Wonder Woman
Monday, 27. March 2006, 04:57:23
The religious affiliation of Wonder Woman, also known as Princess Diana, can be classified as Greco-Roman classical religion.
Since this influential comic book super hero character was first created by polygamist feminist psychologist William Moulton Marston in 1941, Wonder Woman's origins and continuing storylines have been tied intricately to Greco-Roman mythology. The ancient Greek and Roman pantheon consisting of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, etc. have always been rendered as explicitly real in Wonder Woman's universe. This pantheon is also known as the Olympians, or the gods of Olympus, named after Mount Olympus, the mountain in Greece which was until recently their home.
The Amazon civilization into which Wonder Woman was born (or sculpted, technically) was created by these Greek gods, and Wonder Woman's powers derive from them. The Amazons of lived on the island of Themyscira, which was, until recently in DC Comics continuity, located in the Atlantic Ocean.
Wonder Woman could be said to be a "pagan" in the word's contemporary religious sense, although this does not appear to be a word she regularly applies to herself. Religious ritual and worship of the Greek gods is explicitly a part of the Amazon culture where Princess Diana was raised. While in her native Themyscira, Diana daily went to the Olympian temple and gave thanks before statues of the Olympian gods. She has also met these gods in person, and sometimes battled the less benevolent among them (such as Ares, the god of War, and Zeus's son, the demigod Heracles). Given Diana's firsthand experience with the Olympian gods, it would make little sense for her to not believe in these Olympian gods. One could conclude that Diana has little choice but to be a Greco-Roman classical religionist. Whatever the degree to which Diana has free will in the matter, she has enthusiastically and consciously embraced her role not only as a heroine, but also as the Themysciran ambassador to the world and as the Olympian gods' representative to mortal humanity.
From: Scott Beatty, Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess, Dorling Kindersley: New York, NY (2003), page 8:
The story of Wonder Woman is an epic spanning over 30,000 years. It begins in prehistoric times, with the murder of a cavewoman heavy with child. The tale continues through the days of the ancient Greek culture and its pantheon of gods to our own, modern, war-torn world.
To Hippolyta, the childless Queen of the immortal Amazons, came the infant Diana, a gift from the gods of Mount Olympus. Hippolyta herself was a reincarnation of the very cavewoman who had suffered a cruel death all those millennia ago. And Diana, a daughter she molded from clay on the island of Themyscira, was that unborn child. Princess Diana was granted the wisdom of Athena, the beauty of Aphrodite, the speed of Hermes, and other miraculous powers by her patron gods and goddesses.
The day finally arrived when one of the Amazons would be chosen, following a grueling challenge of fighting skills, athletics, and wits, to become Themyscira's ambassador to Patriarch's World, the mortal realm of mankind. THough forbidden by Hippolyta to participate in the contest, Diana easily captured the much-prized mantle. Reluctantly, Hippolyta awarded her beloved daughter the talismans of her new office. Diana was armed with bulletproof bracelets that symbolized the Amazons' ancestral enslavement by Heracles. She also carried the Golden Lasso of Hestia, a lariat that compelled anyone bound by its finely forged links to speak only the truth. Diana renounced her immortality and entered man's world to battle for peace and justice as the most legendary Amazon of all . . . Wonder Woman!
Gods of Olympus
The deities of Greek myth are among the mightiest beings in the whole of creation. They are the children of the Titans and the grandchildren of Gaea and Uranus, the earth and sky. Mostly, these gods are generous, but they only became so after Zeus, son of Cronus, deposed his Titan father from Mount Olympus and allowed his brothers and sisters and children to rule the heavens and the Earth and guide the destiny of mankind. The gods' dominion over humanity lasted for thousands of years. In time, however, their influence began to wane, and so they created the Amazons to lead mankind in the ways of virtue and keep the gods forever in people's hearts.
For millennia, the Olympians have been content to preside over mankind. They sometimes enjoy meddling in human affairs, but in general they seek to guide humanity to greatness. Ares, Zeus's son and the God of War, has always argued that man should be conquered -- and who better than him to do it!
The First Olympus
Although there are far higher mountains on Earth, the mythical importance of Mount Olympus in northern Greece belies its humble elevation 9,570 feet (2,917 meters). Since time immemorial, Mount Olympus was the home of the gods. Darkseid, an upstart "New God" from the distant world of Apokolips, destroyed the Olympian gods' halls and temples, but the legend of the first Olympus lives on.
The Fates
Even older than the Olympians, the three Fates -- Clotho the spinner, Lachesis the tailor, and Atropos, the shearer -- are the mistresses of destiny. Their decrees -- represented as a carefully measured thread marking an allotted span of time -- must be followed both by god and man.
Queen of Paradise
The murder of a cavewoman more than 32,000 years ago, sowed the seeds of the Amazon race and its greatest champion. Hippolyta was that prehistoric female, pregnant with a child whose spirit would find its way back to her many millennia later. Reborn int he time of ancient Greece, Hippolyta and her Amazon sisters were created by the Gods of Mount Olympus to bring glory to Gaea, the Earth Mother. Dedicated to peace, the Amazons founded the city-state of Themyscira, ruled harmoniously by the queens Hippolyta and Antiope. However, a serpent lurked in paradise, and soon the fate of the Amazons would fall squarely upon Hippolyta's noble shoulders.
The life essences of Hippolyta and her unborn child were collected by Gaea and placed in the Well of Souls, which held all the spirits of women murdered throughout the ages. Five goddesses traveled to the Well to offer new life and purpose to the wailing souls longing to fulfill their destiny.
As the goddesses Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis and Hestia watched, thousands of souls were called forth from Gaea's womb. The souls fell like rain into a lake and combined with the clay of the lake bed to form new human beings. Hippolyta rose first from the waves and was chosen as leader of this race of Amazon women alongside her sister Antiope. Both queens were given Girdles of Gaea, talismans that promised that none might resist the Amazons' power as long as neither girdle was removed. The Amazons then established the city-state of Themyscira in Asia Minor...
However, one Olympian did not support the creation of the Amazons. Ares, God of War, tolerated no one who stood in the way of his domination over mankind. Ares convinced Heracles, the son of Zeus, to lead his stepbrother Theseus and an army of men to make war on the Amazons. Queen Hippolyta wanted peace, but Heracles drugged the Amazon ruler, and stole the Girdle of Gaea fom her. Without its protection, the Amazons were defenseless against him and his men!
Though shamed and beaten, Hippolyta did not lose hope. Her prayers were answered by Athena, who helped the Amazon queen to escape. The Amazons rallied and defeated Heracles and his brutal army. However the struggle only served to divide the Amazons into rival camps. While her sister Antiope continued on the path of war, Hippolyta urged her battle-weary isters to renounce vengeance and deapart Patriarch's World for the promise of paradise.
The Amazons' new home would also be called Themyscira. By the goddess Athena's decree, Hippolyta led her sisters to the shore of the Aegean Sea. The sea god Poseidon parted the waters for the Amazons to journey to an island paradise veiled from man... The Amazons became immortal and regained the purity of spirit robbed from them by Heracles.
Hippolyta... First Appearance: Wonder Woman vol. 2 #1 (February 1987)
Beatty, pages 14-15:
Themyscira
The Goddesses of Mount Olympus told the Amazons to lead mankind in the ways of peace. Yet, faced with men's hostility, the Amazons had angrily withdrawn from the world, and Heracles had enslaved them. Although the Olympians gave the Amazons the strength to deliver them from slavery, the gods decreed that Hippolyta and her sisters should journey to the land of Themyscira. There, on this secret island barred from mortal man, the Amazons would live as immortals and reclaim their purity of spirit as they guarded over Doom's Doorway and the unspeakable evils that lay beneath it.
Paradise Island
The Amazons lived serenely on Themyscira for more than 3,000 years, concealed from "Patriarch's World"--the domain of mortal man--by the gods' wiles. They never knew the pains of aging or hunger, and they wore their bracelets, a symbol of their former bondage, as a reminder to never again forsake their patron gods and goddesses. The Amazons remained warriors, but achieved a perfect harmony between body and spirit.
Athena, goddess of wisdom, cloaked Themyscira in a bank of protective clouds. The island was situated within what would become known as the "Bermuda Triangle." This region became renowned for a number of mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft.
