CAPÍTULO 30

USING ANCIENT MYTH TO ADDRESS SEXUAL

VIOLENCE IN THE 21ST-CENTURY CLASSROOM:
AN ANALYSIS OF TWO SPANISH TEXTBOOKS

BENJAMIN ADAM JERUE

Universidad San Jorge

1. INTRODUCTION

Drawing inspiration from previous legislation as well as the United Na-

tions’ Sustainable Development Goals, current educational legislation
in Spain not only acknowledges the existence of gender discrimination
and sexual violence but also actively seeks to combat and reduce these
serious and persistent social ills and injustices. This, however, is no
simple task, and solving it requires the concerted efforts of many mem-
bers from across society. Even within the school context, such a goal
cannot be accomplished by a single teacher or administrator but re-
quires a sustained interdisciplinary approach. Within this overarching
framework, this paper contributes to debates about how the teaching of
ancient literature and culture can contribute to achieving the priorities
of eradicating violence against women and ensuring equality for all
members of society (McClure, 2002; Gloyn 2013; Hong, 2013; Lau-
riola 2013; Hunt 2016; Marturano 2020). The debate within the field of
Classics finds parallels in larger debates about confronting and combat-
ting sexual violence in humanities and social science education (de la
Cruz Redondo and García, 2018). In particular, the present analysis fo-
cuses on the course Cultura Clásica, which is offered as an elective in
mandatory secondary school (ESO henceforth) in Spain. The paper ex-
amines how recently published textbooks present classical mythology
to secondary school students in the third year of ESO and asks whether
these teaching and learning resources draw students’ attention to the
myriad instances of abduction and sexual violence that permeate the

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Greco-Roman literary tradition. The topic is not trivial: these stories, in
one form or another, remain culturally relevant and are immensely pop-
ular among young audiences, being retold in audiovisual productions
and serving as the inspiration for new narratives (Pelegrín Campo,
2020). Furthermore, contemporary fiction writers continue to retell
these stories for teenagers and young adults in quite different ways:
sometimes recent literature hews rather closely to ancient source and,
arguably, reproduces their androcentric perspective (e.g., Fry, 2018),
whereas in other instances authors offer a new take on these stories
from a female perspective (e.g., Miller, 2018).
Despite ancient myth’s continued popularity and cultural relevance, it has
also become the subject of serious scrutiny, leading students and educa-
tors to ask what place it should have in our curricula. As Kahn (2004) long
ago recognized, reading a work like Ovid’s Metamorphoses can appear to
tacitly endorse and normalize sexual violence against women. As more
recent research has stressed (James, 2014; Thakur, 2014; Libatique,
2021), it is important to address the issues of rape and abduction in my-
thology in a direct and appropriate way if we wish to combat and ques-
tion—rather than reinforce—misogynistic beliefs. According to Mar-
turano’s recent study on Ovid and toxic masculinity (2020, p. 149),
We can ensure that the poet’s works do not uncritically perpetuate mi-
sogyny in our worlds by illuminating them from a feminist perspective,
being forthright with our students about the often misogy-nist[ic] goals
of his texts, and refusing to turn away from how the nice-guy phenome-
non and other strands of misogyny have persisted [up to the present day].

In short, recent research has stressed the importance and potential ad-
vantages of addressing the misogynistic aspects of ancient mythology
head on, instead of ignoring or overlooking them.
Within the secondary school context, one of the fundamental tools for
addressing issues and facilitating debate is the textbook. Even in the dig-
ital age where students can access infinite amounts of information online,
textbooks remain a fundamental repository and transmitter of sanctioned
knowledge (Gómez Carrasco and Gallego Herrera, 2016; Rodríguez Pé-
rez and Solé, 2018). However, a substantial body of empirical research
into the history textbooks used in secondary schools has revealed

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alarming trends in which women often remain invisible or are banished
to the domestic realm, leading to a pernicious “androcentric” view of the
past (Blanco García, 2000; Gutiérrez and Ibáñez, 2013; Gómez and
Tenza Vicente, 2015; González-Monfort, Pagès and Santisteban, 2015;
López Navajas, 2015; Minte and González, 2015; Díaz López and Puig
Gutiérrez, 2020; Álvarez Sepúlveda, 2021). This trend remains prevalent
despite new and involving approaches to studying the classical past (Cid
López, 2015). Accordingly, it remains important to subject school mate-
rials to a detailed analysis and thus to encourage broader reflection on
how the past is presented to secondary school students.
This chapter begins with a brief review of Spain’s current educational
law, LOMLOE, and the curriculum for Cultura Clásica in Aragón85.
This review underscores the commitment to promoting gender equality
and fighting discrimination (LOMLOE) as well as the recognition that
students must critically analyze the past in order to separate the noble
and inspiring elements of antiquity from those that are base and prob-
lematic (Cultura Clásica curriculum). In other words, these official doc-
uments that orient and structure our educational system are compatible
and aligned with the ideas discussed above in relation to the teaching
of mythology from a feminist perspective.
After specifying the paper’s overarching objective and explaining its
methodology, it turns to an analysis of two recent Cultura Clásica text-
books, published by SM and Santillana for the third year of ESO. Due
to space limitations, the analysis can only focus on the books’ chapters
dedicated specifically to mythology. The paper then provides a discus-
sion of the results and ends with a conclusion.

1.1. GENDER EQUALITY, THE SPANISH CURRICULUM AND

CULTURA CLÁSICA

The current educational legislation in Spain, Ley Orgánica 3/2020, de

29 de diciembre, por la que se modifica la Ley Orgánica 2/2006, de 3

85Not all Autonomous Communities in Spain offer the exact same electives for Cultural
Clásica or Latin and Greek for that matter. For the purposes of the present study, I focus on
Aragón and use its curriculum for Cultura Clásica as a representative example.

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de mayo, de Educación (LOMLOE for short), clearly lays out its prior-
ities for the educational system. Among these priorities is achieving
equality between men and women and eradicating gender discrimina-
tion. As the Preface to the law explains,
[La ley] adopta un enfoque de igualdad de género a través de la coedu-
cación y fomenta en todas las etapas el aprendizaje de la igualdad efec-
tiva de mujeres y hombres, la prevención de la violencia de género y el
respeto a la diversidad afectivo-sexual, introduciendo en educación se-
cundaria la orientación educativa y profesional del alumnado con pers-
pectiva inclusiva y no sexista (Ley Orgánica 2020, p. 122871).

This priority in LOMLOE finds a basis in the Ley Orgánica 1/2004, de

28 de diciembre, de Medidas de Protección Integral contra la Violencia
de Género, which recognizes, defines and condemns the persisting
problem of violence against women in our society. As explained in the
25th additional disposition of LOMLOE, combatting violence against
women is not just a matter of responding to incidents of violence, but
actively educating students about the issue so as to eliminate it from our
culture and society. In other words, the law advocates for the use of
both reactive and proactive strategies to address the problem. As ex-
plained in the 41 st additional disposition of the same law, this can be
accomplished by giving specific attention to the issue of gender equal-
ity in the curriculum. As seen in the second descriptor for the Citizen-
ship Competence for ESO, the idea of promoting gender equality is
clearly included as a crucial priority in the curriculum that must be ad-
dressed by students of different ages and in different classes.
If we turn to the curriculum for Cultura Clásica in Aragón, Orden
ECD/1172/2022, de 2 de agosto, por la que se aprueban el currículo y
las características de la evaluación de la Educación Secundaria Obliga-
toria y se autoriza su aplicación en los centros docentes de la Comuni-
dad Autónoma de Aragón, there is no direct mention of violence against
women or gender equality. That said, the first Specific Competence for
the class is clearly relevant to these issues:
La valoración del papel de la civilización grecolatina […] supone no
solo recibir información expresada a través de fuentes escritas, sino
también analizarla y contrastarla. La adquisición de esta competencia
contribuirá a activar las estrategias adecuadas para poder reflexionar

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 sobre la permanencia de aspectos de la civilización grecolatina en nues-
tra sociedad y entender su cultura, extrayendo sus elementos fundamen-
tales […]Abordar ese análisis […] implica ser capaz de discernir aque-
lla parte del legado clásico que nos hace crecer como sociedad, distin-
guiéndola de aquella que ya no tiene cabida en el mundo moderno (Or-
den ECD, 2022, p. 27948).

