ABSTRACT
Women in Greek mythology are of interest both to those studying the place of women, and to those studying the nature of mythology. In this paper I ask whether Greek mythology gives the former category good value: how much may we learn about Greek women on the basis of the mythological evidence? What follows is divided into three parts: in the first part I ask on what suppositions Greek mythology might be thought to tell us about women; in the second part I look at the instances of Helen and Clytaemnestra; and in the third I try to set in context the apparently more concrete data that can be assembled from mythology related to female initiation rites.