Beatty, pages 16-17:
The Amazons
Upon their miraculous births the Amazons were graced with bountiful gifts by the goddesses of Olympus. Athena gave them wisdom to help them follow the paths of truth and justice; Artemis granted them hunting skills; Demeter promised them plentiful harvests; Hestia elped them build the city of Themyscira; Aphrodite gave them the gift of love; and Gaea made the Amazons strong and powerful. After escaping slavery by warmongering men hostile to their ideals, the Amazons withdrew from the world to embrace peace on an island paradise where men were forbidden.
Blessed by Gods
The Amazons tried to lead humanity in the ways of virtue so that all men could know the Olympians and worship them always. Thousands of years after their creation, the Amazons still celebrate their origins in the annual "Feast of Five" honoring the goddesses who gave them another chance at life.
The Code of the Amazons
Let all who read these words know: We are a nation of women, dedicated to our sisters, to our gods, and to the peace that is humankind's right. Granted life by Gaea, the goddesses, and the souls of women past, we have been gifted with the mission to unite the people of our world with love and compassion.
Man has corrupted many of the laws our gods set forth. So, in their wisdom, the goddesses did create a race of female warriors dedicated to the ideals of uniting all peope, all sexes, all races, all creeds. No longer will man rule alone, for now woman stands as an equal to temper his aggression with compassion, lend reason to his rages, and overcome hatred with love.
We are the Amazons, and we hve come to save mankind.
Despite being cut off from ordinary mortals on Themyscira, the Amazons fulfilled the peace-loving drams of the goddesses of Olympus by guarding the world from the nightmares of Pandora's Box. These creatures were all imprisoned behind Doom's Doorway. Without the eternal vigilance of the Amazons, the world would have been destroyed many times over. The Amazons also pursued knowledge and the arts. Little by little, by staying true to the principles of the goddeses who had created them, they found peace and happiness.
The Amazons once faced the prospect of being stone statues forever when the Olympic gods left Earth and unknowingly took with them the powers that gave the Amazons life. Separated from their patron deities, the Amazons [including Wonder Woman] reverted to the clay from which they had been formed. Only when the gods eventually returned to Earth were the Amazons able to become living and breathing beings once again.
Beatty, pages 20-21:
The Birth of Diana
Immortality can be a lonely existence. Hippolyta and her Amazon sisters enjoyed peace and prosperity on Themyscira for 3,000 years, but the reincarnated Queen longed for the child she hd been denied in her previous life. The oracle Menalippe told her to mold a baby out of clay. Hippolyta did so and waited for a miracle. The goddesses of Olympus granted life to the child -- a girl Hippolyta named Diana -- giving her the sould of the unborn infant lost to Hippolyta some 32,000 years before! And so Diana became the first child ever born on Themyscira.
With powers granted by the goddesses of Olympus, Diana quickly grew strong. And with a thousand aunts and sisters to guide her, she swiftly mastered the ways of the Amazons. Her appetite for learning was voracious and Diana soon mastered all the skills of a warrior. She became expert at archery, swordplay, and all the martial arts practiced on Themyscira for thousands of years...
Diana made sure her Olympian benefactors knew how grateful she was for her powers. Every day she gave thanks to Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Hestia, and Hermes. She promised not to waste her abilities and swore an oath to protect the innocent and always seek the path to peace.
From: Beatty, page 31:
While the JLA [Justice Leage of America] and the rest of Diana's extended family were numb with grief, Hipolyta [Diana's mother] refused to lose faith in miracles. The woman who had once prayed toher gods to breathe life into a clay doll beseeched the godess Hera to restore Diana. And with a flash of golden fire, Wonder Woman was reborn!
For Hera, the simplest way to resurrect Diana was to turn her into a goddess. Diana became the Goddess of Truth and took her rightful place on Mount Olympus. For a time, Hippolyta assumed the mantle of Wonder Woman. Soon, however, Diana came to feel that her true place was on Earth. Without regret, she returned to the mortal plane so that the one true Wonder Woman might continue her quest for peace.
From: Andrew A. Smith (Scripps Howard News Service), "Comics superheroes of many faiths", published 3 February 2000 in The Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/religion/446482.html; viewed 30 November 2005):
So, if you were going to dress up like a bat and fight crime, what church would you attend?... Which is not to say that comics are a Christians-only playground. Most superheroes haven't had a faith established, but those that have are all over the ecclesiastical map...
