Divine women's esteem in late antiquity and their later representations in literature

Abstract

The Late Antiquity period and the stories that emerged from it were some of the most impactful narratives for future authors and their writing. This period encompassed many types of communities, languages, social customs, and polytheistic religions. What scholars know of these subjects is limited; therefore, much of their expertise is through interdisciplinary research, analysis of existing texts, archaeological remains, and epigraphy. These areas of study have contributed to what we know about these civilizations, which help scholars understand these communities--particularly the roles of women and what their lives would have looked like compared to those of today. Authors also draw from this period for narrative inspiration, especially regarding women's roles in their stories. Three women characters from this period are The Morrigan, Signy, and Brynhild, women who played important roles within their sagas and myths but were portrayed differently in later literature to suit the author's needs. In Chapter One, I analyze The Morrigan, a Celtic Goddess, a woman who is accredited with fighting alongside the Tuatha de Danaan against the Firbolg in Irish Mythology. Later, she appears throughout Arthurian literature with many names, including Morgana or Morgan Le Fey; she is best known as King Arthur's bitter half-sister and is always desirous of finding a way to kill him out of petty spite. Chapter Two covers Signy, a seer and princess in the Saga of the Volsungs, an Icelandic Saga which centers around the heroic deeds of the men within her family. Through this analysis, I challenge why Signy was treated poorly by the men in her family and why this behavior contradicts what scholars understood about how respected women were during this period in Icelandic history. Chapter Three addresses Brynhild's role in Eddic poetry and the German poem the Nibelungenlied. Brynhild is a Valkyrie and Shieldmaiden of Odin, a woman gifted with divine abilities to bring those who died in battle to Valhalla, where their souls would rest forever with the gods. This significant rendering is vastly different from the portrayals of her life in later poetry, which opposes her role as an immortal woman. In every story, she loses her position amongst the Valkyrie and falls in love with a man, Sigurd, who does not love her in return. In summary, these women are intended to represent lost stories, narratives that were changed to fit the aspirations of the growing Christian and patriarchal proclivities of the cultures that followed their own. My research is part of a literary movement that desires to see these ancient stories of women conserved, acknowledge their popularity with authors through time, and, with this admittance, implore that their image be used in a manner that would be a credit to their original stories. There is much work ahead to continue to consider the roles of women in Late Antiquity and the ways that intervening texts might distort our views of the true spirit of these women. Through archival work and linguistic study, I can expand these ideas by exploring a more firsthand account of their lives within narratives that do not maintain an authentic portrayal.