15 Unique Greek Women – Ancient and Modern

“If women didn’t exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning.”

Aristotle Onassis

Since ancient times women have played a major role in Greek society, going way back to the gorgeous Greek Goddesses and bewitching femme fatales 

Today, in modern Greece it is no different, scores of women hold high profile positions, such as company directors, lawyers, politicians and of course, let’s not forget the Greek matriarch!

The Goddesses were not only beautiful; they were made of stern stuff often having magical powers to boot.

 

1. The Three Graces (Charites)

 

 

 The Three Graces (Charites in Greek), representing beauty, charm and Grace, were minor goddesses or nymphs, daughters of Zeus, king of the Greek gods.

They were said to be attendants of Aphrodite and were the inspiration for charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility.

The role of the Three Graces was to bestow beauty, charm, and goodness on young women and to bring joy and the feeling of well being to people.

  They are, from youngest to oldest:

  Aglaea – represents elegance, brightness and splendour

  Euphrosyne – represents mirth and or joyfulness

  Thalia – represents youth, beauty and good cheer

 

2. Aphrodite (Venus)

Greek Goddess of Love

 

 

Aphrodite, maybe the most famous of Greek Goddesses, is the goddess of love, beauty and procreation, whose famous Knidos statue, the first ancient Greek naked female staue, is the most copied in the world.

Aphrodite is said to be born from the sea foam (foam in Greek is afro) created from the genitals of Uranus which had been severed by his son, Cronus, and tossed into the seas of Cyprus (Other variations have Aphrodite rising from the  foam off the coast of Kythira, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea).

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths, but was never faithful to him and had many lovers.

In honour of Aphrodite, who was the patron goddess of prostitutes, a festival named the Aphrodisia, was celebrated in midsummer, from this comes the word aphrodisiac.

 

3. Athena (Minerva)

Greek Goddess of Wisdom

 

 

Goddess Athena, ‘Lady of Athens,from whom the city of Athens takes its name, goddess of  wisdom, handicraft, and warfare, is said to have been born from the head of her father, Zeus, and was his favourite daughter.

 

4. Circe

Evil Sorceress

 

 

Not all of the Greek Goddesses were godly, the evil sorceress Circe, a goddess of magic and witchcraft, daughter of the sun god, Helios, in Homer’s Odyssey, turned all of Odysseus’s men into swine.
All Goddesses had just as much power, if not more, than their male counterparts.

 

5. The Women of Sparta

 

 

The Spartans owe their great strength to the famed strong, hardy Spartan women, the women who gave birth to them, the most educated women of Ancient Greece.

The first woman to enter the Olympic games in 396 b.c, and again in 392 b.c, was Cynisca of Sparta,the sister of a Spartan king.

She raced with her own chariot, and won both times I might add!

 

6. Penelope

Wife of Odysseus

 

 

 

Woman take pride of place in Greek mythology.

Penelope, never gave up on Odysseus, she kept the home fires burning on the island of Ithaca, weaving away while, waiting for her wandering Odysseus to return, bringing up their son Telemachus alone, fending off a swarm of suitors and ruling an Island nation.

 

7. Helen of Troy 

 

 

 Who doesn’t know the story of Helen of Troy?

Known also as Helen of Sparta, or, simply Helen, said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, the face that launched a thousand ships and started the Trojan Wars while she was at it!

 

8. Sappho

First Female Greek Writer

 

 

The first female Greek writer must surely be Sappho, a poet from Lesbos.

 Named the tenth muse by Plato, she ran a school for upper-class ladies, while writing poems that dealt with human emotion and feeling.

Sappho probably wrote around 10,000 lines of poetry, which were well known and admired, her poetry is still considered extraordinary and her works continue to influence other writers.

 Apart from her poetry, Sappho is well known as a symbol of love and desire between women.

 Most of Sappho’s poetry is now lost, or remains only in fragments, except for one complete poem ‘Ode to Aphrodite’.

 

9. Aspasia of Miletus (470 BCE–400 BCE)

Mistress of the Athenian statesman Pericles

 

 

 

Aspasia, the most famous woman of Ancient Athens, was considered the most beautiful and intelligent courtesan of the city.

