When pagan goddesses were as powerful as gods in the antiquity, why was the status of women generally so low?

Question

E.g. Greece, Rome

Classical Mythology provides the earliest glimpse of male-female relationships. But were these myths just written by men with no women’s participation?

Literary testimony is difficult, it presents bias information in addition that misogyny taints much of it.

Opinions, ideas and links welcome

:-)

Answer 1

What do you mean by low ? I guess back then both got to work equally in the fields. It aint like they got to compete to be CEO for Mercedes.

Answer 2

That's an interesting point, I don't know much about classic mythology, I have never studied it but on a similar note I have realised that so many religions in the world ignore the feminine side of diety. I am pagan and I think it is the only religion that embraces woman and man in perfect harmony and equality.

Answer 3

Good question. But that smiley made me cringe (I've been seeing them all day).

Anyways, I would have to question the validity of todays' history books. Why should I trust what has been written in a book by people who could have their own agendas? Should I believe everything I read simply because it has been shown in schools?

Many people do not ponder about matriarchal societies of today or if ancient societies may have been more equal between the sexes. I guess I can never really know what really happened in the ancient world.

Answer 4

Because worshipping goddesses has nothing to do with how human females are treated.  Women do not have high status in India for example, where they still worship many powerful goddesses.  Nor do they have particularly high status in Japan, where the Sun Goddess Amaterasu is the chief deity of the Shinto pantheon,  and the ancestress of the emperors of Japan.  Stories of powerful goddesses and heroines do not affect how people view ordinary women.

I would say that Egyptian mythology is considerably older than Greek mythology, and Egyptian myths contain powerful goddesses, who are sometimes shown in a positive light.  the goddess Isis for example is generally shown as benevolent in her relations with mankind, and is portrayed as a devoted wife and mother.  

The women of Greece and Rome were generally held to be subordinate to men, but individual women managed to make their mark on society.  For instance, Sappho was the most admired poet in ancient Greece next to Homer.  Several women were well-known as philosophers. And several Spartan women became well-known as trainers of chariot horses, and won prizes at the Olympic Games.

Answer 5

Originally the status of women was very equal or

even superior, however after the Kurgan invasion

when warfare came to dominate life, our role was

greatly downgraded.

I talk a lot about this, in terms of the evolution of

religion and women's roles, on my website... if

you have time I think it would be good to read.

Many blessings,

Jeanie

Answer 6

When women godesses are worshiped based on their sexual status (eg. godess of fertility or virgin godess), then how are women supposed to be seen as more than sperm packages?

Answer 7

Women held a lot of power (upper class women, anyway) in ancient Rome. Greek women, agreed, were pretty much seen but not heard.

But that's a very good question. You're willing to pray to a female goddess and put your life in her hands, but you're not willing to give your wife and daughters the right to determine their own lives and fates.

All I can assume is that, though we know a lot about the peoples of ancient Greece and Rome during the heights of those civilizations, we don't know as much about the people who actually created the pantheons long before. Perhaps they were more egalitarian in nature, and gradually, women's rights melted away as the millennia passed.

Answer 8

The Gods were the embodiment of Antiquity's fantasy life.

They drank constantly and ate substances so delicious that mortals couldn't understand how good they tasted

They could rape who ever they wanted, they were Immortal and Virtually unaccountable and definitely unquestionable for their actions (no god could reverse the actions of another God, not even Zeus)

Their was a hierarchy of the gods and the Male Deities where always above the Female Deities of the same level, Zeus was above Hera, Apollo was above Artemis, Hespestus and Venis might be the only acception but that is only because he was psycicaly handicaped

Thier Realy was no Equivelent to the Zues/Poesidine/Hades brotherhood maybe except for Hera/Venus/and Artimes, two of which were well bellow the other two and all of which fought with each other incessently

Unfortunately, Your premise that Female dieties were as strong as male dieties is flawed