Ancient Biblical Stories and Greek Myths Being Male Oriented

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Ancient Biblical Stories and Greek Myths Being Male Oriented

Are the ancient biblical stories and the myths of the Greeks irredeemably male oriented?

All ancient societies treated women as the inferior gender. It has been historically shown that in the ancient world, men were the leaders, heroes, and kings, and women served primarily as companions, helpers, and child-bearers. In the Old Testament and throughout ancient Greek literature, there is a constant theme of male superiority that cannot be ignored. Men did not believe that women were capable of existing as anything other than the typical “housewife;” it was unthinkable that a woman would actually need an education, let alone earn a living. Rarely was a woman seen doing anything but being dominated by males in some form, whether she was a man’s sexual object, a submissively devoted wife, or a woman being punished for doing what she believed was right. Women had no identities of their own; in every action, they were presided over by a stronger male counterpart. Because female characters lacked power and existed primarily to provide men with companionship and support, ancient Greek and biblical stories can be described as irredeemably male oriented.

A woman’s primary role in ancient times was to serve as a companion to a male figure. The most common form of this companionship was as a wife. God created “the woman” because “It is not good for the human to be alone, I shall make him a sustainer beside him” (Genesis 2:18, p9). “The human” was living in a perfect environment, yet something was still missing. God decided that it would be human nature to desire and need a partner. Thus began the practice of wife-seeking. Men were able to choose whomever they ...

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...l than she.

Females in ancient Greek and biblical existed primarily as subordinate figures to male counterparts. A woman in ancient civilization was only able to obtain power when she became the wife of an influential citizen, or could obtain some influence by their relation to a man. As a wife, it was understood that a woman “belonged” to a man, and could be sacrificed, traded, or used just as any other piece of property. In their very restricted lives, women were expected to serve and assist the males around them in every way possible. In order to maintain her husband’s happiness, a woman of ancient Greece or biblical times was expected to bear many children and maintain the well-being of the home and family through a number of chores and duties. In essence, the ancient woman had no identity of her own, and served only as a supplement to her male counterpart.

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