Table of all women in Greek myth

 

Goddesses		Epithet
Athene	Goddess of wisdom and defensive warfare, loves owls, patron goddess of Athens, Mother goddess of Athens, born from Zeus’ head. Athena was associated in ancient Greek thought with the wily intelligence needed for weaving everything from cloth to military stratagems and crafty plans	gray-eyed, bright-eyed the bright-eyed Strife walking Pallas Fearsome town defender Nobel and shrewd With a heart of iron Revered Courageous City-saving virgin
Aphrodite	Virgin - Mother -Crone trilogy - April is named for her, goddess of love	Laughter-loving smiling goddess , garland loving Gold-festooned Fun-loving Gold crowned Lovely Giver of luscious gifts to mortals
Hera	Mother of the gods, queen of Olympian gods, trinity of virgin, mother, crone	ox-eyed lady Cow eyed lady ox-eyed queen white-armed Gold-throned child of Rhea Supremely beautiful
Artemis	Mother of creatures, led the nocturnal hunt,	shooter of arrows Arrow-pouring Arrow-pourer Hardly plain or stunted But towering and & a wonder in her beauty The arrow-raining girl Long-range arrow pourer Gold-weaponed Shouting hunter Shy Virgin Shooter of stags
Eris	Goddess of strife, troublemaker
Themis	Represents order
Gaia	Mother earth	Mother of all things
Demeter	Mother, triangle symbol, virgin, mother, crone, temple at Eleusis	Fair-haired Lovely garlanded Shining haired Yellow haired Modest dark robed Shining robed Bright haired
Persephone	Queen of the underworld. Daughter of Demeter & Zeus. Married to Hades.	daughter of Zeus, dread, august, trim ankled exquisite
Hours Horae	The Horae or Hours were the goddesses of the seasons in Greek mythology. They were also considered to be the goddesses of order and justice, as well as the wardens at the gates of Mount Olympus. They were the daughters of either Zeus and Aphrodite, or Zeus and Themis.	In their golden headdresses
Eos	Personification of the Dawn, sister of Helios, the sun god, and Selene, the moon goddess.
Mnemosyne	Goddess of memory
Selene		With her bright hair Joy, rich-haired White-armed Noble bright
Harmonia	Goddess of harmony and concord
Nemesis	goddess who enacts retribution against those who succumb to hubris
Hestia	goddess of the hearth, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and one of the 12 Olympian deities. When the gods Apollo and Poseidon became suitors for her hand she swore to remain a maiden forever, whereupon Zeus, the king of the gods, bestowed upon her the honour of presiding over all sacrifices.
Rhea	the Titaness daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus, Gaia's son	Shining veiled
Iris	According to Hesiod's Theogony, Iris is the daughter of Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra and the sister of the Harpies: Arke and Ocypete.[3] During the Titanomachy, Iris was the messenger of the Olympian gods while her sister Arke betrayed the Olympians and became the messenger of the gods' enemy, the Titans. She is the goddess of the rainbow. She also serves nectar to the goddesses and gods to drink. Zephyrus, who is the god of the west wind, is her consort. Together they had a son named Pothos,[4] or alternatively they were the parents of Eros,[5] the god of love, according to sixth century BC Greek lyric poet Alcaeus, though Eros is usually said to be the son of Ares and Aphrodite. According to the Dionysiaca of Nonnus, Iris' brother is Hydaspes.[6] She is also known as one of the goddesses of the sea and the sky. Iris links the gods to humanity. She travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other[7] and into the depths of the sea and the underworld.	Gold winged Swift-wind footed
9 Muses	Sang in the Iliad - antiphonally - back and forth - professional performers		Call and response
Calliope	Calliope (“The One with a Beautiful Voice”) was the Muse of Epic Poetry; Hesiod claims that she was the foremost among the nine, since “she attends on worshipful princes”; Calliope can often be seen holding a writing tablet;
Clio	Clio (“The Celebrator,” “The Proclaimer”) was the Muse of History, and, quite fittingly, she usually holds a scroll;
Euterpe	Euterpe (“She Who Pleases”), was the Muse of Flute-playing, which is why she is time and again portrayed with an aulos;		tno
Thalia	Thalia (“The Cheerful One”) was the Muse of Comedy and was often portrayed holding a comic mask or a shepherd’s crook;
Melpomene	Melpomene (“She Who Sings”) was the Muse of Tragedy, and she is either holding a tragic mask or some other symbol of tragedy (sword, club, buskins);
Terpsichore	Terpsichore (“The One Delighting in the Dance”), was the Muse of Choral Lyric and Dancing; as expected, she is usually shown dancing and sometimes holding a lyre.		lyric
Erato	Erato (“The Lovely One”) was the Muse of Lyric Poetry; naturally, she’s usually represented with a lyre;		lyric
Polyhymnia	Polyhymnia (“She of the Many Hymns”) was the Muse of Hymns and sacred poetry, often depicted with a pensive look hidden behind a veil;
