Across many cultures and traditions, the realms of the divines and the mortals are undeniable different. God and gods – the immortals – are usually more powerful and are capable of more activities than the human beings, who are clearly subjected to mortality. Despite the divergences, the interaction between the divines and mortals are clear; the two realms are, in fact, interconnected in some ways. This is intensively explored in Exodus – which describes the chain of events that revolve around God’s liberation of slaves – and Homer’s The Iliad. Homer’s epic poem, which was written in dactylic hexameter, tells the story of the Achilles, his participation in the Trojan War, and of course, the gods. These two texts are different in how the divines …show more content…
Especially when Hector killed Achilles’ closest friend i.e. Patroclus, Achilles was so enraged and furious that he will “go and meet that murderer head-on, that Hector who destroyed the dearest life [he] know. For [his] own death, [he’ll] meet if freely” (Homer, 471). Now that Achilles is returning to war, the victory of the Achaeans is ensured. Even Zeus mentions at the council of gods “If Achilles fights the Trojans – unopposed by us – not for a moment will the [Trojans] hold his breakneck force” (Homer, 504). Other divines, similar to Zeus, have realized this fact since the initial spark of the war. If Achilles is loyal to the Achaeans, there is almost no possible ways for the Trojans to counterattack. This would have been a very uninteresting war for the divines. They, therefore, intervened to add more excitement. For instance, when Paris was about to be killed by Menelaus who was “enraged with brazen spear, mad for the kill… Aphrodite snatched Paris away… wrapped him in swirls of mist and set him down in his bedroom filled with scent” (Homer, 141). It seems clear which side victory belongs to, but Aphrodite rescued Paris away possibly because he is part of the upper officials of Troy. Having him die right in the beginning of the war would decrease morale of the Trojan warriors drastically. Furthermore, while the determined Patroclus was in battle against …show more content…
He has immensely altered the world, without regards of the human beings. For example, he said to Moses “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt – over its rivers, its canals, and its ponds, and all its pools of water – so that they may become blood”; the situation became worse to the point where “the fish in the river died. The raver stank so that the Egyptians could not drink its water” (7:21). Water is unquestionably an essential part of life; yet God destroyed all of the Egyptians’ water sources. God did not only cut their water supplies, but also plagued the Egyptians’ livestock, filled the land with frogs and flies, etc. After each of these interventions, however, He ironically “hardened the Pharaoh’s heart… [so] he would not let the Israelites go” (9:35). To the most simplicity, God repeatedly dissuades the Pharaoh from listening to Moses and considering freeing the Israelites slaves. This demonstrates the idea that God intentionally wants to continue implementing evil deeds on the Pharaoh and his Egyptians. This is primarily because He want to let them live “to show [his] power, and to make [his] name resound through all the earth” so he “can gain glory for “himself” (9:16) (14:17). God have greatly “benefitted” the Israelites by harming the Egyptians; yet in the final analysis, he only intervened and used the mortal
At least we could bring his body back to Achilles,” (446). This shows that even during active battle, the Greeks emphasized the importance of properly caring for the corpse of a loved one. This concept is also seen in how Thetis treats Patroclus’ body upon Achilles receiving it. It is stated, “With that she … then instilled in Patroclus’ nostrils fresh ambrosia, blood-red nectar too, to make his flesh stand firm” (489). Thetis does this in order to maintain the state of the body until proper a burial and funeral can take place.
Just like how mortals have their own goals, deities also have an agenda. God, in the Hebrew Bible, has only two goals: to have humans obey Him blindly and to punish them if they disobey Him. In order to execute both of His plans, God uses violence. In Exodus 32, the Israelites who escaped Egypt insulted God by "making themselves a molten calf and bowing low to it and sacrificing to it" (Exodus 32:8), as well as claiming the calf to be the one who brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 32:4). By worshipping the idol of the calf, the Israelites had turned away from God. Because the Israelites disobeyed God, He ended up pursuing his other goal, to punish the people who disobeyed Him. Because of the Israelites' foolish act, God chose to inflict pain on them: "then the Lord sent a plague upon the people, for what they did with the calf that Aaron made" (Exodus 32:35). Since God never once appeared in front of humans as a man, the only way for the Israelites to experience God's anger and disappointment, and ultimately the power he yields, is through His physical punishment: the plague. Also, vice versa, the plague was the physical representation God needed in orde...
His vehemence towards the Trojans coupled with his disappointment of Achilles gave him the drive to conquer the Trojan army with or without the aid of Achilles. In doing so, Patroclus took an enormous risk that the Trojans would fall for his trick, a. risk with his life at the stake. Essentially, while pleading to Achilles for.
In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, God can be seen as having a sort of bi-polar attitude. In the beginning chapters God is shown as a caring person when he is creating the earth and when he talks about how he wants Adam and Eve to succeed and do well and how he gives Adam a companion, Eve because he feels Adam will be lonely. As the book unfolds God becomes very angry with how his world is turning out. Sin has been introduced and humans seem to be falling away from the righteous. This upsets God and he creates an idea that he will flood the world so that only Noah and the people and animals inside the ark will live. His intentions seem horrible, trying to kill humans because they have sinned, but in reality he is trying to free the world of sin so that the remaining humans will live wonderful lives free of pain and despair. The flood can be seen as both a positive and negative thing. To non-believers they may find fault in the idea that God felt that he had to punish the world as a result of how sinful the people of earth had become. To help promote their ideas they could use statements from the Bible such as this one when God's feelings are stated about how he seems to be dissatisfied with the people of earth, "The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain" (Genesis 6:6). It can also be revealed when God states, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth" (Genesis 6:13).
