The Iconology of Gender I. [antikvár]

Kobert JCíma GENDERING EVIL: PANDORA, LILITH, SATAN Evil has been with mankind through recorded history, but its existence certainly pre-dates those extant works on which we found our knowledge of early man and his beliefs. The origin of the concept of Evil is lost in an antiquity which we have only begun to suspect and hardly fathomed. Thus, it is necessary to begin, if not at the real beginning, at least at the earliest periods accessible in the histories of Mediterranean peoples in order to trace the provenance of the personification of the Western idea of Evil in the figures of Pandora, Lilith and Satan. The personification of Evil - presupposing a degree of sophistication - is encountered in the earliest of humán works, both arristic and functional (cave paintings, stele, artifacts, statuary, bowls, and the like). These are external manifestations only, however. There are alsó more profound creations of man which give evidence of Evil personified. Not the least of these are his religions. In primitive societies, animistic beliefs associated unexplainable phenomena with superior natural beings or supernatural powers the effect of whose acts on humán life was either positive or negatíve, but who themselves were beyond morál classification. Butas primitive societies matured, they grew away from simpler beliefs. It became necessary for people to explain the good and Evil manifested in humán life through more precise agencies. Thus, ancient peoples separated out the positive and negatíve aspects, assigning each to deities who could be distinguished as gods or demons in humán terms. They were beings who could not be held to standards of right and wrong, good and Evil, but who were perceived as intimately involved with humán activity. In their exalted state, the gods were not easily accessible to man. But the demons were held to be readily available, perhaps because man intuited their condition to be closer to his own. Not infrequently man placed his negatíve deities in a context of privation, exclusion or suffering - conditions which reflected his own. But even if their state was less than ideál, such beings existed on a plateau higher than man's and consequently served as reminders of another order beyond his reach. In cultures where a god or another supernatural force is perceived as the personification of Evil, a phrase such as "The Devil made me do it," might be applied to indivíduals (Hitler, Stalin, Bin Laden) orgroups (religious fanatics of various persuasions); these may be thought of as Evil incarnate, that is, humán beings whose actions are so debased and inhumane that they can only be thought of as stemming from a source beyond the natural world. A supernatural figure is then named as the origin. In personifying Evil in terms of deific figures, ancient cultures avoided the modern dilemma of interpreting maleficent humán actions as stemming from the exercise of free will, even if delusional. Three traditions that have contributed meaningfully to the evolution of Western thought are Greekjewish and Christian ideologies. Each has developed, among other topoi, a figure of Evil. In the Greek and Jewish traditions, these are female, while Christianity has developed a male image; respectively, they are Pandora, Lilith and Satan. In Greek mythology, Pandora was the creation of the gods' blacksmith Hephaestus who, on orders from Zeus, förmed the first female. Other Olympians endowed her with their special gifts and skills; most notably, Aphrodité granted her beauty and lasciviousness, while Hermes gave her a seductive voice and the feminine wiles of deceit, treachery and flattery. She was alsó gifted