Then there are the religions that don't correspond to real-world beliefs. The Greco-Roman gods appear routinely in comic books and were instrumental in the origins of Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Donna (formerly Wonder Girl) Troy, Aquaman, Sub-Mariner and, of course, Hercules.
When the Crisis on Infinite Earths cross-over event shook up the DC Universe in 1985, it was established that Wonder Woman had never previously been introduced to the world at large before that time. Yet the legend of Wonder Woman was not entirely purged from DC history. Although Princess Diana's introduction to "Man's World" was pushed forward in time to become a contemporary event, it was retroactively established that Wonder Woman had indeed fought alongside the Justice Society of America during World War II - it was simply a different Wonder Woman. Current official DC history has established that Queen Hippolyta herself ventured away from Paradise Island as the superheroine named Wonder Woman. Princess Diana later took up the mantle of Wonder Woman, basing her costume on the one worn in previous decades by her mother.
As the Golden Age Wonder Woman, Queen Hippolyta was as prayerful and as religious as she was in modern times when her daughter was Wonder Woman. During a World War II era adventure, she prayed to the gods and Poseidon loaned her his trident. From: Sensation Comics #1 (1999), written by James Robinson and David Goyer, pencilled by Scott Benefiel; page 7. Reprinted in The Justice Society Returns! trade paperback, DC Comics: New York City (2003), page 121:
Admiral Spruance: I take it you know where the creature came from?
Wonder Woman (Hippolyta): It's one of seven souls created by a mad god named Stalker. He seeks to end war by ending life.
Speed Saunders (OSS officer): Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Admiral Spruance: He seems to have harnessed the tidal forces of the ocean. Gale-force winds, hurricane-like conditions. If this keeps up, there won't be anything left of our fleet. Can you stop it?
Hawkgirl: We aim to try, Admiral.
Wonder Woman: As Queen of the Amazons, I've supplicated myself before the gods of Olympus . . . Poseidon saw fit to answer my entreaty by lending my his trident.
Speed Saunders: Poseidon? You mean the fish guy?
Wonder Woman: God of seas and earthquakes, yes. Though judging from your tone, I fear the Pantheon have lost more than a little favor in your patriarch's world. I intend to use my lasso on that creature. Once it's been subdued, Hawkgirl will penetrate its heart with the trident. The shock should wrest control of the seas from the demon and reeturn them to their rightful master.
Speed Saunders: And if that doesn't work?
Wonder Woman: Then I would pray to whatever gods your world still holds dear, little man.
Speed Saunders (narration/thinking): I admit I was skeptical. Tridents on loan from sea gods, a lasso spun from the girdle of Gaea -- but then I watched Shiera [a.k.a. Hawkgirl, the cousin of Speed Saunders] take to the skies and damned if my heart didn't sing. Hell, I remembered her back from Thanksgiving at Grandmother's -- Shy, a little mousy, ready to cry if you looked at her crosswise. I used to give her Indian burns, for Godsakes. Two-fisted guys like me, Hop Harrigan, Slam Bradley -- this wasn't our world now . . . This was theirs. [Referring to the superheroines Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl.]
Wonder Woman: [Approaching the giant water creature rising up from the ocean waves.] Hera guide my throw -- [she lassos the creature with her magic lasso] This creature has no soul! It's not responding to Gaea's lasso!
John Byrne is one of Wonder Woman's most popular and influential chroniclers. Byrne's take on the character is an influential one. Byrne's description of Wonder Woman's religiosity is an attempt to distill how this aspect of the character has been portrayed over many decades, and not an attempt to inject anything new or different. From: "Religious Beliefs of Marvel Characters" forum discussion page, started 20 October 2004, on Comic-Forum.com website (http://www.comic-forum.com/marvel/Religious_beliefs_of_Marvel_characters_397905.html; viewed 10 January 2006):
John Byrne
14 May 2004 at 4:31 am
There are no specific editorial instructions, that I am aware of, dictating the religiosity of characters -- but I would assume the populations of the imaginary worlds are religious in the same numbers, the same faiths, as here. Superheroes would therefore be no different.
Raised in the Bible Belt, for instance, I always imagined Superman to have a fairly matter-of-fact attitude toward faith -- he believes in God, but he does not make a big deal about it. Wonder Woman obviously believes in her gods, since she has met them! (That is a central theme of my novel, Wonder Woman: Gods and Goddesses.)
Source: The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character
Since this influential comic book super hero character was first created by polygamist feminist psychologist William Moulton Marston in 1941, Wonder Woman's origins and continuing storylines have been tied intricately to Greco-Roman mythology. The ancient Greek and Roman pantheon consisting of Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, etc. have always been rendered as explicitly real in Wonder Woman's universe. This pantheon is also known as the Olympians, or the gods of Olympus, named after Mount Olympus, the mountain in Greece which was until recently their home.
The Amazon civilization into which Wonder Woman was born (or sculpted, technically) was created by these Greek gods, and Wonder Woman's powers derive from them. The Amazons of lived on the island of Themyscira, which was, until recently in DC Comics continuity, located in the Atlantic Ocean.
Wonder Woman could be said to be a "pagan" in the word's contemporary religious sense, although this does not appear to be a word she regularly applies to herself. Religious ritual and worship of the Greek gods is explicitly a part of the Amazon culture where Princess Diana was raised. While in her native Themyscira, Diana daily went to the Olympian temple and gave thanks before statues of the Olympian gods. She has also met these gods in person, and sometimes battled the less benevolent among them (such as Ares, the god of War, and Zeus's son, the demigod Heracles). Given Diana's firsthand experience with the Olympian gods, it would make little sense for her to not believe in these Olympian gods. One could conclude that Diana has little choice but to be a Greco-Roman classical religionist. Whatever the degree to which Diana has free will in the matter, she has enthusiastically and consciously embraced her role not only as a heroine, but also as the Themysciran ambassador to the world and as the Olympian gods' representative to mortal humanity.
From: Scott Beatty, Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess, Dorling Kindersley: New York, NY (2003), page 8:
The story of Wonder Woman is an epic spanning over 30,000 years. It begins in prehistoric times, with the murder of a cavewoman heavy with child. The tale continues through the days of the ancient Greek culture and its pantheon of gods to our own, modern, war-torn world.
To Hippolyta, the childless Queen of the immortal Amazons, came the infant Diana, a gift from the gods of Mount Olympus. Hippolyta herself was a reincarnation of the very cavewoman who had suffered a cruel death all those millennia ago. And Diana, a daughter she molded from clay on the island of Themyscira, was that unborn child. Princess Diana was granted the wisdom of Athena, the beauty of Aphrodite, the speed of Hermes, and other miraculous powers by her patron gods and goddesses.
The day finally arrived when one of the Amazons would be chosen, following a grueling challenge of fighting skills, athletics, and wits, to become Themyscira's ambassador to Patriarch's World, the mortal realm of mankind. THough forbidden by Hippolyta to participate in the contest, Diana easily captured the much-prized mantle. Reluctantly, Hippolyta awarded her beloved daughter the talismans of her new office. Diana was armed with bulletproof bracelets that symbolized the Amazons' ancestral enslavement by Heracles. She also carried the Golden Lasso of Hestia, a lariat that compelled anyone bound by its finely forged links to speak only the truth. Diana renounced her immortality and entered man's world to battle for peace and justice as the most legendary Amazon of all . . . Wonder Woman!
Gods of Olympus
The deities of Greek myth are among the mightiest beings in the whole of creation. They are the children of the Titans and the grandchildren of Gaea and Uranus, the earth and sky. Mostly, these gods are generous, but they only became so after Zeus, son of Cronus, deposed his Titan father from Mount Olympus and allowed his brothers and sisters and children to rule the heavens and the Earth and guide the destiny of mankind. The gods' dominion over humanity lasted for thousands of years. In time, however, their influence began to wane, and so they created the Amazons to lead mankind in the ways of virtue and keep the gods forever in people's hearts.
For millennia, the Olympians have been content to preside over mankind. They sometimes enjoy meddling in human affairs, but in general they seek to guide humanity to greatness. Ares, Zeus's son and the God of War, has always argued that man should be conquered -- and who better than him to do it!
The First Olympus
Although there are far higher mountains on Earth, the mythical importance of Mount Olympus in northern Greece belies its humble elevation 9,570 feet (2,917 meters). Since time immemorial, Mount Olympus was the home of the gods. Darkseid, an upstart "New God" from the distant world of Apokolips, destroyed the Olympian gods' halls and temples, but the legend of the first Olympus lives on.
