Throughout The Odyssey, written by Homer, the treatment of women plays a key role in the overall outcome of the story and is a central issue presented in this poem. In many scenarios it is evident that men are treated with superiority to women. During the era that this story was written, men played the dominant role. Society was organized, directed, and controlled by men, and it was accepted that women occupied a subservient and inferior position. Questia states, “Despite their vital role in Ancient Greek and Roman society, women were not considered full citizens and in most instances required a guardian – their fathers, and later husbands – to represent them” (“Women in Ancient Greece and Rome”).
Being a Spartan woman, I would have been treated with dignity and respect. I would have been able to walk the streets with my head held high and not seen as a woman, but as a Spartan. On the other hand, women are seen as a terrible life necessity needed to create men in Athenian culture. Athenians thought the women body to be disgusting and something to be concealed at all times; whereas, Spartans felt that the women figure was something of beauty and allowed them to show off their bodies however the individual women saw fit. During this time, Athenians believed in the ideal male figure and was infatuated with the look and feel of the young male nude.
Although women occupied an entirely different position in society compared to men, they too held a certain sphere of influence and power; they simply exerted it in ways that were distinct from men’s strategies. By examining the character of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, one can see just how women exerted their power and influence in The Odyssey and to what ends. Penelope uses clever cunning and sexual charm to toy with men’s emotions and to meet her own needs while she is waiting for her husband to return from battle. The types of strategies and her relative success in using them will be examined in this essay. Athena is the daughter of Zeus who helped Odysseus throughout his quests.
Roman wives were not segregated from males in the home, unlike the Greeks. Also, in Rome the father’s of women arranged the marriages of their daughters, unlike the Greeks. In Greece the Spartan women had greater freedom of movement and greater power in the household than was common for women elsewhere in Greece. This was the case because of the separation of their husbands remaining in military barracks until the age of thirty.
Artistic Themes from Ancient Cultures: Greece and Rome Throughout history, the roles of women and men always have differed to some degree. In ancient Greece and Rome, the traditional roles were specific and defined. The Greek society was male-controlled as was the Roman society. Women’s ranks in both societies were based on those of their fathers and husbands. However, they generally did not have the same rights as their male relatives.
INTRO Each society has double standards in gender roles and levels of expectation. The established values unique to each society have little influence by nature but heavily influenced by culture and current political standings. Moreover, the ideals and distinctions of masculine and feminine activities and behaviors are reinforced and redefined through powerful social norms of any particular period. In Medieval and early Modern Europe societies, gender roles were clearly defined by the strong prevailing social structure of the period and were constantly changing due to historical circumstances. For example, in the Greek ancient city of Sparta, the ideal masculinity was strictly associated with the characteristics of being physically powerful and loyal warrior while femininity was related to marriage and procreation.
Cindy Zhang 1/4/13 While China and Greece were similar in their social aspects in that they were both hierarchal empires and favored the men oppose to the women, they differed because they believed in different philosophies and philosophers such as Confucius of China and Plato of Greece. China and Greece are both hierarchal societies. Women were always considered inferior to men. Also in both societies, women were loyal to their family. The China had this law of filial piety where there are five different relationships including husband to wife where the wife was obedient and subservient to the husband.
Dictating the development of their culture and to separate the roles of each gender is what these rules helped. In ancient Greek society, men held a number of rights and had a number of responsibilities that were not available to females within the society. Men had the dominant role in public life in ancient Greece. They were engaged in politics and public events, while women were often encouraged to stay in the home. Now the roles and responsibilities of women were limited.
The Roles of Men and Women in The Oresteia In The Oresteia, Aeschylus encourages the importance of the male role in society over that of the female. The entire trilogy can be seen as a subtle assertion of the superiority of men over women. Yet, the women create the real interest in the plays. Their characters are the incentive that makes everything occur. The characters of Clytaemnestra, Cassandra, and the goddess Athena can demonstrate this.
Creation of gender roles The founder of Western Civilisation, Greece, revered women even by worshiping female gods and creating Amazon legends, however the Greek world still viewed women as “inferior in political, social and legal realms” (Lindsey, L. L., 2005, p. 99). This continued throughout all the other historical periods, from Ancient Rome to the Middle Ages, from feudalism to the Renaissance, from industrialisation to the depression and following the World Wars, from the rise of women’s movements till to-date, the female gender has been slow in gaining ground in achieving their rights and importance in society. Industrialisation brought about numerous employment opportunities for women from various social strata, yet it was only after the Second World War that socially constructed roles started being challenged and more favourable circumstances were by default offered to women. (Lindsey, 2005) Gender roles in marriage and family It is evident that even in religious teachings women’s roles were always considered inferior to men. Even in the Bible’s first book, the book of Genesis it was Adam who was given the privilege of naming the animals as well as naming his female companion, Eve, created by God who is envisaged “by nature disobedient, guileless, weak-willed, prone to temptation