When it comes to the ancient literature, in particular, to Greek mythology and the representation of female as well as male traits combined and interrelated in one character, the most vivid and obvious example is undoubtedly Athena. Generally, it is known that Athena was a Greek goddess of war and wisdom. Many people simply imagine her as a female, however, if to go into details, her reflection of masculine was much stronger.
First of all, when she was born from Zeus’ head, she appeared before gods as a warrior in full armour. In art she is always represented with a golden helmet, a spear and an aegis. She had an image very different to those of Artemis or Aphrodite, since she was like a male, she looked like a male, she fought like a male and was as mighty as only a male could be.
She had a prefect command of warcraft and she was unconquerable. There always existed the enmity between Athena and Ares, the god of war. However, during their confrontations she always bested him easily and in other wars and contests she every time defeated her enemies. For this reason, Athena may be also considered as a goddess of victory. However, unlike Ares, she made war differently. She did not participate in wars herself. Ares was extremely cruel and fond of killing and ferocity. Athena did not fight and led wars on the basis of wisdom, courage and self-control in order to restore order and justice, to defend, to insure and not to conquer, overthrow or destroy. Therefore, it sounds paradoxically, but the goddess of war is often considered to be the goddess of peace.
Nevertheless, despite the prevailing image of a warrior, Athena was still feminine and had a lot of traits that exposed her femininity. First and foremost, she was a goddess of wisdom and prudence, and inherited really divine intellectual abilities from her mother Metis who was the goddess of wisdom too. This feature is truly feminine, since males are usually led by their intellect and logics while females always rely on their wisdom and intuition. Besides, Greeks also admired Athena due to her striking beauty with her bluest eyes. Athena is also known as a virgin goddess and symbolizes very feminine innocence and chastity.
Athena distinguished herself for being a great patroness of heroes, providing them with guidance and encouraging the spirit of truth and justice among them. She was like a mother, or rather like an elder sister and femininely defended them from defeat and death. It follows that this patronage emphasizes her genuine femininity.
There was no purely masculine-ruled society throughout the course of history. Great women existed during all epochs, they were strong and powerful, and they were true rulers. Athena was a great goddess and a main prototype from the ancient times for all ruling or simply mighty women, since she combined very influential and victorious features. Therefore, gender distinction is very doubtful in this ancient literature character as Athena had blurred boundaries between feminine and masculine.
Works Cited
Hesiod. Works and Days. Theogony. The Shield of Herakles. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1991. Print.
