The Position of Women in Homer’s Iliad

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THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN HOMER’S ILIAD The Iliad has been known as not only the war of kings but also the war of gods. This epic poetry was written between B.C. 7 - B.C. 8 by Homer. The Trojan War was the subject for The Iliad, however; Homer did not mention every single day of The Trojan War, instead he chose to mention fifty one days of the ninth year of the war. The Iliad starts with the rage of Achilles to Agamemnon which was the commander of the Achaean army and that is why Achilles got out of battle. On the other hand, the said epic ends up with the event that Hector killed the Patroclus, the best friend of the Achilles, because of Achilles’ reentering the war, killing the Hector and giving Hector’s body to to king father Priam. There is a rumor about the beginning of The Trojan War as the golden apple. While analyzing the reasons of the triggers of The Trojan War, the fact of “woman” cannot escape from the attention of reader. As a result of the beauty competition that had not been mentioned clearly in The Iliad, goddesses took their sides in The Trojan War. As a matter of fact, it is the real reason of The Trojan War which is “love of Helen and Paris”. Homer’s Iliad includes strong female characters with no doubt. For instance, Hera and Athena are respected as the most reputable and powerful women in the book. Even the most powerful male gods cannot stand out against them. Especially Athena and Hera, instead of being mentioned as impressive and challenging personalities, are shown as a crafty and sharp-witted people. Besides this, they are depicted as using their beauty and attractiveness to put across what they want, and Hera could weaken even the king of gods and men, Zeus. However, in The Iliad, very few number of females deeply enter the story and affect the history on a large scale. In general, the women who appear generally play in just one or
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