At the time of Homer, it was normal for gods to meddle in human affairs, and he shows this in The Iliad. A vast majority of the Greek gods play some role in how the Trojan wars turns out, which is what the poem is all about. Homer uses the gods to deviate from how normal wars are played out. The head god, Zeus, will be the focus as I go through what he did and how it affected the War as well as The Iliad. Zeus tried to stay out of the Trojan War for egotistic motives and was viewed as a father figure, not being biased to either side of the conflict. He likes to keep tabs on the other god’s dealings in the war. If he had not been involved as the top dog of Olympus, the Trojan War would have been much more hectic, and probably an arena for the gods to play war. Zeus fits the role perfectly for the plot of The Iliad because he is the head god and has much more experience than they. Homer had supposedly written The Iliad and the Odyssey, The Iliad being the first. This always leads to debates among scholars on many issues from who actually wrote them and if it was Homer, where was he born? There is not much information on the subject so scholars agree on little about it. There are over seven Greek cities that think Homer was born in their city. The arguments are over whether or not he wrote these poems alone or even just maybe one? There is the possibility that Homer is actually a lot of minstrels that told and retold the story until it was finally written down. If he did write both, then why did it take him more than a generation to write them? There are so many discrepancies in the inscription of these poems, particularly in the style of writing and choice of phrasing and words. Numerous scholars say the author for The Iliad should... ... middle of paper ... ...urself as a person. Every choice made or eluded throughout The Iliad, was influenced in one way or another by mere existence of Zeus. Even though Zeus let the other gods try their best to change the outcome, all their actions counteracted each other and steered fate right into its intended path. This helps solidify the thought of Zeus being an omnipotent and omniscient god. The Trojan War was an awesome feat to the Greek mortals. However, to the gods, it was just a small battle and didn’t really affect them, besides the loss of loved ones. Fate is tricky because you have to know everything that is going on if you are in a position like Zeus. Knowing when things are supposed to happen and who is supposed to die and live is a great deal of knowledge, and Zeus did a great job in The Iliad not abusing this knowledge and helping guarantee that fate would win in the end.
Fate has a place in the Greek world but its place is not the same as it is in other scenarios or worlds. It is important to understand the word before we discuss it. Fate as far as Greek mythology goes is not just fate. By most standards fate means that things occur for an unknown reason that no one has any control over. However, in the world of Greek Mythology fate does not just happen. The gods engineer fate and they interfere to make things happen that might not otherwise have happened. Since the players do not always know of the gods' involvement, things may actually appear to be fate but in reality be engineered happenings.
In the ancient world, the gods of the Greeks had been predominately confined to cosmological deeds prior to the works of Homer. "As Hesiod laid out the roles of the gods in his Theogony and the Works and Days, it is apparent that though the gods were active in the creation of the cosmos, natural phenomenon, and cyclical events such as seasons, they were not however, functioning in any historical way"(Bloom 36). This strictly cosmological view of the gods was in no way unusual to the ancient world. Though the breech of theology into historical events was perhaps first introduced by the Hebrews at the turn of the first millennia B.C.E., it was soon echoed in the religious paradigms of homo religiosus throughout the Near East and Europe. In the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. another predominate thought swept the ancient world; life is suffering. An obvious question arises from the mixture of these two thoughts; if the gods are functioning in the historical reality of mankind why do they allow and/or cause suffering? This is the dilemma that Homer sets out to solve in the epic poem The Odyssey.
Religion was deeply intertwined the culture of the ancient Greeks. In their stories, they prayed to the gods to satisfy their needs and offer assistance in their endeavors, and the gods would occasionally appear to select Greeks to give counsel, gifts, or other forms of aid. Alternatively, if the desires or endeavors of a mortal or mortals displeased one or more of the gods, they would also interfere with the fulfillment of their goals. In Homer’s Odyssey, the gods appear to or interfere with both Telemachus and Odysseus, either to help or hinder them in their journeys. Although the gods are responsible the difficulty Odysseus faces returning from Troy, they are equally responsible for motivating and assisting Odysseus and Telemachus in their respective travels. If not for divine interference, neither Odysseus nor Telemachus would have journeys to make.
The Iliad tells the story of the final weeks of the last year of the Trojan War, after nine long years of fighting between the Trojans and Achaeans (Greeks). The fighting first started with Paris of Troy taking Helen, the most beautiful women in the world, back to Troy and away from her husband King Menelaus of Sparta. Outraged, King Menelaus gathered the kings and armies of Greece, and set sail towards Troy, to wage war and take back Helen. Although the Greeks had brought massive forc...
Most information that the world has today that deals with the history of ancient Greece is in the literature from the time. Great epics such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, from the unknown poet Homer, make up most of the literature that has even been found from this era. The problem with getting our history from literary sources is that when Homer first recited his Iliad he was actually trying to entertain, so all of the information might not be accurate, although based on actual events. Also, in the Greek culture it was common to allow the credit for certain kinds of deeds to go to their gods or goddesses, which today's historians just suppose to be allegorical references. But, if the gods or goddesses do not exist, then how did the Trojan War start in the first place? The story that most people know as to what started the war is a myth involving the goddesses and what archeologists have so far found; no one is exactly sure what started the war.
