The Homeric Epics and Gender Relations: What can we learn from the Greek Mythology
Classical mythology offers the earliest glimpse into gender relations in Greek civilisation — what can we learn from it?
I have this affinity towards Greek Mythology. It started off from reading Percy Jackson, and it ended up with me reading the Homeric Epics. Beyond the blockbuster story plots, heroes, and love — what I enjoyed the most is the implicit story of humanity, its fragility, and its pains of existence. The epic poems are written around the 8th century BC, and it offers one of the earliest insights into human behaviours. I find it fascinating how much life has changed or has not changed over the course of centuries.
I read more than a quarter of the actual poems, read plenty of its adapted stories, and wrote a full-length academic essay about Homer. These are some of my thoughts regarding the gender relations within the story and their relevance in today’s life. Enjoy!
The Iliad and the Odysseus in a glance
The epic may seem dated, but the context has stayed relevant. Men are still dominantly represented in politics, law, religion, and the economy. We have made progress, but not enough. The institution we know now was developed by men for the benefit of men and had remained consistent throughout the century.
For the benefit of those who have no idea what is the Iliad and Odyssey, think of them as some sort of old fairytales. It involves a prince rescuing his princess and a King journeying back home after war. In the Iliad, the story is set during the Trojan war, where King Menelaus and Prince Paris are fighting over Helen (said to be the world’s prettiest). The strongest warrior of all, Achilles, was forced to fight the war, torn between loyalty and friendship. Here, women are both the reason the war started and the direct victim of the war.
In the Odyssey, the story is of the continuation of the Trojan War. The main character, Odysseus, was part of the warriors who won the war, and he is on the journey back home. However, his journey was full of battles and obstacles (well, mainly of women as his obstacles). Interestingly, the role of women in the Odyssey is much more active than in the Iliad; some even said that it has the most active women’s role than in any other surviving epic poems of Greek civilisation.
The role of women in the antiquity
“This can only mean that a scholar who is a woman must not allow herself to enjoy Odysseus’s stories uncritically, because she will then be colluding in a system that oppresses women.” (Szegedy-Maszak, 2002)
Behind the heroic plots, the Iliad and Odyssey are two poems that clearly show a system that oppresses women. In an extreme case, women are merely seen as an object or a property of the men. Women rarely speak, seldom make any decision, and are not involved in any matters outside households.
Before we move on to discussing gender relations, there is one thing I want to emphasise. Gender is a socially constructed identities that divide society into women and men. It is important to note that gender is not a biological difference, but it is a socially constructed concept.
Therefore, a gendered institution is a socially constructed distinction that is widely present within the ideologies, processes, and distribution of power in the social life of a society. What creates disabilities and disenfranchised women are these gendered institutions. For instance, the idea that men are more logical than women and hence, they are a better leader. As well as the concept that women are supposed to be working in the kitchen and take care of household matters. These are all embedded in human life for hundreds of years, if not thousands. What makes changes difficult is precisely this, the rooted gendered institution. Again — emphasising this because it is sooo important — it is not the biological difference that makes it difficult for women to shine, but because of these gendered social norms created by society itself.
Okay, so moving on to the role of women that are portrayed in the epic poem. In antiquity, women’s confinement in domestic spaces is seen to portray gender relations perfectly. Women are in charge of domestic roles, from cooking, fetching water, spinning, weaving to reaping. In addition to the clear separation between the role of men and women, women in the epic poem have no political power whatsoever. They were controlled by their parents when young; even the decision to marry typically resides in their father’s hand. Once they are married, they are controlled and dominated by their husband. It is then clear that throughout the epic poem, women are faced with disabilities by the gendered institution. There is an explicit limitation to what women can do or cannot do.
Women and marriage
Throughout the poem, there are no mentions of women aspiring to be different. It seems that a women’s sole life purpose is to marry well and bore children for her husband. Sounds familiar?
Nausikaa, how then could your mother have borne you so heedless?
All of your shimmering garments are lying away uncared for, though your marriage is surely approaching, the day you must put on beautiful clothing and furnish the garments for those who escort you.
For it is from these things that among men noble opinion spreads, and your father as well as the lady your mother are gladdened.
(Hom. Od. 6. 25–30)
When it was said that marriage is the cause that would allow noble opinion to spread and would let her parents joyous, Nausikaa agreed to that matter with no objections. This seems to emphasise the social expectation and the customary aspect of marriage. There are limited roles that women can play in the Homeric world, and the majority is undoubtedly being a good wife and mother.
In the same context, the current social practice and norms still put more emphasis on marriage for women than for men. This social expectation is embedded so deeply that more young women consider family life as important than young men. There is an interesting concept of women’s vulnerability in ‘anticipation of marriage,’ explained in the paper by Okin (1989). This refers to the case when women decide on their careers and education with marriage in mind. They anticipate being married while making life decision. This has perpetuated gender inequality. When they see their future with demanding responsibilities of family life, women are most likely to undertake traditional “female” jobs — those jobs with lower pay and lower time commitment.
