But do we really wish to let these great goddesses of wisdom be defined by the authors and artists of patriarchy? Older, pre-patriarchal versions of Athena reveal her deeper nature.ДЄthena was a pre-Greek divinity, honoured by the native Europeans whom the Greeks called Pelasgians, вЂneighboursвЂ™. Athena, Medusa, and Metis have all been diminished in this way, as has AthenaвЂ™s mother Metis, who has been вЂdisappearedвЂ™ from the scene of AthenaвЂ™s birth. (15)В Ovid and Aeschylus exemplify classic patriarchal strategies that blame the victim, set women against one another, and reframe ancient myths to the detriment of powerful females. Earlier Medusa myths, as related by Homer, Hesiod, Pindar and others make no mention of enmity from Athena nor do authors contemporary with Ovid including Strabo. (13)В Athena is depicted as an enemy of women, a traitor to her gender, an impression strengthened by the oft-quoted words put into her mouth by the classical playwright Aeschylus: вЂI am exceedingly of the fatherвЂ¦вЂ™ (14)Д«ut these are later interpretations. (12)В In OvidвЂ™s version of the story, Athena curses Medusa with a horrifying countenance and snakes for hair, then assists Perseus on his quest to cut off MedusaвЂ™s head. The portrayal of Athena as antagonist to Medusa first appears in Ovid, as late as the first century CE. The Medusa story is just one of many in which, in the words of Annis Pratt, вЂthe beautiful and powerful women of the pre-Hellenic religions are made to seem horrific and then raped, decapitated or destroyed.вЂ™ (11)В Just as the ancient goddess Medusa was converted into a monster, AthenaвЂ™s actions in relation to Medusa have also been depicted as monstrous, but this, too, is a relatively recent patriarchal portrayal, and deserves reevaluation. Patricia Monaghan sees the snakelike rays streaming out from MedusaвЂ™s countenance as a sign of a solar Goddess (9),В while Joan Marler, citing her connection with Hecate, identifies Medusa more with the moon than the sun (10) В either way, Medusa is a heavenly deity ruling over the powers of the cosmos and the rhythms of time. (7)В Jane Harrison explains that the ancient Goddess wore the Gorgon mask to warn the uninitiated away from her rites (8),В most likely mysteries of the great cosmic cycles of heaven and earth. According to Miriam Robbins Dexter, Medusa is a manifestation of the Neolithic serpent/bird Goddess of life, death, and regeneration. (6)Дespite MedusaвЂ™s fearsome appearance, she herself does not personify evil or demonic forces. The serpent, like the Goddess, has been cast as an embodiment of evil in patriarchal retellings yet as Merlin Stone points out, serpents were вЂgenerally linked to wisdom and prophetic counselвЂ™, associated with вЂthe female deityвЂ™ and вЂentwined about accounts of oracular revelationвЂ¦throughout the Near and Middle East.вЂ™В (4)В According to Ovid, the poisonous vipers of the Sahara вЂarose from spilt drops of MedusaвЂ™s blood.вЂ™В (5)В Although this is presented as a further sign of MedusaвЂ™s horrifying character, the original Berber inhabitants of North Africa вЂ“ where Herodotus reports that the Medusa myth began вЂ“ viewed snakes as bringers of luck and portents of joy. 5th C BCE.ДЄthena and Medusa are particularly linked: indeed, one may have been an aspect of the other, вЂtwo indissociable aspects of the same sacred power.вЂ™В (3)В Their many common elements include snakes, wings, a formidable appearance, fierce eyes and powerful gaze.

Ancient symbol for female