Term Paper on "Roles of Women in Ancient Hebrew and Greek Culture"

Term Paper 5 pages (1632 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Women in Greek and Hebrew Cultures

Women in both ancient Greek and Hebrew cultures were subservient to males since societies were highly patriarchic in those days. To expect ancient women to have had enjoy as much freedom and as many civil rights as they do today is ridiculous since the entire social structure was so constructed that it benefited males. However there is some difference that we may notice in the extent of freedom enjoyed by women by different ancient cultures. Most of what we know about ancient culture comes from literature of that time. Ancient Greek and Hebrew literature throw light on social system of the time and the treatment meted out to women.

The best depiction of women in Greek culture comes from works of Homer. He has focused on various versions of women while at the same time, tried to stay within the social confines of the time. Greek literature is well-known for its larger than life male characters as for its beautiful, extensive, colorful and vast panorama of womanhood ranging from the meek and timid maids to powerful and sometimes evil goddesses and mistresses. Odyssey has therefore been as much been in literary circles for its Odysseus and his complex as for its large variety of females. However, we must remember that while some powerful females occupied an important place in Greek literature, they have nonetheless been shown as subordinate to male figures.

Some writers including Homer may have tried to focus on positive side of women in their works, yet the basic underlying purpose that female characters served remained the same through Greek culture. Women in Greek culture symbolized destruction, treachery and negative power. They were used as dangers and threats and even their positive side of largely deliberately overshadowed by the general negativity surrounding their gender. Some of the famous female characters in Greek history have been Clytemnestra, Cassandra, Antigone and Medea. All of these figures were mostly presented in a negative light or their character was given some negative shade because Greek society or precisely Greek men saw women equated women with temptation, frailty and treachery. Women are presented as evil elements and even some of the innocent ones have been assigned negative attributes. Take Cassandra for example. Cassandra was gifted with the ability to predict the future with the curse that no one ever believed her prophecies. She was a virgin and this had become a problem since she resisted sexual advances and was seen as a rebel and females were not allowed to rebel against given set of societal rules.

The very fact that in most Greek literature, we see women from the eyes of a man attests to the notion that Greek was a patriarchic society where women were fantasized yet never allowed to dominate men in any field of life. Even while Homer has tried to maintain a somewhat impartial stance on the subject of women, the text of the poem Odyssey often gives away his prejudices. For example while infidelity in men is treated as something normal and acceptable, the same is frowned upon in females and such women are called "frail" and "treacherous." Another interesting feature is the assigning of some negative attribute to all women regardless of their virtue, beauty, power and basically chaste past. This shows that Homer was as biased towards women as the rest of Greek society and thus women were given a shaded treatment in the poem, which suppresses their positive attributes and highlights or emphasizes upon their negative traits.

Penelope was similarly presented in two colors. While on the one hand she was the epitome of beauty and virtue yet there are times when her character comes under scrutiny and her wisdom is frowned upon. Though she is described as: "Penelope the Wise, tall in her beauty as Artemis or pale-gold Aphrodite, appeared from her high chamber and came down to throw her arms around her son" (Homer p.432), she is also considered a frail woman with weak judgment as her son Telemaklos says:."..my mother is like that, perverse for all her cleverness: she'd entertain some riff-raff, and turn out a solid man." (p. 379). Penelope has also been accused of deceiving her suitors (p. 449). These negative attributes highlight the low status of women in Greek society even though some of them enjoyed immense power and came from illustrious families.

There are several occasions when women are praised either for their beauty or power for example Arete is described by Athena in these words: "no grace or wisdom fails in her; indeed just men in quarrels come to her for equity. Suppose, then, she looks upon you kindly, the chances are that you shall see your friends under your own roof, in your father's country." (p. 112), yet Greek authors and poets did not allow any female character become more powerful than males or dominate them in any manner. The technique that Greeks used to accomplish his goal is consistent allusion to negative traits of women such as treachery, frailty or deception. The conversation that takes place between Odysseus and Agamemnon supports this claim. Agamemnon first condemns Clytemnestra and Homer uses this opportunity to criticize the entire womanhood. Agamemnon says:."..[she] defiled herself and all her sex, all women yet to come, even those few who may be virtuous." Odysseus never tries to contradict him but accepts his advice that:."..indulge a woman never, and never tell her all you know. Some things a man may tell, some he should cover up." This conversation highlights the general Greek opinion of women, which hasn't change much in the contemporary society.

Men held negative opinion of women as we saw in the case of Agamemnon. There are several occasions in various ancient Greek texts when women are associated with danger and pleasures as perceived by male figures while men are associated with everything human. For example, Odyssey describes the wife of the Laistrygonian Antiphates, "as large as a mountain top, and they loathed her" (10.113) and Kyklops Polyphemos, as a "monstrous marvel, and he didn't resemble/a man who eats bread but a wooded pinnacle/in the high mountains" (9.190-93).

In this connection, when we compare Greek culture to that of ancient Hebrew culture, we find that women were accorded greater freedom and were seen as more than mere objects of desire. Their history goes back to the times of Moses and Joshua and mainly resides in Israel. Women were considered important in the sense that their intelligence wasn't underestimated and they were not seen as insignificant being meant for housework alone. Even though they were still subservient to men and were mostly required to do what culture demanded of them, still they enjoyed more rights, a much higher status and better worth as members of a society compared to their ancient Greek counterparts. In the book of Joshua, we come across the example of Rahab. When Joshua sent two men to Jericho, they stayed at "the house of a prostitute named Rahab" (Josh. 2:1). Rahab, despite being a prostitute, is presented in a positive light. She was a woman of faith and was spared when Joshua destroyed the city. Her faith is praised in the New Testament and she later became ancestor to Jesus Christ.

But presenting women in a positive light is not the only reason why women enjoyed higher status in ancient Hebrew culture. They also occupied positions of power. After the death of Joshua, judges took over as rulers of Israel. One of these judges was a woman by the name of Deborah. "Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading [KJV: judged] Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel...and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided" (Judg. 4:4-5).… READ MORE

How to Reference "Roles of Women in Ancient Hebrew and Greek Culture" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Formation of Ancient Societies Essay

Formation of Ancient Societies

The Ancient Near-East

The different religious beliefs of the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Assyrians tell us many things about the differences in these societies. However, since… read more

Essay 7 pages (2084 words) Sources: 7 Topic: World History

---

Ancient Lit Gilgamesh Questions Term Paper

Ancient Lit

Gilgamesh questions

Why might we consider Gilgamesh a bad king at the beginning of this Sumerian work?

The King of Uruk is described as being an arrogant ruler,… read more

Term Paper 3 pages (870 words) Sources: 0 Topic: World History

---

Woman in Genesis Term Paper

Women in Genesis 1-3

So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them,… read more

Term Paper 9 pages (3075 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Religion / God / Theology

---

Rebekah: What Happens When a Mother Loves Research Paper

Rebekah: What Happens When a Mother Loves Unevenly?

In many ways, the Bible can be viewed as a misogynistic book, which portrays women as victims or pawns subject to male… read more

Research Paper 15 pages (5361 words) Sources: 12 Topic: Religion / God / Theology

---

Representing Masculinities in Casino Royale and Fight Club Essay

Fight Club and Casino Royale

Representing Masculinity in Fight Club and Casino Royale

If, as R.W. Connell implies, antagonism toward homosexual men may be used to define masculinity, both Chuck… read more

Essay 9 pages (3028 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Sexuality / Gender

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>