I would first like to give a trigger warning, this article does contain discussion of violence against women, suicide, and rape.
I expect that you might have been confused reading the title of this article. Athena, as a concept, may come across as a feminist symbol at a first glance. She is smart, creative, and unapologetic. Men of Ancient Greece prayed to her for blessings in battle. The great Odysseus, one of the most powerful Greek heroes, owes all of his success to Athena, a feminine deity.
But that’s just it. Men. Men across Greek mythology are the ones to bear the fruits of success born from Athena’s efforts and she validated the patriarchy of Ancient Greece through association with images of violence against women.
Misogynistic imagery associated with Athena are the Amazonomachy and the story of Pandora’s Box sculpted onto the Athena Parthenos which is still one of the most highly revered sculptures from the Classical Period even though it’s now lost.
The Amazonomachy depicts the great battle between the Greeks and the Amazons, warrior women; the imagery graphically shows the deaths of Amazons at the hands of male Greeks. What else could this be but validation of male dominance over women in a patriarchal society like that of Ancient Greece. And to slap this on a statue of the goddess Athena? Well, that’s just making it clear that either she helped destroy this army of warrior women or at least supported their murders.
Pandora’s Box (it was actually a jar) makes it worse. Wrapped around the base of Athena Parthenos, Athena quite literally stands on top of Pandora. Gifted with a jar containing all the evils of the world, Pandora is portrayed to have no restraint and opens the jar, effectively plaguing the earth with evil. Pandora represents the Ancient Greek idea that women were creatures in need of control— animals that had to be tamed, if you will. Athena stepping on this myth not only demonstrates that she is better, but that she is better because she hates other women and prefers men.
Perhaps a response to this theory is to argue that Ancient Greek men took advantage of her and altered her personality to fit their needs by coupling her with misogynistic myths. Or maybe that they were displaying sexism towards Athena herself, knocking her down a peg. This is simply not true because Athena is a woman-hater as an individual in her personal myths as well.
Athena quite literally drove Arachne to suicide because Arachne was too good at weaving. Yes, Athena took pity on her and turned her into a spider so she wouldn’t die, but is that really good problem solving? I am sure the goddess of strategy and creativity could have come up with a better solution to this situation. Perhaps apologize or not tear down other women for their successes. Just a thought.
The story of Medusa is yet another example. I have seen feminists try to reimagine this myth to fit the feminist movement but within the context of Ancient Greece, that just isn’t possible. Medusa was a priestess to Athena and raped by Poseidon in the sacred temple. Athena turned her into a Gorgon not to protect her from other men, but to victim-blame.
In Ancient Greece, rape was excessivly common and women had to bear all of the blame and shame. This patriarchal system gave women no room to breathe; the myths and gods that they worshipped were no different. Try as we might, the relationship between Medusa and Athena cannot be branded as “girls supporting girls.”
It’s best to look elsewhere for a champion of women since Athena is not the girl for the job. Created by men to fulfill their fantasies of supremacy, Athena reminds me of the Pick Me trope in the way that she furthers the patriarchal agenda both in her own myths and when paired with others. The way that she steps on other women such as Arachne and Medusa, and Pandora more literally, makes her a full on #GirlBoss. Instead of trying to reclaim her, our energy is best spent on other figures that have been harmed by a patriarchy rather than benefitted from one.