Penelope, Clytaemestra, Athena, and Helen of Homer’s Odyssey Essay exam

The Ideal Women of bulls eyes Odyssey Ancient Greek society treated women as secondary citizens. Restrictions were placed on the well-disposed and domestic actions of many aristocratic women in ancient A consequentlyces. The women depicted in Homers Odyssey, on the other hand, are the ideal. Penelope, Clytaemestra, Athena, and Helen are all women with exceptional liberty and power. in the lead comparing the women of the Odyssey to those of Athens, it is beneficial to take a look into the lives of the latter. A respected woman was to have characteristics including obedience, virtue, refinement, productivity, honor, beauty, talent and intelligence (social consciousness). Sarah B. Pomeroy has studied this aspect of ancient feel and discusses it in her book, Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece. She states that women from this Athenian polis (city-state) are part of their husbands oikos. Though, these women have some power within the oikos, their primary responsibility w as the procreation of sons. They held in truth little and most likely no political power. They lived by guidelines set by society which were fairly restrictive. They must not do tasks out of doors, for then they would become the potential prey of rapists and seducers (Pomeroy 21). The wife must be kept chaste and pure, and so there was a need for a slave-woman. Not further were the women not allowed outdoors, but they were not to come into contact with strangers, particularly men. For, men would vie to win honour for themselves at the expense of other mens honour, and wives were frequently mere adolescents (Pomeroy 21). These mere adolescent wives were not provided confined in their roles as women, they were also physically confined within the walls of ... ...ncient times. Perhaps the men were in fear that the women, were they in the position of power, would be as repressive as men. For whatever the many reasons for the situation in which the women lived, the truth holds that th ey are invaluable to society. thither may not be a fe phallic president for some years to come, but without women in modern society, there would be no potent presidents either. Works Cited Aeschylus. Agamemnon. Greek Tragedies. Ed. David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago U of Chicago P, 1953. 1-61. Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York Penguin, 1996. Pomeroy Pomeroy, Sarah B. Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece Representations and Realities. New York Oxford UP, 1997. Pomeroy2 Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves Women in Classical Antiquity. New York Oxford UP. Penelope, Clytaemestra, Athena, and Helen of Homers Odyssey Essay examThe Ideal Women of Homers Odyssey 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 Homers Odyssey, on the other hand, are the ideal. Penelope, Clytaemes tra, Athena, and Helen are all women with exceptional liberty and power. out front comparing the women of the Odyssey to those of Athens, it is beneficial to take a look into the lives of the latter. A respected woman was to have characteristics including obedience, virtue, refinement, productivity, honor, beauty, talent and intelligence (social consciousness). Sarah B. Pomeroy has studied this aspect of ancient animation and discusses it in her book, Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece. She states that women from this Athenian polis (city-state) are part of their husbands oikos. Though, these women have some power within the oikos, their primary responsibility was the procreation of sons. They held genuinely little and most likely no political power. They lived by guidelines set by society which were fairly restrictive. They must not do tasks out of doors, for then they would become the potential prey of rapists and seducers (Pomeroy 21). The wife must be kept chaste and pure, and so there was a need for a slave-woman. Not only were the women not allowed outdoors, but they were not to come into contact with strangers, particularly men. For, men would vie to win honour for themselves at the expense of other mens honour, and wives were a lot mere adolescents (Pomeroy 21). These mere adolescent wives were not only confined in their roles as women, they were also physically confined within the walls of ... ...ncient times. Perhaps the men were in fear that the women, were they in the position of power, would be as repressive as men. For whatever the many reasons for the situation in which the women lived, the truth holds that they are invaluable to society. thither may not be a female president for some years to come, but without women in modern society, there would be no male presidents either. Works Cited Aeschylus. Agamemnon. Greek Tragedies. Ed. David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago U of Chicago P, 1953. 1-61. Homer. The Odyssey. Tran s. Robert Fagles. New York Penguin, 1996. Pomeroy Pomeroy, Sarah B. Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece Representations and Realities. New York Oxford UP, 1997. Pomeroy2 Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves Women in Classical Antiquity. New York Oxford UP.