Iliad 2022: wives and mothers.

Women in the roles of mothers and wives, have a less important role in the Homeric epic, but we all now that, ultimately, they are the reason and the sufferers of conflicts. Sometimes supporting them and their men. Sometimes positioning themselves against them (f.i. this new version of Clytemnestra).

There are young, old, middle aged... with babies, or teenagers at home.

Here are two of them, one actually present in the original poem and the other, main cast in its companion, but added in this retelling as the far away wife holding the homefront.

Here are Andromache and Penelope.

young mum

Andromache here is a young mum and princess. Living in a world of nappies, baby powder, sleepless nights and the joy of a loving husband. She is young, beautiful, sweet… She fulfills her public responsibilities with grace and kindness. Though elegant in those moments, she comes back to her home and dresses with comfortable fabrics - cotton, gauze, cardigan, jeans - where she becomes the real Andromache.

Penelope is the wife who holds the fort far away from the battlefield. A woman who has to be father and mother, keep their home going on, taking care of the children while waiting impatiently for the safe return of her husband. A woman like any woman in the world whose role is that of support and pillar of the family. Penelope in this retelling is a queen too, but a queen of her home. A working single mum trying to do her best on all fronts. And her fabrics and posture reflect the comfort, practicality and dignity she needs to keep carry on.