nfluence of woman persists as a matter of habit; even
the formal elevation of woman to positions of authority is not
uncommon, with an accompanying freedom in action, which is wholly at
variance with the patriarchal ideal. Thus it is common for the husband
to consult his wife in all important concerns, though it was her
special work to look after the affairs of the house. "There is
nothing," says Homer, "better and nobler than when husband and wife,
being of one mind, rule a household."[257] Penelope and Clytemnestra
are left in charge of the realms of their husbands during their
absence in Troy; the beautiful Chloris ruled as queen in Pylos.[258]
Arete, the beloved wife of Alcinous, played an important part as
peacemaker in the kingdom of her husband. It is to her Nausicaea brings
Ulysses on his return, bidding him kneel to her mother if he would
gain a welcome and succour from her father.[259]

We find the Homeric women moving freely among men. They might go where
they liked, and do what they liked.[260] As girls they were educated
with their brothers and friends, attending together the classes of the
bards and dancing with them in the public dancing-places which every
town possessed. Homer pictures the youths and the maidens pressing the
vines together. They mingled together at marriage feasts and at
religious festivals. Women took part with men in offering the
sacrifices to the gods; they also went alone to the temples to present
their offerings.[261] Nor did marriage restrict their freedom. Helen
appears on the battlements of Troy, watching the conflict, accompanied
only by her maidens.

This freedom insured to the Homeric women that vigour of body and
beauty of person for which they are renowned. Health was the first
condition of beauty. The Greeks wanted strong men, therefore the
mothers must be strong, and this, as among all peoples who have
understood the valuation of life more clearly than others, made
necessary a high physical development of woman. Yet, I think, that an
even more prominent reason was the need by the woman herself for the
protection of the male, which made it her first duty to charm the man
whom destiny brought to be her companion. This is a point that must
not be overlooked. To me it is very significant that in all the
records of the Egyptians, showing so clearly the love and honour in
which woman was held, we find no insistence on, and, indeed, hardly a
reference to, the physical beauty of