Gods and Humans

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how gods and humans have complex relationships in Homer's "Iliad". It looks at how the portrayal of the Olympians given by Homer is in keeping with contemporary Greek thinking. It also considers whether perhaps Homer secretly hated the gods and uses the "Iliad" to lampoon them. It discusses how it is in their interactions with mortals that the Olympians seemingly "ungodly" behavior shows itself and through which Homer illuminates the relationships between gods and mortals.

From the Paper:

"Essential to understanding the relationships between gods and mortals in the Iliad is the awareness that some of the mortals themselves are semi-divine, being descended from various gods, not all Olympian. Achilles of course is the son of a mortal father and the goddess Thetis, daughter of Oceanus, a Titan. Aeneas figures prominently as a nearly unconquerable Trojan and in addition to being remotely descended from Jove by his ancestor Dardanus (also an ancestor of Priam) is also the son of a mortal father and the goddess Venus, herself a daughter of Jove according to Homer. Glaucus is descended from Aeolus, the Greek wind-god and a cousin of Sarpedon, himself a son of Jove."

More papers on Gods and Humans:

• Analytical Essay # 57629 : "The Gods and the "Iliad"
• Analytical Essay # 39261 : "Gods and Men in "Phaedra"
• Analytical Essay # 109455 : "God and Humanity"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: