Homer's Iliad, the text often considered the beginning of the Greek literary tradition, begins with an argument between Achilles and Agamemnon over a woman. This fight takes place during a war that began because of Helen, who was stolen from the Achaeans by the Trojans due to her overwhelming beauty. It is a theme that persists throughout the Greek literary tradition. While it is usually the men in these kinds of books who commit acts of violence as warriors and fighters, it is often a woman's action or reaction that sets off an unfortunate series of events. Women are very often seen as drivers of violence in Greek literature, as evidenced by three key works: Sappho's "If Not, Winter", Euripides' The Bacchae, and The Banquet of Plato.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay As a lesbian, Sappho offers a unique perspective on the role of women in Greek society. This is someone who is incapable of procreating with the people they are sexually attracted to. From these factors, it can be inferred that Sappho does not love for the purpose of investing in her lineage or family lineage. On the contrary, his love for women is purely romantic in nature. In the first fragment of “Else, Winter,” she describes the goddess of love as “[d]eternal star-spirited aphrodite, / child of Zeus, who twists lures” (Sappho 3). The language used in this interaction shows her view that love is something she has been deceived into. A "decoy", as Sappho puts it, is a tool used during hunting to lure the victim into a trap so that they can be killed. This language implies an unpleasant ending because it leads the leader to believe that her relationship with the people she loves – women – is likely to end badly, even violently. Additionally, this dialogue with Aphrodite shows his view that his feelings towards women are inevitable and uncontrollable. In her 31st fragment, Sappho describes violence as the product of the presence of a woman. In this poem, her love has a flirtatious conversation with a man. Sappho is overcome with jealousy, describing her emotion while watching the scene as "fire runs under the skin / and in the eyes, no sight and the drums fill the ears" (Sappho 63). The fire metaphor is significant because fire is inherently violent and often uncontrollable. By nature, fire destroys and consumes. To equate his feelings provoked by his intense feelings towards this woman with fire is to indicate the unbridled, uncontrolled and destructive nature of sexual desire towards a woman. If her feelings are uncontrollable like fire, a lure Aphrodite sets, then she could conceive of no way to prevent such emotion. Any attempt to do so is likely to be unsuccessful, as Sappho describes in her first fragment: “[i]f she does not love, soon she will love / even not want to” (Sappho 5). Therefore, there is no way to avoid the negative consequences that result from this intense emotion unless the woman is completely removed from the scenario. Sappho recognizes the specificity of her situation in the 31st fragment and expands her scope to prove universality. of this circumstance. “But everything is to be dared, because even a poor person” (Sappho 63), Sappho begins before the fragment ends abruptly. Even if the sentence is partial, its implications remain clear. It is not his fame, his money, or his individual circumstances that are responsible for his intense and destructive state of mind. Thisfeeling would have happened to anyone, regardless of the circumstances. Women are the cause of such irrational feelings that can only lead to negative consequences, as confirmed by the sinister last full sentence of the fragment “I am dead – or almost / it seems to me” (Sappho 63). Sappho characterizes the presence of a woman as something likely to produce an unhappy end. Logically, a set of rules and standards should be established to avoid negative outcomes. Blatant disregard for these rules, exemplified by the Bacchae in Euripides' composition, leads to a violent and horrific end. The sexually liberated women of the Bacchae are free to conform to a restrictive society. Additionally, they are depicted as violent, bestial, and uncontrollable. This correlation suggests that women, especially those who do not follow the expectations of patriarchal society, are prone to violent ends. The collective, liberated nature of the Bacchae, or the group of women who worship Dionysus, threatens the ancient Roman religion. society in which this piece was written. The Bacchants have no explicit leader, no king or queen to tell the humble peasants how to live their lives. Instead, they live in community. When the messenger tells Pentheus of his experience with the women, he describes them as a flock, “they flew like birds” (Euripides 50). Rather than a singular leader supported by an army, the Bacchants are birds, an animal with no hierarchy in their society. This can be described as “with” power. This type of cooperative power contrasts with Pentheus, who opposes the Bacchae for their behavior, stating in reference to the Bacchants that "[t]hey who run at large will be hunted." (Euripides 28). Pentheus is ready to act and repress those who do not think like him. From this, his dependence on superiority and domination in the society he rules is