Briana King | “Brides of Disaster”: Homeric Heroines & the Ideology of Male Victory | Assemblywomen
Channel: Women's Classical Committee UK
Date: 2022-10-21

In the Iliad, the Trojan women, particularly the royals, are, for the Greeks, the tools for the total destruction of the Trojan enemy, and their sexual violation is the pièce de résistance of this destruction. In Euripides’ Hecuba and Trojan Women, the fates of the captured royal Trojan women are frequently described in relation to their sexual captivity at the hands of their Greek enemies, as well as how their sexualities can be used, with varying degrees of success, to improve their new circumstances. 

This video examines the politicisation of women’s bodies in Homeric warfare as the means by which epic heroes secure (or lose) power. By examining the fates of Homeric heroines in the Iliad, as well as their continued stories in Euripidean tragedy, the sexual ownership of women’s bodies is more clearly revealed as the foundation upon which the ideology of male victory is built. 

Thank you to the Women’s Classical Committee UK for their support in producing this publication with the WCC UK’s video-journal Assemblywomen. Special thank you to Dr. Claire Stocks for her editorial, compositional, and production guidance, and to Dr. Ellie Mackin Roberts for her administrative assistance.

Credits
Music by SamuelFrancisJohnson from Pixabay: “ancient-rhythm-119039”
https://pixabay.com/users/samuelfrancisjohnson-1207793/.
Background Image: tallinn-irina. Stock illustration ID:489089388.

Image Credits and Bibliography: https://wcc-uk.blogs.sas.ac.uk/assemblywomen/volume-1-2022/king-2022/