Evil In The Iliad

In both the Iliad by Homer and The Old Testament the people are controlled by a higher power. In the Iliad the people practice Polytheism, worshiping more than one God in their case it is the Greek Gods. In contrast throughout the Bible the people practice monotheism, the worship of one God. War rages through the Iliad and parts of the Old Testament, how each is handled is significantly different. Being ruled by a God or Gods causes some trouble in both situations.

In the Iliad the Achaeans, under King Agamemnon, have been fighting the Trojans off and on for nine years, trying to retrieve Agamemnon's sister-in-law and the wife of Menelaus, Helen. Paris, a son of Priam, the king of Troy, kidnaps Helen. Helen becomes the legendary "Helen of

Troy" and "the woman with the face that launched a thousand ships." Yet, after years of Achaean attacks, Troy remains intact, and the Trojan army remains undefeated. The Achaean army on the other hand are not faring so well. At the beginning the Achaean troops are dying from a mysterious plague. Hundreds of funeral pyres are burned nightly. Finally, Achilles, the Achaeans’ most honored soldier, calls for an assembly to determine the cause of the plague. A clairvoyant reveals to the army that King Agamemnon's arrogance is the cause of the deadly plague. The king refused to return a woman who was captured and awarded to him as a "war prize." After hearing his arrogance is the cause Agamemnon reluctantly agrees to return the woman, but, in return, he says that he will take the woman who was awarded to Achilles, his best warrior. Achilles is furious, and he refuses to fight any longer for the Achaeans. He and his forces retreat to the beach beside their ships, and Achilles asks the goddess Thetis, his mother, if she will ask Zeus, king of all gods, to help the Trojans defeat his former comrades, the Achaeans. Zeus agrees to do so. Throughout, the gods take part in the ongoing war on and off. Without the help the gods the war would have continued to go on for many more years yet, when the gods joined the war there was immediately more blood shed. In the Iliad there is a single conflict but in the Old Testament there is more than one conflict set upon the people.
The Old Testament both raises and attempts to answer the question of how God can be good and all-powerful yet allow evil to exist in the world.

It starts with Adam and Eve’s first act of disobedient in the garden, each biblical book affirms that human evil is the inescapable result of human disobedience, not of God’s ill will or neglect. The first chapters of Genesis depict God as disappointed by human wickedness, suggesting that the humans,not God, are responsible for human evil (Genesis 6:6). Later books, such as Judges and Kings, show God’s repeated attempts to sway the Israelites from the effects of their evil. These stories emphasize the human capacity to reject God’s help, implying that the responsibility for evil lies with humanity. “The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord . . .” (Judges 3:12). Though, God repeatedly calls upon the Israelites to destroy entire cities, killing men, women, and children in the process. In the book of Job God’s implication in natural evil is directly questioned. God punishes Job harshly for no other reason than to prove to Satan that Job is religiously faithful. In the end, it is declared to Job, by God, that God’s powerful ways are beyond human understanding and should not be questioned. The book indirectly states that God sometimes uses natural evil as a rhetorical device—as a means of displaying his power or of proving a point in a world already tainted by human corruption. Though in both the Iliad and Old Testament war is a trouble for the people the way the higher power/powers handles it is what makes the biggest

difference.
When it comes down to comparing the impact the different forms of higher powers had on the people they were both harsh. The God of the Bible called his followers to do drastic things for his sake such as calling Abraham to kill his only son Isaac then just before it is done calling down to Abraham and basically saying you have passed my test to prove to satan that you're my follower. God also created a huge flood to wipe out all of humanity in order to stop human evil at the time. The Greek Gods on the other hand promoted their followers being at war. During meetings of the Gods on Olympus many Gods showed a strong following for one side or the other and even fought at times. In the Old Testament human blood shed was at a minimum because their God worked for peace. In the Iliad blood shed was a constant recurring event that their Gods may have been able to stop but the routes which they used were not effective.
The Iliad seems to celebrate war. It is decided whether a character is worthy or despicable based on their degree of competence and bravery in battle. The Old Testament did not celebrate war but instead peace. All characters were worth, they were followers of their God. In the Iliad if someone did not do as a God said bad luck and even death was brought to them unlike in the Old Testament where even if one of God’s followers did sin and start to follow satan he would forgive them and bring peace back. Past event such as the ones covered in the Iliad and Old Testament help teach, they teach future settlements what to do and what not to do. They also help shape how society develops over time. How wars were fought times b.c has greatly changed and mostly for the better.