Monsters of Antithesis

Authors

Melody Leming-Wilson, Portland State University

Subjects

Athens (Greece) -- Social life and customs, Matriarchy, Greek mythology, Amazons, Matrilineal kinship

Abstract

This paper traces and interrogates the multiple theories of matriarchy that have arisen in recent years and then turns to the Greek myths to show how matriarchies functioned in this literature. The theories of matriarchy often stem from the pre-Hellenic stories of matriarchy shown in Greek myths. In addition, these theories often suggest that the colonizing force of Indo-Europeans changed these myths into patriarchical ones. The Amazonian women can be seen to upset the patriarchal myth in important and interesting ways which suggest a matriarchal underpinning to their society. The question of whether a historical matriarchy actually existed is shown to be less important than the concept of matriarchy in Greek myth in terms of understand wild and dangerous women.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/13159

Recommended Citation

Leming-Wilson, Melody (1992) "Monsters of Antithesis," Anthós Journal (1990-1996): Vol. 1: No. 3, Article 17.
Available at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anthos_archives/vol1/iss3/17