Throughout the text, major characters seem to be at constant battle with their different emotions. This inner conflict is mirrored by the everyday conflicts between the gods. Just as Zeus and Hera are constantly at odds with one another, so are the different sides of Achilles: his cultural responsibility, pride, honor, and revenge. No one is completely at peace with his or her conflicting emotions in The Iliad – and therefore, neither are the gods, who represent these emotions. Hector is a prime example of a human who finds himself torn between two forces: his love for his growing family, and his duty as a prince of Troy. He admits to Andromache that he worries about his own mortality, but emphasizes that “I would die of shame to face the men of Troy…if I would shrink from battle now, a coward.” (Homer 6: 523, 525). Hector’s deeply ingrained sense of honor and loyalty to home is clearly established in the beginning of the text. Therefore, when Zeus later grants Hector “power to kill and kill till you cut your way to the benched ships” (Homer 11: 241-242), it is not too much of a stretch to attribute Hector’s dodged perseverance to his upbringing and rigid sense of duty, rather than to the
focus on the Trojan War and its aftermath. Throughout the poem, Homer represents the gods intervening in human affairs and by this changing the destiny of human life. Because of the intervention, the gods start the war between Trojans and Achaeans and the reason of the war leads them to take sides. Homer represents the gods in many aspects; as humanlike, having miraculous actions, super being, controlling, life savers, and disguisers.
Homer clearly and precisely depicts the religion and the ethics of the Achian and Trojan societies in The Iliad. During the time of the Trojan war, religion played an important role in the societies. Sacrifice, prayer, and rituals were all equally significant, and the superiority of the gods and the fates above humans was a standard of society. The gods were sacred deities to whom one had to bestow honor and respect. Within the society, honor, glory, and fame were desperately sought by warriors striving to achieve enduring notoriety. One's word represented a considerable commitment to be acted upon. Religion and ethics are prominently displayed in the characters throughout The Iliad due to their importance in Greek and Trojan society.
Gods always play main roles in Greek culture. They are the creators of everything and without them most stories are not as entertaining. In The Odyssey there are a good amount of gods and goddesses in the tragedy, however three of these gods play key roles. Athena, Zeus, and Poseidon all have significant roles. Their role, depending on the situation, was to aid or bring certain characters to glory or destruction.
The first conflict begins when the daughter of a Priest of Apollo is taken and the Priest prays to Apollo who answers by punishing the Greeks with a plague that kills a significant number of them for 10 days. Here Homer teaches the readers to respect the gods for their power. Instead of simply stating that a plague struck the Greeks and affected them for 10 days, Homer uses the gods to explain the plague and give reasons as to why these nonsensical events were occurring. Rather than having a mysterious disease that takes the lives of several men, it comforts the people to believe that the gods are angry and have cursed them. By giving the gods a role in the story, the people can give a reason to honor the gods more in their daily lives and avoid admitting that they do not understand what is killing them. The tide of the war shifts back and forth between the Greeks and the Trojans as the gods quarrel with one another. One example would be when Hera puts Zeus to sleep and allows Poseidon to aid the Greeks. It is possible that the details of the Trojan War were unknown, so the people who wrote these religious stories incorporated the gods to make the battle seem more eventful and reliant on the gods. They were taught to take comfort in the gods and pray to
The Iliad by Homer, was set nine years into the Trojan War. The war started because Paris, prince of Troy, took Helen from Menelaus. As a result of this, the Greeks and Trojans ended their long peace. Helen’s husband, Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon declared war on Troy determined to bring Helen back. The Greeks settle on the Trojan beach which marked the beginning of the war. Because of this war, innocent Trojans lost their homes, husbands, sons, and their loved ones. Brother of Paris, Hector, died in combat. The war took away thousands of lives. Mothers of sons wept in sorrow. Helen was the main cause of the
Beyond a few fragments of information, historians and classicists can only speculate about the life of the man who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey. The details are few. We do not even know the century in which he lived, and it is difficult to say with absolute certainty that the same poet composed both works. The Greeks attributed both of the epics to the same man, and we have little hard evidence that would make us doubt the ancient authorities, but uncertainty is a constant feature of scholarly work dealing with Homer's era of Greek history.
In The Battle on the Plain (pg. 41), Zeus calls a meeting, telling all of the gods that they are not to help the Greeks or the Trojans, but Athena, who is Zeus favorite daughter, says that her and the other gods pity the Greeks, feeling that they will be destroyed by the Trojans. So Zeus allows the gods and
The Iliad is not a story about the Trojan War at all, the war is just to set the stage for Homer to bring together the swift footed Achilles and Hector, the Prince of Troy, so they can be compared. The Iliad starts with how Achilles is dishonored by Agamemnon and withdraws from the war and ends with his return to the fight and eventually falling at the end. Hector is brought into the story and displays through his character what a real hero should be like.
As respective leaders of their societies, Zeus and Agamemnon are often put in positions of making critical decisions that affect more than the likes of themselves. Zeus who although may act in self-interest some of time, generally makes decisions of justice and fairness that overall satisfy his fellow Olympians. (Book 20. 22-32; pg. 426-427) Zeus respects his fellow Olympians and holds a fair level of value to their feelings and opinions. When Zeus had known the fate of (his) son Sarpadon he very much struggled with the decision whether or not he should intervene to save(d) his son’s life, (you could put a period an then say On the other hand, after consulting …. its a lil long)...