The Amazons

Interpretation of The Atlantian Myth

The Atlantian myth is a prime example of a reverse gender, or alien other myth. In a reverse gender myth, everything which happens in a normal society or civilization, is the opposite. In Greek society women held domain over all of the domestic duties of the house, and were not allowed to participate in the art of war, politics, etc. Such reverse role myths serve several purposes within many cultures. First, they reinforce the status quo by portraying how unnatural it would be if the opposite were true in a civilization. Second, the myth serves to reinforce the patriarchy of ancient Greece. As women are only half able to handle the Gorgons (representative of the sublime female force, and an absolute terror to men), it finally takes a mythic hero such as Perseus to battle the Gorgons and finish them off. This in combination with other aspects of the myth lend to the hypothesis that the myth in combination with others served to also reinforce the fact that women could not handle power, and that their role in the myth above (as warriors) was in some way unnatural.