...The Essential Role of Goddess in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey Just as women were viewed as inferior to men during Homer’s era, a first glance at Homer’s epics The Iliad and The Odyssey portrays goddesses as inferiors to gods. Despite the era’s bias to men, the goddesses are of equal importance to the plot of his stories as the gods. The goddesses play vital roles as either helpers or nightmares to men by often determining the results of an action. Homer did not establish the goddesses in his epics merely as minor structures to blend in the background. Rather, he established dynamic goddesses who were both powerful and intelligent. In fact, in many ways the goddesses controlled the gods by having an influence in their decisions and actions through manipulation, persuasion and guidance. By influencing the gods, the goddesses also played a large role as shepherds for human fate. The goddess’s constant intervention in the mortals’ lives was driven by favoritism, love or sexual desires, and their pity for the weak. Although the goddesses are often restricted from doing as they wish by the gods, they have proven, in many occasions, to overpower the gods through manipulation. Goddesses were often told what to do by the gods. Tasks such as delivering messages from Zeus were often carried out by Athena. Just as Hector told his wife, “Go home, attend to your own handiwork at loom and spindle, and command the maids to busy themselves, too. As for war, that is for men, all we...
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... Ms. Sterling 6 November 2015 The Role of Women in the Iliad Since the beginning of time, women have been considered inferior to men. In The Iliad, it seems that the society is dominated by men. Women make few appearances in the book, but are crucial to the plot. When referring to the aspect of war, it’s obvious that men are the ones that participate, with the exception of some female goddesses. Some are used mainly for a comparison to the male characters. Though the women play very small roles, they play a big part in humanizing the men affecting their actions. Women are overshadowed throughout the course of The Iliad, but still...
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...The roles of women in ancient Greek tragedies . The ancient Greek society was a society dominated by men, even the plays and proses mostly constituted of heroics of men, like Hercules, Achilles and many other. In such societies , women were considered to be frail and were expected to be submissive to men, a prize of war for victors, and their main role was to support their husbands. However, in many tragedies, women were often depicted as major characters, inkling that women may not have been the weak the submissive characters as they were thought to be. Many well-known Greek plays contained several well-written, complex, and heroic female characters. Each female character took upon herself, the role of villain, the role of victim, and the role of heroine. The tragedies also revealed the problems women encountered in this era within marriage, inheritance and social life when they attempted to break out of their traditional gender roles. Clytemnestra, daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, was probably one of the most recognizable female villains in history due to her partaking in the murder of her husband Agamemnon and his female consort, Cassandra. . in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, she was depicted as brutal, treacherous, and cunning woman. Her speeches made the citizens and the audiences to be well-aware of how she would welcome her husband home. “Let there spring up into the house he never hoped To see, where justice leads him in, a crimson path. In all things...
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...theme is conforming to gender roles and expectations. Written over two-thousand years ago, Antigone is ultimately based upon the struggle of an individual person...
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...Whittaker, Helene. (1995) Renowned professor of classical Archeology and Ancient History at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Helene whittaker is known for mainly being concerned with the Greek Bronze age. She wrote about the Gender role in The Odyssey, specifically focusing on the women's role and how women's treatment by men can be indicated as sexist. They are usually identified by their looks and treated based on how their physical appearance is, and whether they have power over any men. She makes it clear that throughout Odysseus’ journey to the underworld, he spots and gets a glimpse of different variety of women. She says that throughout the Odyssey, they do not state anything about the women’s accomplishments in their lifetime, but only about their important son's, good looks and pleasingness, and their affairs with gods. She also talks about how women are known for their action and activity towards their sons and husbands, but never for the action and deeds of their own, or how they are, nor what accomplishments they did for themselves. Helene states that it seems in the book Odyssey, the only achievements women could achieve was being pretty and attractive to they eyes of the men. She proves throughout her paper that even Homer made it sound as...
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...Women in Greek Society Although modern historians focused on cultural advancements in Ancient Greece, the society remained traditional, in that males assumed a bigger role in most aspect. While men were able to get involved in politics, through a system called polis, women were only confined to oikos, in which they were expected to stay at home and watch their children. Although they had right to their property, this was only possible with the permission of the husband, whom they had to rely on heavily in order to carry out their restrictions, such as going outside. Also, older men married young females, which led the husbands to become overly controlling of their wives. Women and men were expected to live in this manner from early in life, which is shown by the fact that girls were heavily supervised while boys had relative freedom. However, although...
