What is the importance of family and relationship between family members in the Homeric world?

Answer 1

This is a complex question so to answer it you will have to tell us at what level it is.

The simple answer is that family is of the greatest importance. Here are some examples:
(Odyssey) Odysseus goes through his perilous journey in order to return home, to his wife and child.
(Odyssey) Penelope remains true to Odysseus even though he has been gone for years.
(Odyssey) Telemachus supports his father and assists him in his revenge even though he has never actually known him or lived with him.
(Iliad) Menelaus supports his brother Agamemnon in his quest to take back Helen and restore his honour.
(Iliad) Hector fights this war even though he disagrees with Paris' abduction of Helen.

These are all very basic examples and the Homeric world is much more complex than that - But assuming this is your homework and not a college/ university essay you should be ok.

Answer 2

Women were very important in the Homeric world, but only really to keep the house and the family line going - if you compare the views of Hesiod with Homer (a near contemporary) women were seen as evil, indeed, Helen of Troy is often called the same thing. Look at the example of the beautiful sirens who want to tempt the boats onto the cliffs in the Odyssey...women are tempting but dangerous. There are reasons to think that this may have led to the ancient Greek practise of homosexuality as the norm - men were for pleasure, women were for breeding, and trouble at that.

A good book on this subject is Goddesses Whores Wives and Slaves by Sarah Pomeroy

Answer 3

First of all, I think we are talking about the ancient and medieval period of European history between 900BC and 600BC, the Greek Renaissance and Homer.

The world of Homer is a world of war, conflict, life and death. In fact, when I think of all the descriptions of war that I have managed to read over the years, none have drawn so clear a picture or image as has Homer.

With this background, let me head to the question of family members in a Homeric World. In the Homeric world of war, men do not have rights, but only duties. By serving the city-state with their virtuous behavior, they are also serving themselves. Indeed, there was nothing higher or more sublime in the Homeric world than virtue. And Homer's epic poems served as the Bible of ancient Greece right down to the time of Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C. In fact, an education in the classical world meant the rote memorization of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. All these include lines about war, conflict, killing and death.

Fate was a system of regulations that control the unfolding of all life, all men and women, all things of the natural world, and all gods and goddesses. Fate was not only a system of regulations but a fundamental law that maintained the world. It is Moira that gives men and women their place and function in Greek society. That is, it is Moira that determines who shall be slave or master, peasant or warrior, citizen or non-citizen, Greek or barbarian. It is Moira that fixed the rhythm of human life – from childhood through youth to old age and finally death, it was Fate that regulated the personal growth of the individual. Even the gods had their destinies determined by Moira. From the Iliad, the goddess Athena expounds on this principle of Fate to Telemachus when she says the gods may help mortals but "Death is the law for all: the gods themselves/Cannot avert it from the man they cherish when baneful Moira has pronounced his doom."

Gods and goddesses were worshipped in public. But there were also household gods – the gods of the hearth – specific to each family or clan. The general acceptance of these gods is a sign of a specific culture that arose during the Greek Renaissance, a culture we can identify as "Panhellenic."

Answer 4

Absolutely central. See the story of Ulysses and Penelope.

Answer 5

ok we are talking 8th century bc so i am going out on a limb guessing...but i'd say for manual labor?

Answer 6

Is this your Homework?

Cheat.

Answer 7

Sorry, don't know what 'Homeric' is.