Human Flaws In Greek Gods Research

The Olympian gods shared all of mankind's virtues and faults. They were severe, punishing every unjust act, while protecting and assisting the just and the pious. They even had their own likes and dislikes which governed their behavior towards mortals. This was made very clear during the Trojan War (as portrayed in Homer's Iliad) when the gods got involved and assisted either Achaeans or Trojans, depending on whom each of them favored. The gods were vengeful but also excessively generous, while at the same time being propitiated by the material sacrifices they were offered by the faithful. The Greek deities had supernatural powers, particularly over human life, but were severely limited by the relentless force of fate (Moira).

People anticipate that the divine beings will watch over them and guard them. Now and again it isn't that the people hope to be protected but, guided somehow. They see the gods as flawless creatures that are all powerful and all knowing. The interaction between the gods and the humans in The Epic of Gilgamesh isn’t hard to identify, “Your appearance is no different from mine; there is nothing strange in your features (Gilgamesh 538)”. There is trust and a mutual dependency between the humans and the gods in The epic of Gilgamesh. Regardless of the undeniable power difference between the two

As Hephaestus is notified of Thetis’ arrival, he explores what their relationship has meant to him. Hephaestus recalls that “Thetis saved my life when the mortal pain came on me after my great fall…” (P. 480) After Hephaestus falls out of Zeus’ good graces, Thetis is able to lend her helping hand, displaying the hierarchical dynamic between the gods. The gods are indebted to each other, the likely reason that Hephaestus felt as though he needed to make Thetis the ornate shield. The duty and obligation to each other fuels the mutualistic relationships between the gods. Thetis’ motivation to help Hephaestus was not solely out of kindness; rather Thetis saw the opportunity to make a strategic move and put Hephaestus in her debt, knowing that she very well could use his services in her future. Hephaestus describes the pain that he felt as “mortal pain” signifying a distinction between the discomforts and vulnerability of mortals and gods.

In the text that has been covered in class we often see how the gods so often turn their backs on their heroes i.e. “Odyssey” by Homer. However, our God promises He will never leave us or forsake us. There are many gods in the Greek mythology yet one god could be for the hero and one could be against; they can completely counter act what the other god is doing. They lack in communication i.e. “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Our God is three in one Father, Spirit, and Son, yet there is no lack in communication because they are one. In the Greek stories there are monsters and all other sorts of enemies and they all do whatever their little hearts desire (this is seen in the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Epic of Gilgamesh). We believe in one enemy his name is Lucifer (Satan, The devil). He is the king of lies, deceit, and temptation. He is the deceiver. He is everything bad rolled in to one creature. People may not

The relationship between gods and mortals in mythology has long been a complicated topic. The gods can be generous and supportive, and also devastating and destructive to any group of humans. Mortals must respect the powers above them that cannot be controlled. The gods rule over destiny, nature, and justice, and need to be recognized and worshipped for the powerful beings as they are. Regardless of one's actions, intentions, and thoughts, the gods in Greek myth have ultimate power and the final decision of justice over nature, mortals, and even each other.

Favoritism plays a large role in the god’s motives to help the mortals. Humans are simply pawns the gods use to amuse themselves, but each god has preference when it comes to who they help and who they deceive. The divine each have their own special qualities to lend to who they

One example of the tension between the gods and humans is when Ishtar is rejected by Gilgamesh, and tries to destroy Uruk. Unlike any other person who had been refused, Ishtar used her relationship with the gods to demand the Bull of Heaven kill Gilgamesh and cause famine in Uruk for seven years. She ordered, “Give me the Bull of Heaven, just for a little while. I want to bring it to earth, I want it to kill that liar Gilgamesh and destroy his palace. If you say no, I will smash the gates of the underworld, and a million famished ghouls will ascend to devour the living, and the living will be outnumbered by the dead”

Unlike religious gods today, the Greek gods resembled human being in their form and their emotions, and suffered from the same dilemmas humans throughout time have faced. The Greeks believe in many gods and think they are very much like people. They have both supernatural powers and human weaknesses. The gods would fight, play on each other, gets angry or jealous, and steal from each other. The Olympian Gods live atop Mt. Olympus in Greece behind a gate of clouds. They watch the mortals down on earth which they can visit any time, and are responsible for the success or failure of human life. The Greeks worship their gods, pray, give offerings, and build temples to please the gods so they will not give any punishments.

