In Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey, the two sides, immortal and mortal, place blame on one another for the chaos that unfolds on earth. Human nature entails acting on impulse to serve personal agendas, the gods of Olympus are not exempt from its effect and may be major parts of its existence. Homer depicts the gods as divinities that are similar to humans in that they indulge in the same practices, are subject to the abstract beings of Greek mythology, and are in constant interaction with each other. The degree of these similarities may indicate that the line distinguishing the immortals from mortals is a thin uncertain line that may be crossed.
As divinities, the gods of Olympus are supposed to be refined greater beings that serve as role models. Instead, the immortals seem to be simple magnifications of man’s vices wrapped in the greatest deception—beauty. One of the common practices, both on earth and in the heavens, is adultery. Just like the affair between Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, Aphrodite did the same with Ares. Caught in the act, Aphrodite was called a “brazen bitch, who may be… a lovely creature but is the slave of her passions” (The Odyssey 8.319-20). Like a man …show more content…
Although he deems himself as the father and most powerful of the gods, Zeus must still abide by the fortunes of the Fates. Like his father and grandfather before him, Zeus was fated to fall. He planned ahead and avoided it, but it may have just been postponed for a later date. Another abstract being that was able to subdue Zeus was Sleep. Hera, a supposedly lesser goddess, was able to persuade Sleep with promises to give him Pasithea. To be able to put the reigning god to sleep reveals a faulty hierarchy in Olympos. With this, despite the fact that they cannot die, the gods’ divine statuses may fall reducing them to the state of
As divinities, the gods of Olympus are supposed to be refined greater beings that serve as role models. Instead, the immortals seem to be simple magnifications of man’s vices wrapped in the greatest deception—beauty. One of the common practices, both on earth and in the heavens, is adultery. Just like the affair between Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, Aphrodite did the same with Ares. Caught in the act, Aphrodite was called a “brazen bitch, who may be… a lovely creature but is the slave of her passions” (The Odyssey 8.319-20). Like a man …show more content…
Although he deems himself as the father and most powerful of the gods, Zeus must still abide by the fortunes of the Fates. Like his father and grandfather before him, Zeus was fated to fall. He planned ahead and avoided it, but it may have just been postponed for a later date. Another abstract being that was able to subdue Zeus was Sleep. Hera, a supposedly lesser goddess, was able to persuade Sleep with promises to give him Pasithea. To be able to put the reigning god to sleep reveals a faulty hierarchy in Olympos. With this, despite the fact that they cannot die, the gods’ divine statuses may fall reducing them to the state of