The Gods vs. Man
God. That one word has a lot of weight to it, doesn't it? It had even more
significance to the Greeks. It was something they feared and respected. Throughout
history men have always wanted to be like the gods. It is something that is seen over and
over, man's universal struggle to be like the gods. Is it man's fault that he wants to be
like the gods? Or is it the gods' fault? The story Oedipus Rex by Sophocles shows that
man's arrogance and fallible personality is the cause of this struggle for superiority. The
Greeks dealt the most with gods, melding their daily lives with religion.
The Greeks have had multiple Gods over much of their history. The Greeks had
one of the most complex and extensive systems of religion and polytheism in the history
of man. They also had a very extensive hierarchy of Gods. Its origin begins with the
Chaos and a number of other Gods. There were 19 of them and they were called the
Titans. They were the creators and first rulers of the world. The Titans later went to war
with the Olympians and lost and were imprisoned in the center of the earth. There were
also lesser Gods and noble characters. There were 32 lesser Gods that were various
offshoots of the major twelve Olympians. They were given all types of minor jobs and
responsibilities in helping to keep the world organized and running. There were also
noble characters in mythology, who were classified into heroes and creatures. There
were fourteen heroes who completed many legendary tasks. Many were well known such
as Hercules, Perseus, Jason, Odysseus and many others. There were also fourteen
creatures that had many various rol...
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...dipus is not the only case of man's stubbornness and arrogance getting him in to trouble, there are many examples of this throughout history.
Bibliography:
End Notes
1 Milica Pty Ltd. "From Myth to Eternity." April 1998
2 Mirza, Sumair; Tsang, Jason; Jenkins, Neil. "Olympian Gods." 1997
3 Meiggs, Russell. The Athenian Empire. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972). p 46.
4 Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex," in Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience, Eds. Richard Abcarian, Marvin Klotz and Peter Richardson. 7th ed. p 166. Other references refer to this text and are given in the paper.
5 Rollins, Kimberly. "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus Rex." 1993
6 Sophocles, p. 174.
7 Davis, Marlon. "Questions on Oedipus Rex." 8/8/98
8 Nussbaum, Martha. The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek tragedy and philosophy. p 75
In his essay, "The Magnitude, Duration, and Distribution of Evil: a Theodicy," Peter van Inwagen alleges a set of reasons that God may have for allowing evil to exist on earth. Inwagen proposes the following story – throughout which there is an implicit assumption that God is all-good (perfectly benevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient) and deserving of all our love. God created humans in his own likeness and fit for His love. In order to enable humans to return this love, He had to give them the ability to freely choose. That is, Inwagen holds that the ability to love implies free will. By giving humans free will, God was taking a risk. As Inwagen argues, not even an omnipotent being can ensure that "a creature who has a free choice between x and y choose x rather than y" (197)1. (X in Inwagen’s story is ‘to turn its love to God’ and y is ‘to turn its love away from God,’ towards itself or other things.) So it happened that humans did in fact rebel and turn away from God. The first instance of this turning away is referred to as "the Fall." The ruin of the Fall was inherited by all humans to follow and is the source of evil in the world. But God did not leave humans without hope. He has a plan "whose working will one day eventuate in the Atonement (at-one-ment) of His human creatures with Himself," or at least some of His human creatures (198). This plan somehow involves humans realizing the wretchedness of a world without God and turning to God for help.
Throughout history, tyrants have ruled most of the populated world. These were people who held executive power in their community, and ruled with a fierce and rapacious grip, doing their will without paying their dues. These rulers can be seen through time in many different times and nations: Fidel Castro, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin (“Dictators and Tyrants in World History”). All of these tyrants ruled as the gods did, with an iron grip, holding the promise of demise over them in the case of insurgency. In Greek and Roman myths, their gods are painted as impeccable examples of a tyrant, commanding of the humans that they do there will at threat of death. For this purpose the gods were worshipped as Stalin was, through acute fear of their
Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." An Introduction to Literature, 11th ed.Eds. Sylvan Barnet, et al. New York: Longman, 1997. 800-836.
Sometimes it is just easier to believe that the Gods made people do things that nobody could explain. It is eminent that the ancient Greeks were firm believers in immortal/mortal interactions both physically and psychologically. Ancient Greeks recognized their Gods as an unseen force that had complete control over mortals. They also believed that the Gods intervening was a way of explaining why things happened the way they did.
Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, centers on Odysseus’s long and arduous voyage home and depicts a world in which the lives of humans and gods are intertwined, with gods often having influence in the fates of humans. Zeus, the king of gods, argues that humans wrongly blame the gods for their troubles and that when the gods intervene, it is only to try and help humans. From his standpoint, any misfortune is the sole responsibility of men and the gods are not to be held accountable. Zeus’s argument about human versus divine responsibility holds some truth, but is inadequate as he is biased towards himself and his fellow gods and only references one specific situation. (Homer I, 48-62) While it is true that men have faults that cause their troubles, the gods often have a hand in creating these dilemmas—whether out of their own whims or out of retribution for wrongs done by humans in the past. Humans and gods share equal responsibility for the fate of mankind, with both humans and gods producing struggles and providing support, which is evident in the journey of Odysseus.
The Greeks were very strong in their polytheistic beliefs. Polytheism is when someone believes in more than one god. In the Greeks case, there were an unbelievable amount but there were 12 main Olympian Gods. There are also plenty of minor gods that are still important in their lives. The Greek gods impacted the lives of the Greeks through their religion and beliefs. Many people don’t know the story behind the gods and how they came into “existence”. That is what you will learn from this report.
To become fully human men must distinguish themselves from God. When God sends the flood. He separates Himself from them by putting the world into their hands, as if to say, "There you go, you're grown up now, you take care of it." The gift of the Earth should be God's last active attempt at separation; from then on the humans should try to separate themselves from Him on their own. But like birds kicked out of the nest who try to climb back up the tree, they try to build the tower to heaven; and once again, God must intervene by creating even greater difference. This time He confuses their languages so they are not only different from God but also different from each other.
They believe in multiple gods and that they were similar to themselves: “Here lived Gods who were like people” (38).
Gaia was a earth goddess and controlled the earth and had a son named Uranus , he controlled the sky , Gaia wanted children so bad that she had kids with her son Uranus. The first set of Gaia children were the Hekatonkheires , they were giants who had hundred hands and fifty heads , but Uranus was worried that 1 day her children would over power him , so he had to get rid of them he pushed them back into her whom , Gaia was hurt at the loss of her kids. Gaia then had a second set of children named the Cyclopes , they had a single eye In the middle of their forehead and they were also giants , but then once again Uranus feared they would overpower him , so Uranus trapped them at the bottom of the sea so they won’t get out , Gaia feeling lost
Gods, goddesses, and religions as a whole, have been a fundamental concept of humankind ever since the beginning of time. These celestial deities were proclaimed to be the founders of the universe and all that is. In ancient times, humans preached about miracles and fates that were certain, but then turned another way and resulted in unexpected conclusions. This was all due to the manipulation of beings that were far greater than any other that has been seen. Supposedly, no mortals were able to be equivalently powerful as the gods and goddesses. Yet, in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, there were some that began to break this seemingly archaic law.
When humans first evolved, they evolved into a society that did not yet have a government. At first they lived without any rules or laws. This type of society is known as Anarchy. When people began farming and settling down in one place it quickly became difficult to live is a society without any authority. Therefore new types of governments emerged. The initial government was a Royal Theocracy, in which the society is controlled by religion. The highest ranked priests in such a society were able to talk to the gods and hear their demands in order to assure a good harvest. Because people are generally greedy by nature, man soon wanted more. Only talking to the gods was no longer good enough, the rulers wanted to be the gods. These kings were known as God Kings. These sorts of governments came right in the beginning of human civilization and shortly after each others, and therefore have a lot of similarities but also distinctive differences.
People of the ancient world often had questions about their existence and how life and people came to be on earth. Most ancient people answered these questions through religion. The Sumerians were the first important group of people to inhabit Mesopotamia and they were known to practice a form of worship called polytheism, which is the worship of several gods. Mesopotamians associated different gods with natural events, emotions, and other occurrences. Their main deities included An (the god of the heavens), Enlil (Lord Storm), Enki (god of wisdom), and Nihursaga (the mother of all living things)(p.22). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods controlled all of the events and occurrences in life. An ancient text called “Creation of Man by the Mother Goddess” (p.34) helps us understand how the M...
In conclusion, through the remained literatures of the ancient Greeks, one can see that the Greeks believed that they were created to glorify their gods and that the exchange between human beings and gods are obvious. Hence, one should please the gods to be blessed.
Works Cited:.. Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1991.