Palladas Treatment Of Women In The Iliad

The many women in The Iliad have had a profound effect on the story as a whole, and to this day, researchers still study the role they played in Homer’s great works. Palladas’ view towards the women in the Homeric plays, specifically The Iliad is greatly misconstrued and incorrect. Palladas’ view of women being the sole cause of the terror and destruction in the poem is not quite accurate. The extent to which his claim of women being dangerous and the cause of all the problems in the poem is greatly exaggerated and false. For instance, many times the women in the poem are portrayed as of little use to society, and solely for doing household chores. One might argue that the men in the poem, struggling with greed and battle amongst each other, …show more content…
The Trojans and Greeks fought for nearly ten years because of a woman who was “stolen” away from the Greeks by a Trojan prince. Although this hardship is quite immeasurable, it is impossible to tell whether Helen went with Paris because she chose too, or that she was forced. We can infer that she was forced due to the way she is treated throughout the poem. Essentially, it is hard to believe that a war that spans nearly ten years is one fueled solely by a woman. No singular woman can cause that much destruction. The male ego, and addiction to greed and power is one that is very common in The Iliad, illustrating the reasoning for the war. Their constant conversations about gifts and prizes, often having women be a part of these things, shows a disgusting view on humanity and makes the claim by Palladas hard to agree with. How can, in a poem that portrays women so negatively and at times not even as humans, spark a war that lasts so incredibly long? These men are barbaric, and the Greeks are fighting so long it almost seems like they do not care as much to see Helen returned, but to see Troy fall to rubble. For example, in Book Nine of The Iliad, Agamemnon offers Achilles many gifts, from gold bars, to oxen, cauldrons, and even women (Book 9, Lines 146-159). This offering demonstrates clearly the disregard for women and portrayal of them as simple objects to be “given” as gifts. It is difficult to understand why the men in the poem can freely trade and give women as gifts, but then fight for a decade over one particular woman that may have wanted to leave Greece in the first place. Either way, the men in battle, both Greek and Trojan, created the destruction. This is clear not only by their physical destruction of each others’ armies, but of the city of Troy as well. The women of the poem may have been a reason in the beginning to start a war, but not a reason strong enough to fight for so