The Importance Of Religion In Homer's Iliad And Hesiod

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Whether it was during times of war or during times of peace, religion remained a big part of Greek culture, be it the troops fighting during a war or living throughout their daily life. This is shown in both Homer’s Iliad and Hesiod’s Works and Days multiple times. Within the first few pages of the Iliad, we start out in a time of war, there is talk of the gods helping out in the battles for both the Trojans and the Greeks, and in this first instance, it is about Zeus’ son, Apollo helping the Trojans. When Chryses fails to ransom for his daughter to be released, he prays to Apollo saying “Hear me, Silverbow…and God of Plague! If ever I’ve…that pleased you…Grant me this prayer: Let the Danaans pay for my tears with your arrows!” (Il. 2.45-51). This was his way of saying that after everything he had done for Apollo, if any of those things had pleased him then help Chryses …show more content…

after she talks, Achilles states “When you two speak, Goddess, a man has to listen no matter how angry. It’s better that way. Obey the gods and they hear you when you pray” (Il. 7.226-228). This line by Achilles shows how high of a regard the Greeks place the gods. Achilles who is a demi-god and the best fighter in all of Greece doesn’t even argue with Athena, he just does as he is told by her like a child talking to their parent. This also shows that the pedestal that demi-gods are held on doesn’t even come close to that of the gods. This difference is also shown near the end of the book. On page 471 of the Iliad, when Achilles is talking to his mother, a goddess, and she basically tells him to release Hectors body for ransom and Achilles, who wanted to ravage the body and feed it to the dogs as a way to avenge the death of Patroclus,

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