Andreiomeni: The Female Warrior in Greek Folk Songs

Elizabeth Constantinides

Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Volume 1, Number 1, May 1983, pp.

63-72 (Article)

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/mgs.2010.0076

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 Andreiomeni: The Female Warrior
in Greek Folk Songs
Elizabeth Constantinides

The activities of women in Greek folk song by and large reflect their
traditional roles in society: they are portrayed as faithful or unfaithful
wives, as loving or cruel mothers, as maidens who are seduced or
abducted or rescued. There are some folk songs, however, which
describe a woman in a uniquely male role, that of warrior. These
songs may be divided into three groups:
1) the account of the maiden who arms herself, rides into battle,
and boldly engages the enemy (usually Saracens). One of them
discovers she is a woman and pursues her; she seeks refuge
in St. George's church and promises the saint many gifts. St.
George at first hides her but then betrays her to the Saracen
when he promises to bring still more gifts. The stated or im-
plied purpose of the Saracen is to marry the maiden.
2) the account of the maiden who disguises herself as a man and
lives among the klefts for a number of years. Her sex is finally
revealed during an athletic contest when her breast is acci-
dentally bared. (The conclusion of this story varies greatly
from one version of the song to another.)
3) a handful of short poems describing the bravery of certain
women of Souli. They wreak destruction on the Turks and
Turco-Albanians or die a heroic death.

Unique among the songs about female warriors is the one entitled
"Tis Elenis," recorded, as far as I know, only in Crete, and undoubt-
edly of Cretan origin. It tells the story of Eleni, who disguises herself
as a man after the death of her two brothers in Roumeli and like them
goes off to fight the Turks.
The songs about the women of Souli originated in Epirus and
describe events preceding the Greek War of Independence.1 They

1A collection of songs about the Souliot wars is found in A. Passow, Τϕαγοϕδια

Ρωμαίικα: PopularÃ-a Carmina Graeciae Recentioris (Leipsig, 1860), nos. 202—16, 150 ff.
(hereafter, Passow).

63
64 Elizabeth Constantinides

celebrate the almost superhuman efforts of the Souliot community,

particularly of the women, in staving off the attacks of Ali Pasha in
1792 and also their final heroic stand after the surrender of Souli in
1803. The most noteworthy heroine of 1792 was, to judge from the
songs, Moscho, wife of Lambros Tsavelas, who led an attack of women
against the Turks, thus successfully aiding the beleaguered Souliot
men.2
Ή κυϕά Μόσχω φώναξε 'ττο ττάνω 'ττο τήν Κιάφα·
"Πσϕστε τταιδιά Σουλιώτικα καί σείς ol Τσαβελάται;
Μαζϕ μου ολοι Ï„Ï•Î-ξετε, καί αντϕες καί γυναίκες,
Τους Τοϕϕκους κατακάψετε, σπόϕο να μην αφήστε,
Εα μείνουν χήϕαις κι' οϕφανά, γυναίκες καί τταιδιά τους,
Εα λεν' στο Σσΰλ' τους σκότωσαν Σσυλιώτισσες γυναίκες."
(Passow, no. 206)
And Moscho called, from Kiafa's heights:
"O children of Souli, Tsavelas's clan,
Women and men, come with me now,
Cut down the Turks and leave no seed,
Orphan their children, widow their wives.
In Souli was this done, they'll say,
'Twas Souli's women killed the Turks."

Folk tradition likewise preserves the memory of Leno Botsaris.

This remarkable fifteen-year-old fled her native territory with her
male kin after the Souliot surrender to AH Pasha in 1803. She fought
against the Albanians alongside her brother, and after his death dur-
ing a slaughter of Souliots, she joined her uncle in forays against the
Turks near the Acheloous River. To avoid capture when surrounded
she committed suicide by throwing herself into the river.3
From this period also comes the account of Despo Botsis. Bar-
ricaded in a stronghold with her daughters, daughters-in-law, and
grandchildren, she was unable to drive off the attacking Albanians.
Rather than surrender, she and her women-folk blew themselves up:4
"Σκλάβες Τοϕϕκων μή ζήσωμεν, τταιδιά μ', μαζί μου ελάτε!"
καί τά φυσÎ-κια άναψε, κι ολοι φωτιά γÎ-νηκαν.
"O come, my children, come with me,
We shall not live as slaves of Turks."
She touched the powder with the torch—
Engulfing flames consumed them all.

2See Passow, nos. 206, 208, 209.