Ancient world literature and early civilization stories are mostly centered on human’s relationship with higher beings. Ancient civilizations were extremely religious, holding the belief that their very lives were in the hands of their almighty god or goddess. This holds true for both the people of biblical times as well as those of the epic era. However, their stories have some differences according to cultural variation but the main structure, ideas, and themes are generally found correlative. It is hard to believe that one work did not affect the others. The first great heroic epic poem of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament are parts of two cultures that are hundreds of years apart. Whereas Gilgamesh is a myth and the book of Genesis is the basis of many religions, they both have notably similar accounts of symbols, motifs, meaningful events according to the relationship between the divine and humans in literature.
Odysseus of the Odyssey and Moses of Exodus The Book of Exodus is considered to be an epic poem as by definition. An epic poem as defined by Funk and Wagnalls is a poem celebrating in stately, formal verse the achievements of heroes, gods, and demigods (426). The Book of Exodus as well as the entire Bible was written in the form of an epic poem. Major characteristics of epic poems are that there is always a heroic figure. Moses is indeed comparable to Odysseus, the heroic figure in the Odyssey. Although both men had different purposes they are still considered comparable according to the definition of an epic. Like Odysseus, Moses
The Trojan war began the same way that many other fights began during ancient times; a fight between the gods, who control the lives of mortals and manipulate their lives for personal amusement. The mortals are aware that their lives are in the hands of the gods, thus they remain obedient because they fear the gods. Thetis and Peleus had recently been married and it was customary to have a celebration. Zeus took it upon himself to be in charge of that marriage ceremony which indicates the importance of the gods in the everyday lives of the mortals. He wanted to ensure a pleasant celebration and therefore did not to invite Eris, the personification of discord and strife.
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
The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey both are held in high respect by literature analysts and historians alike for the characterization of the hero and his companion, the imagery brought to mind when one of them is read, and the impressive length in relation to the time period it was written in. The similarities that these two epics share do not end with only those three; in fact, the comparability of these works extend to even the information on the author and the archetypes used. However, The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh contrast from one another in their writing styles, character details, and main ideas. Both epics weave together a story of a lost man who must find his way, but the path of their stories contrast from one another.
Hector fights for belief and respect while Achilles fights out of rage and rashness. Achilles is not respected by his men, rather he is feared. Nobody wants to receive the blunt of the attack when Achilles randomly flies into a rage, therefore his men are terrified of him and allow him to do as he pleases. Within the first book of the poem, we read that Achilles is considered by many to be "god-like". (King Agamemnon, Book 1, line 154)
As the reader goes through the many books in the Iliad, he or she may notice the battle of immortal versus immortal on Mount Olympus. The gods are introduced in this book as major characters that have taken a side on either Team Trojans or Team Achaeans. Aphrodite, Apollo, and Ares are the main gods on Team Trojans, while Hera and Athena fight for Team Achaeans. Zeus is supposedly neutral, but in book one Thetis approaches Zeus saying, “honor my son Achilles!-doomed to live the shortest life of any man on earth […] grant the Trojans victory […] till the Achaean armies pay my dea...
After that part, Achilles shows vengeance when he talks about how he wants to kill Hector. 'I will not live nor go about mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patroclus, son of Mencetius.';
...h Agamemnon and wishes that ‘strife could die from the lives of gods and men’… Not to avenge Patroclus by killing Hector would be a renunciation of all that he stands for and has lived by”. Even though “sorrow fell on Achilles like a cloud” (216), he went back out to the battlefield and killed Hector. It took a great deal of bravery for Achilles to face the man who killed his best friend but Achilles, being the hero that he was, got back into battle and killed him because he couldn’t let Patroclus’ death go unavenged.
To view the links that are instilled between mortals, immortals, and fate in The Iliad, it is worthwhile to examine each on its own to observe how they connect. The characteristics of the three are inherently unique in relation to each other, though in some areas there is overlap. Man is defined as a mortal, someone who can die from old age and disease. Products from mortal and immortal procreation, such as the hero Achilles, fall into a sort of category all their own, but Achilles himself suggests that he would die from old age if he were to return home (9:502-505). In this weakness of the flesh they differ from the immortal gods, who cannot die from natural causes. Nevertheless, the gods share the imperfections of man: disloyalty, deceit, anger, and even lust. They see themselves as above man, and yet their actions are often as selfi...
Homer’s The Iliad: Book XX features a battle between the Trojans and Achaians, shortly after Patroklus’ death (Lattimore Book XVI), where the gods must intervene in order to restrain Achilleus’ destructive nature that becomes amplified due to the grief and wrath as a result of the loss of his cousin/lover. The divine foresaw an early fall of Troy caused by the intensified destructive nature of Achilleus, therefore they interfered in the battle to protect a bigger ideal of fate, a fate of a nation, by manipulating smaller ideals of fate, the fates of people’s lives(Lattimore 405). At the beginning of the battle, after the gods descended from Olympus, they decide to sit and just watch how their mortal teams will fend for themselves until Apollo takes form as Lykoan and coerce Aeneias to challenge Achilleus, thus establishing the first act of divine intervention (Lattimore 406-407). When Achilleus is inches away from killing Aeneias, Poseidon takes sympathy upon him and whisks him off to safety (Lattimore 407-411). The last interference occurs during the confrontation between Hektor and Achilleus, where Achilleus is about to murder him and Apollo saves Hektor (Lattimore 416). Hektor’s rescue in this battle is an important event in the Iliad because Achilleus’ and Hektor’s fates are interrelated, further meaning that if Hektor die...