Seated goddess with child, from Anatolia (courtesy )

Recently I read a blog from a site entitled Women in Greek Mythology, where the author laments the ‘Dangers of De-Mystification‘. She wonders that her ‘use of them [the Greek Goddesses], my appropriation of them, wasn’t “authentic”‘. I commented that I had to disagree, that her current understanding of Greek goddesses and how they fit into the worldview of ancient Greeks did not make her use of them any less authentic.

An interesting thing, this re-use of gods and goddesses. As our knowledge of ancient societies expands we struggle to see them from both our modern perspective and through ancient eyes. We have discarded the notion of gods and goddesses romping at Olympia, or flying down to meddle in human affairs, but this does not make these characters any less legitimate. We’ve rejected notions of magic, our superstitions recede, our belief in the fates has been replaced by will, by our notions of self-direction. Yet the stories and myths surrounding antiquity continue to haunt us and to lure us into their fascinating worlds.
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