The Transition of Roles of Women in Celtic Mythological Literature

This paper intends to set a mind on these questions of roles of women according to mythologies and hopefully, if matriarchy once existed, it will trace back the displacement in time and society where the images and confidence of women begun to decline heavily. According to Marija Gimbutas, there was a time in history of mythologies when female Western mythologies of Europe were overcome by a maledominated, patriarchal Indo-European wave from the East and gradually, female roles weakened during this time. (Sullivan 350,351). In this paper, I am intending to show how early mythologies remained untouched and how later, Eastern male dominance can be felt on later works of literature. Hopefully, the reader will be able to see a segent of how the passing of time and the movement towards East results in the weakening of female roles. From the early AD period and from Ireland, the paper will lead on to the eleventh century and Wales.egyetemiangol nyelv és irodalo