Should Homer be considered an early feminist or an old-fashioned sexist?

 Homer’s treatment of women in the novel The Iliad would appear sexist, but in the period at which this novel was written, Homer was a feminist. The fact that he gave power to the goddesses; Athena, Hera and Aphrodite was a major stepping-stone in this period. Although the goddesses often appear sneaky, the fact that they can get away with such schemes also proves that home disguised women as being clever. Not only in the Iliad did Homer show his feminists views but also in The Odyssey.  Home distinctively shows his point of view through the characters Penelope and the nymph Calypso, a temptress. Being a women with no husband and a son to look after, Penelope maintains a high level of social class. This was how homer portrayed the “independent woman.” In The Odyssey. Homer shows his point of view through the nymph Calypso, a temptress who has captured Odysseus. As Hermes sets Calypso into rage by demanding Odysseus. She begins to quibble with the fact of the Gods being sexist. Homer is giving the reader the opinion of a woman, something not sought after in his time.

To us Homer’s writing may appear sexists, but we must look deeper, we must see at the point inn time at which he wrote this novel. Homer was anything but sexists, he was complementary.