Should Homer be considered an early feminist or an old-fashioned sexist?

Homer was possibly one of the first feminists of all time. He was even daring enough to show his respect for women in his famous epic, The Odyssey. When Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca and is in his home disguised as a beggar, he witnesses his wife tricking all her suitors, telling them to bring her gifts so she can decide which man to marry. Penelope is actually strongly loyal to Odysseus, and only wants gifts for the heck of it. Here, Homer suddenly rejects the previous, weaker version of Penelope, who had only sat in her room and wept. He is portraying his belief that women too can have cunning. Homer also shows his point of view through the character Calypso, a nymph who has captured Odysseus. When Hermes tells her she has to finally let Odysseus go, she flies into a rage. Calypso complains how the gods are sexist, allowing male gods to have relationships with female mortals, but forbid goddesses to have relationships with male mortals. The nymph's speech is a means for Homer to send a message to society. He is saying that he doesn't agree with the inequality of relationships, how the men always have the upper hand. He believes relationships should be well balanced, giving the women just as much say as men.
Pallas Athena is another strong female character in The Odyssey. Not only does she guide Odysseus through the entire epic, but she creates peace in the end. A fight breaks out at the house of Odysseus' father, Laertes, as attempted revenge for the slaughtering of the suitors. But Athena steps in with a great command to all, ordering them to stop fighting. She tells Odysseus that war is not always the answer. Through this scene, Homer depicts a woman as very wise. In fact, the woman is wiser than the man. Homer never would have depicted this notion had he been sexist. Homer also shows his respect for women in a morbid way. When Odysseus recounts his journey to the underword, he describes seeing Agamemnon. Agamemnon had been murdered by his own wife on his return from Troy. Clytemnestra, his wife, was without doubt a wicked woman. But Homer depicts battles, deaths between men as honorable and heroic. So to include a woman as a fighter and murderer puts them at the same level as men. From his positive portrayals of women in the Hellenic ages, Homer tells us that he viewed women as equals to men, a revolutionary idea in his patriarchal times.