taurerne og Ion (414/413?), H
elena (412), De fønikiske
kvinner (ca. 411–
408), Orestes (408), Ifigeneia
i Aulis og Bakkantinnene

56. Euripides. Euripides, with an
English translation by David
Kovacs. Cambridge. Harvard
University Press.
• Andromache
Glory of Asia, city of Thebe! It was from you that I, Andromache, once came dowered with
golden luxury to the royal house of Priam, given to Hector as lawful wife for the bearing of
his children. [5] In days gone by I was a woman to be envied, but now I am, if any woman
ever was, the paragon of misery. I saw my husband Hector killed by the hand of Achilles
and I beheld Astyanax, the son I bore my husband, [10] hurled from the high battlements
once the Greeks had captured the land of Troy. I myself, a member of a house most free,
became a slave and was brought to Greece, given as the choicest of the Trojan spoil [15] to
the islander Neoptolemus as his prize of war. I live now in the lands that border on Phthia
here and the city of Pharsalia, lands where the sea-goddess Thetis, far from the haunts of
men and fleeing their company, dwelt as wife with Peleus.

57. DIOTIMA OG YPATIA

58. •Plutarch, Moralia
•p475Bravery of Women
(Part 1 of 2)
•242E11 Regarding the virtues of women, Clea, I do not hold
the same opinion as Thucydides.1 For he declares that the best
woman is she about whom there is the least talk among
persons outside regarding either censure or commendation,
feeling that the name of the good woman, like her person,
ought to be shut up indoors and never go out.2 But to my mind
Gorgias appears to display better taste in advising that not the
form but the fame of a woman should be known to many.

59. •And actually it is not possible to learn better the similarity and
the difference between the virtues of men and of women from
any other source than by putting lives beside lives and actions
beside actions, like great works of art…..