Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves Quotes

“Misogyny was born of fear of women.”
― Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity

“In her relationships with humans, Artemis is primarily concerned with females, especially the physical aspects of their life cycle, including menstruation, childbirth, and death, however contradictory the association of these with a virgin may appear. (She is also cited as the reason for the termination of female life: when swift death came to a woman, she was said to have been short by Artemis.) The Artemis of classical Greece probably evolved from the concept of a primitive mother goddess, and both she and her sister Athena were considered virgins because they had never submitted to a monogamous marriage. Rather, as befits mother goddesses, they had enjoyed many consorts. Their failure to marry, however, was misinterpreted as virginity by succeeding generations of men who connected loss of virginity only with conventional marriage. Either way, as mother goddess or virgin, Artemis retains control over herself; her lack of permanent connection to a male figure in a monogamous relationship is the keystone of her independence.”
― Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity

“It is no surprise that the only woman in antiquity who could be the subject of a full-length biography is Cleopatra. Yet, unlike Alexander, whom she rivals as the theme of romance and legend, Cleopatra is known to us through overwhelmingly hostile sources. The reward of the ‘good’ woman in Rome was likely to be praise in stereotyped phrases; in Athens she won oblivion.”
― Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity

“The story of women in antiquity should be told now, not only because it is a legitimate aspect of social history, but because the past illuminates contemporary problems in relationships between men and women. ... It is most significant to note the consistency with which some attitudes toward women and the roles women play in Western society have endured through the centuries.”
― Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity

“Myths are not lies, but rather men's attempt to impose a symbolic order upon their universe. Some myths are so primordial as to be undatable, and we are haunted by the question of whether women could have participated in their creation.”
― Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives And Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity by Sarah B Pomeroy

“Myths are not lies, but rather men's attempt to impose a symbolic order upon their universe. Some myths are so primeordial as to be undatabale, and we are haunted by the question of whether women could have participated in their creation”
― Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity

“The introduction of monogamous marriage was considered a civilizing step in the progress of humanity. According to a myth known only through post-classical sources, the Athenians attributed the institution to their legendary first king Cecrops. During his reign, when Athena and Poseidon contested the patronage of Athens, the women, who were more numerous, voted for Athena while the men voted for Poseidon. In revenge, the men took away the vote from women and declared that no longer would children be known by their mother's name. Formerly, sexual intercourse had been promiscuous, and children did not know their fathers. Hence, marriage was instituted by men as a punishment for women, simultaneous with the loss of women`s political equality and sexual freedom.”
― Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity