Women in the Ancient Greece

[Name of the institute]Women in the Ancient Greece in Odyssey, Medea, and Oresteia

Introduction

Men and women are equal creatures. However, presence of certain elements urges the human nature to treat genders differently. One of the aspects is time that has changed the behavior and attitude that a gender can portray for another gender. The aim of this paper is to go back to the ancient period and analyze how women used to play their part in the society and family. This paper particularly pays emphasis on the role of women in Greece and aims to explore the role of women as it is portrayed in the Odyssey, the Euripides' Medea, and Aeschylus' Oresteia.

Role of women in Greece

The picture of role of women during ancient period in Greece is difficult to predict. The major reasons of this is that there were no female writers at that time, so, no literature material is present that can present a clear picture of the role of women. The view of the role of women can be explained with the help of male writers who were from upper economic class. That is why the role of women in classical Greece cannot be understood in an unbiased way. An attempt is made to reveal the role of women in various novels and tales.

Portrayal of Women in “The Odyssey”

Women in ancient times in Greece were not allowed to take part in any political activities. Not only this they were not educated and they did not go to school, instead, they were confined and restricted to their homes. The only sort of education that they used to get was training of household work (Pomeroy, 1975).

The Odyssey points out that the major role of women was of wife or mother during classical period. In classical era of Greece people had judgmental approach. Women were categorized as good women and bad women. Good women were those who were wives and mothers of someone. Women who were neither a wife nor a mother were used to classify as lovers, rebels and witches. Significant role of women at that time was to perform household tasks. Women were supposed to remain faithful to their husbands and look after their house and produce children. On the contrary, it was allowed for men to have children outside the marriage settings. In the Odyssey, it is portrayed that women were liable to get legal punishment if they get involved in any affair other than marriage. Sophocles an Athenian man defined the sentiments and status of women of classical Greece as “But outside my father house, I am nothing, Young women in my opinion, have the sweetest existence known to mortals in their father homes, for their innocence always keep their children safe and happy. But when we reach puberty and can understand, we are thrust out and sold away from our ancestral gods and from our parents. Some goes to strange men's home, others to foreigners, some to joyless homes, some to ...