Women in

Mythology

Eve

God said to Adam

Genesis 2:15
Of every tree of the garden you are free
to eat; but as for the tree of knowledge
of good and bad, you must not eat of it;
for as soon as you eat of it, you shall
die.

Eden: Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel

Raphael: The Fall Adam & Eve

The Punishment
Genesis 3:16:
And to the woman [God] said, I will
make most severe your pains in
childbearing; in pain shall you bear
children. Yet your urge shall be for your
husband, and he shall rule over you.

Succubi

Succubi
Female demons who force men to have
intercourse with them

Lilith

Lilith
First wife of Adam (Judaism)
Refused to have sex in missionary position;
wanted equality

Goddess of the dark moon

Mother of succubi
Demon of the night
Kidnaps/eats/kills babies; seduces (sleeping)
men to propagate demon children

The Lilin
Demon children of Lilith and Samael

Lilith
-John
Collier

Lady Lilith
Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Lilith
Adopted by feminists and
religious/spiritual groups as a symbol of
female empowerment and equality

Pandora

Pandora
The first woman
Created by the gods (Hephaestus in particular) and
bestowed with unique gifts from each (including
curiosity)
Given to Epimetheus as a wife
Opens the jar/box that contains all the evils of the
world (disease, death, sorrow)
When she slams to jar/box shut, hopelessness
remains trapped inside

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

John W. Waterhouse

John W. Waterhouse

This painting by Waterhouse isnt actually a Pandora painting; its

Psyche Opening the Golden Box; but it is so beautiful

Unknown Artist

Unknown Artist
(this is from a Russian postcard I don't know whether
Maul is the artist or the postcard publisher)

Sculptures

Pandora
sculpted by Chauncey Ives (1864)

Pandora
sculpted by Chauncey Ives (1858)

Persephone

Goddess of Spring/
Queen of the Underworld/
Wife of Hades
Origin story to explain the seasons
Her mother, Demeter, is the goddess of the harvest
Persephone was abducted by Hades and eventually
rescued by Hermes
Because she consumed food (pomegranate seeds) in
the Underworld, she was forced to return for several
months each year (winter)

The Rape of Proserpina

Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Persephone's Return, by
Frederick Lord Leighton

Sirens

The Siren and the Fisherman, by

Frederic Lord Leighton

The Siren
John William
Waterhouse

Harpies

Harpies in the wood of the suicides

Gustave Dor

Valkyries

Valkyries
Norse mythology
Demigoddesses of death
Decide who will die in battle

The Ride of the Valkyries

William T. Maud

The Fates

A Golden Thread
by John Strudwick

Moirae (Greek mythology)

Clotho: spun the thread of life
Lachesis: measured the thread of life
Atropos: cut the thread of life & chose
the manner of a person's death

Parcae (Roman mythology)

Nona: spun the thread of life
Decima: measured the thread of life
Morta: cut the thread of life & chose
the manner of a person's death

Gorgons
Stheno (Might)
Euryale (Wide Flowing Sea)
Medusa (Queen/Ruler)

Perseus slaying the Gorgon,

Medusa by Cellini

Graeae

personified the white foam of the sea

shared one eye, one ear and one tooth
grey-haired from birth
guardians of the Gorgons
Enyo (horror)
Deino (dread)
Pemphredo (alarm)

The Graeae by L.W. Messacar

The Furies

The Muses
Goddesses of Art & Science

Apollo and the Muses on Mount

Helicon by Claude Lorrain

The Graces

The Three
Graces by
Jean-Baptiste
Regnault

Female Trinity/Triple Goddess