In the 2017 “Wonder Woman” movie starring Gal Gadot as the Amazonian princess, gone were the satin tights of the 1970s television series in favor of a decidedly more Greco-Roman warrior look. Yet depending on how far you’ve delved into Wonder Woman or the DC Comics fandom, you may not be aware of how much mythology has shaped her character and the fictional universe in which she exists. Over the last several decades, both her original creators and the writers who followed them have drawn inspiration from legends and a cast of deities revered by the ancient Greeks.
A Brief History of Wonder Woman
In a 2014 New York Times article, contributor Dwight Garner reviews Jill Lepore’s book “The Secret History of Wonder Woman,” explaining that the character was created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston and artist Harry G. Peter. Since then, the warrior has been reimaged several times throughout her seven-decade history. During the 1980s, artist George Perez updated her with a more muscular physique and a greater emphasis on her Amazonian background. As a 2017 Fashionista piece discloses, the latest film’s costume designer Lindy Hemming based the title character’s outfits and those of her fellow Amazons on clothing and armor that predated ancient Greece.
Who Were the Legendary Amazons?
Wonder Woman’s creators crafted her world by borrowing from the original Greek legends of the Amazon warriors. Multiple ancient writers, including the historian Herodotus, described an all-female tribe whose members were skilled in several styles of combat:
- Sword-fighting
- Archery
- Hand-to-hand combat
- Fighting on horseback
Modern scholars believe that these tales may have been inspired by the Scythians, a nomadic civilization living on the Eurasian steppes that covered what is now parts of Romania, the Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.
While the ancient Greeks believed that the Amazons founded multiple cities throughout the region, it was Marston who transformed them into the dwellers of Paradise Island. Hippolyta, one of the tribe’s original mythological queens wearing a magical girdle gifted to her by her father, Aries, also made it into the comics as Princess Diana’s mother.
Wonder Woman and the Greek Gods
It’s tempting to think that Wonder Woman may be based on an ancient Greek goddess herself. Some propose that the original model was Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, while others point to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt with a Roman counterpart named Diana. Bustle writer Johnny Brayson examines these ideas in a 2017 write-up but dismisses them by pointing to Marston’s creation of the character.
Nevertheless, Brayson does point out that Wonder Woman has been placed solidly in a fictional world full of Greek deities. For one, her first origin story involved Hippolyta fashioning Diana’s form from clay and Aphrodite bringing her to life. Another tale of her genesis claims that Zeus, the Olympian king with a track record of preying on mortal women, was her father, and still another showed baby Diana receiving the blessings of Hermes, Athena, Aphrodite, and Heracles in the crib. Various storylines in past comics and the 2017 movie pit her against Aries, a god who often represents the violent, untamed aspect of war as opposed to the military strategist talents of his sister Athena.
The Demigoddess in Her Mythological Element
From the original DC Comics issues of Wonder Woman to the 2017 film, Princess Diana of Themyscira has demonstrated incredible strength, formidable fighting skills, and a reputation for delivering both compassion and justice by turns. Her stories also evidence influences from ancient Greek mythology as she co-exists with and sometimes opposes the gods. Just as storytellers regaled audiences with heroic epics thousands of years ago, Wonder Woman is also proof that the human tendency for mythmaking lives on in the 21st century.