clear. As king, he exercises power “over”. This school of thought is undoubtedly very detrimental to the established patriarchy. This fear is reflected in Teiresias' attempt to comfort Pentheus, who is troubled by the fact that these two men want to join the Bacchae movement, "[don't] be so sure that domination is what matters in the life of a man.” (Euripides 31). The power over, which Pentheus illustrates, rests in part on sexual control. In contrast, from Dionysus' point of view, hedonism – particularly sexual activity – is not discouraged. The aspiring bacchant Tiresias makes this clear when he points out that “Dionysus does not, I confess, oblige a woman to be chaste” (Euripides 31). When women are allowed to have sex independently and without inhibition, a power shift occurs. Because if we cannot regulate the female body, we cannot regulate reproduction. This view, in turn, means that it is impossible to regulate inheritance, ultimately putting patriarchy at risk. The potential replacement of the patriarchy of Pentheus with the matriarchy of Bacchus proves dangerous because of the role women play as drivers of violence. The return to the natural state is deeply emphasized within the Bacchae clan. The reason is, as the wise Tiresias explains, that “[m]anykind, young man, possesses two supreme blessings. The first of these is the goddess Demeter, or Earth,” and the second, as he describes next, is Dionysus. This connection to the land and the natural order of things is important because it suggests that deep down, in their most natural state of being, women are wild, relentless and murderous. For example, the Bacchantes, with “hair [crowned] with leaves, ivy and oak” (Euripides 49), arecapable of connecting to the earth in unprecedented ways. One woman is described as having “scraped the ground with her bare fingers and white milk came out.” Pure honey gushed out,” while another “plunged her fennel into the earth [...] a spring of wine flowed” (Euripides 49). The next moment, we see these same women “tearing with their bare hands a large calf, still screaming with fear, in two, while others clawed the heifers into pieces” (Euripides 50). The scene of the unregulated and empowered clan of women attacking after the men who watched them bathe is described in gruesome and gory detail. The graphic imagery of "ribs and split hooves scattered everywhere, and bloodstained remains hanging 'from the fir trees'" (Euripides 50) suggests that deep down, in their most natural state, women are violent. The Bacchae suggests that a circumstance in which women are liberated and not subdued by a patriarchal force will inevitably lead to violence. ends, because that's simply how women are. This is underlined by the massive role that the Bacchae play within the work. Conversely, Plato's Symposium presents a notable lack of women in the play, with only one female character, Diotima, invented by Sophocles. The play, unlike many works in the Greek tradition, ends without bloodshed or gore. It is the absence of a woman in the scene that allows men to live their lives in peace, proving that women are the drivers of violence. Despite the omission of a real woman in Symposium, the play does not lack sexuality. This is important to note, because it is not the presence of sexual interest that leads to the disorder. Sexuality in itself is not bad; rather, it is women's sexuality that produces violent consequences. In The Symposium, while the men around the table discuss what they believe to be the nature of love, they never condemn love as a whole. The characters do not believe that the act of love or sexual desire is sinful or immoral. For example, Phaedrus, a philosopher and the first to speak at the event, begins his speech by stating that “love is a great god” (Plato 9). His main proof of love as the "highest honor" (Plato 11) is the story of an Alcestis, a woman who commits suicide in her husband's place, which the gods accept as "nobly done" ( Plato 11). In this story, it is the elimination of the woman that puts an end to indeterminate violence, even if she is ultimately brought back to life as a reward for her altruism. But despite his noble and charming sacrifice, Achilles receives a greater honor than her because his story is that of a “lover […] more divine than his son” (Plato 12). As a woman, she cannot play any role in this equation. The second story he tells is that of Orpheus who, motivated by his heterosexual desire, travels to Hades to reconnect with his love. He becomes dissatisfied when he is shown only an image and not his body, so the gods “punished him for this and put him to death in the hands of women” (Plato 11). The fact that he is angry when he is not given his body is important because it shows his sexual, rather than emotional, motivation when it comes to seeking his beloved. It is therefore this frustration triggered by his heterosexual desire that leads to his own disappearance. By placing “in the hands of women” at the end of the sentence, great importance is given to the manner in which he is punished. It is these last words that stick in the reader's mind and are what remains when they move on to Phaedrus' next point. Plato's emphasis on this specific manner of execution states that death "to.