BMCR 2009.02.08, Susan Deacy, Athena. Gods and Heroes

Susan Deacy, Athena. Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World.  London/New
York:  Routledge, 2008.  Pp. xviii, 175; figs. 19.  ISBN 9780415300667.
$28.95 (pb).
Daniel Ogden, Perseus. Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World.
London/New York:  Routledge, 2008.  Pp. xxiv, 194; figs. 9.  ISBN
9780415427258.  $28.95 (pb).

Reviewed by Jenifer Neils, Case Western Reserve University
([email protected])
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In spite of the fact that these two books belong to the same series,
Routledge's Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World,[[1]] they are
substantively different, and not simply because one deals with a
goddess and the other a hero. Both texts follow the prescribed
tripartite format for the series which consists of a short introduction
to the subject, a core section on Key Themes, and a brief afterword
dealing with the reception of the hero or god in the post-classical
world.  All chapters in the central section conclude with a useful
summary called an Overview, and each book has Further Readings and
Works Cited sections at the end. Rather the major differences lie in
the source material utilized by each author as well as the level of
readership to which their texts are pitched.[[2]] Both books are
concise, compact and up-to-date summaries of their respective subjects,
but the tone is rather different.

According to the series foreword written by its editor Susan Deacy
(hereafter D): "the series is intended to interest the general reader."
One is immediately struck by some basic differences in this regard.
Ogden's (hereafter O) book on Perseus has, in addition to a list of
Abbreviations for Ancient Texts and a list of Ancient Authors and
Fragments Cited by Names of Editors, several appendices containing
Literary Sources for the Perseus Cycle and footnotes. It is clear that
this is a text-driven book while D almost eschews ancient texts (there
are quotations from Milton's Paradise Lost in the afterword).  She
relies much more on material culture and archaeological evidence.  O's
book for instance has a mere 9 illustrations, while D's has 18. Both
books contextualize their subjects in interesting ways and demonstrate
new methods of explaining their subjects' roles in ancient Greece.

Although Athena is perhaps the most familiar of Greek deities, D
accentuates her 'strangeness', from her bizarre birth out of the head
of Zeus to her role as a mother, in spite of her virginity.  She also
explores her 'multi-faceted nature'; Athena, for instance has more
attributes (helmet, shield, spear, aegis, gorgoneion, owl, serpent--and
I would add belted peplos) than any other god. Unlike previous scholars
who have been content simply to list the goddess' attributes or
epithets, D seeks an underlying logic to these disparate features.  She
does this by delving deeply into Athena's relationships with other
deities, with many of whom she shares epithets and cults, namely her
father Zeus (Polieus-Polias), her rival for the hegemony of Athens,
Poseidon (Hippios-Hippia), and her unsuccessful suitor Hephaistos
(Ergane).  An entire chapter is devoted to her relationship with
heroes, either as a friend and patron in the case of Heracles, Theseus
and Odysseus or as a dangerous foe in the case of the Trojans.  D sees
Athena as the ultimate 'networker' who functioned within the Greek
pantheon through her multiple and close ties with other divine and
heroic males.

After discussing all the textual sources from Hesiod to the Vatican
Mythographers , O also takes a comparative approach to the mythical
adventures of the hero Perseus.  What he calls the 'quest narrative',
the beheading of Medusa, is viewed in relation to the katabasis of
heroes like Heracles, Theseus and Odysseus, or other classic maturation
tales like that of Jason who went in quest of the golden fleece.  The
rescue of Andromeda from the ketos is a classic 'damsel in distress'
tale, and O compares it to that of Heracles' delivery of Hesione from a
similar monster--and even to Tristan as dragon-slayer and eventual
winner of Isolde.  Although less concerned with visual imagery than D,
O nonetheless discusses at some length all the possible iconographic
parallels for the Gorgon from the Near Eastern monster Humbaba to a
recent intriguing suggestion that the bulging eyes, protruding tongue,
and drawn-back lips are typical of a corpse after a few days'
putrefaction.[[3]]  He deals adroitly with the tricky issue of Medusa's
gaze: does one turn to stone by looking at her (hence the mirror or
shield used by Perseus) or does her stare cause petrification (hence
the Cap of Hades which renders the hero invisible)?  No answer here,
but an excellent summary of the arguments on both sides.

