All the information we get about the battles and even the effects like Athenians being able to evacuate often only come from the lens of the men and actual military force. They don’t include how specifically the Athenians evacuated and who helped them escape. According to The World History Encyclopedia, “ Herodotus, the high priestess of Athens had the people evacuate the city just prior to the Battle of Salamis …telling them that the serpent Erichthonius, and therefore Athena, had already fled the Acropolis and they should follow suit (Histories, VIII, 41).” But that gets overlooked and instead just focuses on the war itself and the soldiers and generals overlooking the “smaller players” that are often women or elders, showcasing the focus and priorities of displaying a certain kind of history that places men in a position of power and completely overlooks anybody else.

Mark, Joshua J. “The Women of Athena’s Cult.” World History Encyclopedia, https://www.worldhistory.org#organization, 5 July 2021, www.worldhistory.org/article/74/the-women-of-athenas-cult/#:~:text=When%20the%20Persians%20invaded%20Greece,Histories%2C%20VIII%2C%2041).

During the Battle of Salamis the whole entire plan about the defeat of the Persian’s should be discussing Artemisia and her contribution, her warning to the Greeks and her role as an intelligent skilled warrior, navigating a ship and coming up with a plan to get her crew to safety and was impressive women during the time and Xerxes even says “my men have become women, and my women men.” It showcases how depending on who is telling the story shapes the narrative we believe about women and how women get overlooked or removed from history and written off as not important figures.

The expectations of Darius' vision of Greece fell to Xerxes when Darius failed which is kind of this expectation placed on children to fulfill the dreams of their parents and for boys to prove themselves as worthy men and honorable in the eyes of their father. It is not up to Queen Atossa to make the Persian empire a success but Xerxes the boy which reinforces the absence of females having a sense of authority or expectation to be overly successful.

This is when Sita was crying out for Rama during her abduction like a damsel in distress calling on her knight in shining armor. It reinforces the idea that a hero becomes a hero when a women calls for rescue, in this case Sita is functionally necessary to generate a purpose for the hero to become heroic. It also supports the traditional idea that a women is passive and in need of a male assertive active hero/savior.

This line breaks down the emotional and societal dependency women have been conditioned to understand. Womanhood itself is defined in relational terms of what are your prospects to being a good wife and never autonomous like being independent or self sufficient. To live “bereft” is an unbearable state, to be permanently robbed of. It makes people sad and lonely, but that comes from a place of conditioning and beliefs that their purpose and self is tied to the person they married that without them they are devoid of all good things.

This contrasts male heroes very nicely. Male heroes are the ones expedited to possess strength, autonomy, and divine blessing while the female figure is displayed defenseless and of lesser value without male protection and Sita's statement here affirms patriarchal dependency and choosing dependency as a source of power. And the person who holds the pen really displays if that agency or power is good or bad in SITA sings the Blues Nina Paley chooses to display it in an opposing manner of bitterness and irony challenging the ideas instead of embracing.

This points out the hypocrisy of Rama’s image as this “perfect man” like his style in which Nina present Rama in this chant-style kind of performance showcases of systematically society prioritizes a males reputation over the dignity of a female, even when it is someone they are suppose to love and support and be devoted to like Rama being the husband of Sita–one might think that he should believe his wife over the noise of doubt however that’s not the case he challenges the truth and forces her to be tested and she becomes a tool for proving that Rama property (Sita) remains purely devoted to him, but Rama himself isn’t required to share the practice of that devotion. Creates a double standard for men and women. That Duty will always be first for a man while their significant others are just an afterthought and will come last.

The lyrics to this jazz song are significant in the sense it really brings out the emotional degradation that Sita is experiencing given the betrayal she is feeling from Rama when he rejects her. It points out how culturally within society we put women into boxes that emotionally tie their worth to the praise and admiration of men. Even in modern times we can see the grief of Sita being mirrored as a cultural constant of womanhood, feeling not seen, not heard, and not believed, is an experience Sita goes through that the Jazz singer went through, and most girls go through and how that’s isolating.

This is literally the ideology that women believed during the time, not just women but everybody, it was thought that a woman's role and power and self is defined through her relationship to her Husband. A woman is expected to be devoted to her husband and her character and virtue is not measured by her own actions but by her ability to be standing by a man, being absolutely devoted to him.

Even though this quote is technically stating Draupadi is being placed back into a powerful role. That power is identifiable only because Vudhishthira became EMperor, meaning her power and strength only was able to exist due the actions of a man. And She isn’t the driving force in her destiny or in her ability to obtain power, instead she is reliant on a man to succeed for her to be given agency to be successful. All of her value is tied to the honor of her husbands and she lacks the ability to be able to fight for herself.

This quote showcases how the limitless pot for the Pandavas is limited by Draupadis’ eating that she in some aspects is almost like a burden to them. If she were not there they could eat forever and never need to stop but she prevents them from doing so. She is the limiting factor of the gift not just a participant and shows how a womens role and presence is essential for survival and even though the Draupadi’s must rely on her for their survival, the task of nourishing is not seen as a heroic one, or a brave one, and is not acknowledged or respected in the same way as she makes sure they all survive and is given zero of the credit, while they go on to be the massive heroes of the period giving no credit to Draupadi who was essential to their success.

My focus is on the dialogue that follows this quote; “Each one of them seems to be keen on winning the chaste Draupadi at the Swayamvara.” This quote is referring to the traditional ceremony where a princess can choose a husband from a group of assembled suitors, but the actual power dynamics are a lot less liberating than they appear. Like saying “Keen on winning” places Draupadi not as a human being with free thinking thoughts but as a passive prize that can be won. Like an object that can be obtained without objection or choice.

In the Robert Potter (1777) translation the same quote emphasizes reason, order, and social etiquette a masculine virtues and in contrast emotion, intuition, and domesticity as women qualities in this version women were seen to not really have a sense of authority. In the Potter version Atossa is retelling her dream without commanding action, it was much gentler and passive. Whereas in the Morshead version (1908) she can be interpreted as much stronger saying “Attend my tale” not asking permission or being soft and quiet but demanding it from those around her. Even though her son doesn’t necessarily listen to her it’s interesting to see the difference time has made from 1777, to 1908.

Enkidu is called “noble” right from the start, which makes it feel like his heroism is something he’s just given rather than something he earns. It’s like the story automatically assumes that being male makes you heroic, even though it’s a woman, a goddess, who actually brings him into existence.

This highlights a deeply patriarchal structure in which sexual dominance is intertwined with kingship and “heroism.” Gilgamesh, in asserting the right of being king, believes he getsto sleep with brides before their husbands. As a right as a king, which is an abuse of power rooted in divine right. This divine justification reflects a gender definition where male power is linked with ownership, control, and domination, while female bodies are communal property in service of male status.

The politics of translation matter: Gilgamesh’s cultural heroism often centers on his confrontation with mortality yet that confrontation is dealt with directly by women, not warriors. Editors and translators from patriarchal eras could have shrunk the symbolic weight of these female figures to maintain the male hero’s dominance, which can illustrate how the person who holds the pen has the ability to manipulate and influence of gender beliefs of this epic and those who read it thoughts of women during the time.