Gods, goddesses, deities, heroes and weak men and women fighting for the overall good, monsters, cultures from an unknown world. These are the figures that bring chaos and control to the Greek person's. The oldest account of these gods and goddesses are from the Greek writer Homer, who wrote “The Illiad and Odyssey.” People believe that he was the one that created these gods and goddesses, but others believe that it was many different people that wrote different parts of the religion. The Greeks believed in a polytheistic religion, meaning they worshipped more than one god.
Most societies, both past and present, worship one or multiple deities. The powers and characteristics of these gods vary among cultures, and the personalities of one society’s deities directly influence the culture and beliefs of its people. The discrepancies between the religions of different civilizations can be observed through the literary works of their religion and mythology. The Judeo-Christian God, who is shown in the Bible to be absolute both in power and in judgment, is antithetical to the Greek gods, who are depicted as having human traits and flaws. In Homer’s Odyssey, many gods are shown to act on their own self-interest, keeping favorites among the mortals and conspiring against other gods.
Science today is way more advanced than back in 650 B.C.E. and we have tools and scientists that explain the natural phenomena that we still deal with today. The Greeks however had a very different way of explaining these natural phenomena. The Greeks used Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, and their gods to explain these phenomena for them. Yan covers these phenomena like Earthquakes which were previously thought to had been caused by the sea god, Poseidon, or that storms were caused by Zeus and that the Sun came up everyday thanks to Helios. Which today are now proved through orbit of the Earth and low and high air pressure.
It shows that the Greeks valued their gods and wanted them to be content. The Odyssey shows that Gods having humanlike qualities was very important to the Greeks. “And the lord Helios burst into angry speech among the immortals”(791). Helios was angry at Oddyseus’ men because they had eaten his cattle. Furthermore, Zeus and Helios are trying to compromise, Zeus states“Peace, Helios”(791).
The Greek God’s of the Iliad fight with each other and argue like humans, and most often we cannot be sure that they truly have the human’s best interest in their hearts. In fact, humans very often come across as more noble than the Gods. For example, Prince Hector is the hero to the Trojan army. An example of this would be when Lycaon’s son, Pandarus states in book five that “he marched the Trojans hard to lovely town of Troy, to please Prince Hector.”
Throughout the story of Odysseus’s journey told by Homer, there are many defining examples of interaction between humans and their gods. The gods primarily interact with humans by either siding with or against them. The gods would often side with humans since they wanted to help them such as Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, helping Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, whereas the gods seeking revenge such as Poseidon, who sought revenge on Odysseus for slaying his son Polyphemus, would turn against them. While actual interaction between gods and humans seems to be a rather risible idea, there was much guidance given to humans by the gods throughout the Odyssey.
They are allowed to interfere with humans in certain ways to certain extents, they have rules, and by punishing/rewarding humans, they create an order of morals/hierarchy so they serve a purpose as well. This presentation of the gods reveals that the Greeks see them as powerful, smarter, and "magically" significant beings. I think that the story shows that they see the Gods to be like us, but with power and authority.
The relationships between the Greek gods and mortals have always been complicated. The gods can be generous and supportive, but also harsh and destructive towards the humans. They claim to be all powerful beings with unlimited power and influence, but in truth, they are far more human than they are perceived. They meddle with human lives, not because they are wise, but because of their own selfish reasons. In Homer’s
In the “Epic of Gilgamesh” and “The Odyssey” by Homer, all the gods are portrayed as being very near, and having a very close relationship with the mortals. The authors showed this through their interactions, even though each epic portrayed a unique mode of interaction between the gods and the mortals. For instance, in the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” this interactions are mostly indirect, whereas in Homer’s Odyssey, they are direct. Another thing the authors tried to show is that the gods are limited in their powers, at least some of them. The authors portrayed this through the gods favoring or disfavoring certain mortals.
Written by Homer, The Iliad, portrays the life of Achilles, and how the Greek Hero allowed anger to overwhelm his decision making. Complications arise when anger leads to hate, pride, or suffering, and Achilles life illustrates the results of anger. Throughout the book anger slowly consumes Achilles and significantly changes results of the Trojan War. Causing him to act foolishly, Achilles’ anger brought harm upon many Greek people. Also, The Iliad teaches that anger caused a downfall to Achilles’ life.
In the epic poem, the Iliad written by Homer, several characters taking part in the warfare between the Achaeans and the Trojans are portrayed as embodying the heroic code of courage, physical strength, leadership, arete of value of honour, and the acceptance of fate. The heroic code is illustrated by the actions of the Trojan prince, Hector and the Achaeans strongest warrior, Achilles. Both of these characters display the Greek’s image of a hero, and can also let the reader discern what the society admires, looks up to and aspires to in its heroes. There are also characters who fail to be heroic, such as the Trojan “vivid and beautiful” prince, Paris. These characters in the Iliad illustrate the qualities that Ancient Greek society values.
The Greek gods viewed the Trojan War as an elaborate chess game, where the gods and goddess have the role of a chess player and the humans are the game pieces and pawns. The gods have the ability to influence the decisions of each human or pawn. Zeus seems to be playing the role similar to that of an antagonist as he was the one who started the war or we can say the “game of chess”. This is a competition between the gods.
Nicole Tschida ENG 210 Paper 1 2-26-18 The Iliad and The Consequences of War The plot of the Iliad takes place in the middle of the war between the Greeks and the Trojans that lasted for ten years. This conflict according to Homer and ancient Greek mythology occurred because the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, the wife of Menelaus, brother to king Agamemnon. In this paper, I will be examining the consequences of war, as outlined by Homer.
The Ancient Greeks value specific qualities in a person, however they did not value other. Ancient Greeks valued these qualities based on certain achievements or on a performances in war or even inside the city walls making substantial decisions. The Iliad is an epic novel by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is based off of the Trojan war between the Achaeans led by King Agamemnon and the Trojans led by King Priam of Troy. This novel focuses on the actions of several characters and how the disparate gods interfered with the war to help one or the other side have a chance to win.
The Ancient Greeks value specific qualities in a person however they did not value other. Ancient Greeks valued these qualities based on certain achievements or on a performances in war or even inside the city walls making substantial decisions. The Iliad is a epic novel by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is based off of the Trojan war between the Achaeans led by King Agamemnon and the Trojans led by King Priam of Troy. This novel focuses on the actions of several characters and how the disparate gods interfered with the war to help one or the other side have a chance to win.