3See comments of N. G. Politis, Έκλογαί αττό τα τϕαγοϕδια τοΰ ελληνικοϕ λαοϋ
(Athens, 1914; 6th ed., 1969), on no. 7 (hereafter Politis, Eklogai).
4In C. Fauriel, Chants populaires de la Grèce moderne, vol. I (1824), 302; cf. Passow,
no. 214. A. Politis, To δημοτικό τϕαγοϕδι. ΚλÎ-φτικα (Athens, 1973), 44, remarks on
the similarity of this account to the kleftic songs.
 Andreiomeni 65

As with the kleftic ballads the songs about the Souliot women are
not significant as a record of historical facts but they are all-important
as expressions of the desire for freedom and as a celebration of per-
sonal heroism and the defiance of death. They bespeak, no doubt,
both the toughness of these Albanian tribeswomen and the admiration
their deeds aroused in their more docile neighbors.
The other two types of songs about female warriors are of a
different sort and hold a special interest for the literary historian.
The female in these instances is a young girl (κόϕη), often called
λυγεϕή ("willowy," "slender"—an adjective frequently applied to girls
in Greek folk poetry) and sometimes described as άνυτταντϕη ("un-
married"). Since the time of the pioneer folklorist Nikolaos Politis,
she has been known as ή ανδϕειωμÎ-νη λυγεϕή, "the valorous maiden."5
The first type of narrative—maiden, Saracen, St. George—is found
in only a small number of versions. In addition to that of Politis's well-
known collection, there are two which were recorded in Crete, one
each in Symi, Cos and Leucas, one in the Cappadocian dialect; and
there are two truncated ones from the Pontus, in which St. George
does not figure at all.6 The version from Leucas is as follows:
Καττου πόλεμος γίνεται σ' 'Ανατολή καί Δϕση,
καί τό 'μάθε μια λυγεϕή καί ττα' να ττολεμήση.
Άντϕίκια ντυθη κι &λλαξε καί τταίϕνει τ' αϕματά τση,
φίδια στϕώνει το φάϕο τση κι όχιες τον καλιγώνει,
καί τους άστϕίτες τους κακοϕς τους βάνει φτεϕνηστήϕια.
Φτεϕνιά δίνει του φάϕου τση, ττάει σαϕάντα μίλια·
κι αλλη του Î-δευτÎ-ϕωσε στον ττόλεμον Î-μττήκε.
Στά 'μττα τση στϕάτες Κκανε, στά 'βγα τση μονοπάτια,

5See Politis, Eklogai, introduction to no. 72A, 85. Politis's method in his Eklogai was
to establish a "correct text" of each folk song from the variants he knew by applying
trie long established criteria for textual emendation used by classical philologists. Hence
his versions must be used with care. On this whole question, see Y. Apostolakis, Ta
δημοτικά τϕαγοϕδια, vol. 1: Oi συλλογÎ-Ï‚ (Athens, 1929).
The versions I have seen (in addition to that of Politis, v. note 5) are:
Crete1: A. Kriaris, Πλήϕης συλλογή κϕητικών ασμάτων (Athens, 1920), 236-38
Crete2: from Siteia, in 'Ελληνικά δημοτικά τϕαγοϕδια (εκλογή) vol. 1, 'Ακαδημίας
'Αθηνών λαογϕαφικά αϕχεία, vol. 7 (Athens, 1963), 3-4
Cappadocia: ibid., 6-7
Pontus1: D. Petropoulos, ed., 'Ελληνικά δημοτικά τϕαγοϕδια, vol. 1, Βασική Βι-
βλιοθήκη , vol. 46 (Athens, 1958), 5
Pontus2: G. Pahtikos, 260 δημώδη ελληνικά άσματα (Athens, 1917), 64
Leucas: Petropoulos, vol. I, 3—4, and in 'Ελληνικά δημοτικά τϕαγοϕδια [Άκ. Άθ.
λα. αϕχ.], vol. I, 4-5.
The version from Cos is mentioned by Romaios (see note 7, below), 590-91, and the
one from Symi by S. Baud-Bovy, La chanson populaire grecque du Dodecanese, vol. 1 : Les
textes (Paris, 1936), 270-71. Baud-Bovy includes in his grouping a much larger number
of related songs which contain the motifs of the non-Greek suitor, the unwilling girl,
and the betrayal of the saint (but no Amazon figure).
66 Elizabeth Constantinides