Though gender is not mentioned directly, the curriculum’s awareness

of the importance of highlighting antiquity’s problematic aspects “that
find no place” in our society jibes with more critical approaches to
teaching the classical past (Lauriola 2013; Marturano 2020): we do not
simply teach the past to idolize it, but rather to learn to think critically
and reflect on the origins and long history of social ills and injustices
that still plague us today (Hunt, 2016). One cannot doubt that violence
against women permeated the ancient world, not only as a basic aspect
of warfare (Gaca 2010; Reeder 2017) but also appears constantly in
mythology, where, for example, the god Zeus, whom Lauriola has aptly
dubbed “the master rapist” (2022, p. 60), rapes a staggering number of
people, most of whom are young women. To stress the obvious, history
and warfare as well as literature and mythology are two elements of the
classical past that cannot easily be ignored in the classroom. This would
seem to suggest that avoiding sexual violence against women would be
rather difficult and that it should indeed be identified as something that
should have no place in the 21 st century. The curriculum, however, does
not make this connection explicit. Thus, textbook publishers and au-
thors (not to mention teachers) must exercise their own judgment when
deciding how they will prepare students to master this competence and
to what extent it is necessary to address rape and violence against
women when teaching ancient literature.
A review of recent academic research provides orientation about how
educators can directly and productively address issues of sexual vio-
lence in their classrooms. While having these conversations is not al-
ways easy, preparing and selecting materials with care, establishing
ground rules, providing time to reflect before and after class can make
them productive and meaningful (Gloyn, 2013; Hong 2013; Lauriola,
2013). While much research has focused on higher education (Kahn,
2004; James 2014), recent studies on secondary education have shown

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that these same techniques are also productive with slightly younger
students (Hunt 2016; Marturano 2020). Of particular interest, Mar-
turano (2020) has also stressed the importance of connecting classroom
discussions of sexual violence and misogyny to other classes as well as
the school’s professed values and mission.

2. OBJECTIVE

Given the lack of specificity in the Cultura Clásica curriculum, publish-

ers and textbook authors are not provided with any specific orientation
about how to teach ancient literature and mythology in relation to sex-
ual violence and misogyny. Accordingly, they must exercise their own
judgment and discretion in this matter. The present study seeks to pro-
vide initial insights into how publishers and textbook authors have ad-
dressed these issues by providing an analysis of two recently published
textbooks for Cultura Clásica. This analysis will allow us to determine
whether —and if so to what degree— textbooks address the presence
of sexual violence (rape and abduction) and misogyny more generally
in their chapters dedicated to classical mythology. Furthermore, the pa-
per examines whether students are encouraged to reflect on and pro-
mote gender equality and strive for a society without sexual violence
while learning about classic mythology.

3. METHODOLOGY

This paper consists of a qualitative analysis of two different textbooks

for Cultura Clásica: Cultura Clásica, written by M. Agudo et al. and
published by Santillana in 2022 (Santillana henceforth), and Cultura
Clásica I, written by P. Cañizares, Ó. Martínez and M. Adrio and pub-
lished by SM in 2022 (SM henceforth). In addition to the printed book,
the study has considered the corresponding online resources that can be
accessed through the students’ version of SM. These two books have
been chosen since they reflect and enact the changes dictated by LOM-
LOE and the curriculum for Cultura Clásica. Though neither book is
labeled for a specific Autonomous Community, both are currently be-
ing used in secondary schools in Zaragoza (Aragón). The analysis fo-
cuses particularly on the material found in the chapters dedicated to

