Power in The Odyssey

            Throughout Homer's, "The Odyssey," there are many different types of power exhibited by different characters. It's normal for people to hold power over others, however, taking the time period this epic was written in, into consideration, and paying close attention to the power of the different characters, the reader would question why most of the women have some way of exerting power over others. Perhaps Homer was trying to be different and try to branch out and try different things as most poets/authors do and intentionally putting these women in positions of power, or maybe he didn't intend to make it seem as though the women had power at all.
             Of many important parts and characters in, "The Odyssey," one that almost all people continuously fail to notice and account for is the relation between Telemachus and Nausicaa. Although there aren't actually any physical relationships between the two characters presented in The Odyssey, the article, "Telemachus and Nausicaa: A Study of Youth," by David E. Belmont points out that there is actually another kind of relationship between the two characters in the sense that there are many parallels between these two characters. He points out that both are the youths and the children of ruling families, and then starts to go into how there aren't any strong male figures in any of the ruling families. He gives the example of Arete in Scheria, which is very important because the king, Alcinous is there, yet the queen, Arete has larger control than him. Although Belmont makes a really interesting point, he fails to make the point about why Homer makes these women like Arete and Athena, have more power than what would be usual, or why he puts them in a position of leadership, in a time and culture where normally the women would usually have little to no power.
             Most people don't realize that really, all of the female characters in The Odyssey have one point of power or more during the book.