Archaeologists, hmm. I think they'd agree with me that women were just as important in that society as men, whether the men were aware of it or not. In a patriarchal society (which this certainly was) we have to look behind the male-centred view ... if we can find any way of doing so.
Tell me, nopardons, did Helen count for anything? It seems to me that her decisions made quite a bit of difference to the course of events in the Trojan War story. Am I wrong there?
First of all, she is a pawn; an object, even. Her queenship has to do with her blood line and what she lands brought to Menelaus. She's seen by Paris, at court, but has NO function, whatsoever, there. She is a "prize"...metaphorically, mythologically, and in actuality. Steal her and you steal not only a symbol, but the embodiment of the king's possessions.
Now, back to the fiction and the mythological symbolism.....
From Graves to Kight to Briffault to Grueber, we see that "HELEN" is the incarnation of the moon goddess and also one of the aspects, a trinity of the all powerful female goddess ( virgin, fecund mother, and crone ), who was worshiped as an orgiastic deity at the Spartan Helenephoria. Helen marries Menelaus, a "moon-king", who was promised immortality because of this sacred marriage. When Paris steals Helen, he steals away Menelaus' immortality as well as the lands Helen has brought him through her "matrimony".
Helen makes NO decisions at all...she is wooed, seduced, and taken away. And it is the "will of the gods"; she is merely THE PRIZE, given to Paris, as judge of a silly beauty contest!
You may have been reading Greek lit, in Greek for 37 years; however, your remembrance of THE ILLIAD leaves much to be desired. Go and reread the poem! LOL
Archaeologists would NEVER agree with YOU, that women were an "important part of" ancient Greek society. Aside from the houris, a couple of famous ( because they were written about ) prostitutes, and Sappho, there were seldom seen and just about never heard from.