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Greco-Roman mythology, though there will be brief references made
to other sections of the book as possible lines of future research.
Given the objective of this paper, the analysis first studies the different
examples of sexual violence found in each textbook. To do so, the fol-
lowing six themes have been defined:
‒ Myths narrated: to be narrated, the books cannot simply name
certain individuals (e.g., Helen) or refer to events (e.g., the
Trojan War), but rather must—in greater or lesser detail—give
the outlines and basic contours of a story. Secondary School
textbooks are known for their economy: in certain instances,
a myth can be narrated over an entire paragraph, whereas in
other cases it can be narrated in a mere sentence or two.
‒ Myths that explicitly deal with instances of abduction and/or
rape: these two actions frequently go hand in hand in mythol-
ogy, with the former often serving as a euphemism for the lat-
ter (Lauriola, 2022). A comparison of themes 1 and 2 provides
one simple way to gauge the presence and importance of sex-
ual violence within a given textbook.

‒ Passing references to abduction or rape: this category is different

from the previous one in so far as the act of violence is not fore-
grounded: simply mentioning that Europa had been abducted is
not the same as telling the story in full, since it does not force
students to reflect on the act of violence in the same depth. Fur-
thermore, books may make more general allusions to a particu-
lar god’s sexual activity, without telling a particular story.

‒ Images depicting acts of abduction.

‒ Book activities that require or encourage students to engage
with the topic of sexual violence: these activities sometimes
ask students to reflect on material that is present in the book
and, at other times, ask students to do their own research.

‒ Other relevant aspects: these include references to misogyny

or discrimination in general.

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The number of examples of each theme is tallied and presented visually,
before being discussed in further detail.
A second phase of the analysis turns to the language used to describe
acts of abduction and sexual violence. Scholars have identified the
prevalent trend of “sanitizing” different myths, a process that involves
taking away specific references to violence and, in some cases, recast-
ing a myth as a love story (Lauriola, 2022). This tactic often makes a
story more palatable to a modern audience, though it does not address
crucial problems of consent inherent in abduction. Furthermore, trans-
lations of mythology often further the process of sanitization, obscuring
acts of violence against women (McCarter, 2018). Accordingly, the
analysis documents the language used to describe examples of rape and
abduction in each book. The results are given in a table and then dis-
cussed in further detail.

4. RESULTS

The results of the analysis are presented in the following subsections.

We begin with an outline of the two relevant chapters on Greco-Roman
mythology, before turning to an analysis of each book’s treatment of
sexual violence.

4.1. OUTLINE OF SANTILLA

The chapter, entitled “Mitología clásica. Dioses, diosas y héroes”, be-
gins by asking students to reflect on the characteristics of polytheistic
religions (pp. 36-37). Furthermore, the book, which links each chapter
to different Sustainable Development Goals from the 2030 Agenda,
tells students to reflect on issues of mental health as they learn about
mythology (p. 37). The book next turns to providing a genealogy of the
gods, providing a sort of family tree (pp. 38-39). The second topic (p.
40) turns to the first generations of gods, telling the stories of the usur-
pation of Uranus and then Kronos; this section also introduces students
to the stories of Prometheus and Pandora. Section three (pp. 41-44)
deals specifically with the Olympian gods and provides a significant
amount of relevant material for the present study. This extended section

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introduces the Olympian gods individually, lists their main characteris-
tics and attributes and briefly narrates or alludes to various myths, sev-
eral of which involve abduction and sexual violence. Section 4 (pp. 45-
46) turns to heroes, introducing students to Perseus, Achilles, Theseus,
Jason and Heracles, as well as a series of fantastic creatures and mon-
sters that these heroes had to confront.
The chapter then transitions to a series of activities and reflections. The
first (p. 47) deals with philosophy, science and myth. The second (pp.
48-49) links contemporary superheroes to their ancient counterparts
and discusses the way that myth has served as an inspiration for con-
temporary art and narrative fiction, including an activity about the
sculpture Medusa by Luciano Garbati, in which Medusa is depicted
holding the severed head of Perseus. The next section (pp. 50-51) con-
tains several basic review activities as well as other tasks that require
students to apply their knowledge, reflect on ideas and exercise their
creativity. The final section of the chapter (pp. 52-53) turns to mythol-
ogy and psychology. Accordingly, the chapter ends by returning to
SDG 3 and asks students what could be the “Ariadne’s thread” to help
teens deal with mental health issues and suicidal thoughts in general.