In Greek religion and myth geography is highly significant and both
authors address the role of different locales in their subjects'
stories. Naturally since Athens is the major cult site of Athena, three
chapters of D's book are devoted to the development of her sanctuary on
the Acropolis and her main festival, the Panathenaia. In her discussion
of the Parthenon and its sculptural program, D devotes an inordinate
amount of time discussing and then dismissing Connelly's theory that
the central scene of the east frieze represents the sacrifice of the
daughters of Erechtheus--a theory now widely rejected in the scholarly
literature.[[4]] In another chapter D considers Athena's presence
outside Athens, as Athena Chalkioikos in Sparta where bells play a
unique role in her cult, as Athena Oxyderkes ('clear-sighted') in
Argos, as a fertility goddess at Tegea in Arcadia, and at Delphi as
Athena Zosteria whose purview seems to have been the protection of
children in unusual childbirth situations (Apollo, Erichthonios).  In a
chapter entitled "The Use and Abuse of Perseus" O demonstrates how
numerous city states, most prominently Argos and Mycenae, and even the
Persian Empire (through Perses, the son of Perseus and Andromeda) laid
claim to Perseus.  His story was manipulated and emended to suit the
needs of Greeks and non-Greeks;  Alexander, especially identified with
Perseus as a hero between the east and the west.

Perhaps the least satisfying section of these brief books is the now
nearly obligatory Nachleben.  As one who has penned a few myself, I am
aware of the challenges and pitfalls--one can never do justice to so
vast a topic which lies outside one's field of expertise.  O wisely
restricts himself to three aspects of the Perseus myth that found
resonance with later writers and artists: allegorizations of the Gorgon
myth especially in the work of Freud for whom the myth's purpose was to
allay fears of castration;  the Christian transformation of Perseus
into St. George; and finally what O considers "Perseus' greatest moment
in western art, the unfinished project of 28 woodcut illustrations for
the poet William Morris'  The Earthly Paradise. D. examines Athena's
denunciation by early Christian authors, her assimilation to the Virgin
Mary, her allegorization as Wisdom in the Renaissance, her association
in art with famous female rulers like Marie de Medici, her symbolic
potential for writers as diverse as Milton (1667)  and Roberto Calasso
(1993), and finally her role appropriation by the feminist agenda.

D is to be credited with developing the concept and format for an
engaging and informative series. Her book on Athena ably fulfills the
aims of this enterprise and is accessible to the general reader because
it deals with such a broad range of evidence.  O's book on Perseus is
equally engaging and informative, but its reliance on such a vast array
of somewhat arcane texts may put off some potential readers, and in the
end he admits that Perseus is easy to admire, but hard to like.
Unfortunately, as usual with Routledge books, these are over-priced:
nearly $30 for a small-format book of less than 200 pages with only a
few black-and-white illustrations. More's the pity, since this series
should prove very useful to students who will surely appreciate such a
quantity of scholarship condensed into short, manageable texts.


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Notes:


1.   Others in the series include Keith Dowden's Zeus reviewed in BMCR
2007.02.25, Carol Dougherty's Prometheus, Emma Griffiths' Medea
reviewed in BMCR 2006.07.52, Richard Seaford's Dionysos, and Lowell
Edmunds' Oedipus, reviewed in BMCR 2008.01.43.

2.   There has already been some debate about the level of intelligence
of the audience for this series; see Edmunds' response to Fitzpatrick's
review in BMCR 2008.02.09 and a response to Edmunds by Fitzpatrick in
BMCR 2008.02.37.

3.   S. R. Wilk, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon (New York,
2000).

4.   See my book The Parthenon Frieze (Cambridge 2001) pp. 178-80, for
one among many refutations.