The Role of the Gods in Homer's The Odyssey

870 Words2 Pages

The presence of God in our belief system is something that many cultures have taken for granted. In Odyssey book, this presence of God or Goddess is even tangible because in this epic, mortals have the abilities to talk them, to see them and to feel their presences around them. Since the beginning of the epic, Odysseus has always been helped by Athena (goddess) who is Zeus’ daughter and Zeus who admired the man’s faith, courage, strategy and intellect. In ancient Greece, the Gods’ power has constantly been praised and known as the God’s Love. In Homer’s Epic, what has really attracted my attention is how God in his highest love Odysseus and been always with him during his journey. Odysseus also knew that he would not be alive if he was not praising the names of Gods especially with the goddess Athena. In Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, gods play a very important role to the plot of the story. They are the one deciding if someone can survive or not according to the sacrifice that the person made for them. In the book 1, Athena said to Zeus her father, “Didn’t Odysseus please you with sacrifices beside the Greek ships at Troy?” (Homer 65, book1). In this part Athena was trying to plead with her father Zeus in favor of Odysseus because she wants to help him to go home, while others are trying to provoke his death. This love that Athena has for Odysseus and his family is revealed throughout Homer’s epic. Although Athena supported Odysseus throughout his voyage, other gods including Poseidon, Calypso, and Circe made it difficult for Odysseus to return home, such in our real life, some people will make your life hard, but you have a good faith as Odysseus, you should always find your way out. Our God is omnipr... ... middle of paper ... ... those phaeacians who have helped Odysseus to return home. And for Calypso, she tried to offer Odysseus the immortal life and promising him to be his eternal wife, but Odysseus’s love for his wife Penelope pushes him to fight for his return To summarize Athena’s love as an angel to Odysseus and his family, she managed everything in her power to bring him back home. She helps him to defeat all the suitors who destroyed his house. It is kind of Athena has devoted her all life to Odysseus and his family. Athena is the goddess everyone wants to have as guardian for his life. She went against her uncle Poseidon to fight for her Odysseus. At one point, we can even think that Athena is also in love to Odysseus because she has never him down. But the real truth is Athena is an amazing goddess who protect Odysseus no matter what because this is the Love she has for him

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