The Fates
Even older than the Olympians, the three Fates -- Clotho the spinner, Lachesis the tailor, and Atropos, the shearer -- are the mistresses of destiny. Their decrees -- represented as a carefully measured thread marking an allotted span of time -- must be followed both by god and man.
Queen of Paradise
The murder of a cavewoman more than 32,000 years ago, sowed the seeds of the Amazon race and its greatest champion. Hippolyta was that prehistoric female, pregnant with a child whose spirit would find its way back to her many millennia later. Reborn int he time of ancient Greece, Hippolyta and her Amazon sisters were created by the Gods of Mount Olympus to bring glory to Gaea, the Earth Mother. Dedicated to peace, the Amazons founded the city-state of Themyscira, ruled harmoniously by the queens Hippolyta and Antiope. However, a serpent lurked in paradise, and soon the fate of the Amazons would fall squarely upon Hippolyta's noble shoulders.
The life essences of Hippolyta and her unborn child were collected by Gaea and placed in the Well of Souls, which held all the spirits of women murdered throughout the ages. Five goddesses traveled to the Well to offer new life and purpose to the wailing souls longing to fulfill their destiny.
As the goddesses Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis and Hestia watched, thousands of souls were called forth from Gaea's womb. The souls fell like rain into a lake and combined with the clay of the lake bed to form new human beings. Hippolyta rose first from the waves and was chosen as leader of this race of Amazon women alongside her sister Antiope. Both queens were given Girdles of Gaea, talismans that promised that none might resist the Amazons' power as long as neither girdle was removed. The Amazons then established the city-state of Themyscira in Asia Minor...
However, one Olympian did not support the creation of the Amazons. Ares, God of War, tolerated no one who stood in the way of his domination over mankind. Ares convinced Heracles, the son of Zeus, to lead his stepbrother Theseus and an army of men to make war on the Amazons. Queen Hippolyta wanted peace, but Heracles drugged the Amazon ruler, and stole the Girdle of Gaea fom her. Without its protection, the Amazons were defenseless against him and his men!
Though shamed and beaten, Hippolyta did not lose hope. Her prayers were answered by Athena, who helped the Amazon queen to escape. The Amazons rallied and defeated Heracles and his brutal army. However the struggle only served to divide the Amazons into rival camps. While her sister Antiope continued on the path of war, Hippolyta urged her battle-weary isters to renounce vengeance and deapart Patriarch's World for the promise of paradise.
The Amazons' new home would also be called Themyscira. By the goddess Athena's decree, Hippolyta led her sisters to the shore of the Aegean Sea. The sea god Poseidon parted the waters for the Amazons to journey to an island paradise veiled from man... The Amazons became immortal and regained the purity of spirit robbed from them by Heracles.
Hippolyta... First Appearance: Wonder Woman vol. 2 #1 (February 1987)
Beatty, pages 14-15:
Themyscira
The Goddesses of Mount Olympus told the Amazons to lead mankind in the ways of peace. Yet, faced with men's hostility, the Amazons had angrily withdrawn from the world, and Heracles had enslaved them. Although the Olympians gave the Amazons the strength to deliver them from slavery, the gods decreed that Hippolyta and her sisters should journey to the land of Themyscira. There, on this secret island barred from mortal man, the Amazons would live as immortals and reclaim their purity of spirit as they guarded over Doom's Doorway and the unspeakable evils that lay beneath it.
Paradise Island
The Amazons lived serenely on Themyscira for more than 3,000 years, concealed from "Patriarch's World"--the domain of mortal man--by the gods' wiles. They never knew the pains of aging or hunger, and they wore their bracelets, a symbol of their former bondage, as a reminder to never again forsake their patron gods and goddesses. The Amazons remained warriors, but achieved a perfect harmony between body and spirit.
Athena, goddess of wisdom, cloaked Themyscira in a bank of protective clouds. The island was situated within what would become known as the "Bermuda Triangle." This region became renowned for a number of mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft.
