Women
in Ancient Greece

Two women at a loom,
passing their shuttle back and forth
Attic black-figured jug, c.550 BC, attributed to the Amasis Painter.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund, 1931
(Eric Schaal, photographer)
TimeLife's series, GREAT AGES OF MAN: Classical Greece, 1965:86.

http://www.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/ayliu/research/klindienst.html [Link updated 8/28/00]

"The Voice of the Shuttle" comes from Sophocles and refers to Polymela, a young woman who was savagely raped by her brother-in-law, a Thracian king.  To prevent her from telling her sister (his wife) what had happened, he cut out her tongue.  Desperate, Polymela used the only means she had available -- she let her wooden shuttle speak for her as she wove the scenes of her rape and mutilation into a tapestry.  When her sister saw it, she understood what had happened and took a terrible revenge upon her husband.

In this powerful 1984 paper (originally appearing in an earlier form in The Stanford Literature Review 1: 25-53), "The Voice of the Shuttle is Ours," by Dr. Patricia Klindienst, the myth is explored from a feminist perspective.  This is one of the most brilliant and insightful essays I've read in years.

When Alan Liu (of a huge website also named "Voice of the Shuttle" -- see elsewhere on my site) created a webpage for Klindienst's paper (see directly above), she wrote an epilogue for it.  It dates from 1996 and is as impassioned, eloquent, raw and impeccable as her earlier paper.

Finally, this is a well-researched and quite interesting paper by Katie Olesker on "The Conflicting Views of Helen" as found among writers in the ancient world.

Much more to come, still working

 

Also see Mythic Themes Clustered Around:
Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Centaurs,
Demeter & Persephone,
Hecate & Other "Dark" Goddesses, Icarus, Medusa & Pegasus, Pan
[others are forthcoming]

Up to Europe's Opening Page

Up to Western Europe

Western Europe's Subdivisions:
Classical Traditions:  Ancient Greece ////// Ancient Rome
Celtic Traditions / Icelandic, Nordic, & Teutonic Traditions /
Medieval Life & Times / Arthurian Themes / Grail  Lore/
Alchemy, Gnosticism, Hermetics / Fairy Tales & Folk Lore /

Down to Indigenous Peoples

HOME PAGE

If you have comments, suggestions, or wish to report a broken link, you'll find an e-mail address on my home page.

Please, please, don't ask me for homework help.  I'm drowning in e-mails and have neither the time nor, unfortunately, the strong eyesight necessary to give individual help.  I created this huge website and its Search Engine Page so that you can find answers for yourself! <smile>  You'll also find excellent resources on my General Reference page.  If you need further help, please check with your own instructors or librarians.  Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

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Text and Layout:
 © 1998, 1999, 2000 by Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D.
All rights reserved.

Latest updates after 11/13/98 launch date:
30 August 1999; 22 October 1999;
28 & 30 August 2000 (split off the mythic clusters so that each has its own page; checked all links);
6 September 2000 (activated Classical Traditions page and shifted some links
from this Greek page to the new, more all-encompassing page); 19 October 2000; 13 November 2000.
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