The Oppression Of Women In Ancient Greece

The art and literature that a society produces often reflect their community’s beliefs, social norms, and political views. That is also true in the case of Greek mythology. The myths show how deeply the Greeks revered the gods, and mirror how they behaved in their daily activities. The myths also reflect the presence of the patriarchal society in Ancient Greece. It shows the limitations that were placed on the female, whether she is immortal or human. At first glance of Greek mythology, one might assume that considering the myriad of different varieties of female characters present, that there could not be any discrimination against women. However, all the females characters tend to search for power that they are denied and never fully

First, the delayed creation of women assumes a time in which men existed without needing women. This lowers the status of women as it renders them as the inessential sex. This story also seems to place men against women. It depicts men as being innocent creature who are clear of any mistakes. Women, on the other hand, are seen as the cause of suffering and all evil, without whom men lived in harmony. In fact, “women were created as a curse for mortal men” (Theogony, 605). In an analogy, women represent the rock Sisyphus was punished with, being carried along by men. Secondly, the fact that Pandora was presented as a gift to Epimetheus can be seen as a clear case of objectifying women. The woman is seen as an object of trade between men, without a voice of her own to make her own decisions on who she would like to marry. Marcel Mauss discusses in his book The Gift (1952) the social significance of exchanging gifts. He points of that because of the obligation of repayment that is given when received the gift, the giver has power over the receiver. Considering the gods gift Pandora as a gift, she in turn makes the race of humans inferior to the gods. Meaning that humankind is deemed less due to the existence of women. Pandora did act on her own accord once when she opened the jar, which ends up being a big mistake. So even when she makes a decision on her own, that decision

She is the goddess of love, beauty, and sex. She is usually portrayed as being a coy and alluring character, that is constantly sleeping with many men regardless of her marriage to Hephaestus. One of the major stories she is heavily involved in is The Iliad, which tells the tale of the Trojan War. Aphrodite was one of the three goddesses involved in the ‘judgement of Paris’. The goddess Eris was excluded from a wedding in which all the gods were attending, and as a consequence of her anger she threw an apple over to the three goddesses Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera, and addressed it to the fairest. The goddesses started to bicker about who is the fairest, and as a result Paris was named to choose between the goddesses. Aphrodite managed to persuade Paris to choose her by promising to give him the most beautiful women, which was Helen of Sparta. However, Helen was already married to Menelaus who was the king of Sparta. This event eventually spiraled into causing the Trojan