4.2. OUTLINE OF SM

The chapter in the SM book, entitled “¿Qué dicen los mitos de no-
sotros?”, is significantly shorter (10 pages compared to 18 pages in San-
tillana), even if it is buttressed with several online resources 86. In addi-
tion to signposting the unit’s contents, the chapter begins (p. 102) by
sparking students’ interest with questions about the music video for
Nadie nunca pudo volar by La casa azul, which alludes to the myth of
Icarus. The first section (p. 103) defines myth and explains the first
generation of gods. The second section (104-105) explores what each
Olympian god represents and introduces their identifying attributes. In
different audio files, students hear a dramatic telling of the usurpation
of Kronos and then a dialogue between Zeus and Hephaistos about the

86These include worksheets, audio files with dramatic readings and music videos. For the
present study, the students’ version of the book was consulted and, according to SM, there
are additional resources that can only be accessed by registered teachers.

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birth of Athena. The third section (p. 106) turns to heroes, contrasting
ancient and modern conceptions and introducing the different epic cy-
cles. The fourth section (p. 107) deals with myth and the geography of
the Iberian Peninsula, while section 5 (pp. 108-109) tackles the rela-
tionship between myth, philosophy and science, introducing famous
Greek philosophers and some of their noteworthy ideas and discoveries.
In section 6 (p. 110), students focus on the story Prometheus, Epi-
metheus and the creation of mankind.
To close the chapter, students are first provided with the challenge of
writing a rap about a myth of their choosing (p. 111), before being pre-
sented with a summary of the unit (p. 112) and several review activities
(p. 113).

4.3. MYTHOLOGY AND DISCUSSIONS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE TEXT-

BOOKS

The present section presents the findings on the inclusion of sexual vi-
olence and misogyny in each textbook. To begin, the following graph
summarizes the relevant content of SM and Santillana.

GRAPH 1. Summary of each textbook’s content.

Source: prepared by the author

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The analysis has found that the number of myths narrated in some form
is significantly greater in Santillana than in SM, with the former pre-
senting the narrative outline of 23 different myths and the latter narrat-
ing 11. That said, thanks to the inclusion of audio files, some of the
myths that are told in SM contain much more detail.
In neither book do we find many narrated myths that deal with sexual
assault: 2 in Santillana (roughly 9.5%) and 0 in SM (0%). Santillana
narrates the abduction of Persephone and tells the story of Daphne and
Apollo. Similarly, the number of passing references in the textbooks to
incidents of sexual violence is low. In Santillana there are two exam-
ples: a general acknowledgment of Zeus’ sexual activity and, second,
the possibility that the birth of Ares was revenge for Zeus having had
sex with other females besides his wife. As will be discussed in further
detail below, the language used when discussing these myths does not
necessarily signal to the reader that in ancient literature these acts were
often depicted as violent abductions. In SM, there are two examples of
a passing reference to sexual violence: within the narration of the birth
of Athena, Hephaestus asks Zeus if he can marry Athena as a reward
for releasing her from her father’s head; when the king of the gods re-
plies that he cannot marry her because Athena wishes to remain a vir-
gin, Hephaestus responds that he will attempt to abduct her (raptarla),
provoking Zeus’ uproarious laughter. Give it a try, he says87. The sec-
ond example of a passing reference to sexual violence is in the context
of Herodotus’ discussion of the abduction of Helen.
When it comes to images depicting acts of sexual violence, SM contains
no instances, whereas Santillana has two examples: we find the repro-
duction of Rupert Bunny’s Rape of Persephone (1913) as well as An-
drea Appiani’s Apollo and Daphne (1795-1800).
Regarding the number of activities that ask students to reflect on my-
thology and sexual violence, the analysis found that there are no in-
stances in SM, whereas there are 9 examples in Santillana. The activi-
ties are summarized in Table 1.

