In the Jewish Bible and The Iliad, women were portrayed as the property of men. Thus, their activities, such as conversing with friends, exercising, praying to gods, nursing and teaching children, and pleasing men, were limited inside the household. Although they were bounded to the household, their beauties, and men's affections to them still made them own the ability to impact men's decisions and public society. This ability is called power. Power is the ability to direct others' actions, influence others' minds, or affect the progress and the result of events such as battles and conflicts. But who granted women power? It is men who granted these women their powers. That is, only the greatest leaders deserved attractive women with outstanding exterior appearance as prizes. Having beautiful women represents honors and even social status for men, so all men surely wanted to pursue this beauty. Therefore, women's beauty became powerful. .
Men's affection to women was another power granted to women which made men emotionally vulnerable. In the two literary works, having power is not only on the physical level but also the psychological level. In both texts, women's beauty and men's affection for them are the two powers which made them very instrumental. Without these women, the stories would go differently. For examples, Jacob would not work for decades in his uncle's household without Rachel, and the Archean would not fight with the Trojans without Helen. Therefore, both authors described women as having powers in the private household due to their beauty as it granted honors to their men and the men's affection for them as it granted these women their powers to affect and manipulate men's emotions and decisions which brought influences to families or the public societies.
Beauty is a dangerous power that men granted women in the Jewish Bible and The Iliad for which it made men lose their property and lives and even created battles and conflicts between nations and friends.
