Mortals And Female Gods In The Iliad

They fought for Helen as if she was an object in which they had to have as their property. This also shows what role a woman’s beauty can have in a Greek man’s life.

Women in ancient Greece had very few rights in comparison to male citizens. Women were unable to vote, own property, or inherit wealth. A woman’s place was in the home and her purpose in life was to rear children. Considering this limited role in society, we see a diverse cast of female characters in Greek mythology. We are presented with women that are powerful and warlike, or sexualized, submissive and emotionally unstable. In many myths, we encounter subversive behavior from women, suggesting, perhaps, the possibility of female empowerment. While produced in an ostensibly misogynistic and oppressive society, these myths consider the possibility for a collapse of male power and the patriarchal system. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey,

In many rituals and myths males are depicted as more superior and strong. They were known for their strength and powers while women were considered sneaky and cunning temptresses that use their sexual appeal to confuse men. The attributes of women were justified as subordinated to men. In the Iliad and the Odyssey Homer explains these concepts in order to distinguish between the two genders roles. The Iliad focuses mostly on the barbarian archetype, its squeal, the Odyssey, is a poem of scheming. Throughout the Odyssey, many women are used as a symbol of temptation that tried to attract Odysseus. Cassandra is one of the goddesses that was raped, which angers the female goddesses and prevents Odysseus and his crew from safely going home. There were many women of temptations which posses a burden throughout the poem.

Nevertheless, all women in The Odyssey, whether they are seen as a goddess or not, are not treated with the same respect as the men are in the poem. The women are seen as helpless individuals who are not recognized for any of their accomplishments or goals they achieve. They are more appreciated for birthing a son that becomes a hero rather than what they endeavored during their lifetime. The Women are also defined by their sons and husbands names rather than for the person they are. These women are never granted freedom as they are always under watch from a man, most times being their husband.

In essence a tale of warfare, Homer’s Iliad presents the Trojan War as a traditionally male-focused conflict. However, embedded in the story is the inescapably female-centered core of the battle. While not fully explored in the frame of the epic narrative, the cause of the war is wholly feminine with its origins in the jealously and the rivalry of the goddesses. Primarily, Thetis and Hera are the most influential during the ongoing action that directly or indirectly controls the flow of the war, empowering each to weave and construct the events that unfold in the epic. The behaviors these characters’ exhibit throughout the war is where their differences come to the forefront.

Homer’s Iliad is undoubtedly focused on its male characters: Achilles, primarily, but also Hector and Agamemnon. Nevertheless, it seems that the most crucial characters in the epic are female. Homer uses the characters of Thetis, Andromache, and Helen as a basis for comparison to the male characters. Homer wants his audience to see and understand the folly of his male characters in choosing war over peace, aggression over kindness, and honor over family. While the behavior of these characters clearly speaks for itself, the contrasting attitudes and behaviors of the female characters proffer an alternative; in comparison, the reader can hardly fail to concur with Homer’s message that war, aggression,

“Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men”. This quote from Joseph Conrad could not be anymore true; women in antiquity have thoroughly had a difficult life in the past, and this can be shown through ancient texts. Long have women in past mythologies been the frequent object of interest in these stories: the introduction of sin by Eve, the rape of Helen from the Spartan throne, the list goes on. Objectification of women is a theme I have found to be very prevalent in my readings of the Hebrew book of Genesis and Homer’s The Iliad. Though different in the severity of objectification of women and how it affects the characters that were specifically objectified, both texts still harshly show women in a subordinate light; these similarities and differences are best expressed through the Genesis’s sub story of the rape of Dinah and the Iliad’s scene of Chryseis and Briseis, which comes from the book of The Rage of Achilles.

Women have always been recognized for their strong influence on the actions of men. Because of his love for Delia, Samson told his secret of his power and ended up losing it. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth urged Macbeth to commit murder. More recently, Eleanor Roosevelt strongly influenced the decisions that Franklin D. Roosevelt made. Women of Homer's epic, The Iliad, were considered primary instigators of the Trojan war. The characteristics attributed to women in ancient Greek mythology may have been key to the outbreak of the war. But many ask why Homer would choose to reflect so deeply on the feminine roles of this war fought by men.

For this informative report I will attempt to point out the roles women and how they are viewed in ancient Greece. I will then show how these views are present in Homer’s "The Odyssey." How are women, goddess or mortal, conveyed in "The Odyssey?"

Written thousands of years ago, Homer’s The Iliad provides extensive insight into the way the world worked in ancient Greek society. Including mortal men, mortal women, and immortal Greek gods, The Iliad depicts a male-controlled society in which the mortal women are viewed as nothing more than possessions. Women are most commonly seen as wives, mothers, and homemaker, whereas men take the role as husband, father, earner, and guardian. There are very few mortal women portrayed as significant however, the female goddesses appear to have greater supremacy than some male characters.

The Iliad and Odyssey present different ideals of women, and the goddesses, who are presented as ideal women, differ between the two epics. The difference in roles is largely dependent on power, and relations to men, as well as sexual desirability and activity.

The Iliad and The Odyssey are tales written by Homer centered on the drama of the Trojan War. First poem deals with the time during the end of the war, while the latter, which occurs roughly ten years later, explains the disastrous journey of Odysseus fighting his way back home. The character of women in the Odyssey is to exhibit the many and diverse roles that women play in the lives of men. These functions vary from characters such as the goddess ' that help them to the nymphs who trick them. Women in the Iliad exhibit their significance in the lives of the ancient Greeks because they are so prominent in a world so dominated with military relations.

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.”

The role of women in Greek literature has demoralized them and showing them in a maligned light. The women are portrayed as frail, cruel, insensitive, or as seductresses. These characteristics have been integrated into today’s society and [have] built the standards and defined the moral outlook of women. However, in Greek mythology, powerful and strong women are not as well celebrated, such as Athena. Homer’s The Odyssey construes the positive and negative role of women through the epic poem. The women in the poem are depicted through the contrasting actions of Penelope and the maids, in addition with the opposite personalities between the goddess Athena and the nymph Calypso.

Hector’s wife Andromache begs him not to “make [his] boy an orphan and [his] wife a/widow,” (Homer, Iliad 6.432-3) and he agonises at the thought of his wife being enslaved after his death (Homer, Iliad 6.454-5). Despite Hector’s family having no active part in the war, the story highlights that it will still have a significantly tragic effect on their lives. Instead of focusing on the glory of a death in battle, Homer chooses to expose the grief that will be left over in the aftermath of the War. This same attitude is echoed in Euripides’ Women of Troy, when Andromache speaks of her tragic fate following the Trojan War, and the chorus sings “you suffer as we suffer… how deep in grief we stand” (Euripides, Women of Troy 35). Here, the chorus reflects the families united in their grief at the deaths of the Trojan War, and to an extent, the families’ of all Greek soldiers who die in