In Edith Hamilton's Mythology, the behavior of the Greek gods illustrates that in Greek society, the Greeks understand the fundamental nature of having flaws. The Trojan war started due to the actions of a Greek goddess of discord Erin who was not invited to a banquet, “Resenting this deeply, [Erin] determined to make trouble—and she succeeded very well indeed” (Hamilton 254).Erin's jealousy and wrath cause her to disrupt the peace among the gods and start the Trojan War. The Greeks recognized this ability to be imperfect and evil among humans as well as gods. The understood this significance so much that they created gods that were evil or impure in nature like Erin, rather than making every god perfect. Another example of a god exhibiting

The relationship between gods and humanity in Atrahisis: The Account of The Great Flood seems to carry great irresponsibility. Most of the gods display the weak characteristics of humans. They whine about work, constantly complain, selfishly create humans and then wish them dead. Enki and Atrahasis, two of the main characters in the flood story (one god and one human), gain a mutual respect that displays the proper relationship between humans and the divine. A relationship of prayerful ‘calling out’ to the gods, followed by a merciful response toward humankind, is the healthy and correct picture this story shows us. A correct relationship between gods and humans carries the possibility of eternal life

1. Based on the course material, how “just” is the world and the relationship that exists between man and god that is envisioned in the different myths you have read? Based on the course material there's a hierarchy in the world where gods are above all human kind due to the fact they created them for the purpose to serve. For instance, in the "Enuma Elish" myth it's widely expressed the gods created the human race. The gods are divided up into two groups younger and older gods. Each group shared the interest of having the human kind worship them and become loyal servants. In this myth, gods are viewed above humans and humans are viewed to be beneath gods. In fact, they're viewed in the lowest form possible and shed in a very good light in relation to the gods. This is the first aspect of where we see hierarchy in the world and unjust world. Another example of this is suggested in this myth when the gods comment on how unjust the humans are to each other. In fact, in this myth, the humans are so unjust and unruly towards each other that the gods contemplate what to do with them. As a result, the humans were flooded by the gods. Also in the Enuma Elish, the relationship that exists between man and god is as I mentioned before man was meant to be a lowly, worshipping servant and the gods were to be high, powerful, mighty, and worshipped with great importance. In several other myths such as the Sumerian version of this one, the concept is similar. Both versions are similar in

Both Homeric hymns to Apollo and Aphrodite feature classic mythology that explains various situations between the god and goddess and the mortals. In particular how each god and goddess elude mortals into behavior that both favors each party and has negative consequences. Apollo and Aphrodite have similarities and differences in which they manipulate the humans in the stories that lead to very different outcomes. A similarity between the manipulation on Apollo’s and Aphrodite’s part is that they each have a clear motive before their actions begin and some differences are that they have very different intentions and methods of the manipulation.

The reason for the cruelty that the gods demonstrated are because they are selfish, self-centered, and only think for themselves, like a dysfunctional family. The myth of Prometheus has multiple examples, for example, the gods torturing Prometheus for stealing the fire that was given to the humans to get them off their back. The gods’ actions are certainly unjustified because of their values. The myth makers perceived powerful people as dictators who abuse their power, so they created the gods to be mean and unjust.

The emotional aspect of both the gods and of men is truly quite similar. Both display anger, fear, jealousy, and envy although the gods display this in a much deeper fashion. This can

Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, is about the battles and events during the Trojan War between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Mortality and Immortality is the main crucial distinction between humans and gods. That being said, another interesting thing about them is how similar they are to human beings. They make mistakes, become jealous, and get their feelings hurt unlike our "modern" conception of god as infinite, omniscient and omnibenevolent. The Iliad literature on the gods does not display such of what we perceive how a god should be nowadays. Throughout the literature, the gods and humans may have similarities, but the role of the gods reflects the relationship with humans.