The Odyssey - Gender roles

The Odyssey is the product of a society in which the dominant role was played by men. In ancient Greece, just as in the whole of the ancient world, and in America and Western Europe until the last century, women occupied a subservient position. Society was organized and directed by men, and all of the most important enterprises were those which men arranged and implemented. Women were valued, but they participated in the affairs of …

…each other, even though three thousand years later, there is still much women have yet to accomplish. Homer saw a ray of light for women in society. One that would not be matched for many centuries to come. Still asserting that women were in no means equal to that of men, Homer still saw the capability for the development of women in Greek society, even if the one women he developed most was not mortal.