Along with politics, religion is something that everyone associates as a pillar of ancient Greek culture. The gods played an enormous role in the everyday lives of the Greeks. Although the fantastical gods of ancient Greece do not exist, the impact the gods had on the greeks was real. One of the best ways to see how the Greeks understood the role of the gods is to read stories or plays from Greek culture. Reading this popular culture of the Greeks makes it clear that the role of the gods was not always the same for everyone. Homer’s version of, The Iliad, portrays gods who have human characteristics, enormous moral influence, and take physical actions to change the course of events of the tale. In, The Iliad, the god Apollo literally flicks
But when he came back a fourth time, like a spirit from beyond, Apollo’s voice split the daylight in two: ‘Get back, Patroclus, back where you belong. Troy is fated to fall, but not to you, more even to Achilles, a better man by far.’” (Iliad pg. 96) The passage displays how real the gods were to some Greeks. The gods were powerful, forceful, and able to take action for or against any mere mortal. The flip side of the gods is the view that they are a moral influence. A constant watcher and reminder to the Greeks: be upright and moral. This pathway of belief played an integral role in shaping the plot of Sophocles’, Antigone. The character of Antigone bases many of her actions on her beliefs that the ancient laws of the gods are more important than the laws of man. Antigone makes this bold statement whilst arguing with Creon: she says, “These laws weren’t made now or yesterday. They live for all time, and now one knows when they came into the light. No man could frighten me into taking on the god’s penalty for breaking such a law.” (Antigone pg. 21). Almost every Greek believed that religion was important, but this common belief manifested itself in different
From the arrogance of Achilles and Agamemnon in The Iliad, to the blatant example of arrogance set by Xerxes in Herodotus’ account of the Persian War. The word the Greeks used for arrogance was hubris. Hubris embodied much more than just arrogance. Time and again, characters who had become infected with hubris took actions in defiance to the gods. To the Greeks, hubris was becoming so full of pride and arrogance that you thought of yourself as your own god. Any hubris infected person fell…and they fell hard. Hubris is something that all Greeks hated in a person, and it was often portrayed in characters through plays or stories. Herodotus made it very clear in, The Histories, that the Persian king, Xerxes, was infected with hubris. Following is a particularly outlandish display of hubris by King Xerxes after the decimation of his bridge. “Xerxes was mightily angry, and he gave orders that the Hellespont should receive three hundred lashes and that a pair of fetter should be cast into the water.” (Xerxes’ Invasion of Greece pg. 129). Herodotus made it very clear from the actions of Xerxes that hubris had infected his thinking. Not only did hubris cause him to give irrational commands, the Persian’s also lost the war. The Persian loss to Greece fulfilled the words of Artabanus to Xerxes, “Do you see how the god hurls his lightning at the outsized beast and stops their
In The Iliad, the gods and goddesses have completely different roles. The females are usually the ones in the battle fighting, while the male gods are putting courage into hearts, but that isn’t to say that is all that they do. This is a completely different role than the mortals have. While the men are out in battle, the women are knitting and cooking. The women are also described so that it seems like they are property and not humans, and that they don’t have any feeling. Where the female gods act and are treated as if they are equal, if not ranked higher.
In ancient times, the Greeks had absolute and undeniable respect for their gods. They demonstrated their admiration by putting in place many rituals and celebrations to reverence the gods that they loved and feared in order to ensure harmony with them. In particular, the focus will be on the religious beliefs of the Greeks, including prayer and sacrifice, as well as on festivals and the arts, such as the ancient Olympic games and theatre. These aspects of their culture made a significant contribution to their quality of life. Moreover, these topics will be examined in relation to the twelve Olympian gods and their associates.
religious, state otherwise. Antigone, on the other hand, holds the beliefs of the gods in
“There is no safety in unlimited hubris” (McGeorge Bundy). The dictionary defines hubris as overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance. In The Odyssey, Homer embodies hubris into the characters Odysseus, the Suitors, and the Cyclopes. Odysseus shows hubris when he is battling the Cyclopes, the Cyclopes show hubris when dealing with Odysseus, and the Suitors show it when Odysseus confronts them at his home.
Arrogance has been the downfall of many great leaders including Odysseus. Examples of Odysseus’s arrogance are clearly discernible at the Cyclops’s island. “Here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give – as custom is to honor strangers. We would entreat you, great Sir, have a care for the gods’ courtesy; Zeus will avenge the unoffending guest” (Homer 900). This exhibits Odysseus’s arrogance as he threatens a much stronger foe with the god’s power, not his own. “Cyclops, if ever mortal men inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca!” (908). This is another illustration of Odysseus’s deadly ego. Despite his crewmate’s suggestions, he taunts Polyphemus, almost
During the ancient years of Greece, new ideas came up that complicated life. These new beliefs came with the strong development of science, where individuals began to obtain new aspects of Gods. These new ideals often conflicted with one another creating complex moral dilemmas. In Antigone, Creon and Antigone battle a philosophical war dealing with the controversy of the Greek ethics. “Do what you believe is right.” This is a idiom universal to all, brought to our attention by parents, reinforced by teachers, and preached by leaders. But how does one define what is right? It is the impression that one should make decisions based upon what they deem morally appropriate within themselves. On one aspect there is Antigone, who pursues her self-righteous beliefs whole-heartedly and without reservation. On the other aspect you have Creon, who acts in response to what he believes is best for his city-state. Both characters are validated in their actions. Antigone’s support of her approach is evident in her refusal to abide by Creon’s edict no to bury her brother Polynice’s. Antigone’s aspect of the conflict held a much more heavenly approach, as opposed to the mundane road that Creon chose to follow.
