Relationship Between Gods And Humans

In Genesis, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Iliad, the relationship between the gods, nature, and humanity is highly complicated, with the gods typically ranked as the most powerful, although the power balance between nature and human beings depends on the source of the literature. That being said, in all of the writings, the gods have a tendency of coming to nature’s defense when humans disrespect it, thus implying a more fluid distribution of power in the hierarchy.

The Bible famously opens with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”, which encompasses essentially all aspects of non-living nature. When God then goes on create the vegetation, animals, and “man in [His] image, after [His] likeness”, all aspects of nature,

For example, Zeus is “the gatherer of the clouds”, indicating he has power over this aspect of nature, and sends an eagle to the Achaeans camp as a symbol of his will, again showing that the gods can control natural events as they see fit. However, the relationship between the gods and nature is not always so clear, such as in the case of the rivers Scamander and Xanthos who are personified as gods in Book XXI of the Iliad. In this example, nature and gods are on in the same, making them equally powerful. If nature and the gods overlap, as Scamander and Xanthos imply, then since gods rank above humanity, nature must rank above it, too. The gods’ station above mankind’s is demonstrated in the interaction between Diomedes and Athene, in which the latter instructs Greek mortal to “not do battle head on with the gods immortal”. Likewise, Hector, the hero of Troy, instructs his mother to go yourself to the temple of Athene “and take a robe, which seems to you the largest and loveliest / … promise to dedicate within the shrine of twelve heifers, / yearlings, never broken, if only she will have pity”. Since Athene was fighting on behalf of Hector’s enemies, his actions show how the gods were to be revered, even when they worked against a human’s best