This weeks myths and folktales have included many characters that were gods and goddesses. Before reading some of this material I had a pretty good attitude towards the gods and thought of them as having goodness within them, but this weeks stories have changed this outlook somewhat. While in these myths and folktales there have been some instances of gods and goddesses being nice toward the human race, there have also been some horrific details that I would find it hard to overlook and still call godly as we know it today.
One of the first stories I read this week was the story of Io. This was one of the many stories about the Sun god, Jupiter, raping human women. I was at first shocked by the acts of Jupiter and as the stories went on I became less and less surprised by his actions. I believe in the section alone Jupiter raped three different women. Obviously this is not a act of a god that we would think of today. Instead I think we can read into the religion of people at the time these myths and folktales were created. Jupiter is one of the most powerful gods, but instead of him being kind he is feared, or should be feared, by all. He is reckless and seems to be uncaring about human life. He is filled with human qualities that he is unable to control, such as lust. I think it is interesting to see this type of behavior in a god. Another example of gods and goddess being unable to control emotions comes from Jupiter wife, Juno. She was very upset by Jupiter raping these women... I think you could go as far as to say she was intimidated by these mortal women. Juno would call them sluts, which seems to me that she is jealous of their receive attention from Jupiter, even though they may not have wanted it. I think the reading for this week have made some very great interpretations for the cultural aspects of the people who developed these stories!
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| Day of Action Against Rape |
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