Urania	Urania (“The Heavenly One”) was the Muse of Astronomy, and you can often see her holding a globe;
Semi
Medea	Her monologue was quoted by suffragettes. Witch. Poisoned princess with a garment		Cursed cloth
Helen	She is “weaving a great purple web of double fold”. Drugged the men so they would forget the troubles of war. when we first encounter this most famous of literary characters, in book three of the Iliad, she is at her loom, weaving the stories of the struggles between the Greeks and the Trojans. She is the only person in the poem who has the insight to stand at a distance from the events unfolding in front of her, to interpret them, and to make art about them. Intriguingly, an early commentator on the poem, writing in antiquity, observed of this passage: “The poet has formed a worthy model for his own poetic enterprise.” Both writer and character are, the early critic noticed, making art from the same material – the poet in verse, Helen in tapestry.	Long-dressed,   long-dressed lovely-haired
Monster
Charybdis	Deadly whirlpool
Scylla	Dog woman hybrid	Wake Siren
Echidna	She wove. was a monster, half-woman and half-snake, who lived alone in a cave. She was the mate of the fearsome monster Typhon and was the mother of many of the most famous monsters of Greek myth.
Gorgon
Medusa	Raped in Athena’s temple and punished for it. Killed by Perseus.	NH - Can  a monster be beautiful and terrifying?  NH - the only people who are truly beautiful are also scary	Wake Siren - rage
Nereids
Thetis	Sea nymph, mother of Achilles - laments - with chorus of nereids -	Silver-footed, lovely-haired silver-footed  Silver slippered child of Nereus	solo and back up singers
Philyra	Oceanaid nymph
The Sirens	They sang - half women, half birds
Nymph
Calypso	Sang, nymph, on island of Ogygia	softly-braided nymph cunning goddess  sweet
Oenone	Mountain nymph
Daphne	naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. Turned into a laurel tree to escape being raped y Apollo
Echo	The myth of the goddess is told in Book III of the Metamorphoses, and tells the story of a "talkative nymph" whom the goddess Venus admires for her magnificent voice and song. When she tricks Juno into believing that her husband, Jupiter, was in the city, Juno curses Echo by making her able to only finish a sentence not started, and unable to say anything on her own. "Yet a chatterbox, had no other use of speech than she has now, that she could repeat only the last words out of many." This is the explanation of the aural effect which was named after her.[1] Sometime after being cursed, Echo spied a young man, Narcissus, while he was out hunting deer with his companions. She immediately fell in love with him and, infatuated, followed quietly. The more she looked at the young man, the more she longed for him. Though she wished with all her heart to call out to Narcissus, Juno's curse prevented her.[2] During the hunt, Narcissus became separated from his companions and called out, ‘is anyone there,’ and heard the nymph repeat his words. Startled, Narcissus answered the voice, ‘come here,’ only to be told the same. When Narcissus saw that nobody had emerged from the glade, he concluded that the owner of the voice must be running away from him and called out again. Finally, he shouted, "This way, we must come together." Taking this to be a reciprocation of her love, Echo concurred ecstatically, "We must come together!"[3] In her delight, Echo rushed to Narcissus ready to throw her arms around her beloved. Narcissus, however, was appalled and, spurning her, exclaimed, ‘Hands off! May I die before you enjoy my body.’ All Echo could whisper in reply was, ‘enjoy my body’ and having done so she fled, scorned, humiliated, and shamed.[4] Despite the harshness of his rejection, Echo's love for Narcissus only grew.[5] When Narcissus died, wasting away before his own reflection, consumed by a love that could not be, Echo mourned over his body. When Narcissus, looking one last time into the pool uttered, "Oh marvellous boy, I loved you in vain, farewell", Echo too chorused, "Farewell."[6] Eventually, Echo, too, began to waste away. Her beauty faded, her skin shrivelled, and her bones turned to stone. Today, all that remains of Echo is the sound of her voice.[7]		Women’s voices up and down in time
Syrinx	River nymph
Maia		Bright-haired nymph
The Moirai (Fates)	Hold our destinies in their hands
Clotho	Spinner, spins the thread of life
Lachesis	Allotter, measures the thread
Atropos	Inflexible, unturnable, cuts thread
3 Muses	In Delphi three Muses were worshipped as well, but with other names: Nētē, Mesē, and Hypatē, which are the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument, the lyre.
Nete
Mese
Hypate
3 Hora	Goddesses of seasons and natural portion of time - Latin for hour
DRYADS (Dryades)	The nymphs of trees and forests.