καί στον καλό τση γυϕισμό δεν ηϕϕε τί να κόψη.
Χαϕακηνός τήν άγναντα ν-άττό ψηλή ϕαχοϕλα
κι ή κόϕη τόν αγνάντεψε κοντά στον αι Γιώϕγη.
'"ΑφÎ-ντη μ' αι Γιώϕγη μου κι αφÎ-ντη καβαλάϕη,
ττοϕ 'σαι ζωσμÎ-νος με στταθί καί με χϕυσό κοντάϕι,
να κάμω τά 'μττα σου χϕυσά καί τά 'βγα σ' ασημÎ-νια,
καί τα ξυλοκεϕάμιδα οϕλο μαϕγαϕιτάϕι,
ν' ανοίξουνε τα μάϕμαϕα, να κϕϕψουν τό κοϕάσι."
Σαϕακηνός νά κι Μφτασε κοντά στον άι Γιώϕγη.
'"ΑφÎ-ντη μ' Κι Γιώϕγη μου, αφÎ-ντη καβαλάϕη,
ν' ανοίξουνε τα μάϕμαϕα, να βγάλουν τό κοϕάσι,
να βαφτιστώ στη χάϕη σου Î-γώ καί Ï„ÏŒ τταιδί μου,
Î-με να βγάλουν Κωσταντή καί Ï„ÏŒ τταιδί μου Γιάννη."
Για να κεϕδίση τες ψυχÎ-Ï‚ αφÎ-ντης αι Γιώϕγης,
ανοίξανε τα μάϕμαϕα καί βγάλαν τό κοϕάσι.
Somewhere, in East or West, a war breaks out.
A willowy maiden hears and then departs.
She gathers arms and dons a man's attire,
Upon her horse's back she lays some snakes,
Around his haunches she twists some vipers,
Poisonous asps serve her for stirrup and strap.
She spurs the steed on and trots some forty miles.
She spurs him on, into the fray she rides.
Wide is the swath she cuts as in she goes,
But it's a narrow swath as out she comes.
She swings around, can find no more to kill,
A Saracen espies her from a height:
From St. George's church she sees her threatening foe.
"St. George, my lord, my knight with sword and lance:
I'll make your door of gold that leads within,
Silver will be your door that leads outside,
Your pillars and roof I'll decorate with pearls:
Only hide me within your marble hall."
Now to St. George speaks the Saracen bold:
"St. George, my lord, my knight with sword and lance:
Open your marble hall and yield this girl;
Baptized I'll be, and in your name—also my son!
I'll be called Constantine, my son'll be John!"
St. George, the lord, the knight, who thought to gain
This soul, then opened the hall and yielded the girl.
Such thematic and stylistic details as the prominence of the horse,
the mention of Saracens, and the vocabulary used to describe the
battle connect these songs to the so-called "Acritic cycle," which is
traditionally thought to have originated in Byzantine times.7 Details
'The presumed Byzantine origin and the immediate literary predecessors and
descendants of this type are discussed by K. Romaios, Τό τϕαγοϕδι τής 'ΑντϕειωμÎ-νης
 Andreiomeni 67

of the warrior maiden's tale vary from version to version: for example,
in one of the Cretan songs the maiden is on a hunting expedition
when she spies the Saracens; in one of the Pontic versions the op-
ponent is identified as the maiden's brother; in the Cappadocian ac-
count, rather than betray the maiden St. George strikes down the
Saracen.8
The elements that remain unchanged (though sometimes com-
pressed) are: a description of the maiden's armament, her entry and
heroic action in battle, her encounter with one particular opponent,
the discovery that she is a woman, and the erotic element that is
thereby introduced.
Politis considered these songs to be variations of an episode found
in the Byzantine romantic epic Digenis Akritas (11th c. A.D.): namely,
the abduction of a Greek (Romaic) noblewoman by an Arab and the
latter's conversion to Christianity for his bride's sake.9 The andreiomeni
of the songs, however, has clearly more in common with the mythical
Amazon queens, and if a parallel is to be sought in the epic of Digenis,
it will be found in the person of Maximo, απόγονος γυναικών 'Α-
μαζόνων, "descendant of Amazon women," who challenges Digenis,
is unhorsed, seduced, and (in one version) slain by him.10 The warrior
maiden of the songs is, like the mythical Penthesilea and Antiope and
their successor Maximo, the female counterpart of the great hero.
She glories in her armament and horse; she stands essentially alone
even when accompanied by others; she performs superhuman deeds;
and she is fated to succumb to a male of superior strength.11 The folk

