XenophanesCriticisms Against Homeric And Hesiodic Portrayals Of The Gods

In ancient Greek culture the gods were seen as taking a very active role in the development and course of human history.  The entire Olympian pantheon, as well as many other less important divinities, meddles in human affairs to no end.  The people of the many city-states that composed Greece firmly believed that every aberration from normalcy was due to an act of the gods.  Homer, the author of The Iliad, coined the prevalent religious beliefs of the time in his epic poems, showing the gods as temperamental and willful, meddlesome and dynamic.  Homer’s entire poem is replete with instances of divine intervention in mortal lives, and no single major occurrence comes to pass unless it is the will of one of the many Olympian gods.  Few major decisions are made without consulting the gods first, and the handful of instances in which one leader or another takes initiative almost always fails miserably.  Life, according to the Greeks, is almost entirely rooted in their religion, as there is a god or goddess governing every aspect of the universe, and also because the gods so actively involve themselves in the everyday lives of mortals.

Hesiod’s main focus in his poem “Theogony” was to emphasize the ways that the world was created by the gods and how the gods fought in order to maintain a peaceful the universe. Hesiod claims to have written this work under “divine inspiration,” suggesting possibly that the gods themselves revealed the story to him. He highlights the fact that gods act based on morality rather than personal gain. When they fight for something, it is for the greater good and because it is ‘just’ in the eyes of Greek traditions. He composed his most famous poem Theogony around eighth century B.C, a story within a poem about the birth of the Greek gods. In the beginning, he claims the very first thing in the universe was chaos, and out of that earth appeared and gives

Hesiod’s gods lost their carelessness and gaiety of the Homeric gods, became the moral forces, severe guardians of order and justice, born of Zeus. The role of gods according to Hesiod belongs not only the Olympian gods with human form, like Zeus or Apollo, but the Earth, Sky, Star, Wind, Fight, Lies, Victory, Wisdom, violence, etc. Zeus as for Hesiod is not just carrier of the power, as Uranus and Kronus, but also the embodiment of a long-awaited order, keeper and guardian of ethics. The desire to have a better life and a constant feeling of dissatisfaction are natural for people, and the gods tend, on the contrary, to complicate people’s lives and create new difficulties. Thus, the Hesiod’s style of poetry is close to Homer’s one, but because of the general didactic orientation Hesiod’s poetry is almost out of bright Homeric metaphors, similes and epithets.

The reader’s view on Zeus in Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound is very interesting, as the character’s perception is pieced together through other characters’ opinions of the god. These given impressions form the figure’s personality. If Hermes, an arrogant and unsympathetic character, praises Zeus, the reader’s opinion of the king of gods will undoubtedly change for the worse. Whereas Zeus is only portrayed through others in Prometheus Bound, the Theogony focuses on the god’s own actions and words, thus presenting the god in a good light.

In Greco-Roman Culture, humans imagine the deities of mythology to be and act certain ways, due to the needs they must fill. People invented certain deities for reasons that align with what they needed from them. To examine how a deity has a certain purpose, one must first examine what they are like. Athena and Ares are examples of deities invented for very specific purposes. One must first look at Athena and Ares’ similarities and differences in relation to their characteristics, their sexuality and physical appearances, as well as their different powers and how they are worshipped, to discover why they were created.

Throughout The Iliad, Homer offers us a glimpse into the lifestyles of the ancient Greeks and their beliefs. They are a very spiritual and in many ways superstitious people. The main thing to note throughout The Iliad is the interaction between the gods and the humans. Any way one looks at the situation, they can immediately see that humans are mere pawns to the gods in their game of chess. The success and failures of the humans depends on what god would be helping which group and at what particular time. This essay will explain the three main reasons the gods in The Iliad intervened with humans: Firstly, gods who act on their own personal motives, secondly, gods who act as favors to other gods, and finally gods who act as favors to

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.