 

 

 

Mortals		Epithet
Pandora	First mortal women
Pyrrha	was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora and wife of Deucalion of whom she had three sons, Hellen, Amphictyon, Orestheus; and three daughters Protogeneia, Pandora II and Thyia. According to some accounts, Hellen[1] or Helmetheus[2] was credited to be born from Pyrrha's union with Zeus. Red hair
Iphigenia	Sacrificed for travel to war
Electra	Sings lament, fetches water as excuse to speak out
Jocasta	was a daughter of Menoeceus, a descendant of the Spartoi, and queen consort of Thebes. She was the wife of first Laius, then of their son Oedipus, and both mother and grandmother of Antigone, Eteocles, Polynices and Ismene. She was also sister of Creon and mother-in-law of Haimon.
Antigone	is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.[1] The meaning of the name is, as in the case of the masculine equivalent Antigonus, "worthy of one's parents" or "in place of one's parents".
Ismene	is the name of the daughter and half-sister of Oedipus, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polynices.
Penelope	She wove and unwove as strategy. Every day she weaves. Every night she unravels her work, delaying the decision. Describing this device, which is also a plot device, she uses the verb tolupeuein, which means to roll wool into rovings for spinning – or, metaphorically, to contrive a stratagem. Penelope - I weave deceit Penelope weaving the drafts of her future	cautious, careful, circumspect, discreet, wise, self-obsessed, wise, queen flawless  ,richly-dowered ; prudent  Ikarius' daughter , constant
Arachne	Boasted to be best weaver. Arachne, transformed into a spider by Minerva (the Roman name for Athena) as punishment for outdoing her in a weaving contest by creating an intricate tapestry exposing the crimes of the gods. Metamorphoses, a young woman called Arachne challenges the goddess Minerva (the Roman version of Athena) to a tapestry-making contest. Arachne weaves a design showing the terrible crimes committed by the gods; Minerva – who is, significantly, the goddess of winning – depicts the stories of the awful punishments that lie in wait for humans when they challenge the gods. Arachne will soon discover the consequences of her choice of design.
Clytemnestra	Caught her husband in a net, red carpet
Cassandra	Priestess of Apollo
Hecabe	Queen of Troy
Niobe	Cried until she turned to stone		lament
Hypsipyle	Queen of Lemnos, all female island
Penthesilea	Amazon killed by Achllles
Hippolyta	Queen of the Amazons
Ariadne	Threaded a route. told by the Roman poet Catullus through a long description of the designs woven into a bedspread.	lovely~haired
Danae	was an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age.
Philomela	Wove her story when could not speak. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Philomela, an Athenian princess, has been imprisoned and raped. The perpetrator, her brother-in-law Tereus, has cut out her tongue to prevent her from telling anyone. But she weaves her story, and thus bears witness to the crime, moving the plot along to a gruesome conclusion.
Procne	is a minor figure in Greek mythology. She was an Athenian princess as the elder daughter of a king of Athens named Pandion.
Circe	Self taught witch, sang	enchantress
Briseis	Princess of Lyrnessus. Sings lament for Patrocles. Women wept in response	fair-cheeked	Quoted, performed, in the Iliad
Chryseis	Trojan girl, daughter of Chryses, priest of Apollo	beautiful-cheeked
Polyxena	Heroine of Troy
Laodamia	Queen of Phylace
Creusa	Mother of Euryleon
Theano	Wife of Antenor (advisor to Priam), mother of Crino
Andromache	Weaver - Trojan - lamenter, wife of Hector	white-armed
Nausicaa	sang