Beatty, pages 16-17:
The Amazons
Upon their miraculous births the Amazons were graced with bountiful gifts by the goddesses of Olympus. Athena gave them wisdom to help them follow the paths of truth and justice; Artemis granted them hunting skills; Demeter promised them plentiful harvests; Hestia elped them build the city of Themyscira; Aphrodite gave them the gift of love; and Gaea made the Amazons strong and powerful. After escaping slavery by warmongering men hostile to their ideals, the Amazons withdrew from the world to embrace peace on an island paradise where men were forbidden.
Blessed by Gods
The Amazons tried to lead humanity in the ways of virtue so that all men could know the Olympians and worship them always. Thousands of years after their creation, the Amazons still celebrate their origins in the annual "Feast of Five" honoring the goddesses who gave them another chance at life.
The Code of the Amazons
Let all who read these words know: We are a nation of women, dedicated to our sisters, to our gods, and to the peace that is humankind's right. Granted life by Gaea, the goddesses, and the souls of women past, we have been gifted with the mission to unite the people of our world with love and compassion.
Man has corrupted many of the laws our gods set forth. So, in their wisdom, the goddesses did create a race of female warriors dedicated to the ideals of uniting all peope, all sexes, all races, all creeds. No longer will man rule alone, for now woman stands as an equal to temper his aggression with compassion, lend reason to his rages, and overcome hatred with love.
We are the Amazons, and we hve come to save mankind.
Despite being cut off from ordinary mortals on Themyscira, the Amazons fulfilled the peace-loving drams of the goddesses of Olympus by guarding the world from the nightmares of Pandora's Box. These creatures were all imprisoned behind Doom's Doorway. Without the eternal vigilance of the Amazons, the world would have been destroyed many times over. The Amazons also pursued knowledge and the arts. Little by little, by staying true to the principles of the goddeses who had created them, they found peace and happiness.
The Amazons once faced the prospect of being stone statues forever when the Olympic gods left Earth and unknowingly took with them the powers that gave the Amazons life. Separated from their patron deities, the Amazons [including Wonder Woman] reverted to the clay from which they had been formed. Only when the gods eventually returned to Earth were the Amazons able to become living and breathing beings once again.
Beatty, pages 20-21:
The Birth of Diana
Immortality can be a lonely existence. Hippolyta and her Amazon sisters enjoyed peace and prosperity on Themyscira for 3,000 years, but the reincarnated Queen longed for the child she hd been denied in her previous life. The oracle Menalippe told her to mold a baby out of clay. Hippolyta did so and waited for a miracle. The goddesses of Olympus granted life to the child -- a girl Hippolyta named Diana -- giving her the sould of the unborn infant lost to Hippolyta some 32,000 years before! And so Diana became the first child ever born on Themyscira.
With powers granted by the goddesses of Olympus, Diana quickly grew strong. And with a thousand aunts and sisters to guide her, she swiftly mastered the ways of the Amazons. Her appetite for learning was voracious and Diana soon mastered all the skills of a warrior. She became expert at archery, swordplay, and all the martial arts practiced on Themyscira for thousands of years...
Diana made sure her Olympian benefactors knew how grateful she was for her powers. Every day she gave thanks to Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Hestia, and Hermes. She promised not to waste her abilities and swore an oath to protect the innocent and always seek the path to peace.
From: Beatty, page 31:
While the JLA [Justice Leage of America] and the rest of Diana's extended family were numb with grief, Hipolyta [Diana's mother] refused to lose faith in miracles. The woman who had once prayed toher gods to breathe life into a clay doll beseeched the godess Hera to restore Diana. And with a flash of golden fire, Wonder Woman was reborn!
For Hera, the simplest way to resurrect Diana was to turn her into a goddess. Diana became the Goddess of Truth and took her rightful place on Mount Olympus. For a time, Hippolyta assumed the mantle of Wonder Woman. Soon, however, Diana came to feel that her true place was on Earth. Without regret, she returned to the mortal plane so that the one true Wonder Woman might continue her quest for peace.
From: Andrew A. Smith (Scripps Howard News Service), "Comics superheroes of many faiths", published 3 February 2000 in The Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/religion/446482.html; viewed 30 November 2005):
So, if you were going to dress up like a bat and fight crime, what church would you attend?... Which is not to say that comics are a Christians-only playground. Most superheroes haven't had a faith established, but those that have are all over the ecclesiastical map...
Then there are the religions that don't correspond to real-world beliefs. The Greco-Roman gods appear routinely in comic books and were instrumental in the origins of Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Donna (formerly Wonder Girl) Troy, Aquaman, Sub-Mariner and, of course, Hercules.
