The Importance Of Respect In The Iliad

Respect is a highly valued character trait in our modern society, but it was not always given such high importance. Greek myths, dating from over 2700 years ago, prove that the ancient Greeks considered respect a trivial value. To start, the Greeks thought it right to base other’s worth on their pulchritude. For example, in the Greek myth “the Apple of Discord,” the God Hephaestus is abased by his father just because he is ugly. When the beautiful Aphrodite refuses to marry him, Zeus forces her to marry his son Hephaestus in requital. Zeus shows his son disrespect by acting as if he is trash that can be forced on someone in punishment. He does not recognize let alone respect Hephaestus for his crafting skills or any other talents he possesses.

Again from “the Apple of Discord,” this example features the goddesses of beauty (Aphrodite), marriage (Hera), and wisdom (Athena). They are having an altercation because they all want an apple with the inscription “to the fairest one.” Without reaching consensus, they consult Zeus. When he refuses to give input, they turn to a boy named Paris who eventually choses Aphrodite as the winner of the apple, making Hera and Athena extremely angry. This is an excellent example of the disrespect the Greeks inflicted upon themselves. These women freely gave not one but two other men the right to determine their self-worth. This proves that the goddesses in this example did not respect themselves enough to value their judgement of their own worth more than the judgment of others. This type of self-degrading was sadly not uncommon with the ancient Greeks. Moreover, the ancient Greek romantic relationships were not built on respect as are those today. For example, in the famous Greek myth “Demeter and Persephone,” Persephone is abducted by Hades and coerced into living with him in the underworld. Hades’ logic here is that if a man wants a woman, he should be able to take