Another way one can understand hubris is by seeing acts of hubris as transgressions that are punishable by Gods. In which case, Xerxes committed an act that could be seen as a transgression. Once hearing that the king and commander of the Lacedemonians was none other than Leonidas, Xerxes, out of rage, called for the mutilation, and crucifying of King Leonidas. By doing so, Xerxes disrespected a nation’s customs and religion (7.238). Furthermore, the hubris of Xerxes seeped into his subordinate Persians who plundered a temple and set fire to all of Acropolis (8.53-54). The gods typically punish a sign for hubris directly or indirectly and a divine wind punished the Xerxes and his forces obliterating a large portion of his fleet off Sarpeis (7.189-191). In the end Xerxes’ hubris led the Persian empire into destruction because he campaigned to extend the reach of his power and failed to heed to advice just as king
At the time of Homer, it was normal for gods to meddle in human affairs, and he shows this in The Iliad. A vast majority of the Greek gods play some role in how the Trojan wars turns out, which is what the poem is all about. Homer uses the gods to deviate from how normal wars are played out. The head god, Zeus, will be the focus as I go through what he did and how it affected the War as well as The Iliad. Zeus tried to stay out of the Trojan War for egotistic motives and was viewed as a father figure, not being biased to either side of the conflict. He likes to keep tabs on the other god’s dealings in the war. If he had not been involved as the top dog of Olympus, the Trojan War would have been much more hectic, and probably an arena for the gods to play war. Zeus fits the role perfectly for the plot of The Iliad because he is the head god and has much more experience than they.
Hu•bris /ˈ(h)yo͞obris/ noun: excessive pride or self-confidence. Hubris is believed to be the most serious of all seven deadly sins. Some say it was the original sin that led to all others. A word with such loathsome synonyms like arrogance, conceit, haughtiness, pomposity, and egotism was seen as one of the worst possible sins in Greek culture. They believed that no matter your social status those who exhibited it were destined to fall down into damnation. Yet some Grecian heroes seemed to ooze hubris in the form of confidence or cockiness. There was a fine line between the two that they should never cross. One hero in particular showed this sin on more than one account. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus, shows the sinful trait of hubris, in the form of cockiness when he talks to Polythemus, his crewmen, his wife, and his son.
In The Odyssey, the hierarchical relationship between both gods and humans is a key aspect in the overarching unity that is the epic. These can both be in contrast with each other and it can been seen that there are similarities between the types of people we meet in The Odyssey as well as the gods we meet also. Homer uses this theme and system of hierarchy to effectively display aspects of his worlds though The Odyssey. The main features that help prove this point are: that society within The Odyssey is hierarchical, the upper class and the servants (with equivalent gods) are focussed on, (Hierarchy of Greek Gods, 2015) and finally, the gods parallel their respective opposites on earth. These features help to show Homers world of The Odyssey.
Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, gods are presented as remarkably human in almost every way. While it is assumed that gods are divine entities incapable of human transgression, they are portrayed with all the flaws of mortals in The Iliad. The gods are a manifestation of human emotions consequently helping to explain the behavior of the humans in The Iliad. The actions of the heroes are what determine their fate, not divine intervention. Ultimately, the humans in The Iliad have inherent characteristics that provide the driving force behind their actions: the gods simply act in concert with them, allowing the human beings to exercise free will of
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.
Odysseus is a man. He is not a god, yet he seeks protection and assistance from the gods because he knows that it is necessary. The authority of the gods over Odysseus and the other characters in this ancient epic is obvious. Through out the story, we see example after example of the gods intervening in the life of Odysseus. The story opens with Odysseus living on the island of Kalypso. He is being held against his will. He partially submits to her, but will not become her husband. He longs for his beautiful wife Penelope. The goddess Athena begs her father to allow Odysseus to return home. Throughout the epic, the characters are attempting to find favor with the gods. By making wise choices and being hospitable Odysseus and his family will be graced with kindness and protection. The characters go on living, all the while knowing that their lives are in the hands of the gods.
Gods always play main roles in Greek culture. They are the creators of everything and without them most stories are not as entertaining. In The Odyssey there are a good amount of gods and goddesses in the tragedy, however three of these gods play key roles. Athena, Zeus, and Poseidon all have significant roles. Their role, depending on the situation, was to aid or bring certain characters to glory or destruction.
One of the most compelling topics The Iliad raises is that of the intricate affiliations between fate, man and the gods. Many events related by Homer in his epic poem exhibit how these three connections interweave and eventually determine the very lives of the men and women involved in the war. Homer leaves these complex relationships slightly unclear throughout the epic, never spelling out the exact bonds connecting men's fate to the gods and what can be considered the power of fate. The motivation for the ambiguousness present in The Iliad is not easily understood, but it is a question that enriches and helps weave an even greater significance of the results into Homer's masterpiece. I feel that the interaction between man, god, and fate can be shown to be one great fluidity that ultimately leaves life mysterious, giving much more depth and complexity to the bonds between the three.