Women in Archaic Greece:Maidens

Archaic Greece: 8th – 6th centuries BCE

Limitations of information:

Few words from women usually – but in this period, Sappho

Much more information about aristocrats (leisure for art and poetry)

Different social strata reflected in Homer and Hesiod

Imaginary or real social worlds (i.e. Homer’s Odyssey)

Do goddess stories reflect real women’s lives (Homeric Hymn to Demeter)?

Alkman (Alcman)

Maiden Chorus (Parthenaia)

Communal activity for females

public role for usually secluded girls

does it reflect aristocratic education?

time and place issues

eroticism in an acceptable context

Alcman’s Maiden Song

What are some of the ways girls are described in this choral poem?

What image of the girls emerges?

Are the girls “subjects” or “objects” in the song?

Who “owns” the erotic element of it?

Alcman’s Maiden Song

Alcman’s Maiden Song

An Etruscan tomb painting shown young women in a choral dance – what impression does it give?

Sappho

•love as a key focus

•female experience

•relationship as well as pursuit

•eroticism: older and younger women

•different perspectives

•loss and distance

•focus on emotional experience

Sappho

“Honestly, I wish I were dead!”

Weeping many tears she left me,

Saying this as well:

“Oh, what dreadful things have happened to us, Sappho! I didn’t want to leave you!”

I answered her,

“Go with my blessings and remember me …”

Sappho

“Close by my side you put around yourself many wreaths of violet and saffron … and many woven garlands made from flowers … around your tender neck,

And with costly royal myrrh … you anointed …

And on a soft bed … tender … you satisfied your desire …”

Sappho

But now she stands out among the Lydian women as after sunset the rosy fingered moon

Surpasses all the stars; the light spreads over the salty sea equally as over the many-flowered fields.

And the dew glows beautifully liquid …

But she, roaming about far and wide, remembers gentle Attis with desire …

•What are the relationships between women/maidens described in the Partheneia? In Sappho's poetry? Are these kinds of relationships common in the present day?

•What are your impressions of how women are represented in the art of archaic Greece? What are the characteristics and attributes that women are notable for, as seen in art? What are the purposes for which artistic representations of women are made in the Archaic period?

Sappho and Alkman

Demeter and Persephone

How are the mother and daughter shown relative to one another in this religious frieze?

How does that compare to their relationship in the Homeric Hymn?

She [Persephone] was having a good time, along with the daughters of Okeanos, who wear their girdles slung low. She was picking flowers: roses, crocus, and beautiful violets. Up and down the soft meadow. Iris blossoms too she picked, and hyacinth. And the narcissus, which was grown as a lure for the flower-faced girl by Gaia [Earth]. All according to the plans of Zeus.

Persephone

Hades seized her against her will, put her on his golden chariot. And drove away as she wept. She cried with a piercing voice, calling upon her father [Zeus], the son of Kronos, the highest and the best. But not one of the immortal ones, or of human mortals, heard her voice.

Persephone

Persephone

Persephone

Persephone

•Is this marriage by abduction considered legal, appropriate, binding? How does Persephone feel about being kidnapped and "married by force"? Do you get the sense that this is how people really act, or that this is special "divine prerogative"? •Marriage by kidnapping and divine rape of nymphs or mortals are common themes in Greek mythology. Does Persephone’s story give you any insight into why the ancient Greeks would have had such an interest in this story? Does this motif have any resonance in the present day?

Persephone

Persephone

"Helios! Show me respect, god to goddess, if ever I have pleased your heart ... It is about the girl born to me, a sweet young seedling, renowned for her beauty, whose piercing cry I heard resounding though the boundless aether, as if she were being forced, though I did not see it with my eyes…

PersephoneAnd Demeter was visited by a grief that was even more terrible than before: it makes you think of the Hound of Hades. In her anger at the one who is known for his dark clouds, the son of Kronos, she shunned the company of gods and lofty Olympus. She went away, visiting the cities of humans, with all their fertile landholdings, shading over her appearance, for a long time.

Persephone

•How is the mother / daughter relationship between Demeter and Persephone portrayed? •Do you get the sense that the mother/ daughter relationship was thought of as a particularly close relationship for ancient Greek women in general?

I do not know what this land is and who live here. But I pray to all the gods who abide on Olympus that you be granted vigorous husbands and that you be able to bear children, in accordance with the wishes of your parents. As for me, young girls, take pity. To be honest about it, what I want is for you to name for me a house to go to the house of someone, man or woman, who has dear children to be taken care of. I want to work for them, honestly. The kind of work that is cut out for a female who has outlived others her own age. I could take some newborn baby in my arms, and nourish him well.

Demeter

But blond-haired Demeter sat down and stayed in the temple, shunning the company of all the blessed ones. She was wasting away with yearning for her daughter with the low-slung girdle. She made that year the most terrible one for mortals, all over the Earth, the nurturer of many. It was so terrible, it makes you think of the Hound of Hades. The Earth did not send up any seed. Demeter, she with the beautiful garlands in her hair, kept them [= the seeds] covered underground.

Demeter

•Demeter seems powerless to prevent the marriage and keep her daughter – though she clearly has other forms of power! What information, if any, does this give you about the rights and powers of real women in ancient Greece? •What is the relationship between Hades and Persephone? Does she have any rights/ powers in her marriage?

Persephone

•The motif of a woman searching for a lost loved one recurs in world mythology, notably when the Egyptian goddess Isis searches for her lost husband Osiris. What meaning does this image have in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter? Does this meaning resonate with you in the present day?

Demeter

"Go, Persephone, to your mother, the one with the dark robe. Have a kindly disposition in your breast. Do not be too upset, excessively so. I will not be an unseemly husband to you, in the company of the immortals. I am the brother of Zeus the Father. If you are here, you will be queen of everything that lives and moves about, and you will have the greatest honors in the company of the immortals.“ So he spoke. And high-minded Persephone rejoiced.

Persephone

I sprang up for joy, but he, stealthily, put into my hand the berry of the pomegranate, that honey-sweet food, and he compelled me by force to eat of it…As for how it was that he snatched me away … He took me away under the earth in his golden chariot. It was very much against my will. I cried with a piercing voice. These things, grieving, I tell you, and they are all true.”

Persephone

Artemis the Maiden

•Goddess of the hunt

•Goddess of transitions

•Untamed, wild

•Dangerous to both young women and young men who violate her precepts

Artemis the Maiden

dedications

Nausicaa

What are the concerns of Nausicaa -- what does she consider important, what occupies her mind? How well is she able to manipulate her environment to make things turn out the way she wants them?

finis