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...Because of Penelope’s success in the face of adversity, she is a true heroine. Although inundated with suitors, she maintains her heroic loyalty to Odysseus in his absence. Contrastingly, her cousin, Clytemnestra, is unfaithful to her husband, Agamemnon, while he is fighting the Trojan War alongside Odysseus. Penelope knows that it is not conventional or acceptable to remain unmarried if one’s husband is considered dead, but her deep love and devotion to Odysseus keeps her inventing new means to avoid marrying any of the suitors. Because she is born to a prince and holds the royalty title, and anyone she marries will become King of Ithaca. For that reason, Penelope does not have to fear the same fate as Andromache, Hector’s wife in The Iliad. Hector was of royal blood, but Andromache was not; therefore, upon his death, she became someone else’s concubine. Penelope’s reason for not marrying is not for reasons of survival, but rather, for her absolute commitment to Odysseus. Instead of the brawn of the men heroes of that time, Penelope uses wits and brains to establish herself as a heroine. Penelope’s “heroism demands the courage to go unrecognized as a hero” (Heitman). Her weapon to fight off...
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...integral part of every world culture. In early times, people did not distinguish between adult and children’s literature. Children heard and presumably, enjoyed the same stories as their parents, whether they were the adventurous tales of gods and demons and magic spells and talking animals-as are found throughout the world. According to Russell (2004), Western civilization has its roots in the culture of ancient Greece and Rome, which flourished between about 500 BCE and 400 CE, now known as the Classical period. Greece in the fifth century BCE is in many ways the birthplace of Western culture and so that is where our story begins. In this cradle of democracy and individualism, children grew up with the stories of Trojan War (from Homer’s Iliad) and the travel Odysseus (from Homer’s Odyssey) and the stories of Jason and the Golden Fleece and the adventures of Hercules. They also knew of the now-famous fables attributed to the slave Aesop, believed to be a teacher, writing to instruct his students in cultural and personal...
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...THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON THE WORK OF THE INTERNAL HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL by Julie A. Paleen Aronow A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Master of Science Degree in Training and Development Approved: 4 Semester Credits Dr. Kat Lui The Graduate College University of Wisconsin – Stout May, 2004 ii The Graduate School University of Wisconsin – Stout Menomonie, WI 54751 ABSTRACT Aronow Julie Ann Paleen ________________________________________________________________________ (Last Name) (First) (Middle) THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON THE WORK OF THE INTERNAL HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL ________________________________________________________________________ (Title) Training and Development Dr. Kat Lui May 2004 65 ________________________________________________________________________ (Graduate Major) (Research Advisor) (Month/Year) (No. of Pages) American Psychological Association, 5th Edition ________________________________________________________________________ (Name of Style Manual Used in this Study) The coveted epicenter for the contemporary human resource professional is partnering with other internal business leaders to fulfill the organization’s mission through sound and ethical business principles and human resource practices. Over three decades, the discipline has matured into one that includes transactional practices along side the more sophisticated organizational development...
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...The Voyage of Argo was written in the middle of the third century BC by Apollonius of Rhodes who was the pupil of Callimachus, another great poet. There are many reasons why an epic is written, as a history like Homer’s Iliad tells of the Trojan War or as a way a poet can demonstrate his intricate literary abilities. The reason why Apollonius of Rhodes wrote the Argonautica is not clearly known but many scholars say it was closely associated with Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad. As a librarian Apollonius may have come across works by other epic poets and picked up some elements of epic which he used as a guide for his poem. Such elements include the use of similes, digression, epithets and exceptional characters. The importance of these characters is reflected in the roles and traits that are assigned to them. This is because the plot is developed by the distinctive character traits displayed. In the poem Jason and Medea turn out to be the main characters whose roles are very crucial to the development of the plot. This write-up would therefore try to bring out the distinctive similarities and differences in character traits of Jason and Medea both in deeds and words of Apollonius Voyage of Argo. Typical of all mythical heroes, both Jason and Medea are of royal blood. Jason is a prince whose father, Aeson is the rightful king of Iolcus until the usurpation of his power by Pelias, Aeson’s half-brother a very power-hungry man who wishes to gain dominion over all of Thessaly. Jason is...
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...Gender Differences in Perception of Masculinity in Men’s Crying I. INTRODUCTION Masculinity means being inexpressive and unemotional. Men are not expected to cry, to be sad or to be vulnerable (Forisha, 1978). According to the traditional stereotype being masculine means being assertive, being interested in things, rather than people, being analytical and manipulative, and being able to “get things done” (Forisha, 1978) Femininity and masculinity or one's gender identity refers to the degree to which persons see themselves as masculine given what it means to be a man or woman in society. (Burke, Stets and Pirog-Good 1988; Spence 1985) A person with a more masculine identity should act more masculine, that is, engage in behaviors whose meanings are more masculine such as behaving in a more dominant, competitive, and autonomous manner (Ashmore, Del Boca, and Wohlers 1986). Men are more likely than women to feel ashamed of crying. There are variations in degree, but this indicates that social norms restricting male crying may be pretty much universal. Male crying being generally discouraged from an early age, while female crying is accepted or even rewarded (Fox, 2004). Men cry less frequently and intensely than women, and this sex difference is especially marked for crying in response to anger. (Santiago-Menez & Campbelle, February, 2013) The history of men crying, men have always cried. Yet the acceptability of male crying has varied across...