She was born between 470 and 460 BCE in Miletus, Ionian Greece (today, Turkey) which made her a “metic” i.e not a citizen of Athens.

She was companion to Pericles (c. 495 -429 BC); a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens (from 480 to 404 BC).

The most powerful men of Athens vied for an invite to her symposia (dinner parties), where intellectuals and philosophers gathered to debate on such subjects as art, literature, music and the meaning of life.

Aspasia and the philosopher Socrates were firm friends; it’s even said it was her teachings that influenced him the most.

 

Today’s Great Women of Greece

 

Moving forward – Below are a few famous Greek women, famous not only for their talent but for their strength and their determination.

 

10. Laskarina Bouboulina

Greek naval commander in the Greek War of Independence in 1821

 

 

Moving forward a few thousand years we come across Bouboulina Laskarina, known as just Bouboulina, a naval admiral in the Greek war of independence.

She gathered up and organised her own troops, using her own money to feed and arm them, she sailed with eight ships from Spetses to Nafplion to create a naval blockade in 1821.

 

11. Melina Mercuri – 1920 -1994

Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician

 

 

Melina Mercuri, actress, singer and for a time minister of culture, tried so hard to have the Parthenon marbles (not the Elgin marbles, there is no such thing as the Elgin marbles) returned to Greece, but to no avail.

Melina Merkouri received an Academy Award nomination and won a French Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for her performance in the film Never on Sunday (1960) and an Italian David di Donatello for Topkapi.

Mercouri was also nominated for one Tony Award, three Golden Globes, and two BAFTA Awards in her acting career.

In 1987 she was awarded a special prize in the first edition of the Europe Theatre Prize.

 “You know, it is said that we Greeks are a fervent and warm blooded breed. Well, let me tell you something, it is true.” Melina Mercuri

 

12. Irene Pappas 1929 – 2022

Greek Actress and Singer

 

 

Another Great Greek actress, Irene Papa, has made over seventy films, the most well-known being “The Guns of Navarone”, “Zorba the Greek” and “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”

Irene Papas won Best Actress awards at the Berlin International Film Festival for Antigone and from the National Board of Review for The Trojan Women.

Her career awards include the Golden Arrow Award in 1993 at Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Golden Lion Award in 2009 at the Venice Biennale.

 Just look at that proud, strong Greek face.

 

13. Maria Callas – 1923 – 1977

One of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century

 

 

The diva that put the D in diva…Maria Callas, the Greek opera singer who sang in the world’s top opera houses.

Born in Manhattan and raised in Astoria, Queens, New York City, to Greek immigrant parents, Maria Callas is known for her torrid love affair with Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

 Another strong, proud, Greek face.

 

14. Arriane Stassinopoulos Huffington – 1950

Greek author, columnist and businesswoman

 

 

And who familiar with blogging and the internet doesn’t know who this is?
Arriane Stassinopoulos Huffington, of the Huffington post.

Born on July 15, 1950, Athens, Greece, Arriane Stassinopoulos Huffington , daughter of a Greek newspaper owner, moved, at the age of 16 to England, where she later attended the University of Cambridge, gaining a degree in economics.

In 1980 she relocated to the United States, where she settled in California and in 1986 married Republican politician Michael Huffington, whom she divorced in 1997.

In 2005 Huffington launched The Huffington Post Web site, a group blog, publishing the words of hundreds of guest contributors each week.

 In 2016 she was left the company in order to start Thrive Global, a health-and-wellness venture.

 

15. The Greek Matriarch

 

 

Finally, we come to the Greek Matriarch, found all over Greece.

They rule their families with a rod of iron, the men may be boss in the market place but in the home it’s “Greek Mama Rules”!

They have been known to make their adult sons quake in their shoes and reduce Daughters-in-law to tears!

My mother-in-law has eight children, four boys and four girls, my husband being number four in line.
She has worked all her life, ran a petrol station single-handed, then ran a bar & cafe, tourist business, as well as bringing ups her large family.

There was always the big Sunday lunch gathering and woe betide any member who missed it!

She lived through WWII, the German occupation, a civil war and a dictatorship.

She is a strong, proud Greek woman of ninety five years old, Kyria Konstantina Athanasakou, my mother-in-law.