87 Hephaestus’ subsequent attempt to rape Athena is not narrated.

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TABLE 1. Description of activities related to abduction and sexual assault in Santillana

Location
Number Brief description
in book
Students are asked to research Zeus’ “lovers” and the ways that he “se-
1 p. 41
duced” them.
Students are asked to reflect on the fact that the continent Europe is
2 p. 41
named after an “abducted” woman.
Students are asked to look at the painting by Rupert Bunny and identify the
3 p. 42
myth depicted.
Along with the myth of Orpheus, students are asked what the meaning of
4 p. 42
the myth of Persephone is.
Students are asked to find information about Apollo and Daphne and then
5 p. 43
make a comic telling the story.
Students are asked to do a small project dealing with different women in-
6 p. 45 volved in the Trojan War and are asked whether they think the Iliad is mis-
ogynistic.
7 p. 50 Students are asked to sequence the events in the myth of Persephone.
Students are asked about the metamorphoses of Zeus for “seducing” six
8 p. 51
different women.
Students are asked to read and comment on a passage from Garcilaso de
9 p. 51
la Vega that narrates the Apollo and Daphne story.
Source: prepared by the author

Nearly half of these activities (1, 5, 6 and 8) require students to find

information outside of the textbook, a fact which helps explain the large
numbers of activities that touch on instances of sexual violence.
In terms of the final category related to other relevant aspects, the anal-
ysis identified no examples in SM and 3 in Santillana. In the case of
Santillana, there are several aspects of the book do not deal directly
with sexual violence but do require students to think about misogyny
more broadly. The examples from Santillana are the following:
‒ A photograph of Luciano Garbati’s Medusa (2008) is in-
cluded. In an activity, students are asked to research what the
statue represents. It seems likely that such a search will lead
students to learn about Ovid’s version of Medusa’s story in
the Metamorphoses where she is raped by Poseidon and then
punished by Athena, who turns her beautiful hair into snakes.
An analysis of the statue, then, is likely to lead students to see

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 a familiar story from a new perspective and identify Medusa
as a victim herself.

‒ An activity asks students to learn about the story of Polyphe-

mus and Galatea and then find images depicting it. While nei-
ther Ovid nor Theocritus directly depict Polyphemus as trying
to abduct Galatea—though there are some hints of this in
Ovid—the story is deeply misogynistic, containing clear re-
flections of toxic masculinity (Marturano, 2020).

‒ The book presents a detail of Maarten van Heemskerck’s Vul-

can showing the gods his capture of Venus and Mars (c. 1540)
and, among other things, asks students why we find more rep-
resentations of female adultery in art than images of husbands
betraying their wives.

The analysis of the two books also included the compilation of the dif-
ferent language used to refer to sexual violence, abduction, the victim,
the aggressor and their relationship. The results of this phase of the
analysis are presented in Table 2.

TABLE 2. Language used to refer to abduction, sexual violence as well as the victims and
perpetrators

Language used to refer to acts of abduction/sexual assault SM Santillana

Engañar (of Zeus’ metamorphoses) 0 1
Forms of raptar or rapto 3 4
Victims referred to as amantes 0 3
Abductions referred to as amoríos/amores 0 3
Seducir (of Zeus’ actions) 0 2
Unirse (for sex) 0 1
Victims referred to as esposas or abductors referred to as es-
0 2
posos
Abduction as daño 0 1
Source: prepared by the author

The analysis shows that explicit vocabulary referring to sexual assault

is not included in either textbook (e.g., violar or violación). However,
both books use language that specifically refers to the forceful

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abduction of women (rapto/raptar) and Santillana refers to abduction
as a harmful act (daño) in an excerpt from Garcilaso de la Vega in San-
tillana (p. 51). Furthermore, abduction is described as requiring trick-
ery/deception on one occasion (engañar). However, on other occasions
the same book uses the language of seduction (seducir) to refer to acts
of abduction and sexual violence as well as the rather euphemistic
unirse to refer to sex88.
Santillana uses a reduced set of language to refer to the characters of
these myths, who can be described as spouses (esposa/esposo) or lovers
(amantes). Likewise, the whole act can be referred to through the lan-
guage of love (amoríos/amores).

