Malicious Women and Vindictive Gods

Wickedness in Greek myth wasn't merely the purview of men. Plenty of evil women show up throughout myth and legend and are punished by the gods for plenty of similar sins; wickedness, greed, pride and stupidity.

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Perhaps the most famous of evil women was the "witch" Medea. Meeting and aiding Jason on his quest to acquire the golden fleece of Colchis, her actions speak for the malicious streak running through her. Marrying Jason upon obtaining the fleece, they were chased from Colchis. To escape Medea killed her half-brother and threw his limbs overboard one by one, knowing her father would stop to collect them.

Equally, upon returning to Jason's home town of Iolcus she tricked the kings daughter into killing him making way for Jason to take the thron, by telling her that she could restore his youth by boiling him in a cauldron. Medea was a malicious women, who was eternally on the run, from the last people that she had outraged.

What follows are tales of some equally evil woman and there end.

Phaedra

Phaedra was the hero Theseus's second wife. Jealous of his son by his first wife, Hippolytus, she lied and told her husband that Hippolytus has attacked her. Disgusted by this, Theseus asked the god Poseidon to punish his evil son.

While driving his chariot along the sea shore, Poseidon used a giant wave to spook Hippolytus' horses, resulting in a terrific crash and the death of the driver. Ashamed of what had happened, Phaedra not intending Hippolytus to die told Theseus the truth and then hung herself to avoid her husband's anger.

The Daughters of Danaus

Poseidon had two grandsons, Danaus and Aegyptus. Danaus had fifty daughters while Aegyptus had fifty sons. After their father dies the two brothers quarrelled over their inheritence, until finally to keep the peace Aegyptus suggested this his sons marry Danaus' daughters.

An oracle warned Danaus that his brother intended to kill him and his daughters. Running away they were trapped in a Argos and besieged into consenting to the marriages. The marriages duly took place, but Danaus gave each of his daughters one huge sharp hair-pin and told them to kill their husbands. All but one carried out their wicked crime.

The daughters survived, but upon their deaths they went to Tartarus where they were made to carry water back and forth in leaking jars, so their task would never end.

Scylla

The city of Megara was underattack from King Minos of Crete. King Nisus' daughter Scylla, watched King Minos from the safety of her city walls and fell in love with him. King Nisus' had a magic lock of hair, which as long as it was in his possession his city was safe.

Scylla stole this magic lock of hair and escaping the city gave it to King Minos. With the lock of hair in his possession, King Minos won war and killed Nisus, but being so disgusted with how Scylla had betrayed her own father, sailed for home without her. Throwing herself into the sea she swam after him, but her fathers ghost fell on her from the sky as an eagle and she drowned.

Malicious women invariably end up being wicked to gain the approval of a loved one or at the behest of a man. What there is no denying is that in the world of ancient Greek myth and legend, woman are just as capable of being evil as men.


Thanks for Reading
James