The+Portrayal+of+Women+in+Myths


 * The Mirror Image**

Songs heard nation wide by people of all ages contain lyrics that have varied modern perspectives on women; themes such as those by artists like Eminem, Ludacris, Beyonce, and Kelly Clarkson originate back to the time of the creation myths.

During the time Egyptians, Sumerians, and Babylonians were forming their beliefs and ideas on creation; many feelings, both positive and negative were formed on the roles, importance, and portrayal of women in society. The portrayal of women in creation myths greatly depended on the function of the culture at that time. A woman's role in a society affected how she was portrayed in a creation myth of that culture. //Household Mom//

The content of most creation myths reflect the society's culture. The attire, ceremonies, actions, and attitudes all represent the culture, but more importantly the role of women significantly come up in creation myths. In myths, women consistently portray the rights and the general conception of women during the time period of that culture. Even in today’s world, cultures depict women differently. Two significant cultures, the real world and the media, prove this statement. In reality, there are more women than men on earth. Women have grown to be important figures from a household mom to a CEO of a business corporation. Even though reality represents women as significant and worthy as they are, the media culture portrays them differently. For example, in most television shows men outnumber the women. Advertisements commonly represent women as housewives and more family oriented; men are never seen dusting shelves or vacuuming like the women. These two diverse cultures portray women differently, but not necessarily more negative or positive than the other. Because they are two different worlds, the fiction and non-fiction, the representation of their own culture varies. These various portrayals of women derive from past cultures. Three examples of past civilizations such as those are the Egyptians, Sumerians, and Babylonians. All of which who have their own illustration of women.

Similarly to women's current situation, many past civilizations treated women with disrespect, as though they were inferior and weaker than men. One civilization, the Egyptians, however, believed women to be as equal and powerful as men. The Egyptians treated women better than any other ancient civilization, and regarded them as equal to men as far as the law was concerned. Women could own property, borrow money, sign contracts, initiate divorce, and appear in court as a witness. Although these rights seem small and insignificant, most women from other cultures did not possess even these small commodities. Egyptian women could also become the Pharaoh, which was the most important and influential person in Egyptian culture, demonstrating how society had faith in their women; they trusted women in a position of high power. Egyptian view on women reflects the portrayal of women in their creation myth. In the myth Osiris, Isis, and Horus, the goddess Nut slept with multiple men, which reflected the law in society that stated marriage did not require a religious or legal ceremony and men could marry more than one wife, showing that Nut may not have considered it offensive to sleep with other men. In Egyptian society, people of close relations could wed, which is the reason why Nut found it acceptable to sleep with her brother. Another aspect of the myth shows the goddess Isis as the Mother Goddess, lady of the green crops. Isis, a powerful god, brings her son back to life after a scorpion, sent by Set, bit him. Isis also demonstrates loyalty, rather than obedience, towards her husband when she melancholically wandered throughout Egypt in search of her husband's dead body, which she was able to temporarily bring back to life. Isis also represents the sympathy and compassion of women, when she uses her power to force Horus into letting Set free, after Horus had a chance to kill him. Women of the Egyptian society represented the powerful, compassionate, and loyal women of that time period and strongly influenced the portrayal of women in the myths. //Female Pharaoh//

