The Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal society. This is reflected throughout the myths in classical mythology. By looking at the classic mythology we will see that the roles women portrayed are very different than women's roles in today's society. Although there are a few similarities to women's roles in today's society, their roles are more like those women in the past. We can see this by looking at the attributes of Greco-Roman female gods and looking at the roles women play in the myths. By comparing the roles of women in the myths with women's roles today we will see that the roles have many differences and few similarities.

The first things we will look at to show women's roles reflected in Classical mythology are the attributes of the female gods. Of the fourteen main Olympian Deities, only six of them are women. This includes Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Artemis, Athena, and Aphrodite. Of these six I believe Hera, Demeter, and Aphrodite best portray the role of women in Greco Roman society, as reflected in Classical mythology

The Olympian Deity who best shows the role of women is portrayed by Greek Mythology is Hera. Hera is the go

The Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal society. This is reflected throughout the myths in classical mythology. By looking at the classic mythology we see that women's roles portrayed in myths are very different than their roles in today's society. In classic mythology women are thought of as housewives who stay at home and preside over the families. They are expected to do what men say even to the extent of marrying whomever their father chooses. They are always at fault for the world's problems and are never thought to be equal to men.

The story of Theseus and Hippolytus is another myth that shows the role of women in Greco-Roman society. In this story Hippolytus rejects Aphrodite to follow Artemis. In revenge, Aphrodite makes Hippolytus' mother Phaedra fall in love with him. Phaedra, unable to control her sexual desire, makes her move on Hippolytus. After he rejects her, she hangs her self and leaves a note saying that Hippolytus raped her. When his father Theseus returns he kills him. This story shows that the Roman-Greco society thought women were filled with lies and the cause of many bad things. This is different than women's roles in today society because today it is usually thought that more men lie to avoid troubles and confrontations.

Aphrodite is another Olympian Deity who helps show the role of women in Greco-Roman society. Aphrodite was the goddess of sexual desire. I think this showed that women in this period used men's desire to get things they wanted. In one myth Aphrodite got Zeus to change himself into a swan (Hughes, Lecture). Now, who's supposed to be the most powerful god? This is very similar to the role of women in today's society. Women usually use men's desires to get them to do what they want them to. The big difference is that in today's society many women give into the men and share in desire with them before they are married while in the Greco-Roman society very few women had premarital relations. Women who were not virgins were usually never married and sold into slaves by their fathers (Powell 34).

Women's roles in today's society are far different from this. They are no longer looked upon

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Approximate Word count = 1465
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)