Cassandra -- a Woman Scorned

Cassandra -- a Woman Scorned Because a God Was Scorned

Few heroines of Greek mythology have been as unjustly treated as Cassandra. Oddly enough, many of the websites devoted to classifying characters from Greek mythology view her in negative terms. One site quotes a number of contemporary mythologists, calling the "daughter of the Trojan king

Priam and Queen Hecuba...very beautiful, but quite unbalanced," not only in terms of the way she was perceived in the eyes of others, but also in terms of her priorities as a priestess and a woman. (Sandels, 2004) the site makes note of the fact that as a child, Cassandra "was left over night in a temple of Apollo together with her brother Helenus. In the morning, their parents found the children entwined with snakes. The serpents were flicking their tongues into the children's ears, and so they were given the gift of prophecy." (Sandels, 2004)

Because of this gift, Cassandra was made a priestess, and not required to marry, as were most women in ancient society. However, Cassandra later refused the God Apollo, who condemned the young woman to never be believed in her prophecy. One site, entitled "Godchecker.com" even sneers: "Was she [Cassandra] grateful? Not a bit. She grew to be a very beautiful lady whom Apollo was smitten with, but it was years before she would grant him as much as a kiss. Him, the most radiant handsome God ever, who had women swooning in droves!" The implication is that Cassandra, because of her beauty and her intelligence, as well as the gift she was given (a gift given, incidentally, against her will, when she was a child) should give up everything to the god Apollo, even her body. (Saunders & Ramsey, 2004)

Such a misogynist view reflects the modern association of chastity or sexual continence with repression, forgetting that chastity in the Greek world was often a contingent quality and status for remaining a priestesses. The oracle at Delphi was chaste, as were the follower of Artemis, goddess of the moon -- thus by asking her to give up her chastity, Apollo was essentially asking Cassandra to give up her holy status as a religious priestess and oracular voice, by sacrificing her continence to him.

Granted, Apollo was the source of Cassandra' gift. But remember that Apollo's sister, Artemis was chaste, as was the goddess of wisdom Athena. Chastity enabled a woman to be free of the burdens of childbearing and keeping a home for a husband, thus Cassandra's desire to remain chaste was only understandable, for an intelligent and articulate woman possessing an extraordinary religious gift of insight and interpretation. To suggest that Cassandra should simply have been grateful for her prophetic gift while she had it, and given into Apollo because he was the source of her gift -- and thus likely have had to have given up both her gift and her priestly status, seems to suggest that the woman 'asked for it' -- in other words Cassandra asked to be taken advantage of because she acquiesced to be a priestess and was wrong to assert her desire not to be impinged upon as a woman. (Saunders & Ramsey, 2004)

Remember as well that alliances between women and the gods were not always happy ones -- Apollo was notorious for abandoning the women he had affairs with, a fact conveniently forgotten by the condemners of Cassandra. Ironically, Apollo who preferred Troy to Greece in the Trojan War could have saved his city. Apollo's anger resulted in his beloved city of Troy's destruction. When Cassandra warned that the Trojan horse would bring about the destruction of Troy, no one believed her, even her own father and mother.

What is truly tragic about Cassandra, however, is not simply that the Trojan War results in her eventual demise -- she is taken by Agamemnon at the war's end and killed by his angry and avenging wife Clymmenstra -- but of all the character of the Trojan saga, she alone does not chose her fate. Paris chooses to abscond with Helen, and thus brings about the war. Achilles on the Greek side chooses a short life filled with glory, rather than a long and uneventful life, and thus chooses to fight in the war. But Cassandra did not even chose her gift of prophesy -- the only choice she made was not to engage in sexual relations with Apollo, and her entire life was condemned to frustration because of this entirely understandable decision.

It is said that after Cassandra refused Apollo, "King Priam did not know what to do with her, so he tried to keep Cassandra locked up and out of the way of the warriors of Troy," because she prophesized Troy's doom. (Fitton, 1998) for the entire war, poor Cassandra remained locked away, filled with knowledge of the tragedies that would occur, such as her brother's death, and without even the comfort of being believed by her loved ones around her. Her "own people and family in Troy mistook her as a raving lunatic." (Fitton, 1998) Then, when Troy finally fell to the Greek invaders, Cassandra was attacked and raped by one Greek warrior, and made the captive of Agamemnon -- in other words, she suffered the common fate of so many women in male-dominated warfare.