Artemis bathing off Crete

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Catalogs of Ancient Greek Women

Homer's Women

The catalog of Women of Homer occurs in the Odyssey in book 11 as Odysseus is visiting the Kingdom of the dead. Many have commented that this list has little to do with heroic action and so may not have been part of the original poem. On closer view one realizes that the Odyssey is not about heroic action and one realizes the importance of this list. Homer is about sirituality and the Spiritual life. Women form a part of this life and should be recognized. The lives of these women may provide insight to the lives of women at any time.

What is interesting about this list is that these names are not easily translatable in Greek. Why "Ariadne" is translated as "very holy" in the name lists is not clear, but it does not seem to be Greek. "Chloris" is the name of a goddess but this 'Chloris' is different. Anyway the name is associated with Demeter and a spring festival Chloia and the meaning comes from this. The location of the Women is interesting:

Life locations of the women:

Translations of the names:

The range of these women is not unlike the range of the warriors of Achaea as described in Homer's Iliad. The question is whether they are part of the Mycenaean culture, the Dorian culture, or part of the Minoan culture that is revealed to us from archeaology. Furthermore there is the question of whether the derivation of the names of this list will help in the mysteries of the time between the Minoan Culture and the Culture of Classical Greece.

Catalog of Women by Hesiod

These are being translated into Indo-European with the intent of discovering the nature of the culture which Hesiod reports. The Mycenaean culture is reported to be I-E as a result of the decoding of the linear-b tablets by Michael Ventris. But the contribution of the Minoan Culture is not clear. The artifacts from the Mycenaean culture have strong resemblance to the Minoan. But if their language differed then communication between the cultures might have been very restricted and influence weak. Most of the names seem translatable but some in odd, perhaps old forms. The general pattern is that the names are formed of two words. The two parts are reviewed in Liddel and Scott. Then a similarly spelled I-E word with a similar meaning is found in the Dictionary of European Roots. The final choice of words is influenced by the appropriateness of the name for young women. In some cases the name is related to some mythical act associated with the name. The suggestion is that the separation between Hesiod's Greek and I-E is perhaps 2000 years or more. The translation of these names may relate to changes in the language during that time. Because of the inclusion in Hesiod's Catalog the changes must have occurred well before Hesiod's time. Word's that are not I-E may well be loan words from the Minoan Culture. In the past it was suggested that most names could not be translated into Greek. But the translation into I-E seems to make more sense. With more effort more names may be made to correspond to meanings in myth. A number of women are known by several names. It may be possible to relate these differences to events in the lives of the women.

There seems to be a tendency to create the names of women from two other words.

The following definitions can be corrected when evidence is provided. The likelyhood is good because many translations are only approximate. More important are the names that cannot be translated into Indo-European as these may contain loan words from Crete or other cultures.

Other Mortal Women

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Catalogs of Ancient Greek Women

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Role of Women in the Art of Ancient Greece