The Ancient Greeks believed strongly in their gods and goddesses, they believed that the gods often intervened in their lives. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer portrays relationship between the mortals and immortals as immortals have the ultimate power over mortals. The mortals are at the mercy of the immortals. The gods can be generous and supportive but also destructive to any human being.
In the beginning of the epic poem, Zeus claims that mortals blame the gods for all of their miseries. “Ah how shameless- the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes, but they themselves, with their own reckless ways, compound their pains beyond their proper share” (Homer 1.37-50). Zeus is claiming that
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humans are reckless and destructive. He doesn’t like the idea that humans blame the gods for the misfortune in their lives and believes that misfortune of man is born in their own human nature. Zeus is not completely right about his argument. Mortals are expected to show respect to the gods, but when they do not do so the gods become offended. The gods alter fates and cause suffering and pain as a form of revenge. The epic poem begins with this complaint from Zeus to show that sacrifice and respect to gods is very crucial.
Humans have free will and their ideas to do what they please but the gods intervene with humans to help or harm them as they please. The gods expect respect from humans, such as sacrifices. In book 4, “ It was in Egypt, where the gods still marooned me. Eager as I was to voyage home… I’d failed you see, to render them full, flawless victims, and gods are always keen to see their rules obeyed” (4.390-394). Menelaus explains how he was deserted on an island because he did not make the proper sacrifices to the gods. This misfortune was cause directly by the gods; the gods wanted revenge because Menelaus failed to …show more content…
sacrifice. It was the god’s fault that Odysseus was wondering for years without ever seeing his family.
Poseidon wasn’t happy with Odysseys when his men killed Poseidon’s cows for food. Poseidon created the storm on the high seas and blows Odysseus on Calypso Island where he was captured. Due to having multiple gods in Greek religion, each god has a certain domain and they can’t interfere with another domain. All of the gods wanted Odysseus to be able to return home and reunite with his family except for Poseidon. “But my heart breaks for Odysseus, that seasoned veteran cursed by fate so long-far from his loved ones stills, he suffers torments, off on a wave-washed island rising at the center of the seas” (Homer 1.57-60). Athena’s appeals to Zeus about all of the Odysseus past sacrifices moves Zeus to take pity as well. When Poseidon is absent from Mt. Olympus, the other gods are able help Odysseus home. Athena guides Odysseus to Ithaca, getting him past many dangers and obstacles.
Zeus understanding of the humans is completely different from human understanding of gods. Zeus believes that humans think that they do nothing wrong and blame others for their actions. When Odysseus stabs Poseidon’s son, Poseidon was enraged. If he didn’t stab his son eye and then told him his name to gloat, he would have had a safe and easy trip home. Polyphemous curses Odysseus with invocation to Poseidon. Zeus wants humans to take responsibilities for their actions. The Gods control fate but the actions
and decisions of humans can increase their sufferings. Humans understanding of the gods is completely different from Gods understand of humans. The humans believe that will give their protection to anyone that prays or sacrifices to the gods. Athena helps Odysseus, Telemachus, and Penelope fight off the suitors and help them bring justice for their crimes. The humans try to keep theirs gods pleased so they can help the people who are being treated unjustly. The Gods and Goddess in ancient often intervened with the live of mortals. The Gods are powerful and shift things the way they like. The Gods can be generous if immortals pray and sacrifice to them but at the same time destructive to any human not respecting them.
In the article “Stories of the Trojan War,” it talks about how the gods are raged by the disobedience of the mortals which caused uproar during the time (Peabody). One of the gods that seemed to have a raging authority was Poseidon, god of the sea. He made the journey of Odysseus very hard. For instance, Poseidon would make the sea’s rage, blew Odysseus and his crew off track, and last he strikes them with thunder. That ultimately destroys the crew; except for Odysseus who is left stranded until found by Calypso (Puchner). The actual cause of Poseidon’s anger was due to the fact that Odysseus had killed Poseidon’s son, Polyphemus in a horrific manner. Also, because Odysseus was not appreciative of the fact that Poseidon helped keep his secret of his plot to invade with the
Poseidon has never really liked Odysseus. When Odysseus tries to make it onto the shore of Skheria, Poseidon “…calls up wind / from every quarter, and sends a wall of rain…'; (89). Consequently, it is a safe assumption that Poseidon will really have it in for Odysseus. He states, “I thought he should suffer all the way [home]'; (233). After Odysseus returns home, Poseidon talks to Zeus and says he wants to put a mountain ring around the city and crush the ship of the Phaiakians.
The Greek gods were portrayed as humans, which meant that they were not perfect. That is, the gods made mistakes, felt pain (e.g. Aphrodite in love with the mortal Adonis), and succumbed to anger and their tempers (e.g.
Many Greek gods were seen as both benefactors and tormentors, typically it depends on which god or goddess you are researching about. The seemingly contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
“(Zeus): 'Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame on us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given […].' (1.32-34)” This quote proves that the people of the Odyssey are in some control over their lives because their actions decide what will happen to them in the future. So, when the humans in the Odyssey mess up, the gods see it as their job to punish them.
