Iliad And Theogony: Women's Role In Greek Culture

Women in Greek Culture
To gain a well-rounded understanding of Greek culture, not only must the roles of men be examined, but also the roles of women. Thus, women’s roles in Greek culture merit investigating. In examining of the roles of women, the Greek works the Iliad, written by Homer, and Works and Days and the Theogony, both written by Hesiod, prove useful. Although Hesiod and Homer do not write extensively about Greek women, they still convey the roles of women in Greek culture either explicitly or implicitly through their writing. While the women in the Iliad, the Theogony, and Works and Days had a variety of roles, their most basic role was that of an obedient contributor to the oikos. And women contributed primarily through domestic and sexual duties.
Domestic duties were an important part of Greek women’s contribution to the oikos. Although other domestic duties are mentioned, weaving is the primary domestic task represented in Homer and Hesiod’s writing. Hesiod,
This is illustrated in both Homer and Hesiod’s writing. In the Iliad, there are several references to the female captives of war sleeping with Greek men. Homer states, “Achilles slept with Briseis”, who is his reward for fighting (24.793-794). When describing Chryseis role in his household, Agamemnon also says she will be “forced to share my bed” (1.35-36). As conquests of war, Chryseis and Briseis were expected to contribute to the oikos by having sex with their captors. But women of conquered cities were not the only women who contributed by engaged in sex. Hesiod provides insight into the sexual duties of wives when he encourages men to “[m]arry a virgin, so that you may teach her good ways” (Works and Days 57-58). This statement implies that it was a wife’s marital duty to sleep with her husband (57-58). Overall, both wives and female captives were engaged in sexual duties as part of their contributed to the