The perpetual gender separation seems to be very resistant to change too, even for highly educated women and those with lucrative careers. The gendered family has not only limits women’s equality of opportunity but also rendered them vulnerable. With the move toward a more egalitarian society, women often found themselves in the presence of a double burden — working full time in the productive market while still caring for children and household matters. This phenomenon displays the persistency of inequality in the men-women relationship in the household. The traditional gender roles have been consciously and unconsciously practiced in society. The very fact that this double burden affected a vast majority of women, instead of men, is a perplexing problem yet expected nonetheless. Recent research in 2019 shows that women almost always take more responsibilities in domestic and caring work when both partners are in paid employment. Researchers have further corroborated this with the fact that despite the time women spend doing domestic work has declined over time, the time men spend has not increased. Surprising?
‘The great revolution that has not happened is a revolution in shared responsibilities for the family, in child care and child-rearing’ (Holtzman & Williams, 1987).
We, therefore, see the similarity between the Homeric world and ours. Although traditional gender norms are changing, they have not changed enough. It still has considerable influence on women’s decisions in marriage and on the division of household roles between men and women. Despite the liberal feminist movement, current social practices that perpetuate gender inequality would arguably persist for a long time — until there is a radical change in both culture and institution.
The images of women
The Olympian gods often viewed as the personification of human behaviour, continually shaping human history and destiny. Female immortals could be seen resembling mortal women characters. Here, I will explore three goddesses in more detail. They represent the images of modern women quite perfectly; Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera.
Athena is the embodiment of a masculine woman. Successful leaders are generally portrayed as aggressive, goal-oriented, and competitive — a characteristic associated with masculinity. They are rarely described as supportive, kind, and caring — arguably traits often attributed to femininity. Athena is highly respected and often feared in her role, precisely because of that. She is independent and rational, aggressive, and strong in nature.
With this she hit furious Ares in the neck and unstrung him.
He spread over seven acres in his fall, and his hair dragged in the dust, and his armour clashed. But Pallas Athena laughing stood above him and spoke to him in the winged words of triumph:
‘You child; you did not think even this time how much stronger I can claim I am than you, when you match your fury against me.’
(Hom. Il. 21. 406–411)
Power often equalises to masculinity. Femininity was coined to emphasise the compliance, nurturance, and empathy nature of women. Current social norms have idolised masculine behaviour and embedded it into power relations. Often, what it mean by feminism is being powerless.
Aphrodite represents physical beauty, sexual love, and fertility. She is the archetype of ideal women portrayed in the advertising industry; beautiful and sexually attractive women in the quest for love. Women’s physical attractiveness in popular culture is defined in the narrow norms of female beauty and even expected on certain occupation types (e.g., news anchors and actresses).
Hera, on the other hand, represents stability in the household. She is married to Zeus and is portrayed as a mature female character. She despises infidelity and remains faithful to Zeus, only bearing four children for him. However, it is never being reciprocated by Zeus, who has plenty of children outside his marriage. Hera characterise a powerful wife and mother who remain faithful but suffers from her husband’s affair.
Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera are the stereotypical images of women in the modern world. It is frustrating to note that women are forced to choose between being Athena (intellectual, masculine and ambitious career women), Aphrodite (beautiful and sexually attractive), or Hera (respectable wife-mother, staying faithful in marriage). One of the key elements of patriarchal society is this distribution of desirable characteristics to different females rather than to one person. Women are required to choose one but not all roles.
It is disheartening to note how accurate the epic’s representation is and how these images of women barely change over time. Emancipation only happens when women are allowed to be successful without the necessity of being masculine, to no longer be judged by physical attractiveness, and to break free from men’s domination. We still have a long way to go.
The study of the Iliad and the Odyssey allowed us to look into the past and learn about the future. It offers valuable insights into gender relations and a closer examination of the persistent gendered institution in society. Gender is not defined as a sexual characteristic, but it is a socially constructed idea that divides the role of women and men. There are limited roles that women can play, and the gendered institution has present disabilities in how much women can achieve.
As much as progress has been made, there is a striking similarity between the Homeric world and modern life — in the way women behave and how women are treated.
‘…the relevant question becomes not why are women excluded but to what extent have the overall institutional structure, and the character of particular institutional areas, been formed by and through gender. How have the subordination and exclusion of women been built into ordinary institutional functioning?’
(Acker, 1992)
We are, of course, moving into a much more equal society, albeit rather slow. Progress has been made, but many tasks are left undone. We need to do more. We shall not forget how far we have come but let’s not be complacent.
