Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth

by Natalie Haynes

So Xenophanes is considering not the way that humans in general depict gods, but the way that specifically men do. As I said, his work is fragmentary, and I am not claiming Xenophanes as a radical proto-feminist. But I have found myself coming back to this line and wondering what it might mean if men – and only men – made images of the gods – and goddesses – they worshipped.

Would it make a difference? A quick glance at art history and its abundant supply of naked and desirable (to men) female bodies suggests that it might. But would it change the nature of the characters depicted, or just their physical appearance? And – most interestingly to me – would male and female characters be created in different ways?

It is a constant theme in the Metamorphoses that someone who loses their voice loses their power.

Hera has beautiful big brown eyes, like a cow, so Zeus makes Io even more like one. Whatever the desirable quality, Hera always seems to fall short by a fraction.

I didn’t start this book expecting to compare Arnold Schwarzenegger to the goddess Artemis, but we are where we are.