Lupita Nyong’o: ‘When you read The Iliad and The Odyssey, very little time is spent from the perspective of the women.’
Let’s check Homer’s female character list:
- Helen: Her beauty launches a thousand ships and a ten-year war.
- Athena: Strategic goddess guiding Odysseus through the entire Odyssey.
- Penelope: Spends 20 years outsmarting 108 suitors. The definition of clever loyalty.
- Circe: Turns men into pigs. The most realistic female character arc in literature.
- Calypso: Traps the hero on an island for seven years. Goddess with agency and desire.
- Cassandra: Sees the future. Nobody listens. The first woman in history to experience a meeting.
- The Sirens: Weaponize music and temptation. Almost end the hero’s journey.
- Nausicaa: Saves Odysseus when he washes up naked and helpless. Princess with compassion and courage.
- Andromache: Gives one of the most devastating anti-war speeches in the Iliad.
- Hecuba: The emotional wreckage of empire in human form.
- Aphrodite: Starts half the problems in Western civilization by being powerful.
- Hera: Running divine opposition research across both epics.
- Thetis: Gets Zeus involved because Achilles is having a workplace dispute.
But apart from Helen, Athena, Penelope, Circe, Calypso, Cassandra, the Sirens, Nausicaa, Andromache, Hecuba, Aphrodite, Hera, and Thetis… what has Homer ever done to give female characters attention?
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