Other civilizations viewed their women as insignificant and less powerful and important than men, such as the Sumerians. The Sumerian women had almost no power, except for her role in the family. The idea that a woman belongs in the house, tending to her children, cooking, cleaning, and serving her husband originated in such cultures as the Sumerian, because of their views and laws that treated women as almost an infrahuman species to men. Other aspects of Sumerian culture demonstrating women's inferiority to men were the fact that according to written law, men dominate women, if a woman's husband dies, she would be put under the control of the husband's father or brother, once a woman had a son, she would be put under his control, and women had no protection by the law. The Sumerian lack of respect towards women reveals common themes in their creation myths where women are put down by the men of the society. In the myth, Gilgamesh, not only are their very few women in the long list of characters, but the women that do exist come off as annoyances or temptresses. In the beginning of Gilgamesh, a priestess is called forth to attract Enkidu with her beauty, tempting him to go to the city of Uruk. The priestess, used only for her beauty, acts solely as a temptress. Ishtar, the goddess of love and fertility, comes off as a whiny brat who sleeps and breaks the hears of multiple men. When Ishtar becomes upset that Gilgamesh called her out on being a temptress who breaks men's hearts, she turns to her father to fix her problems by sending out the Bull of Heaven to kill him. The fact that Ishtar must turn to a powerful man in order to solve her problems demonstrates her insignificance as a woman. The Sumerian lack of respect for women, carries over into their myths, where women portray whiny, powerless, temptresses, who must turn to men for help.

While cultures like the Sumerian and Egyptian viewed women with completely different perspectives, some civilizations' ideas on women were a mix of positive and negative. The Babylonian society, for example, gave women legal rights such as the right to hold property and engage in business. However, men had much more rights than women; they could easily divorce their wives and could sell their wives and children into slaves if they needed the money. The Babylonian ideas on women were significantly shown in the creation myth, Enuma Elish. In the myth, Mother Tiamat personified and controlled the salt waters, while living together harmoniously with Father Apsu. Tiamat and Apsu lived as one, with equal rights and equal say. After Ea killed Apsu, Tiamat used her power to create monster serpents and terrifying dragons to fight off Ea and his army. Tiamat's power and determination reflect the area in Sumerian culture where women had legal rights. Although Tiamat is strong, sexism still exists when Marduk tells his people, "After all, it is not as if a male has come against you. Tiamat, for all her weapons, is only a woman" (Rosenberg, 8). This quote by Marduk represents the feelings against women in the Babylonian society that somehow always turn up, even if a woman is strong and powerful.

Myths reflect culture. The traditions and society classes presented in these myths strongly depict the civilization. Societies used this form of communication, stories and myths, to portray themselves, generally in a positive light. In order to spread the culture and diversity, civilizations wrote about it in myths, in hopes to influence others.

- Does the location of the bible, The Fertile Crescent, have any influence on the perspective of women in the bible? - Because the bible contains much sexism, does it influence religious believers to be sexist also? - Does the time period have anything to do with how women are treated and respected in a culture? - Throughout time, in which areas have the outlook on women gotten better, and in which areas has it stayed the same or worsened? - The Matriarchal society depicts woman as having much power and greatness, however, this shows in very few myths. Why? - In modern times, it has been realized that women are as intelligent and capable as men, but why did people not discover this years ago? - Does the different view of women reflect a change in men's behavior or a change in women's behavior?
 * Questions**

Ingham, Helen. "The Portrayal of Women on Television." 18 Dec. 2007. http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9401.html
 * Bibliography**

"The Sumerians." Macro History. 17 Dec. 2007. [|www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch01.htm]

"The Status of Women in Egyptian Society." Library Cornell. 16 Dec. 2007. http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/womney.htm

"The Babylonian Culture." Distant Train 2002. 17 Dec. 2007. http://www.mythicjourneys.org/bigmyth/myths/english/eng_babylonian_culture.htm

"Retro Housewife." 19 Dec. 2007. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.retro-housewife.com/images/housewife-with-mop.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.retro-housewife.com/rh-letter-quick-question-03-19-2006.html&h=371&w=300&sz=16&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=HyohR7hmAj6FNM:&tbnh=122&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhousewife%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den

"From Warrior Women to Female Pharaohs: Careers for Women in Ancient Egypt." 19 Dec. 2007. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/images/women_nefertiti_head_bust.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/women_03.shtml&h=236&w=196&sz=8&hl=en&start=11&tbnid=ccKS3u2rTvtBTM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=91&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfemale%2Bpharaoh%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den