Semele	was the youngest daughter of the Phoenician hero Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother[1] of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Asked to see Zeus in real form - turned to ash	glorious
Pasiphae - goddess	Witch who birthed the minotaur
Lysistrata	Organised a protest
Phaedra	was a Cretan princess. Phaedra's name derives from the Greek word φαιδρός (phaidros), which meant "bright".
Eurydice	the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music.	In a moment of carelessness I am lost to you - Ovid	HD https://sweetkrispea.wordpress.com/writing/term-papers-and-essays/h-d/ Carol Anne Duffy
Alcmene	means "strong in wrath"[1]) was the wife of Amphitryon by whom she bore two children, Iphicles and Laonome. She is best known as the mother of Heracles, whose father was the god Zeus.
Hermoine	Helen’s daughter
Eurycleia	Odysseus’ nurse
Psyche	Wife of Cupid, taunted by sisters to see him in the light, given tasks by Aphrodite - Aphrodite found Psyche and made her face four trials.[7] The first trial was to sort a huge mount of seeds. With the help of an empathetic ant colony, Psyche completed this task. Her next task was to gather wool from a notoriously dangerous sheep. Psyche was saddened but helped by a river god, who taught her to collect pieces of wool from bushes. Her next task was to collect water from the underworld. Psyche was now assisted by the eagle of Zeus, who collected the water for her. Psyche's last task was the most difficult; she had to bring back some of Persephone's beauty for Aphrodite. Persephone willingly gave Psyche some of her beauty. When she was near Olympus, Psyche opened the box of Persephone's beauty, but the only thing inside was the essence of death. Psyche died, but her husband, Eros, who had forgiven her, saved Psyche's life and took her to Olympus. Psyche was made the goddess of the soul. Psyche and Eros had a daughter, Hedone, goddess of physical joy.
Atalanta	Raised by bears. The only woman on the Argo. Ran to not marry.
Deianeira	was a Calydonian princess in Greek mythology whose name translated as "man-destroyer"[4] or "destroyer of her husband".[5][6] She was the wife of Heracles and, in late Classical accounts, his unwitting murderer, killing him with the poisoned Shirt of Nessus. She is the main character in Sophocles' play Women of Trachis. The Shirt of Nessus is smeared with the poisoned blood of the centaur Nessus, which was given to Hercules by Hercules' wife, Deianira. Deianira had been tricked by Nessus and made to believe that the blood would ensure Hercules's faithfulness. According to Sophocles' tragedy The Women of Trachis, Hercules began to perspire when he put on the shirt, which soon clung to his flesh, corroding it. He eventually threw himself onto a pyre on Mount Oeta in extreme agony and burned to death.[3]		Cursed cloth
Io	one of the mortal lovers of Zeus. An Argive princess, she was an ancestor of many kings and heroes such as Perseus, Cadmus, Heracles, Minos, Lynceus, Cepheus, and Danaus. Turned into a cow.
Leda	Impregnated by Zeus as a swan, birthed Helen in egg	Slender ankled
Sibyl	The sibyls were female prophets[1][2] or oracles in Ancient Greece. The earliest sibyls, according to legend,[3] prophesied at holy sites. Their prophecies were influenced by divine inspiration from a deity, originally at Delphi and Pessinos.
Egeria
Leucothoe
Nyetimene
Allcyone
Canens
Iphis
Dryope
Baucis
Pomona
Myrra	Lusted after her father - ick
Agave
Callisto	Turned into a bear, then constellation
Iambe	uttered an iambic verse — and thus a work song — while washing wool
Ocyrhoe		Flower faced
Galaxaura		Charming
Eileithyia		birth-pained
Neto		& her arrow-pouring daughter
Leto		Of the bright hair Pretty ankled