5. DISCUSSION

An analysis of the results demonstrates a significant difference between

the two books included in this study. The book published by SM con-
tains only a few passing mentions of sexual violence in its discussion
of Greco-Roman mythology and no visual depictions of it. Further-
more, there are no activities in SM that force or even encourage students
to reflect on issues related to misogyny in general or abduction and rape
specifically. Furthermore, one of the passing mentions to sexual vio-
lence (the dialogue between Zeus and Hephaestus) seems to make a
joke out of the latter’s desire to forcefully abduct a female (Athena)
against her will. This somewhat shocking aspect of the dialogue, which
is adapted from Lucian, could be explained and dealt with or, more
simply, cut out. As it stands, the passing reference and joking nature
could be construed as normalizing violence against women.
SM also avoids narrating in any detail some basic myths found in many
other textbooks, such the myths of Europa, Persephone or Daphne. One
gets the impression that the publisher preferred to ignore these difficult
and problematic stories. This approach however, is not unparallelled,
since there are some older Cultura Clásica textbooks written before

88According to the Real Academia Española’s Dicionario de la lengua española (s.v. unir 6),
the verb can mean to ‘marry’ or ‘wed’.

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LOMLOE that also avoid or minimize these stories (e.g., Crespo
Losada et al., 2007).
The activities analyzed in SM also seem unlikely to steer students to-
wards these issues in their independent research. In short, the book has
found a strategy to largely ignore or sidestep the prevalence of sexual
violence in ancient mythology. This is achieved through the selection of
stories and images and the choice to focus students’ attention on other
issues, such as philosophy and science or geography. As mentioned
above, the length of the SM chapter is much shorter than the other book
analyzed in this study, meaning that there was less room to include ad-
ditional myths or tell them in greater detail89. That said, it is worth men-
tioning that the chapter is not completely void of violent/graphic con-
tent, since the castration of Uranus is dealt with in some depth (p. 104).
The case of Santillana is more complex. The book does not shy away
from discussing stories centered on the abduction of women, though the
violence of these acts is not underscored. This is seen both through the
narration of the myths of Persephone and Daphne as well as the inclu-
sion of images that explicitly depict the moment of abduction. It is the
book’s activities, however, which are the most noteworthy. At times
they directly ask students to turn their attention to questions related to
abduction (e.g., activities 1, 3 and 9). This provides a clear context in
which students, both with their peers and teachers, can grapple with
issues related to gender equality and sexual violence. Other activities
point students in a certain direction and ask them to find more infor-
mation on their own. The activity about Garbati’s Medusa, for example,
is likely to lead students to the passage in Ovid’s Metamorphoses where
the poet tells us that Medusa was not a monster from birth but was raped
in a sanctuary and then turned into a monster as a punishment. This
would provide the opportunity for students to discuss her as a survivor
rather than a monster. However, the book does not provide access to
any relevant materials and hence requires the teacher to prepare and/or

89Again it is worth stressing that the analysis is based on the materials available to students,
not the teacher’s edition of the book, which, perhaps, contains additional material that could
be of interest.