Λυγεϕής, 'Ελληνικά, suppl. vol. 4 (1953), 581 ff. The classification of Greek folk songs
under such historically oriented and limiting categories as "Acritic" and "kleftic" has
now come under strong criticism: see, e.g., M. Herzfeld, "Social Borderers: Themes
of Conflict and Ambiguity," Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 6 (1980), 61—80, who
treats Acritic material from the viewpoint of recent anthropological theories such as
those of C. Lévi-Strauss and V. W. Turner. Roderick Beaton in his recent book, Folk
Poetry of Modern Greece (Cambridge, 1980), briefly mentions the theme of the "valiant
maiden" in connection with a related group of folk songs (67-68; see also note 6 above).
"Hunting expédition—Crete1 only; maiden sees brother among opponents—Pontus2
only.
9PoIiUs, Eklogai, introduction to 72A, 85.
10So in the Grottaferrata ms., VI. 384 ff. On the Amazon episode in the variants
of this epic, see the remarks of J. Mavrogordato, Digenes Akrites (Oxford, 1956), li-lvii.
"The most famous Amazon heroines of ancient myth are: Penthesilea, who fought
with the Trojans and who was killed and then mourned by Achilles; Hippolyta, whose
girdle was seized by Heracles; Antiope, who was abducted by Theseus and later died
fighting by his side against her own Amazon warriors. Camilla, the warrior maiden in
Vergil's Aeneid, is a variant on the type. For details of the myths and their sources, see
especially R. Graef, s.v. "Amazones," Real-Enzyklopaedie der klassischen Altertumswissen-
schaft, vol. 1 (1894), 1754-89; also P. Samuel, Amazones, guerrières et gaillardes, Editions
Complexe (Grenoble, 1973), 43 ff. The Amazon heroines of epic and romance should
68 Elizabeth Constantinides

songs end with the implicit sexual submission of the maiden and not
with her death, as is usually the case in the tales of the ancient Amazon
queens. It is noteworthy, also, that in contrast to the Amazons, the
andreiomeni appears in the constellation of Greek worthies who do
battle with the "barbarian," rather than the other way around.
Some details in these folk songs that would otherwise be difficult
to explain are better understood against the background of the Am-
azon legends. For example, in one of the Pontic versions, the warrior
maiden (here opposed to a Turk) challenges her enemy to battle and
says she will set her fcorosia ("girls") against his Jannisaries.12 This, of
course, is a reference to a troop of Amazon women. The snakes which
appear (in the version from Leucas quoted above, lines 4-5) as part
of the accoutrements of the maiden's horse can be taken as a metaphor
for the fear she inspires in her enemy. We may, however, see in this
description a reference to the animal skins that occasionally formed
part of the ancient Amazon's costume.13 Furthermore, that St. George,
an accredited dragon-slayer and maiden-rescuer, should turn traitor
and help a Saracen or Turk (even by a promise of conversion), is
disturbing. One suggested solution, though not a very convincing one,
is that St. George was also venerated by the Moslems, being sometimes
identified with the prophet Khidr,14 and hence considered unreliable
by the Greeks. But one should not be surprised at St. George's be-
havior. Love between those of different religions and races is a pop-
ular motif in folk literature. So, for that matter, are betrayal by a
trusted ally and the capriciousness of supernatural beings. The tale
of the andreiomeni must end in her submission. Such was ever the fate
of the illustrious Amazon warrior: to encounter a hero who would at
the same time love her and vanquish her.
The kleftic version of the story of the valorous maiden is adapted
to the requirements of kleftic life. In the process, the maiden has lost
much of her grandeur. She is no longer a fearsome equestrian wreak-

be distinguished from the "historical" accounts of Amazon societies: see E. Constan-

tinides, "Amazons and Other Female Warriors," The Classical Outlook, vol. 59 (1981),
3-6.
12POnUiS,1 line 8.
â– 'See Diodorus Siculus III. 54. 2-3 on the armor of the Lybian Amazons: "As
defensive arms they use the skins of large snakes, since such beasts in Lybia grow to a
remarkable size." Amazons clothed in animal skins also appear on some of the ancient
vase paintings; see D. vonBothmer, Amazons in Greek Art (Oxford, 1957), Plates XVII. 1,
LI.l, LX.3, LXXXXIV. 1. The goddess Athena, the archetypical warrior maiden of
antiquity, wore as her breastplate Zeus's aegis, a goatskin often depicted in art as a
cape with snake-head tassels and a Medusa head in the center front.
14So Baud-Bovy, 271.
 Andreiomeni 69

