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Go online, and it is easy to find scores of sites dedicated to Athena as the patron Goddess of good feminist neo-pagans - but those sites don't delve too deep into her mythology. In reality, Athena was more of a product and purveyor of the patriarchy than any other Goddess in the Olympic pantheon. There was no other with such power in the populace, and this came from the very fact that her power was not the power of the feminine, but the rather the power of the patriarchy in a woman's body as the parthenogenic daughter of The Father. Gender oppression, specifically of the female, has been Athena's realm since she founded her first city, Athens. But the way this gender oppression is manifested cannot be understood without simultaneously understanding sexual oppression. Gender and erotic desire can and should be distinguished, but erotic desire or sex is a tool of gender oppression. Therefore although separable as concepts, practically speaking they should be engaged as one form of oppression, and this will be illustrated in the myths surrounding the House of Athens. Perhaps it is best to begin with the birth of the House in Erichthonius. Erichthonius was the son of Athena, but, for a number of important reasons, his mother remained a virgin. The most obvious of them is the reason Athena was a Virgin Goddess in the first place, because it leaves her loyalty to her father undivided by that she would have for a husband. This concept is furthered by the fact that Athena was the parthenogenic daughter of Zeus, thus leaving her loyalty and connection to him unbroken even by a mother. This makes Athena the perfect progeny of her father; she carries all of her father's strong character traits in herself, untainted by other blood. In being a virgin mother, she imparts all those traits to her son, without the dilution of a lesser god in the mix. Therefore, in this sense, Athena becomes nothing more than a bridge between Zeus and Erichthonius. The next question, then, is how to keep Athena a virgin. There is always the course that Hera took, to try to conceive wholly without the aid of a man, but this is an attempt at destroying the patriarchy, which defeats the whole point of Athena's virginity in the first place. There is another point, Athena must not wish to conceive, because that, too, would take her from her father. So the only option left is a muddled rape - but what kind of god would muddle a rape? Hephaestus must be the culprit; her pathetic crippled son demonstrates exquisitely the folly of Hera in her attempt at autochthonous conception. He is everything Athena is not. Where Athena is pure patriarchal power, Hephaestus is nothing but wussy weakness. His seed, too, as a result of his birth, must also be the least manly seed there is - which is perfect for their union, as the goal is to keep Zeus' line the strongest, poor Hephaestus does not seem to be much of a threat. The same goal appears in the Ion. The Athenians desire an heir with all the qualities and blood of Erichthonius, the patriarch of the House, this has been maintained one generation in Erechtheus, but now Creusa is the only child. She is married to a foreigner and so the throne is at risk, and cannot possibly be saved without divine intervention. The rape of Creusa is the only way that Apollo and Athena can see to appease at once all the demands of a patriarchal society when a woman is the only direct line. In that way, the blood of Xuthus does not taint the heir of Athens, but remains purely that of Erichthonius and the God (with Creusa serving as the same sort of bridge between her patriarch and son as Athena did with Zeus and Erichthonius). At the same time, the Godly rape keeps Creusa's intentions pure, it wasn't her fault at all, and no one can blame her for her bastard son. And the rape also requires the abandonment of the son, so that Xuthus can, at last, claim it as his own, thereby fulfilling the last of the requirements (that lineage be reckoned through the father). The hereditary system is clearly gender oppressive. Even when women are essential to the continuation of a line, they serve merely as conductors from one man to another - they have no purpose individually. But this system could not exist without sexual oppression on its side. To remain loyal to her House, Creusa must marry a man she isn't exactly thrilled with, as well as submit to rape from a God. To remain loyal to her father, Athena is denied any sexuality at all. The power of the patriarchy lies in sex. With whom one is allowed to have sex, with whom one isn't allowed to have sex, and with whom one is forced to have sex are all constant questions for women, all to support one's House. These questions simply do not exist for men, and therein lies the sexual oppression. Sex in these myths, and indeed in most myths, is a tool for subduing women and appropriating their power - how it is given, forced or denied. The strong Athena, who so many see as a powerful female image, is actually just as controlled as the rest, but merely receives more respect for her position.
Read some more of Ailia's essays
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Contact me at ailiathena@yahoo.com Written May 18, 2002 at Oberlin College Last Updated April 19, 2005
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