List of rape victims from ancient history and mythology

The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus by Rubens

The Story of Lucretia (1496-1504) by Sandro Botticelli; Lucretia's rape is on the left panel.

Rape is a common topic in history and mythology. A list of notable victims from history and mythology includes:

History[]

Rogneda of Polotsk from Belarus/Scandinavian history; raped by Vladimir, half-brother of her betrothed Yaropolk I of Kiev, in the presence of her parents (10th century)
Li Zu'e - an Empress raped by her brother in law and became pregnant
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-c. 1656), Italian Baroque artist
Xenia Borisovna, Russian princess, forcibly taken as a concubine by False Dmitry I

Mythology[]

Christian mythology[]

Agnes of Rome; a young girl of around 12 or 13 years of age, who consecrated her virginity to Christ, and was dragged to a brothel to be raped, in a bid to make her recant her Christian faith.

Greek mythology[]

Female[]

Alcippe a daughter of Ares; raped by Halirrhothius, the son of Poseidon.
Alcmene; raped by Zeus in form of her husband Amphitryon.
Apemosyne; raped by Hermes, after slipping on skinned hides that Hermes placed on her path.
Auge; raped by Heracles.
Aura; raped by Dionysus while she was drunk.
Callisto; raped by Zeus in the form of Artemis or Apollo.
Cassandra; raped by Ajax the Lesser during the Sack of Troy.
Chione; raped by Hermes in her sleep.
Cassiopeia; raped by Zeus in the form of her husband Phoenix.
Demeter; according to an Arcadian myth, Demeter was being pursued by her younger brother, Poseidon, and she changed into a horse to escape him. Poseidon, however, transformed himself into a horse and, after cornering Demeter, raped his older sister, resulting in her giving birth to Despoina, a maiden goddess, and Arion, a divine horse.
Dryope; raped by Apollo in the form of a serpent.
Halie; a Rhodian woman raped by her own sons.
Harpalyce; raped by her own father.
Leda, raped by Zeus in the form of a swan.^[1]
Liriope; raped by the river god Cephissus.
Nemesis; raped by Zeus, who relentlessly pursued her, changing many forms. In some versions, Nemesis is the mother of Helen of Troy rather than Leda.
Nicaea; raped by Dionysus while she was unconscious.
Maia was raped by Zeus while she was asleep.
Persephone; raped by her uncle Hades and in Orphic tradition by her father Zeus disguised as a snake or as Hades himself.
Philomela; raped by her brother-in-law Tereus.
Rhea; raped by her son Zeus.
Tyro; raped by Poseidon in the form of her beloved, the river-god Enipeus.

Male[]

Hermaphroditos; raped by (and later merged with) the nymph Salmacis.
Odysseus; in some versions, raped by Calypso on the island of Ogygia in his seven year stay.
Silenus by the cyclops Polyphemus.
Chrysippus of Elis; raped by Theban Laius.
Ganymedes raped by Zeus

Hebrew Bible[]

Noah; in some interpretations, he is either raped by Ham or Canaan, his son and grandson respectively.
Dinah; raped by a Canaanite prince and avenged by her brothers.
Lot; raped by his daughters by means of alcohol
Tamar; raped by her half-brother Amnon.

Norse mythology[]

Rindr; raped by Odin in Saxo Grammaticus' version of the engendering of Baldr's avenger

Roman mythology[]

Lucretia; raped by a prince, Sextus Tarquinius.^[2]
The Sabine women; raped by the founders of Rome
Rhea Silvia, raped by Mars.
Medusa; raped by Neptune in Minerva's temple, as the rape happens in Ovid's version.
Lara; raped by Mercury as he escorted her to the Underworld.
Caeneus; formerly known as Caenis raped by Neptune in Ovid's version.

Knights of the Round Table[]

Lancelot; Elaine of Corbenic posed as Guinevere to perform a rape by deception upon him.

Medieval Folklore[]

Eve raped by Lilith, in the form of snake

Adam raped by Lilith

References[]

^ In some versions of the story, Zeus seduces Leda and she submits willingly. In others, such as that retold in William Butler Yeats' "Leda and the Swan", he rapes her: Romigh, Maggie (2007). "Luci Tapahonso's 'Leda and the cowboy': a gynocratic, Navajo response to Yeats's 'Leda and the swan'". In Cotten, Angela L.; Acampora, Christa Davis (eds.). Cultural sites of critical insight: philosophy, aesthetics, and African American and Native American women's writings. Albany, New York: State University of New York. p. 159. ISBN 9781429465700.
^ Cornell, Timothy J (1995). "9. The Beginnings of the Roman Republic: 2. The Problem of Chronology". The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC). The Routledge History of the Ancient World. Routledge. pp. 218–225. ISBN 978-0-415-01596-7.

[1] In some versions of the story, Zeus seduces Leda and she submits willingly. In others, such as that retold in William Butler Yeats' "Leda and the Swan", he rapes her: Romigh, Maggie (2007). "Luci Tapahonso's 'Leda and the cowboy': a gynocratic, Navajo response to Yeats's 'Leda and the swan'". In Cotten, Angela L.; Acampora, Christa Davis (eds.). Cultural sites of critical insight: philosophy, aesthetics, and African American and Native American women's writings. Albany, New York: State University of New York. p. 159. ISBN 9781429465700.

[2] Cornell, Timothy J (1995). "9. The Beginnings of the Roman Republic: 2. The Problem of Chronology". The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC). The Routledge History of the Ancient World. Routledge. pp. 218–225. ISBN 978-0-415-01596-7.

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