The information presented here represents my impressions as a result of reading in the subject over many years. I present this information with the purpose of providing ideas and stimulus for further research. Feel free to quote me, but undertand that some of my statements will require additional substantiation from ancient sources. There is a bibliography included which should document my main sources.
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The Iliad and the Odyssey are poems relating adventures surrounding the Trojan War. The Iliad details a short time toward the end of the war, while the Odyssey deals with a period, almost tens years later, when Odysseus is returning home after the war. The focus of both poems are manly acts taken in the face of great adversity. Yet in both stories women are common and important. What is interesting, in fact, is that women are included in many roles. This seems to be a testament to the importantance of women in the Greek culture of that time. It should be further noted that the poems are not a glorification of war or the adventurous struggles of its participants. Rather, the whole story is told, including the effects on the women. The women of the poems are seen to struggle with the effects of war just as do the men in a way that spells out every detail, including the fate of the dead and the living. It is more than an earthly struggle. It is a struggle to reconcile oneself to the forces of the universe, whether they be gods, goddesses, men or women. For this reason the stories have a universal quality to everyone.
The role of women in the Odyssey is to demonstrate the many and varied roles that women play in the lives of men. These roles vary from goddess caretaker to monster. Women in the Iliad demonstrate the importance of women in the lives of the ancient Greeks because they are so prominent in a story so dominated with military affairs.
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