2. Why do you think we hear more female voices (e.g. Penelope, Arete, Helen, etc.) in the Odyssey than in classical Athens? What is different about classical Athens? In Greek mythology, women are typically associated with all that is natural and evil, such as passion, jealousy, anger etc... and in classical Athens, society feared their union because they thought it had to be some kind crazy ritual is going on. Some of these characteristics are described in the Odyssey. The slaves, in fact, are shown at the service of the suitors, obeying their commands to satisfy their needs (including sexual ones). Furthermore, the beautiful nymph Calypso is a perfect example of how she seduces Odysseus, falls madly in love with him and keeps him captive for years. And Circe transforms the Odyssey. However, there are several female characters in the Odyssey who play essential roles in the stories, which contradicts the roles of women in classical Athens. First of all, some women stand out for their availability. For example, Helen, the queen of Sparta, who tries to help Telemachus find his father. Not to mention the imperative role of the Goddess Athena, who is very helpful and is always there to help Odysseus in difficult situations: at the beginning she helps Telemachus with her divine powers by disguising herself as Laertes' friend to convince him to talk to the suitors and forces them to leave because he knows that Ulysses is still alive somewhere. Furthermore, Odysseus' wife, Penelope, is described as very intelligent and loyal. Although her husband has been gone for several years, many men try to marry her, but she remains faithful to her husband because she still believes that he will return. Penelope is also an intelligent woman, which is not typical of classical Athens: she told suitors that this disease had led to the death of many people, so many dying so quickly that there was no time for a proper burial. Thucydides suffered from this disease and wrote a very detailed book about it describing the symptoms and the effects it had on people. He stated that everyone was terrified of this foreign disease, which made them act so barbarously and did not care about laws or social norms. Bodies were everywhere in the streets, ignoring funeral customs, bringing the city into chaos. The plague destroyed society. It also had a great effect on the war effort. In fact, many think that if this plague had never happened, the Athenians could have won the war. Others, however, say that this plague was a good thing that helped them during the war because it kept the enemies away: the other armies were afraid of contracting the disease that forced them to stay away from