Women In The Iliad

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Women 's roles in the Iliad and Odyssey the seem to differ from the roles of men. Women were depicted as possessions to the men. Athena seems to stand out the most when it comes to both of these books Athena is the goddess of wisdom and war. Not only was Athena the goddess of wisdom and war, she played the role of the protector. Athena is one of the main female characters that truly show out throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey. An ancient history website states that “Athena was a major protagonist in Homer’s account of the Trojan War in the Illiad where she supports the Achaeans and their heroes, especially Achilles, to whom she gives encouragement and wise counsel." Athena beings to first show in the Illiad when Agamemnon threatens to go to Achille’s
Along side with Hera and Poseiden, Athena tended to help the Greek side during the war. With the help from others Athena comes up with the idea of a Trojan horse and that the warriors hide inside the horse and that the horse would be brought into the city and given as a gift. A Classics website states that “The Trojan Horse The latter, a worthy son of his father, slays the a last ally of the Trojans, the Eurypylus, the brave son of Telephus; and Philoctetes, with one of the arrows of Heracles, kills Paris. Even when the last condition of the capture of Troy, the removal of a small statue of Athena, called the Palladium, from the temple of Athena on the citadel, has been successfully fulfilled by Diomedes and Odysseus, the town can only be taken by treachery. On the advice of Athena, Epeius, son of Panopeus, builds a gigantic wooden horse, in the belly of which the bravest Greek warriors conceal themselves under the direction of Odysseus.” In all Athena in the Illiad shows the many roles that she seems to display thoughout the books.Athena goes from the typical goddess to the women that is on the battle field provocking someone kill someone with an

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