Women In the Iliad

The role of women in the Iliad is a subject that remains open to debate. Lefkowitz, in her article The Heroic Women of Greek Epic, argues that without the role of women in the Iliad the story would not have occurred (504 ).

Lefkowitz points out that the Iliad opens with a description of a plague that was caused as the result of the capture of Chrysies by Agamemnon (504). Chryseis is the daughter of a priest named Chryses. Chryses wants his daughter back, so he offers a ransom to Agamemnon to try to get him to return his daughter. Agamemnon doesn't accept the ransom, so Chyrses prays to Apollo to help him. Upon Chyrses's prayer, Apollo sends a plague on the Greeks. Once the plague is sent and it starts to affect Agamemnon's people, Agamemnon then agrees to return Chyrses to her father...