ing havoc on the enemy. Instead of doing battle, she engages in an

athletic competition with her fellow klefts. These songs emphasize the
surprising revelation of her sex through a bared breast.
Ποιος είδε ψάϕι σε βουνό κ' ελάφι σε λιμάνι;
Ποιος είδε Ï„Î-τοια λυγεϕή, Ï„Î-τοια πανώϕια κόϕη,
Εα ττϕοττατή, να γϕάφεται δώδεκα χϕόνους κλÎ-φτης;
ΚανÎ-νας δεν τήν γνώϕισε Ï„Ï„ÏŽÏ‚ ήτανε κοϕάσι·
Καί μιαν αυγή καί μια λαμττϕή, μια ττίσημην ήμÎ-ϕαν
Βγήκαν να τταίξουν τα σπαθιά, να ϕίξουν τό λιθάϕι,
Κι' άπό τό σείσμα τό πολϕ κι' άπό τήν λεβεντιά της
Έκόπη Ï„' άσημόκομπο κ' Î-φάνη Ï„ÏŒ βυζί της.
(Passow, no. 174)
Has anyone seen a fish on a mountain peak?
Or even glimpsed a deer in a watery port?
And who has ever heard of a willowy girl,
Dwelling amidst the klefts for twelve long years?
A beautiful girl, but recognized by none
Until one fine day, a festival day,
She vied with the men, wielding sword, hurling stone,
And from her man-like motions and moves,
Her silver button broke, and revealed her breast.
The ending of the story varies greatly in the versions recorded (there
are over forty) and illustrates the ingenuity with which motifs are
combined in folk songs.15 For example, the maiden marries the kleft
who has discovered her secret, or overpowers him, or kills him, or
deals him a fatal blow and then discovers he is her brother, or begs
him not to reveal who she is. Often the ending is less conclusive: the
klefts merely express surprise or admiration.
Because of its uniqueness, special mention should be made of the
Cretan song which tells of the heroic deeds of Eleni. This ballad,
published for the first time in the 1970s,16 recounts in detail the story
of the high-born Eleni, whose two brothers were killed in Roumeli
during the time of the "revolution" (1821). When news comes of the
second brother's death, Eleni mounts a horse, goes to Roumeli herself,
puts on man's clothing, adopts her brothers' names, and becomes the
leader of nine palliharia (men-at-arms). After she has killed many of
the enemy Turks, a price is set on her head. Her synteknos (i.e., koum-

15For a sampling, see, e.g., Politis, Eklogai, no. 72B; Passow, nos. 174-76, 204;
Λαογϕαφία, vol. 1, 598-99. Apostolakis, who had read over 40 versions, has some
interesting comments (op. cit., pp. 53 ff.) on the "doctored" examples in the collection
of Zambelios.
16TwO versions have been published; see Th. Detorakis, 'ΑνÎ-κδοτα δημοτικά τϕα-
γοϕδια της Κϕήτης (Heraklion, 1976), 52-54.
70 Elizabeth Constantinides

bar os) betrays her: when surrounded, she and her pallikaria fight fu-
riously, the men are all killed, and Eleni commits suicide to avoid
capture. The fictional nature of the narrative is evident from the
combination of motifs, familiar not only from other songs about fe-
male warriors but also from ballads in general: male disguise, prom-
inence of horse, superhuman accomplishments, devotion of sister to
brother, betrayal, and suicide rather than capture. That this song,
nevertheless, may also preserve, however inexactly, the memory of
actual personages and events is not precluded, for a number of Cretan
ballads are romanticized versions of historical occurrences.17
How are we to interpret the repeated appearance of the female
warrior in Greek folklore and myth from antiquity to the present?18
That depends on how we interpret mythical material in general. A
traditional approach is the rationalization of a myth by positing a
historical base for the events described. In the case of the Amazons,
for instance, classical scholars have pointed to societies, especially the
more primitive ones, on the fringes of the Greco-Roman world, where
armed women took to the field: such would be the tribes of the Scy-
thian Sauromatae mentioned by Herodotus (4.110), the Sacae in the
history of Diodorus Siculus (2.34), and the Goths captured by the
Roman emperor Aurelian {Hutoria Augusta 33). Similar examples of
female warrior groups can be culled from all periods of history, not
to speak of exceptional cases of female valor, such as Joan of Arc
and, from more recent times, the Greek naval commander, Boubou-
lina.19 An older anthropological view saw the Amazon myths as a
recreation of a prehistoric matriarchal society (an extreme view) or a
matrilineal one such as the ancient Lycians and Carians are known
to have been. Those who interpret myth as a reworking of ritual notice
the connection of the Amazons with the worship of the gods Artemis
and Ares and suggest that the Amazons were actually Asiatic priest-
esses or possibly even war goddesses (like the Nordic Valkyrie). As
for more recent theories, I may point out how well the myths of the

