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But here they are, both making a play for the same goddess. She turns them down flat – by speaking sternly to them, something which generally goes quite badly for women in a patriarchal society – and yet there appears to be no animus between them. Hestia has somehow managed to reject three thin-skinned egomaniacs and fall out with none of them.
And on top of her architectural know-how, Hestia is capable of something even more miraculous: she is able to live alongside male deities without any difficulties.
If your euphemism klaxon is still sounding, you need to switch it off. Because we know that Hestia isn’t interested in a sexual relationship, at least according to the composer of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. She doesn’t want marriage or sex.
Well, well, well. The belief that you should consume your young on the off chance they’re more powerful than you is obviously one that runs in the family
Not only is Athene the goddess you choose to go down and stir up battle when there is any risk of peace breaking out, she’s also the one who can infuse a hero with strength and courage.
I am often asked why Greek tragedy retains such a hold on us today, and I always give the same answer: because the unit of currency in tragedy is a human being. No matter what else has changed across thousands of years, I think that remains true.
If we have learned nothing else from myths, folklore, and fairy tales, we should at least know this. If an old woman approaches you and asks for anything, or suggests anything, you always, always say yes, and thank you very much for asking. There is an almost zero chance that she is an actual old lady and not a goddess, a witch, or an enchantress in disguise. You either change your offending behaviour immediately or – and this is the best-case scenario – you find yourself stuck in a castle full of singing furniture, with one erratic houseplant your only hope of salvation.
Like the Furies, there is a sense in which the follower is an external manifestation of part of the person it follows: something we run away from is not always a monster; it can be an element of our own psyche.
The Furies are unlikeable, but perhaps they are necessary if we are to maintain a just society: murderers must be punished; good people can walk free.
Apollo behaves in the time-honoured way of powerful men being contradicted by women to whom they aren’t attracted: You all-hateful monsters, loathed by the gods!
Athene now directs the jury to vote. She seems keen again to stress the importance of the role the Furies play and to sympathize with the points they have raised. If clear water is tainted by filth, she tells the jurors, you’ll never find a drink.22 It’s advice we might all do well to remember next time someone tells us that, for example, a certain amount of corruption in politics is to be expected.
I don’t suppose Disney will ever make a Furies cartoon, but their princess is right here.38
So while the Furies might incur fear, disgust, hatred, and more – from gods and mortals alike – it is too easy to dismiss them as a negative force, even if Apollo or Orestes might feel that way about them. They serve a crucial role in society before the creation of formalized legal proceedings for ensuring that people maintained a civilized moral code. Sometimes that was as basic as not committing murder, but it was also a way of protecting oaths and promises in a time before mass literacy.
