J.E. D’Este Clark is a lover of all things Greek; the art, the culture, the myths and legends. For the last ten years she has been campaigning for the return of the Parthenon marbles, currently housed in the British museum, to Greece. Her passion for the campaign inspired her to write her debut romantic saga Plunder with Intent. The novel celebrates many courageous and wondrous women, and here J.E D’Este Clark shares her favourite Greek heroines from fiction.
Plunder With Intent
Plunder with Intent is available on Amazon now.
The Goddess Athena
The Goddess Athena is the ultimate feminine role model. Courageous, fierce and wise, Athena is the Goddess of reason, arts and literature, symbolised, in many tales, as a majestic owl. A marble and gold sculpture of Athena, known as the Athena Parthenos, was created for the Parthenon and yet it has now been lost to history. Athena is the central muse of Plunder with Intent, the spirit of her goodness permeates the pages like a solemn melody.
The Goddess Iris
Iris, Goddess of the sea and sky, is another Greek heroine who deserves to be better known. Iris, with her delicate beauty and gossamer golden wings, was a spirited messenger for the gods. Her name comes from the Greek word iris (meaning ‘the rainbow’) and eiris (‘the messenger’) and it was said that she travelled on a rainbow to deliver her godly messages to the mortals below. You can find a sculpture of Iris (or what’s left of it) in the Parthenon Gallery in the British Museum.
Antigone
The next is Antigone, a sharp-tongued, vicious tomboy, who defies the state for the sake of her principles and ideals. In Sophocles’ play, Antigone, the rebellious daughter of Oedipus disobeys the King of Creon in order to give her brother, Polynices, an honourable burial. Antigone is a spoilt, arrogant, headstrong young girl yet her characteristic transgressions make her even more admirable as a feminist before her time. She refuses to be a weak, simpering woman and isn’t afraid to be difficult!
Penelope
Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, is a strong, loving matriarch who waits over twenty years for her husband to return from his travels. Her loyalty to her husband and her faith in their love are not servile qualities; quite the opposite. In the story of Odysseus, Penelope is inundated with suitors desperate to secure the kingship while her husband is missing. Cunning Penelope sets the men a task with Odysseus’ bow, knowing that only her true love can pass it.
Medea
Medea is the feme fatale of Greek tragedy. Dangerously beautiful, fiercely intelligent and cripplingly jealous, the sorceress Medea falls in love with the dashing Jason and helps him escape from her own father (along with his favourite sheepskin rug). However, once they return to Corinth, married life becomes wearisome to Jason and he soon leaves Medea for a younger model. Medea is not the kind of woman to take things lying down –a poisoned dress is just one of the goodies she has in store for Jason and his bimbo bride. Just a warning to squeamish parents, Euripides’ play, Medea, can get a little dicey…
Meg
Moving into the Disneyland of the Greek myths now, Megara (or ‘Meg’) Hercules’ sassy love interest is an important heroine to spotlight. Meg’s sarcastic, dry wit and general disgust with the world of men, makes her an unusual Disney heroine – but a significant one because of it. Controversially, the Megara from Greek mythology is the oldest daughter of Creon, King of Thebes, and was given to Hercules as a gift for defending the city. I doubt Meg would have approved of that!
Medusa
A thoroughly misunderstood villainess up next. Medusa – or ‘the Gorgon’ – was a creature, more monster than woman, who had living snakes in place of her hair. All who looked upon her were turned into stone. Although not technically a heroine, Medusa is on this list to remind us that women can be monsters, there is not purity in simply being female. Medusa lived a Caliban-like existence on a lonely island, without the company of other being or even her own reflection, which must have been a pretty difficult existence.
Toula Portokalos
Now here is a more modern Greek heroine; Toula Portokalos the heroine from the 2002 film My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Toula is an inspiring character, she has always been smart, kind and funny but just needed a boost of confidence to get her life back on track. The confidence comes in the form of a flyer for a university degree in computing. Some see the film as a love story, which it is, but mostly it’s about one woman taking control of her life and creating her own happiness. Inspiringly, the actress who plays her, Nia Vardalos, also wrote the screenplay for the film.
Helen of Troy
“Is this the face that launched a thousand ships”, says Faustus as he gazes upon Mephistopheles’ reincarnation of the most beautiful woman in history, Helen of Troy. In actual fact, Helen wasn’t just a pretty face. The daughter of Zeus and Leda, Helen was married off to the King of Laconia as a young girl. Far from a meek, obedient wife, Helen turned out to be a bit of a wild child. Her forbidden love with the handsome Paris, and their subsequent elopement, triggered the bloody battle of Troy.
Queen Gorgo
Some may know Queen Gorgo as the steely power-woman played by Lena Headey in the 2006 film 300. Although her true story is foggy with history, Queen Gorgo was a member of the Sparta family, who claimed they were descendants of Hercules. Gorgo was a precocious child who, according to some historians, exercised her powers of persuasion and diplomacy at the age of eight, when she convinced her father to avoid an unsavoury political alliance with the conniving Aristagoras of Miletus. Clearly a girl who’d done her homework!
Plunder with Intent by J.E. D’Este Clark is out now. Available on Amazon.