"On this, see G. Morgan, "Cretan Poetry: Sources and Inspiration," Κϕητικά Χϕο-
νικά, 14 (1960), 12, 15-16 , 21-22.
18I shall not here enter into the much vexed problem of the difference between
myth and folklore, which G.S. Kirk discusses in Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in
Ancient and Other Cultures, Sather Classical Lectures, vol. 40 (Cambridge, Berkeley, and
Los Angeles, 1970), 31-41 ; cf., also, the same author's The Nature of Greek Myths (Penguin
Books, 1974), 30-37. I take it for granted that folklore is primarily concerned with
mythical material, as H. E. Davidson says (Patterns of Folklore [Ipswich and Totowa,
N. J., 1978], 43; "Folklore and Myth," Folklore, 87 [1976], 132).
19The most detailed discussion of the historical evidence from antiquity is found
in Graef, 1754 ff. For examples from later periods as well, see Samuel, 62 ff., 196 ff.
Both Graef and Samuel mention some of the older theories that I refer to in this
paragraph. On the larger problem of how to interpret myths in general, see, for
example, the comprehensive treatment in the two books of Kirk (above, note 18).
 Andreiomeni 71

warrior maiden would lend themselves to a structuralist analysis ac-

cording to the method of Lévi-Strauss, with their polarities of male-
female, civilized-barbarian (Christian-heathen), lover-enemy.
Literary historians often discuss the stories of the Amazons in
terms of influence: for example, Vergilian commentators will see in
Camilla, the warrior maiden of the Aeneid, a descendant of earlier
Greek prototypes, just as K. Romaios finds the model for the an-
dreiomeni of the folk songs in the Amazon of Digenis Akritas and, ul-
timately, of the Alexander romance.20 Parallels from earlier litera-
ture, though they emphasize certain obvious relationships, do not
explain why poets in Greek as well as later European literature, in
folk song as well as formal epic and romance, were so taken with the
figure of the female warrior.21 It is tempting to explain such persistent
recurrence of the type with the insights of depth psychology, that is,
as the workings of the unconscious mind. But such an approach,
Freudian or other, is at best hazardous. I might venture this, however:
Jungian analytical psychology might consider the warrior maiden as
a manifestation of one of the great archetypes of the unconscious, the
image of the other sex, in this case the animus or male element in
the female psyche. Other mythical figures also hint at the bisexuality
in man: the goddesses Athena and Artemis, for example, are man-
like; the god Dionysus is effeminate; the heroes Achilles and Heracles
are said to have donned female apparel for a while and to have
impersonated women.
Whatever the merits of the psychological approach, the motif of
the armed woman fighting her male counterpart surely can be seen
as a variation of that great theme, the war between the sexes. This is
a theme whose comic as well as tragic aspect finds literary expression
the world over. That love is a battlefield, that eros (sexual desire) and
eris (strife) are two sides of the same coin have been among the most
familiar philosophic and literary topoi of our Western tradition. That
the battle ends with the submission of the warrior maiden is a comment
on die obvious limitations of women when testing their physical strength
against men. And since defeat often means loss of virginity for the
maiden, one conclusion which may be drawn is that for a female,
superhuman endeavor has as its precondition freedom from woman's
ordinary sexual allegiance to a male.22
In the Greek versions, at least, there is one aspect of the warrior

20586 ff.
21Examples are plentiful from later European literature (and folklore); see Samuel,
142-50, and 182-95.
22It should, I think, be obvious that I have rejected interpretations of these myths
from a feminist, feminist-lesbian (cf. Monique Wittig's novel Les GuériUères), or anti-
feminist bias.
72 Elizabeth Constantinides

maiden that should always be kept in mind: she is unique, unlike

others of her kind. She arouses admiration, even awe, because of her
bravery and daring. As a hero, she transcends the sphere of ordinary
human activity, and like her male counterparts partakes of that su-
perhuman power which separates the hero from his fellow man.
QUEENS COLLEGE, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK