The Greek Attitude Towards Women as seen in the Works of Hesiod

In Classical Greece, roles played by males and females in society were well-defined as well as very distinct from each other. Expectations to uphold these societal norms were strong, as a breakdown within the system could destroy the success of the oikos (the household) and the male’s reputation—two of the most important facets of Athenian life. The key to a thriving oikos and an unblemished reputation was a good wife who would efficiently and profitably run the household. It was the male’s role, however, to ensure excellent household management by molding a young woman into a good wife. Women were expected to enter the marriage as a symbolically empty vessel; in other words, a

The Odyssey, by Homer, was written with the Greek mindset that women were supposed to be submissive. If the woman in question was not submissive enough, she was depicted as cruel, selfish, a monster, or a whore. This is true for both mortal women, such as Penelope, and immortal goddesses, such as Calypso. Mortal women were expected to be good faithful wives who listened to everything the head of the household said, while goddesses were expected to follow the gods every order and were called sexist slurs if they ever got involved with a mortal man.

The very creation of women was set as a punishment to man because Prometheus, son of Iapetos, tried to trick Zeus into eating bones and then, with the tube of a fennel, steals fire to give to mankind. Zeus then proclaimed, "To set against the fire I shall give them an affliction in which they will all delight as they embrace their own misfortune." Out of Zeus' anger came Pandora, the first woman. Zeus ordered Hephaestus

As shown, women were considered naturally submissive as in most other old cultures. This is somewhat understandable as women were the ones who bore children and men provided for the family unit. As time progressed, this stereotype was over emphasized into what is portrayed in these plays and poems. Despite this submissive image, Greek women were not considered naïve, but a pleasurable if a bit foolish kind of a creature. In Aristophane?s play, Lysistrata, this concept is amply portrayed. Most of the women are portrayed, as impulsive individuals while men are carnal gluttons. Notwithstanding this facet of their image women could also be wily as Medea and Lysistrata:

In the poem written by Homer, "The Odyssey", there is evidence of these views as pointed out by Sue Blundell. In her book, Women in Ancient Greece, she gives many examples but I would like to just touch on a few. Sue suggests many of the monsters encountered in The Odyssey are unmistakably female. Woman are to be seen as having a sexual power to engulf and obliterate men if they become to closely involved with them (Blundell, 51). This might explain why women are kept in check in Greek society and why men are not to be blamed for their

In his epic poem “The Aeneid,” Virgil details an account of how the great empire of Rome descended from a Trojan leader named Aeneas. It is an action-packed story, filled with tales from the hardships at sea to the brutality of warfare as Aeneas journeys to Italy following the downfall of Troy. Aeneas, the hero of the story, is depicted in mostly a positive light throughout the poem and shown portraying a wide variety of emotions and traits, some seemingly contrasting one another—from scorching, merciless anger to tender, affectionate love. While he is a three-dimensional, rather well-rounded character, Virgil depicts women throughout The Aeneid in a more one-dimensional, usually negative light, establishing a hint of sexism and misogyny throughout

In “The Trojan Women,” there are four enduring women who dominate the play and only two men who say anything at all. Moving us with their rants and dramatic reactions, these women engulf the audience in overwhelming grief and irresistible pride. Euripides emphasizes these four women to help us understand one of his main themes. Hecuba with her pride, Cassandra with her virginity and uncanny wisdom, Andromache with her misery and heartache, and Helen with her powerful, seductive reasoning all represent superior illustrations of feminism throughout the play.

Further on, Medea talks about the rules of marriage, about how women have no choice in their own marriage, but if “the husband lives with us and lightly bears his yoke, then life is enviable” (9). According to Medea, the only important thing in a woman’s life is marriage and children, and if women

The groom’s choice in bride was largely determined by the amount of dowry the bride would bring with her. Although the wedding was a happy ceremony, it was only the beginning of a woman’s loss of independence. Not only did women possess no independent status in the eyes of the law; she always remained under the supervision of a male. If her husband died, she was returned to her father’s or brother’s home where they would take charge of her. After the wedding, the wife’s duties were centered on the management of the home. She would overlook the slaves, mend and make clothing for her family, usually done by spinning or knitting, weave rugs and baskets for the home, or just fold and refold the clothing kept in the family chest. The wife was also responsible for maintaining her attractiveness for her husband. A proper Athenian wife would adorn herself with jewelry and use rouge upon her husband’s arrival home. Sometimes she might spend an entire evening sitting next to the couch where her husband lay reclining. Most importantly the Athenian women were seen as “fine upstanding matrons” fit to bear a race of excellent athletes” (Everyday Life in Ancient Greece, pg. 86). An Athenian man married primarily to have children. These children were expected to care for him in his old age, but more importantly to bury him with the “full appropriate rites” (Daily Life in Greece, pg. 57). Moreover, Athenian men married to have male children in order to perpetuate the family

How much control do women have over their emotions in the Aeneid? In his poem, Virgil frequently shows women in situations where irrational thoughts lead to harmful choices. Specifically, Virgil presents women as being easily influenced by their emotions. Consequently, these characters make decisions that harm both themselves and those around them. Throughout Aeneas’s journey, divinities such as Juno and Venus are seen taking advantage of the emotions of different women, influencing these characters to act in ways that ignore important priorities. Not only does Virgil present women as completely vulnerable to their emotions, but he also shows the problems that arise when these women engage in decisions where they put their own feelings

In any era of ancient society, only a wealthy man could afford to surround himself with a number of women, each playing a different role in his life. However, the Olympian pattern survived as the ideal. On the human level, Pomeroy shows how the "ahistorical oral tradition (Pomery 1995)" of epics by Homer provides us with a set of attitudes toward women which may reflect back to the Bronze Age. Pomeroy provides a good discussion of marriage patterns alluded to in the epic cycles, based on the marriages of royal women such as Helen,

In the world of Ancient Greece, a large array of deities were worshipped. Each god had their own forms of identification in which they used to express themselves. This includes things such as personality, style, sexuality, and many other things. One of these forms of expression was gender. The Greeks seemed to focus more on the two typical genders, which are male and female. Some Greek gods seemed to play into certain gender roles, but others portrayed traits of the opposite sex. In this paper, I will be analysing the possibility that the Greeks believed the female and male genders were closely connected and that is why many of the gods are described with blended aspects of gender.

The Greek poet Hesiod once said that “A man wins nothing better than a good wife, and then again nothing deadlier than a bad one.” This proved to be especially true for Israel, for they suffered many things because of their intermarriage with foreign women. In doing so, they not only afflicted Ezra, but the Lord of heaven and earth. They, therefore, stood condemned. However, the Lord, being full of mercy, did not punish the Israelite nation as severely as He could have. Ezra acknowledges this in his prayer, as well as the guilt of his people, and then concludes chapter nine by proclaiming the righteousness of God.

In a Greek literature about the creation of Pandora, Pandora is created as a gift. Prometheus steals the fire and brings it for men, which causes Zeus to become angry with him, and Zeus decides to give a gift of evil to human, which is Pandora. “His orders were to make a face such as goddesses have and the shape of a lovely maiden; … Then he ordered Hermes the pathbreaker and slayer of Argos to put in her the mind of a bitch and a thievish nature” (From Works and days, 45). Pandora is a created as a beautiful and attractive woman, but has a “thievish nature”. Zeus gives Pandora with a jar as a gift to Epimetheus. Epimetheus is attracted and tempted by Pandora and accepts the gift. He forgets the warning of Prometheus never to accept a gift

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.”