Ancient Greece's Degrading Attitude towards Women

After reading the ancient Greek stories entitled The Iliad and Medea, authored by Homer and Euripides, respectively, I realized a startling and disturbing truth involving society during ancient Greek times. It seems as though no matter how similar the circumstances, or how similar the action undertaken and the reason for undertaking such an action, women in ancient Greek society were never, ever, regarded as being heroic. While a man who chose to commit selfishly rageful atrocities during this period was considered admirable, honorable, and was revered by others, the same truth did not apply to women, even if they were essentially forced into a similar situation. This conclusion was reached after an in-depth comparison of the

In Ancient Greek society men had total control over women. Women were the property of their father until they were traded for marriage, at which point they would become the property of their husbands. In order to justify this system, men perpetuated the idea that women were weak and emotional, unable to fend for themselves; they needed a man to control them. However, women were also expected to be strong supports for their men. They would stand up for their husband in his absence, help solve his problems, provide emotional support and watch over his home. This duality defines the characters of Jocasta, Antigone and Penelope.

Women in Ancient Greek and Roman history are easily overlooked, whether that be though art, poetry, or mythology. Mythology is extremely popularized throughout all of Greek history, leaving domestic life in the shadows for the most part. The fascination with beings possessing special powers and abilities, like going to and from the underworld or wielding lightning bolts, compared to everyday women’s domestic life it is a slightly boring topic. Women’s history in many different cultures has a minor amount of information recorded, no matter the form of record keeping, compared to men. Men typically had more interesting roles in daily life, for example; craftsmen, soldiers, senators, or even emperors. However, domestic life for women was not

Hector’s wife, Andromache, is a prominent figure within book 6 of Homer’s The Iliad. Andromache and

Traditional gender roles unfortunately remain an influential part of society today. In some parts of the world, it is illegal for women to do anything without the permission or sometimes even accompaniment of a male guardian. While it is true that the world has made considerable progress in eliminating gender stereotypes overall, there is much work that has yet to be done, and people must continue to strive for equality in order to eliminate unhealthy relationships like that of Odysseus and Penelope in Homer’s Odyssey. The epic poem explores Odysseus’ unnecessarily long journey home after helping Greece win the Trojan War while his wife Penelope waits for him in Ithaca. The contrast between Penelope’s faithfulness at home and how Odysseus often strays from his path of return, in many cases by being unfaithful to his wife, highlights the traditional expectations set for men and women during this time and how differently they are supposed to behave.

The Greeks’ most important legacy is not being pioneers in democracy as we would think: it is their mythology. In general, we only know what male writers tell us women thought, because there were little to no women writers. However, the Greeks attributed to women a capacity for understanding that we do not always find in the other great literary traditions such as the Bible . Ancient Greek mythology depicts women as a source of creation of the mythological universe, the creation of multi-gendered immortals, and the knowledgeable and powerful personalities attributed to women in ancient Greek mythology. Many popular Greek plays contain several well-written, complex, female characters. These women were depicted as the role of villain, victim, and even the role of heroine, showing the diversity in which women were seen in both mythology and ancient Greek society. We do not give much credit to the Greeks for their balanced view of women’s abilities. The first reason is that many of the original meanings get lost by translations and retelling1, similar to the game “Telephone.” Secondly, myths tend to be misunderstood due to the concerns and beliefs of our own society1. But were women fairly represented as powerful in ancient Greek mythology? We often think of women as troublesome, conniving, and all around negative; but I believe their representations in Greek society and myth prove to be misunderstood.

Many of the historical sources from this ancient world have been lost or destroyed by time and war. But thanks to sources such a Sappho 's poetry and the image of women as strong and central characters through many of the greek epics as evidence, we are able to draw some conclusions as to the life of woman in Ancient Greek world. From what we know of the classical greek culture, women were most often subservient to men throughout their lives; first to their fathers and brothers, then to their husbands and sons. Although, the role of women often differed between city-states and through the ranks of social standing and class.

Once reading what this paper was too be addressed about, I was happy. This paper will not only be about learning about woman in Athens and Sparta but also comparing them to women today, along with Greece lifestyles between the men and women. Although, women back then had different task they had similar duties as women do today. With that being said the women had complex duties as well and not just the men.

In the Iliad, Homer depicts the role of women many times as property and often involves women in prizes of gifts. It is the role of women in terms of war prizes. Examining the impact of female characters in an epic, where Chryses brings a ransom to get back his daughter. Agamemnon refuses and later decides to return Chryseis but in exchange, wants Briseis, Achilles’ woman as compensation, and where Helen is the cause of the war who has been a property in dispute between Paris and Menelaus. Each of these examples demonstrates that women have played a major role in the Iliad, causing men to fight. This paper will explore delineate physical and emotional consequences of men regarding women as “war prizes.”

Ancient Greece is known to treat their women unfair and unjust. The way their culture of life was set-up, for there women was almost borderline slavery. Ancient Greece provided there men with literature, philosophy, science, art, etc, but the women didn’t have the same privileges as the men did. However, this civilization could not boast of the healthy social and family relations. The disgrace and attitudes towards women and children were very unjust. They oppressed women and gave men absolute control over women and children. First thing first, let us look at a couple of examples from Ancient Greece time to demonstrate what the women had to endure.

The epic poem the Iliad by Homer recounts the events the stories of the heroes in the Trojan War and also reveals the views of women in the ancient Greek society. In Homer’s Iliad mortal women are restricted to the domestic sphere, are treated as objects and depicted as destitute without men, women, goddesses especially, are shown as mischievous and cunning.

In the days of ancient Greece there were two types of women, they consisted of mortals and goddesses, there was a big difference between the roles that they would play and how they were viewed by the Greeks and the Gods. The stories and myths that are associated with women tell us a lot more about the preoccupations of Greek men than they do the about the opinions and imaginations of Greek women. Women were the givers of life in an age when the processes of conception, fertility and childbirth were still deeply mysterious and little understood. As a result, many of the mythical stories about women manifest signs of a deep male anxiety about feminine power.

This essay investigates the role of women in Athenian society, which will show the portrayal of women and how Athenian men treated them. This paper will also go into detail as to whether a history of women is possible in Athenian society. Additionally, showing the importance of civil rights, marriage, sex & birth, domestic roles, prostitution, priestess, slaves, children and death & burial in the world of Athenian women.

The Iliad presents a patriarchal Greek society in which human women are viewed as inferior objects meant to serve and entertain men. Men are superior to women and can use them whichever way they want. Apart from women’s role as mother, wives, and daughters, they are used by men as prizes and rewards in battles or fights as well as for taking revenge or degrading other men. In particular, beautiful women are portrayed to be the source of enmity and discord among men and even states pushing them into fights and battles. Men are found fighting for possession of women in order to establish their power and honor. Most of the conflicts and wars among men, described in the Iliad, have women as the root cause. Whether it is the long battle of Troy or the internal conflict between the Greek warriors, the main reason is usually the possession of woman/women; “Let him who shall be victorious and prove to be the better man take the woman and all she has…” (Iliad Book 3). Helen, Chryseis and Briseis are the main human female characters in the Trojan War who are used as prizes that supplement male’s ego and pride.

Using the three Greek works that divulge many facts about the everyday life of Athenian women, I will compare how the reality of women’s lives is depicted. Such as the wife of Euphiletus having a mistress, Lysistrata was so brave towards men, nor Neaera whom was a slave.