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...EXAMINATION OF DUTY AND SELF CONTROL IN THE ODYSSEY Aashna Jamal INTRODUCTION Under the rule of Zeus, events did not occur in isolation but in interdependence causing there to be a flux in the totality of events and the whole drama being played on a cosmic plane. The central theme of Zeus’s rule is the preservation of his “ oikos” or household management where the prevalence of order over Chaos is of utmost importance. In this paper, using the Odyssey as a case study, I will examine the thematic importance of the decisions taken by a hero in accordance to or defiance of self control and pietas and the consequences they lead to. These expectations are clearly marked out for the reader who waits in anticipation to garner the fate of the hero. I will analyse the themes of self control and pietas or duty in the Odyssey and discuss their special significance in this epic. I will then briefly talk about the Hindu concept of duty or Dharma with reference to the Ramayana. I however do not intend to use the concept of monomyth coined by Joseph Campbell also referred to as the hero's journey(which is a basic pattern that its proponents argue is found in many narratives from around the world.) in comparing these epics. The example of the Ramayana will only serve my purpose of highlighting the theme of duty in mythologies across the world. Lastly, I will conclude with the importance of inspecting these themes because of their significance to the plotline. Georg Wissowa notes that pietas was...
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...An Introduction to Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Greek and Roman plays, and even Indeed ancient Indian plays (a common Indo-European Tradition), usually had a pivotal character that “held the play together”. Also there would be a Chorus that would come into play when the tragedy would begin unfolding. The Greco-Roman variants were almost always tragedies. Be it Homer’s Iliad or Odessey. The hero after long travails always seemed to return to nothing and would come to grief. Achilles, Priam, Agamemnon, Oedipus, all came to grief. In the Greco-Roman tradition, it seems to be a common practice by the Bards and playwrights, to depict their heroes as strong and upright men who fell prey to either their fates or to the whims and fancies of jealous gods (the plight Medusa & Cassandra). It appears the Greeks and the Romans looked to tragic plays as a sort of vent for their pent up emotions. Not surprisingly, the Indian answers to Homer’s works are also tragedies in keeping with the ancient Indo-European custom. Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are tragedies on an epic scale, where great wars are fought over matters of honor and virtue, and great armies decimated and cities sacked, and where great heroes come to naught. Sophocles takes us back to the times when Kings made their decisions based on oracles, and made propitiatory sacrifices. Sometimes even of their near and dear ones, as the sacrifice of a child, made by the Greeks at the outset of the Trojan war, for favorable winds...
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...Dragon Name Dragon The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which in turn comes from Latin draconem (nominative draco) meaning "huge serpent, dragon", from the Greek word δράκων, drakon (genitive drakontos, δράκοντος) "serpent, giant seafish". The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, and this usage was also current in English up to the 18th century. Morphology A dragon is a mythological representation of a reptile. In antiquity, dragons were mostly envisaged as serpents, but since the Middle Ages, it has become common to depict them with legs, resembling a lizard. Dragons are usually shown in modern times with a body like a huge lizard, or a snake with two pairs of lizard-type legs, and able to emit fire from their mouths. The European dragon has bat-like wings growing from its back. A dragon-like creature with wings but only a single pair of legs is known as a wyvern. Comparative mythology Further information: Chaoskampf, Sea serpent, Proto-Indo-European religion § Dragon or Serpent and Serpent (Bible) The association of the serpent with a monstrous opponent overcome by a heroic deity has its roots in the mythology of the Ancient Near East, including Canaanite (Hebrew, Ugaritic), Hittite and Mesopotamian. Humbaba, the fire-breathing dragon-fanged beast first described in the Epic of Gilgamesh is sometimes described as a dragon with Gilgamesh playing the part of...
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...ensure fair competition and ensure the adjudication of a winner though fairness was not always a common practice especially in the ancient world. The history of sport can teach us about the social changes with society. In ancient times it was not uncommon for humans to die during sport events. For at least seven hundred years entire villages participated in violent combat sports such as fencing and jousting. The Romans were especially known for this with the gladiatorial games and chariot racing. These types of sports would almost always leave an opponent seriously or fatally injured. In ancient Greece most sports took place during the funeral games during the Mycenaean period. Such games have been described in Greek mythology like the Iliad and Odyssey. Roman Gladiator games gladiators armed with combatant would challenge other gladiators or animals to a fight to the death during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. The winners moving on the other competitions even being deemed blessed by the gods by roaring spectators. Gladiator games reached their peak during the 5th century with the adoption of Christianity as the Roman state...
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