The Gods and Human Qualities

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In Christianity it is said that humans are made in His image. ‘His’ is often referring to God or Jesus, but if these figures are often seen as perfect and man is not, then how are we made in His image? In Greek mythology this concept is much more logical. The Gods display a variety of human characteristics, some of them being: lust, jealously, and anger, these characteristics often affects the theme and outcome of the story.
The first aspect certain Gods show is lust. The prime example is Zeus. Zeus is known for his countless love affairs. This not only reflects poorly on Zeus but on men as a whole. Here is this God who is suppose to be a role model for all mortals going about sleeping with hundreds of women, Gods, demi-gods and even nymphs. He is constantly giving into his urges, depicting men as weak creatures who need constant fulfillment of their primitive needs. One story of this is the tale of Io, who was a virgin priestess of Hera, this title made her off limits to Zeus. However, being the weak red-blooded male he is, Zeus tricked Io into the woods and gathered up a thick cloud that hid their love-making. Zeus then turned the girl into a white heifer in attempt to hide her from Hera. Hera found out about this like she does about all Zeus’s affairs but that will be discussed later. Another God who displayed the characteristic of lust was Poseidon. He was interested by Medusa and raped her, now Poseidon did not receive punishment for this act, Medusa did, but that also will be touched upon later. It seems all three of the brothers were weak to the feeling of lust; even Hades became infatuated with a nymph. All three of these Gods subsuming to their urges just depicts an image of weak, piggish men.
All three of these God...

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...ed Prometheus for giving fire to men by tying him to a rock and having an eagle eat his liver. The examples here show a God can take someone who might be innocent or make a simple mistake and turn them into a prisoner the God’s whim.
The Gods are constantly showing human flaws through themselves. This can accomplish two things: one, explain where humans get their so called ‘natural’ flaws, or two, set a terrible example for mankind. It is truly up to the reader how they want to take the message. The Gods always have their hand in everything, but they still can be weak. Lust, jealously or anger the Gods still feel, which makes them more relatable then the standard Christian God. However, people typically want a person who is considered ‘perfect’ to follow. So, it is truly up to the individual to decide how they will interpret the God’s actions in Greek mythology.

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