What Is Athena's Role In The Odyssey

One of the female characters in “Odyssey” is Athena. Athena is the daughter of Zeus and the goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts. In the “Odyssey” she is portrayed as a helper and guardian of Odysseus and his family. Athena assists Odysseus on his journey home, and Telemachus (Odysseus’s son) on his journey as well. She is also a master of disguise, clever, and wise. This we see

For thousands of years it can be considered debatable on the true view of women over the years but one thing is for sure, many women suffered one commonality - discrimination. For decades women have been told the classics; “you can’t”, “you’re not strong enough”, “stay in the kitchen”, and because of this, young women today believe this is what they are viewed as. In “The Odyssey” there are many characters that share their disgust with the female gender and many who worship them,just like today. There is a possibility, even though it’s 2017, that there may be some men who believe men were given certain jobs to do and women should stick to what they were “meant to do”. It’s an issue - it’s teaching young men and women that women cannot do the same as men. It teaches women the true heroes are men, that women cannot be the ones to sail across the sea, to fight monsters, or even to simply be in charge of themselves. Since specific roles are assigned in “The Odyssey” to both men and women, it can teach women that while times have changed, in society it’s somehow important for women to be second next to men, when in reality that is not true.

Even though women did not have a lot of social rights, they had two very important roles. They were to run the house and reproduce children. Even Euripides, a well known Greek playwright, stated , “Women run households and protect within their homes, and without a woman no home is clean or prosperous” (Neils 78). This shows that women were the ones who controlled the home. The wives would maintain the house and perform chores such as weaving, baking and cooking, cleaning, and fetching water. The women’s daily roles were simplified if they house had slaves. If there were slaves, they would do all of the chores and the wife would supervise

The most powerful female force in The Odyssey is the goddess Athena. She, more than anyone else, brings about Odysseus’ homecoming. The poem opens with her pleading with Zeus to take pity on Odysseus. Zeus issues the command to Calypso to free Odysseus. Athena guides Odysseus every step of his voyage to Ithaca. She tells Odysseus that it is she “who always stands beside [him], shields [him] in every

Odysseus what he wanted. She could no longer hold him against his will. The goddess was not enough to make him forget what he missed. Odysseus knows better than anyone does how hard it is to resist temptation.

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?"

Athena’s navigational skills and quick thinking made Odysseus’ victory feasible. She provided a disguise for Odysseus, came up with a battle plan, and kept his anger in check by letting the suitors continue their taunts against him. Athena “had no mind to let the brazen suitors hold back now from their heart-rending insults-she meant to make the anguish cut still deeper into the core of Laertes’ son Odysseus” (Homer page 419). Additionally, she helped Odysseus battle the suitors, “looming out of the rafters high above them, brandished her man-destroying shield of thunder, terrifying the suitors out of their minds, and down the hall they panicked” (Homer page 448). Saving Odysseus’ and his servants’ lives, Athena acted against the suitors and, undoubtedly, won the battle for him by scaring off the suitors who were not already dead.

Athena and Leucothea, two of the most influential women in the story, play a prominent role in the story, for they help Odysseus complete his journey! Athena and Leucothea work together to save Oddyseus’s life when he is drowning out at sea. Odysseus had just gotten off the island of Calypso and was on his way home when Poseidon, the God of the sea created a massive storm and almost killed Odysseus. Poseidon was furious with Odysseus because he had blinded his son Polyphemus. Luckily, a mortal named Leucothea comes to his rescue. As Odysseus is drowning, Leucothea yells over the storm, “‘Strip off those clothes and leave your craft for the winds to hurl, and swim for it now, you must, strike out with your arms for landfall there, Phaeacian land where destined safety waits. Here, take this scarf, tie it around your waist—it is immortal.’” (Book #5) Athena then plays a role by helping him get through the storm to the land safely. If it weren’t for these two powerful and wise women, nobody would have heard the story of Odysseus and his completion of

How far are woman and goddesses responsible for the problems that Odysseus faces on his journey?

Greek male writers like Homer believed that men were superior to women in every aspect. They subscribed to a tradition that enshrines the culture of advancement in education and literacy. Ancient Greek literature was mostly about Greek men. Therefore, you would not find much supporting evidence that would examine in detail the role of traditional Greek women. Ancient Greek Philosopher, Protagaras made a very controversial statement which said, “Man is the measure of all things of the things that are how they are, and of the things that are not how they are not ”(Epps 2). One can deem it literal, but in comparison to women it is reprehensible. Women were subjected to being in the group of second class and were considered inferior citizens. These male writers portray male superiority as the norm in traditional ancient Greek literature. In the book, Women’s Life in Greece and Rome, authors Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant , quote Aristotle’s societal views of Grecian men by saying, “again, the male is by nature superior, and the female inferior; and the one rules, and the other is ruled; this principle, of necessity, extends to all mankind” ( Lefkowitz and Fant 38). Homer’s Odyssey takes place during Ancient Greece around 725 BCE. It is the second epic poem written by Homer, with the first being the Iliad. This poem is a long narrative that tells a story and offers a hero paradigm. There are many other characteristics associated with an epic poem from Greek antiquity. It

In many contemporary novels, women are portrayed as strong and intelligent heroes who defy the labels society has created for their gender. Over 3,000 years ago, though, the views on females were quite the opposite. In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, he explores this long standing relationship between males and females and questions how much admiration the latter should receive. Greek society gave women fairly traditional roles of a wife or mother, however, in The Odyssey, they have the positions of companion, mentor or temptress to Odysseus. Homer allows his female characters to control Odysseus’ journey from their conventional roles in society in order to display his respect for the gender while maintaining the subservient position of women

   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.

The “Odyssey” and “Orpheus and Eurydice” are both great passages with some very important characters. All these characters are connected throughout the different passages and each play an important role. Although these two passages have males as protagonists, there are still several women who contribute to the stories and whose roles cannot be forgotten. Woman such as Athena and Circe from the “Odyssey”, and Eurydice from “Orpheus and Eurydice”, are critical characters in these stories. One important woman in these passages is Athena.

Twenty years have passed since Odysseus left Ithaca to fight in the Trojan War. The war was fought for ten years, and ten years after the war Odysseus struggled to find his way home, back to Ithaca. On his journey home, the gods, sirens, and goddesses tried to prevent him from doing so. Some of the gods and goddesses in the story tried to help him get home and some tried to stop him because of their preference and the way they felt towards Odysseus.

One of the issues in Homers The Odyssey is understanding the role and function of the goddess Athena. The problem is most pronounced when examining Athena’s duality. She provides Odysseus both her counsel and assistance throughout the story yet she’s also the entity that keeps him exiled from his home. Athena’s role, similar to the other gods, is to correct apparent injustices. “Oh father Zeus and gods and bliss forever let no man holding scepter as a king think to be mild the fatherhood and mercy through his reign. Meanwhile he lives and grieves upon the island of the nymph…” Book 5 lines 9-21. These lines show that Athena is concerned about the injustice that surrounds Odysseus and his son. This suggests that gods can become active in the role of mortals and may aid them to correct inequity through their fate. This paper will explore the obligations Athena had to ensure Odysseus’ voyage home safely as well as the thematic importance of fate in The Odyssey and the intervention and the power of the gods and goddesses. Fate is one of the occurring themes throughout the Odyssey, where the intervention of the gods and goddesses is common due to the triumphs of men and women.