In ancient times, gods were a holy image in people’s mind. Each god had its own role in the universe. Such as the role of creation, the controller of the nature, and the role of the destiny control. The gods had extreme powers, and controlled everything in the world. Worshiped gods became a daily routine for ancient people. In the minds of people in ancient times, worshiped their gods were to prevent these gods became furious, and punished them with their extreme power. Even though the gods were extremely powerful, in many epic texts we could see they also had emotions and characteristics that were just like humans. However, there were still some major differences between the gods and humans.

Many authors have employed the religious beliefs of their cultures in literature. The deities contained in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Biblical book of Exodus reflect the nature of the gods in their respective societies. Upon examination of these two works, there are three major areas where the gods of the Greek epic seem to directly contrast the nature of the God of the Israelites: the way problems are solved, the prestige and status that separates the divine from the masses, and the extent of power among the immortal beings.

Odysseus’ freedom to make his own decisions is altered my what the gods have preordained for him.

There has long been a fashion among critics and historians, including Sir James Frazier and Graham Hancock, to insist upon taking the account of Odysseus' voyage to Hades in Book XI of the Odyssey at near face-value as a description of people and places familiar to a Greek audience of Homer's day. Both linguistics and comparative history have been employed to discover exactly how accurately this originally oral epic conveys this gritty realism. Something, however, is not right with this purely empiric approach. What is missing is an examination through the lens of ancient religious practices. Surely a literary work so teeming with deities-wise Athena, spiteful Poseidon, impish

    The characters of Homer’s The Odyssey struggled with the ineffable reality of the world, therefore they created gods that could carry the burden of their hopeless quest for understanding. The characters created by Homer, because of their intelligence, were finally

This passage is meant to criticize how man has characterized and represented the Gods. Xenophenes, in particular mentions the names of Homer and Hesiod to bring into question the way Gods are portrayed. Why is it that Gods have such human characteristics and more importantly why are they preforming such heinous acts such as thievery, adultery and deception and still be worshipped? Xenophanes sets up this critique in a very cleaver way. His argument is that if horses oxen or any other animal could produce works like humans can they would depict their Gods in the same way humans depict theirs. The fact that man can imagine the gods in the same way they would imagine any human discredits and lessens their powers. For the Gods to be thought of

One of the issues in Homers The Odyssey is understanding the role and function of the goddess Athena. The problem is most pronounced when examining Athena’s duality. She provides Odysseus both her counsel and assistance throughout the story yet she’s also the entity that keeps him exiled from his home. Athena’s role, similar to the other gods, is to correct apparent injustices. “Oh father Zeus and gods and bliss forever let no man holding scepter as a king think to be mild the fatherhood and mercy through his reign. Meanwhile he lives and grieves upon the island of the nymph…” Book 5 lines 9-21. These lines show that Athena is concerned about the injustice that surrounds Odysseus and his son. This suggests that gods can become active in the role of mortals and may aid them to correct inequity through their fate. This paper will explore the obligations Athena had to ensure Odysseus’ voyage home safely as well as the thematic importance of fate in The Odyssey and the intervention and the power of the gods and goddesses. Fate is one of the occurring themes throughout the Odyssey, where the intervention of the gods and goddesses is common due to the triumphs of men and women.

Many believed Ancient Athens brought a time of its prime for the development of literary art and its culture. Specifically, Ancient Athenian Dramatics took the lead in this role for their epic themes of the inner-conflicting struggles of humanity and the never-ending, twisting fates delivered by the rein of the gods. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature proclaims the artists intention in a similar manner: “By serving the gods, displaying the strange and surprising ways that divine forces operate on human lives” (Puchner et all 608). One way of delivering the intensity of their storytelling, Dramatics acknowledged the altering sensitivities in the human experience and, also, brought light to the extremities of human behavior and its reacting emotions. Some of the most famous epic tragedies today, like the famous, Sophocles’ story, Oedipus The King and Homer’s Iliad Book XXIV, display main characters in the focus of extreme emotional personalities with twisted fates and over-the-top reactions of anger and pride. Accordingly I believe that the writers’ intention in using main characters of deep, embedded anger and extreme pride was to open a curiosity in divine fate, exploration of self-acceptance, and also the balance of humanity.