The Role of Deities Deities throughout Greek, Egyptian and Roman texts have played a massive role in how stories should be told through the point of view of the deities. Humans have try to challenge the divine laws set by the deities and impose their human laws as superior to them. The stories of “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and “The Aeneid” have shown the consequences that may result if the divine laws of the deities are violated. Deities in the story of epic texts have roles which support the idea of divinity. These deities have the power to determine and change the destiny of people at their own will. The creation of divine laws provides the basis for how citizens are supposed to behave. However, these laws must not be broken or else the gods
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This is illustrated when Ea, says to Enlil, “You, O valiant one, are the wiest of the gods, how could, irrational, have brought on the flood? Punish the wrongdoer for his wrongdoing, punish the transgressor for his transgression.” This indicates that deities have the role to destroy what they create if they feel like it. Moreover, in the story of “The Aeneid”, the deities possess the role to either postpone or help a person achieve their destiny. Precisely in books I and IV, the goddesses Juno attempts to use her divine powers to postpone Aeneas’ journey to Rome. According to Virgil, Juno became so enraged that Aeneas was leaving to Troy to reach Italy that she told Aeolus to send storms their way. The storms were meant to hinder the progress set by Aeneas to get to Rome. Juno states this when she says, “a race I loathe is crossing the Tuscan Sea, transporting Troy to Italy, bearing their conquered household gods- thrash your …show more content…
Deities experience emotions such as hatred, jealously and joyful when dealing with either other deities or humans. Examples of these emotions are experienced within the stories mentioned. For example, in book I of the “Aeneid,” there was a contest of beauty among three woman including Juno known as the judgement of Paris and Juno lost to Venus. Juno became infuriated with jealously, which foreshadows the storms attacking Aeneas’ ships. Virgil states this when he says, “they festered deep within her, galled her still: the judgment of Paris, the unjust slight to her beauty.” Deities just as human experience jealousy when they don’t get the things that they want. Another, emotion that both humans and deities share is hatred and this can be shown specifically in “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” In this story, after Gilgamesh conquers the beast of the wild with the help of Enkidu, Ishtar, the goddess of love and fertility appears to them. Ishtar is there to ask Gilgamesh if he would marry her. Gilgamesh insults her because he knows the past of Ishtar’s husbands and how she used them for her own personal benefit. Ishtar becomes furious about the comments that Gilgamesh makes and goes to her father to bring the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh. This is stated when the narrator says, “Ishtar was furious and went up to heaven, Ishtar went sobbing before Anu, her father … will then, Father, pretty please, the Bull of
This is illustrated when Ea, says to Enlil, “You, O valiant one, are the wiest of the gods, how could, irrational, have brought on the flood? Punish the wrongdoer for his wrongdoing, punish the transgressor for his transgression.” This indicates that deities have the role to destroy what they create if they feel like it. Moreover, in the story of “The Aeneid”, the deities possess the role to either postpone or help a person achieve their destiny. Precisely in books I and IV, the goddesses Juno attempts to use her divine powers to postpone Aeneas’ journey to Rome. According to Virgil, Juno became so enraged that Aeneas was leaving to Troy to reach Italy that she told Aeolus to send storms their way. The storms were meant to hinder the progress set by Aeneas to get to Rome. Juno states this when she says, “a race I loathe is crossing the Tuscan Sea, transporting Troy to Italy, bearing their conquered household gods- thrash your …show more content…
Deities experience emotions such as hatred, jealously and joyful when dealing with either other deities or humans. Examples of these emotions are experienced within the stories mentioned. For example, in book I of the “Aeneid,” there was a contest of beauty among three woman including Juno known as the judgement of Paris and Juno lost to Venus. Juno became infuriated with jealously, which foreshadows the storms attacking Aeneas’ ships. Virgil states this when he says, “they festered deep within her, galled her still: the judgment of Paris, the unjust slight to her beauty.” Deities just as human experience jealousy when they don’t get the things that they want. Another, emotion that both humans and deities share is hatred and this can be shown specifically in “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” In this story, after Gilgamesh conquers the beast of the wild with the help of Enkidu, Ishtar, the goddess of love and fertility appears to them. Ishtar is there to ask Gilgamesh if he would marry her. Gilgamesh insults her because he knows the past of Ishtar’s husbands and how she used them for her own personal benefit. Ishtar becomes furious about the comments that Gilgamesh makes and goes to her father to bring the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh. This is stated when the narrator says, “Ishtar was furious and went up to heaven, Ishtar went sobbing before Anu, her father … will then, Father, pretty please, the Bull of