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[¶1.] I have endeavored here to present a more complex view of the role of heroines in Greek myth and cult than is usually acknowledged. Reliance on a stereotyped notion of the purely passive heroine has resulted in certain distortions, not least an underestimation of the function of heroic figures in divine cult. By making room for the heroine within the category of heroic beings, we necessarily change our view of that category. While heroines do not generally initiate action but rather react to others, they can nevertheless be seen to have unique powers, related to their ability to transcend death. Acting in sympathy with gods, they mediate symbolically between the remoteness of divinity and the direct experience of mortals.
[¶2.] As we have seen, many apparently essential elements of the heroine's identity are subject to variation and change. As in the case of Semele, Ino, and Iphigeneia, even their names may be changed in the course of their myths. This is not the case with male heroes, few of whom ever acquire new names. Not only the name, but the nature, of heroines is radically transformable. Heroines, to a far greater extent than heroes, are subject to metamorphosis, taking on the shape of animals at the will of the gods. I have argued that female mythic figures are much more likely to be metamorphosed than male ones. While it may be asking too much to seek a unified explanation for this phenomenon, it may be related to the actual physical transformations of menarche, defloration, childbirth, and menopause which occur during the female life cycle, or to men's projections about these transformations. A figure like Iphigeneia, who resists the physical transformations of metamorphosis, avoids becoming a bear like Kallisto. The substitution that structures the rescue myths becomes her experience of transformation. Iphigeneia experiences not metamorphosis but ritual substitution and is thereby saved for the biggest transformation of all--apotheosis. This is certainly the ultimate metamorphosis of which a mortal is capable. And yet it seems to be the radical indeterminacy of the heroine's existence that gives her the flexibility needed to transcend the divide between mortals and immortals.
[¶3.] We have seen how heroines may play a mediating role in cult, between the god they serve and the worshiper who serves that god. For the Dionysiac heroines, that role has its basis in a sympathy between mortal and immortal, and in the exchange of qualities. It is the very similarities between heroines and goddesses that serve to heighten the rivalry and antagonism between them. As noted in Chapter 3, divinities come into conflict with heroic figures who most closely resemble them. Antagonist pairs are frequently, although not always, of the same sex. In the case of Dionysos, however, something different occurs. The double difference between Dionysos and the heroines, of gender and existential status, allows for the possibility of a defusing exchange.
[¶4.] With heroines and goddesses, the gender difference is eliminated, exposing all too clearly the mortal/immortal split. This emphasis on mortality comes into focus when we notice that while Dionysos is rarely responsible for the death of any of the figures connected with him, Artemis is a frequent cause of death for heroines. At the same time, the case of Artemis and Iphigeneia shows that where there is hostility, there may also be identity and reciprocity. This observation leads to a modification of the idea of ritual antagonism, with particular application to female figures, both heroic and divine.
[¶5.] The examples chosen are not in every way typical--Dionysos is anomalous among gods as Iphigeneia is among heroines. Nonetheless they point to a central feature of Greek cosmology. Each member in the system, and each class of members, is absolutely dependent on the others for knowledge of its place. Thus mortals and immortals need one another for self-definition, and heroines and heroes, as the intermediate category, are necessary to both because they allow a working out of the tensions and ambiguities inherent in a system of anthropomorphic divinities worshiped by a society that glorified the works of human beings. The Greeks knew how much their gods depended on them and told their myths to prove it.