[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Heros

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

> Saitaina:
>> Thank you, David, Anneli for what you gave
>> me.
>>
>> But I just hit a small snag.  I said Heroes
>> but I forgot one character whom I now need a
>> name for.  I need a woman who is equal to
>> being called a Hero.  Am tempted by Joan of
>> Ark but I'm wondering if there's any other
>> women that I could use (seems rather odd to
>> fill the room just with men).  My brain seems
>> to have died considering I used to know these
>> things.
>
> Tcy:
> How about:
> Aphrodite (Greek goddess of love)
> Athena
> Helen of Troy
> Mulan (legendary Chinese warrior - not necessarily of Disney fame)

Do Aphrodite and Helen really count as *heroes*, per se?  I mean, 
Aphrodite is generally either depicted as soft and feminine or 
capricious and blood-thirsty (or some combination thereof), and Helen 
-- well, as far as I can remember, she spent most of her time getting 
raped and carted around from country to country by various men.

The problem, of course, is that there just *aren't* that many mythic 
women heroes (at least, not many that weren't ignored entirely by the 
men who recorded the myths we have today).  I remember Boccaccio 
*cough*sexist*cough* having some decent ones in DE MULIERIBUS CLARIS, 
but you had to really look for 'em.  HINT: the more he accuses them of 
having sex with their sons, the better they are, in general.

  I don't have the book handy, but I do remember a few names from it -- 
Zenobia, Agrippina, Semiramis, Libya, Sophonisba . . . Oh, I know I'm 
forgetting someone important . . .

Oh well . . . Of course, in the Greek Goddess vein there's always 
Artemis, who I think could even be considered heroic in the traditional 
shooting-things sense.

There's also Norse Mythology, which I know even *less* about than I do 
of classical mythology, but it seems like the Valkyries might count as 
"heroes."

Ooo . . . the Amazons were kind of heroic, weren't they?  *gives up 
searches up a table of contents of De Mulieribus Claris* Marpesia and 
Lampedo were their queens -- whole lotta avenging and conquering going 
on there.  How much more hero-y can you get?

Laura