Some gods had a more major impact, while other gods had a small influence on Odysseus. In multiple situations, we see gods that have to pull Odysseus from the fire and save him from whatever position that he is in. On separate occasions, we also get to see Poseidon do everything in his power to stop Odysseus from returning to Ithaca. He conjures up huge waves and storms, but this doesn’t seem to stop Odysseus. Athena had the biggest impact on Odysseus voyage. This all started with Athena begging her father to make Kalypso surrender Odysseus and let him leave. Athena is always watching Odysseus and she gives him advice along the way of his adventure. Even with all of the gods help, we cannot overlook all of the trials Odysseus had to go through by himself. He had to survive multiple creatures and monsters using intelligence and quick thinking. Many believe that the gods determine the course of events in this story given the fact that they help or hurt Odysseus on multiple occasions. However, I believe that humans, and more importantly, Odysseus, determine the course of events. Even with all of the gods help, Odysseus still had to face certain dangers on his own without the help of gods. Odysseus determined the course of events because he did not have to go home if he did not want to. He easily could have stayed with Kalypso for the rest of his life, but he had the desire to return to Ithaca and his family. In the Greek culture, the worst thing you could do was upset the gods. If you upset the gods, your fate became dark very fast. This is why the Greeks made offerings to the gods before every meal. Sometimes Odysseus thought he knew his fate when he was in extreme situations. It was times like when he was floating toward the island of the Phaiakians, he thought he was going to die. But it was during these tough times, when Odysseus fought the hardest to get
Each god has a certain domain and cannot control another gods’ domain. All the gods including Zeus, the father of the gods, want Odysseus to be able to return home in The Odyssey. However, Poseiden, just one god, prevents Odysseus from returning. It is only when Poseiden is absent from Mt. Olympus that the other gods are able to take control and assist Odysseus in returning home.
In Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, gods play a very important role to the plot of the story. They are the one deciding if someone can survive or not according to the sacrifice that the person made for them. In the book 1, Athena said to Zeus her father, “Didn’t Odysseus please you with sacrifices beside the Greek ships at Troy?” (Homer 65, book1). In this part Athena was trying to plead with her father Zeus in favor of Odysseus because she wants to help him to go home, while others are trying to provoke his death. This love that Athena has for Odysseus and his family is revealed throughout Homer’s epic. Although Athena supported Odysseus throughout his voyage, other gods including Poseidon, Calypso, and Circe made it difficult for Odysseus to return home, such in our real life, some people will make your life hard, but you have a good faith as Odysseus, you should always find your way out. Our God is omnipr...
middle of paper ... ... In Homer’s Odyssey, both Odysseus and his son Telemachus embark on long, difficult journeys; Odysseus trying to return from Troy to his home in Ithaca, escaping Calypso and the island of Ogygia, and Telemachus from Ithaca to Pylos and Sparta in search of his lost father. While The Odyssey tells of the courage both men demonstrate during their respective travels, their quests are the results of the intentions and desires of gods. Odysseus is trapped in exile on Ogygia by the will of Poseidon, whose anger Odysseus attracts when he blinds the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, and by the love of Calypso, who wishes to make Odysseus her husband.
Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, gods are presented as remarkably human in almost every way. While it is assumed that gods are divine entities incapable of human transgression, they are portrayed with all the flaws of mortals in The Iliad. The gods are a manifestation of human emotions consequently helping to explain the behavior of the humans in The Iliad. The actions of the heroes are what determine their fate, not divine intervention. Ultimately, the humans in The Iliad have inherent characteristics that provide the driving force behind their actions: the gods simply act in concert with them, allowing the human beings to exercise free will of
the Gods in the affairs of humanity is much greater in the Iliad then in the
To begin with, the ancient Greeks explained the creation of the universe, in particular the Earth and its elements, by a system of anthropomorphism in which their gods are human-like and are representatives of these elements. For example, Zeus is the god of heaven while Hades is the underworld lord (Hesiod, p.145). Unlike the Christians’ god who is “flawless”, the ancient Greeks’ divinities are portrayed as humans and are far from perfect. Their gods behave like ordinary people except they are immortal and have supernatural powers. Like any human being, the Greeks’ gods have love, jealousy, sadness, etc. For instance, in Euripides’ Bacchae, Zeus falls in love with Semele, which makes Hera becomes jealous and tries to kill Semele and Dionysus (Euripides, p.209). The Greeks even have a physically imperfect god, Hephaestus. This is to say that the gods’ attitude toward mortals is affected by how people treat them as the Greeks’ gods have emotions like humans.
Over the course of the play, Artemis does not interfere in the actions of Aphrodite, which shows that the gods, while divine, do have restrictions; in this case, it shows the gods cannot interfere with each other. (1328-1330) The gods are sometimes evil and revengeful, though, as can seen by what Artemis has to say about Aphrodite: "I'll wait till she loves a mortal next time, and with this hand - with these unerring arrows I'll punish him." (1420-1422) The relationship of mankind and the gods also needs to be discussed. This relationship seems to be a sort of give-and-take relationship, in part. The Greeks believed that if they gave to the gods, through prayer and sacrifices, that the gods would help them out.
“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of Thebes with a dreadful plague. Fundamentally, by utilizing fate, prophecies, the oracle of Apollo, and the plague, the gods played a significant role in the destruction of Oedipus and his family.
These two gods have different effects on the story: Poseidon is trying to cause pain and suffering for Odysseus, while Athena is trying to help Telemachus and give him hope that his father will return soon. The role of these gods is important to both journeys as Odysseus and Telemachus try to reunite their family.