Real Women of History

Sappho	Lesbos
Phryne
Aspasia
Gorgo	Sparta
Cleobulina
Telesilla		Telesilliam meter - a two and a half foot glyconic line
Myrtis		a bronze statue of Myrtis was made by the sculptor Boïscus,
Praxilla		Praxilleion meter - dactylic
Eurydice
Philaenis
Erinna
Hedyle
Anyte
Moero
Nossis
Nicobule
Thean
Perictione I & II
Myia
Aesara
Melissa
Phintys
Prolemais
Boeo
Corinna		statue
Hortensia
Sulpicia
Philinna
Syra
Salpe
Elephantis
Lais
Olympias
Sotira
Timaris
Sulpicia II
Pamphila
Maria
Cleopatra
Cleopatra (Alchemist)
Dionysia
Caecilia Trebulla
Julia Balbilla
Terentia
Demo
Fabulla
Maia
Samithra
Xanite
Perpetua
Theosebeia
Proba
Egeria
Eudocia
Eucheria

Compare Fairiytales to Greek Myth

Fairy tales	Greek myth
Trope - helpless woman (princess) rescued by prince who kisses her - romantic	Women are more varied and have some agency. Women help heroes and are discarded. Goddesses help heroes. Rarely romantic.
Children - message of warning - poor children	Not about children - for adult audience (primarily - although Homer’s works were used as reader for children)
Supernatural/fantastical/magic/monsters but no gods.	Gods - pay tribute to gods, gods are capricious & inexplicable
Men win women as a reward	Women are not long term prizes for men
Monsters are real animals - wolves, dragons (?)	Monsters are hybrids
Love	Not love
Christian idea of redemption and afterlife	No afterlife - death is the end - or metamorphosis or spirited to Mt Olympus
Being rewritten for social justice messages	Being used for social justice or political messages

Goddesses

• The Goddesses were caught in the hierarchy under Zeus. Hera, goddess of marriage, was unhappy in her marriage. Aphrodite, goddess of love, was unhappy in love. Athena, Persephone, Hestia, - paradoxical - Artemis 

• Goddess represented contradictory concepts - Oxymoronic

• Goddesses just as arbitrary and capricious as male gods - humans are disposable

• Goddess broke the sex based boundaries of mortals - could interact freely with men and women, gods and goddesses - a vision of how the mortal world can be (with reservations) still under control of Zeus

Goddesses	Code for Fem Lit Analysis
Athene	Powerful woman - supports patriarchal system -  but not for other women - helps men - strategiser and weaver - crafty, wise - owls
Aphrodite	Love, love trouble, drama
Hera	Powerful for self within patriarchal system, - not for other women - extreme archetypal wife and mother - power through husband
Artemis	Separatist, With other women - female posse - ignores men - hunter - athletic - physical competition - intimidating - uncontrolled by patriarchy
Eris	No aim - just hacking the system - vindictive - personality disorder - damaged and damaging
Themis	Justice, order, fairness, law, custom. Oracles and prophecies.
Gaia	Mother Earth - Supermum - nurturing - feminist or passive - acted upon? Separation of earth & sky - investigate
Demeter	Fights to rescue daughter - shuts shit down as ransom, Power of maternal love
Persephone	Vulnerability - victim/survivor - accepts fate, Queen of the underworld, She is all our daughters
Hours/Horae	Seasons, order, justice

Eos	Dawn, sister of sun and moon, Kidnaps men - Tithanos,
Mnemosyne	Memory - Yes - mother of the muses - direct the devices for remembering and telling stories - creation of culture - universal memory - never forget!!!!
Selene	Moon
Hecate	Supports goddess sisters, nurturing - turned into goddess of witches - liminal, crossroads, helps Demeter find Persephone
Harmonia	Harmony & concord. Is the text cohesive - do the component parts contribute to the meaning of the whole?
Nemesis	Enacts retribution against those who succumb to hubris
Hestia	Hearth - nurturing, home, provider, comfort, fire, essential for life When the gods Apollo and Poseidon became suitors for her hand she swore to remain a maiden forever, whereupon Zeus, the king of the gods, bestowed upon her the honour of presiding over all sacrifices.
Rhea	Castration story - daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus, Gaia's son
Iris	Goes everywhere swiftly - sea and sky - spontaneous, brings joy, epitimises unrestrained nature of women, makes rainbows. Links gods to humans