When the Crisis on Infinite Earths cross-over event shook up the DC Universe in 1985, it was established that Wonder Woman had never previously been introduced to the world at large before that time. Yet the legend of Wonder Woman was not entirely purged from DC history. Although Princess Diana's introduction to "Man's World" was pushed forward in time to become a contemporary event, it was retroactively established that Wonder Woman had indeed fought alongside the Justice Society of America during World War II - it was simply a different Wonder Woman. Current official DC history has established that Queen Hippolyta herself ventured away from Paradise Island as the superheroine named Wonder Woman. Princess Diana later took up the mantle of Wonder Woman, basing her costume on the one worn in previous decades by her mother.
As the Golden Age Wonder Woman, Queen Hippolyta was as prayerful and as religious as she was in modern times when her daughter was Wonder Woman. During a World War II era adventure, she prayed to the gods and Poseidon loaned her his trident. From: Sensation Comics #1 (1999), written by James Robinson and David Goyer, pencilled by Scott Benefiel; page 7. Reprinted in The Justice Society Returns! trade paperback, DC Comics: New York City (2003), page 121:
Admiral Spruance: I take it you know where the creature came from?
Wonder Woman (Hippolyta): It's one of seven souls created by a mad god named Stalker. He seeks to end war by ending life.
Speed Saunders (OSS officer): Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Admiral Spruance: He seems to have harnessed the tidal forces of the ocean. Gale-force winds, hurricane-like conditions. If this keeps up, there won't be anything left of our fleet. Can you stop it?
Hawkgirl: We aim to try, Admiral.
Wonder Woman: As Queen of the Amazons, I've supplicated myself before the gods of Olympus . . . Poseidon saw fit to answer my entreaty by lending my his trident.
Speed Saunders: Poseidon? You mean the fish guy?
Wonder Woman: God of seas and earthquakes, yes. Though judging from your tone, I fear the Pantheon have lost more than a little favor in your patriarch's world. I intend to use my lasso on that creature. Once it's been subdued, Hawkgirl will penetrate its heart with the trident. The shock should wrest control of the seas from the demon and reeturn them to their rightful master.
Speed Saunders: And if that doesn't work?
Wonder Woman: Then I would pray to whatever gods your world still holds dear, little man.
Speed Saunders (narration/thinking): I admit I was skeptical. Tridents on loan from sea gods, a lasso spun from the girdle of Gaea -- but then I watched Shiera [a.k.a. Hawkgirl, the cousin of Speed Saunders] take to the skies and damned if my heart didn't sing. Hell, I remembered her back from Thanksgiving at Grandmother's -- Shy, a little mousy, ready to cry if you looked at her crosswise. I used to give her Indian burns, for Godsakes. Two-fisted guys like me, Hop Harrigan, Slam Bradley -- this wasn't our world now . . . This was theirs. [Referring to the superheroines Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl.]
Wonder Woman: [Approaching the giant water creature rising up from the ocean waves.] Hera guide my throw -- [she lassos the creature with her magic lasso] This creature has no soul! It's not responding to Gaea's lasso!
John Byrne is one of Wonder Woman's most popular and influential chroniclers. Byrne's take on the character is an influential one. Byrne's description of Wonder Woman's religiosity is an attempt to distill how this aspect of the character has been portrayed over many decades, and not an attempt to inject anything new or different. From: "Religious Beliefs of Marvel Characters" forum discussion page, started 20 October 2004, on Comic-Forum.com website (http://www.comic-forum.com/marvel/Religious_beliefs_of_Marvel_characters_397905.html; viewed 10 January 2006):
John Byrne
14 May 2004 at 4:31 am
There are no specific editorial instructions, that I am aware of, dictating the religiosity of characters -- but I would assume the populations of the imaginary worlds are religious in the same numbers, the same faiths, as here. Superheroes would therefore be no different.
Raised in the Bible Belt, for instance, I always imagined Superman to have a fairly matter-of-fact attitude toward faith -- he believes in God, but he does not make a big deal about it. Wonder Woman obviously believes in her gods, since she has met them! (That is a central theme of my novel, Wonder Woman: Gods and Goddesses.)
Source: The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character
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