Greek Goddesses And Independance Research Paper

In the span of our history, women have always been outcasted as “something else,” to put lightly. Cultures tend to see women in different lights, usually ending up being the assumption that all women are home goers and weak, and not as strong and willed as their male counterparts. Not to say many women do not follow this assumption. Nonetheless, women can be perceived in many more lights than only one simple assumption. The Odyssey views women as strong, but ruthless and snake-like. Wonder Woman views women as strong, but weak and useless as well. Both these pieces of literature show women in the many limelights society has seen over the years. Both The Odyssey and Wonder Woman show women in different ways, together as strong, and separate in their own ways.

The religious beliefs of ancient Greece civilizations may have been why ancient Greek women were allowed more freedom and privileges in their roles in their society. The religion of Ancient Greece was Mythology. Unlike other religions of ancient times in which the leaders or gods were typically men, in Greek Mythology there were gods but goddesses as well.

The Greek and Roman societies were a very patriarchal society. This is reflected throughout the myths in classical mythology. By looking at the many pieces of literature involving Greeks and Romans we will see that the roles women portrayed are very different from women’s roles in today’s society. Although there are a few similarities to women’s roles in today’s society, their roles are more like those women in the past. We can see this by looking at the qualities of Greek and Roman female gods and looking at the roles women play in the myths.

   Ancient Greek society treated women as secondary citizens. Restrictions were placed on the social and domestic actions of many aristocratic women in ancient Athens.  The women depicted in Homer's Odyssey, on the other hand, are the ideal.  Penelope, Clytaemestra, Athena, and Helen are all women with exceptional liberty and power.

Throughout history, the roles of women and men have always differed to some degree. In ancient Greece, the traditional roles were clear-cut and defined. Women stayed home to care for children and do housework while men left to work. This system of society was not too far off the hunter gatherer concept where women cared for the house and the men hunted. Intriguingly enough, despite the customary submissive role, women had a more multifaceted role and image in society as juxtaposed with the rather simple role men played. Morals for the two were also different. Men obviously had the upper hand with women being the traditional passive.

Even being from the same time frame in history, the Roman women from Sparta and the Greek women from Athens were completely different. Their ideas, habits, and daily activities were majorly impacted by the community they lived in. Some of the main differences between the lifestyles of these women include the rights they were given under the government, the daily and professional attire of the women, and the marital and divorce rituals of each of the women. Though they had many different things about them, they also had some similarities that connected them together. Both the Athens and Sparta have two completely different statuses for their women in the society, in many different aspects as well.

The role of women in ancient Greek life was insignificant compared to that of Greek men. A woman's job was to take care of the children and to cook and clean unless she had servants or slaves that would do it for her. Yet, in Greek mythology, women were often written as major characters. Well-known Greek plays contain many well-written, complex, female characters. Female individuals in Greek mythology were often seen as very powerful and fierce and were depicted by “her wits, her beauty, or her bad deeds.”

Athena and Aphrodite, two of the most well-known goddess’ from Ancient Greek mythology. Athena is the goddess of war strategy and wisdom, she never married or had relationships. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, she had a lot of relationships and had several children. Besides both of them being extremely popular and worshiped goddess’ it seems like these two goddess’ have nothing else in common. However, Athena and Aphrodite have a lot of similarities between the two of them. Some similarities are their early lives, they constantly interfered with the lives of others, and the wraiths they took on those who disrespected them. Although they bear some minor differences, the similarities between Athena and Aphrodite are pronounced.

Greek Woman was considered to be submissive which means once you are married to a woman, then she is in your full control. The woman in ancient was not allowed to own the property, in one way we can also relate that the woman had fewer rights than the man because they could hardly express their feeling. The woman was not considered as the citizens.

     Aphrodite is another Olympian Deity who helps show the role of women in Greco-Roman society. Aphrodite was the goddess of sexual desire. I think this showed that women in this period used men’s desire to get things they wanted. In one myth Aphrodite got Zeus to change himself into a swan. Now, who’s supposed to be the most powerful god? This is very similar to the role of women in today’s society. Women usually use men’s desires to get them to do what they want them to. The big difference is that in today’s society many women give into the men and share in desire with them before they are married while in the Greco-Roman society very few women had premarital relations. Women who were not virgins were usually never married and sold into slaves by their fathers (Powell 34).

The Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal society. This is reflected throughout the myths in classical mythology. By looking at the classic mythology we will see that the roles women portrayed are very different than women's roles in today's society. Although there are a few similarities to women's roles in today's society, their roles are more like those women in the past. We can see this by looking at the attributes of Greco-Roman female gods and looking at the roles women play in the myths. By comparing the roles of women in the myths with women's roles today we will see that the roles have many differences and few similarities.

Stemming from a desired standpoint, Aphrodite, a gorgeous, perpetual young woman with a beautiful body is known as the goddess of love and beauty. Graciously assisting men charm their desired spouse with love enchantments, Aphrodite herself was no stranger to divine lovers as she held various relationships with both gods and mortals. Yet, despite her dynamic desirability and mixed personality, Aphrodite had to overcome her weak and frightful self (http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/aphrodite/) due to her jealousy. Even though it was thought that she was born the daughter of Zeus and Dione, it was more frequently believed that she was born of the foam in the sea off of island Cyprus. Later on, Aphrodite went to marry lame smith Hephaestus, Olympian god of Iron, but was quietly acquiring a private affair with Ares, god of War.

Gender inequality has been a controversial topic for numerous religions and cultures throughout history. Women were commonly regarded as the subservient gender, an idea that was no different in Ancient Greece. Throughout Greek mythology, women were considered inferior and troublesome symbols, while men were known for courage, leadership, and strength. While there is no argument of the flagrant sexism that is illustrated in Greek mythology, it can also be claimed that women were given a situated position of freedom, necessity, and power as well. Many popular Greek plays and myths contain several complexes and well described female characters. These goddesses themselves, partook the role of victim, heroine, and villain as it illustrated the diversity of characters in which women were portrayed and seen in both Ancient Greek society and mythology, allowing us to question “Were the women of Ancient Greek mythology equally represented as free and superior?” The creation of the Greek mythological universe, the creation of multi-gendered goddesses or deities, and the free and superior personalities accredited to women in Ancient Greek mythology to answer the question that women were fairly represented as powerful in Ancient Greek mythology.

Religion was a big thing in ancient Greece. It was personal but also present everywhere in Greece. The Greeks were polytheistic which means a belief in many gods. Each god that the Greeks believed in was in charge of an emotion or some piece of nature. The main gods lived in Mount Olympus. The main gods and goddesses were Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia, Demeter, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hephaestus. Athens was named after the goddess Athena who is the goddess of war, arts, crafts, and wisdom. During this time goddesses were dominant so Greek woman had a big influence on religion. Since women were more soft spoken and had a higher voice than men they would whisper to the gods or sing softly to them. Women in ancient Greece were seen as oracles because of this.

In Greek Mythology, perhaps one of the most rudimental yet one of the most important elements are the Greek Gods and Goddesses. The ancient Greeks created the stories about the lives and journeys of the Greek Gods, known as myths, simply as an endeavor to elucidate nature and all phenomena which were difficult to explain using modern science and logic. These myths about the Gods were spread around the world by explorers and storytellers, and later merged with Greek religion. To this day, numerous myths survived through many writings and through much art. Each of these myths is very unique, and moreover, tells us much about the Greek Gods. The Greek myths in particular convey to us that Greek Gods and Goddesses looked and acted like humans,