The Sirens: The Conception Of Women In Greek Culture

Sirens are identified as sea nymphs who, by their sweet song they lured mariners to their deaths. They are imaged as raptor birds with female heads. The Sirens lived on an island (Hesiod calls this Island Anthemoessa) in the sea. They sang songs so sweetly that they lured sailors to their deaths. The nature of the sirens and their origin story prove that most women, in Greek culture, were a depiction who will seduce men and lead them to their doom. Women were the givers of life in an age when the processes of conception, fertility and childbirth were still deeply mysterious and little understood. In Greek mythology and Greek culture women were perceived as these beautiful creatures who will seduce men, but have other intentions, what women

In the documentary, Jason and the Argonauts, historians described the women who gave challenges to men who passed as people who lost something that was very important to them, their humanity. "The women of Lemnos were hospital and gorgeous. But they harbored a grisly secret. The Amazons were man-killers. They're all women who've been stripped of their humanity."(BBC) These women who were stripped of their humanity in Greek mythology was also true for women in Greek culture. Many women lost their humanity, or stripped of it, even though many were worshiped as the goddesses of fertility. Girls in Greek culture were raised and went to school just like all the other boys. But with them going to school, it was preparing them for rearing a family and not for intellectual development. Many young women were expected to be a virgin when they marry, which is around thirteen to fourteen years of age. They never got to choose who they marry, it was always up to their dad or some other male figure in the women’s life. “Of course, love may have developed between the couple, but the best that might be hoped for, being philia - a general friendship/love sentiment; eros, the love of desire, was often sought elsewhere by the husband. All women were expected to marry, there was no provision and no role in Greek society for single mature females.”(Cartwright p2) All women in ancient Greece had to

Thus, meaning that they are not like the sirens or the Amazons who seduce men or live for battle and war. But these goddesses were born from Zeus and practically born into the throne and the role they were given. The Goddesses mainly stood for the fertility of women and the sign of life. “Considering their limited role in actual society, there is a surprisingly strong cast of female characters in Greek religion and mythology. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and patron of Athens stands out as a powerful figure blessed with intelligence, courage and honour. Again common to most ancient cultures where agriculture was crucial to the community....” (Cartwright p2) This proves that the Greek Goddesses did play a major role in Greek religion/ mythology, but there were very few powerful goddesses represented as the most well known. They represented what women wanted to become in society and not how they were perceived. It was very valuable to women in ancient Greece to have a figure to aspire to be someday and hoping for a shift in power or more