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guide the students. This typifies an interesting aspect of the book: by
asking students to go and look for information about rape and abduc-
tion, the publisher does not need to explicitly include this material. As
a result, a teacher’s judgment is of paramount importance: while some
may take these activities as an opportunity to deal with an important
and difficult topic, others may simply skip a given activity and hence
avoid talking about misogyny and sexual violence.
The language used in Santillana is also noteworthy: while its choices in
content and activities push students towards addressing the issue of sex-
ual violence in Greco-Roman mythology, the actual language used in
the book does not further this mission. In large part, the book follows
the established practice of using sanitized language as discussed by
Lauriola (2022). Words like seducir, esposo/a, amor and amantes could
give the impression that these are instances of a consensual relationship
or that there was some sort of happy ending that could compensate for
an initial act of violence. It is important to stress that the use of this type
of language is widespread in contemporary versions of ancient mythol-
ogy (e.g., Fry, 2018), a trend that has been criticized for various reasons
(Lauriola, 2022). In short, the book does provide many chances and
opportunities to discuss sexual violence and gender inequality, but it
could easily go further by, for example, reflecting on the language used
to tell a particular story, introducing the idea of consent or asking stu-
dents whether they would categorize certain acts in these myths as rape.
As we have seen with the example of Medusa, the book can open up
space for these debates and reflections but stops short of requiring them.
As a result, the teacher is left to make several important decisions and
prepare any needed materials to make those sorts of conversations as
safe, respectful and productive as possible, all of which is no small task
(Hong, 2013; Gloyn, 2013). Furthermore, instead of just linking the
mythology chapter to SDG 3, the book could easily include SDG 5
(gender equality), which is used as a framing element in several other
chapters of Santillana (chapter 4 on the family and women in antiquity;
chapter 5 on men’s role in ancient societies; chapter 8 on ancient art).
To return to an issue raised in the introduction of this paper, both text-
books successfully put into practice the requirements and

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recommendations found in the curriculum. Surely the best way to have
textbooks focus more explicitly on gender equality when teaching my-
thology, something that is recommended by many experts in the field,
would be for our educational laws and curricula to give publishers, text-
book authors and teachers further orientation.

6. CONCLUSIONS

This chapter has been inspired by recent research into classics and fem-
inist pedagogy that has argued that the study of ancient literature pro-
vides an important opportunity to teach students about gender equality
and sexual violence in both ancient and modern societies. This growing
tendency to teach myth and literature in this manner matches certain
priorities enshrined in current Spanish educational law and the curric-
ula. Since the curriculum for Cultura Clásica stresses the importance of
separating the noble and base elements of the past and also stresses the
importance of studying mythology as a source of inspiration for later
artistic and literary masterpieces, this study has asked whether the
emerging generation of Cultura Clásica textbooks use mythology as an
opportunity to promote gender equality and fight for the eradication of
sexual violence in our society.
To begin to answer these questions, this study has provided a close
reading of two recent textbooks, focusing on the chapters dedicated ex-
plicitly to Greco-Roman mythology. The analysis has found that within
the broad limits set in the current curricular framework, publishers can
address mythology in rather different ways. While the book published
by SM does not place emphasis on stories of abduction or sexual vio-
lence, Santillana’s book does, though further steps could certainly be
taken to draw even more sustained and critical attention to the issue.
The present study has several important limitations that ought to be out-
lined and underscored. In the first place, the analysis has focused on
only a single chapter from each book. As we have seen, other chapters
also contain relevant content that could be used to promote gender
equality through the study of Greco-Roman societies. Accordingly, a
fuller analysis of these two textbooks is in order. Additionally, the pre-
sent study has only focused on two books, which—though published by

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important and prominent presses in Spain—may not be representative
of the strategies and priorities of all new books for Cultura Clásica. Ac-
cordingly, as new books are published, the sample should be increased
to better capture the broader picture. The final limitation to stress in-
volves the study’s methodology. The analysis analyzes the stories that
are fully narrated or partially alluded to in each book. However, it does
not take into account omissions or places where the textbooks appear
to have decided to avoid the topic of sexual violence. To give a single
example from each book, SM mentions Heracles and Pyrene, but does
not touch upon abduction or pursuit. Likewise, Santillana mentions that
Metis is Athena’s mother, but does not allude to Zeus’ pursuit of her.
Although hard to quantify and measure, these silences and omissions
nevertheless reflect interesting choices on the part of different publish-
ers and could constitute a line of future research.
Despite these limitations, this exploratory study does provide important
results about how Cultura Clásica is presented to teachers and students
through the medium of the textbook. Furthermore, it provides a frame-
work for studying the issue in the future and suggests further lines of
research that can only deepen our knowledge of how mythology is
taught to promote gender equality and address violence and discrimi-
nation against women.

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