FemminaClassica: Resurrecting Ancient Women's Lives

Not every Greek character has a complex named in their honor, and few are more deserving of such recognition than Electra. Coined by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung to name a female counterpart to Freud’s famous “Oedipus Complex”, the “Electra Complex” describes a daughter’s longing for her father, coupled with deep resentment towards her mother. This term effectively encapsulates the myth of Electra, the princess of Mycenae and the second daughter of King Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Imbued with themes of vengeance, loyalty, and the complex dynamics of familial relationships, her story resonates profoundly in Western literature and psychology.

For thousands of years, women everywhere have had Penelope to thank for playing the indelible role of a loyal and stalwart wife to Odysseus, her devious, vengeful and violent-prone husband. Displaying a keen intelligence and an unwavering constancy for endless hard years, Penelope is often depicted in the epic as weeping and wailing while she confines herself to the bedroom during critical moments—apropos of any intelligent and strong woman.

  At first glance, it would seem that Medusa, the mortal Gorgon with writhing snakes for hair, wide glaring eyes, and a protruding tongue, is

The earth turned on its axis the day Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) died. Notorious for his unrestrained aggressivity and hard drinking, it should have come as no surprise to the Greeks that Alexander the Great would not live to see old age. Yet when the warrior king died at the age of thirty-two, it left a power vacuum the likes of which the ancient world had never seen, resulting in widespread unrest and turmoil throughout Alexander’s vast empire.