Greek Mythological Gods And Their Cruelty

Decent Essays
In Greek mythology there are a lot of instances with the gods and goddesses being cruel. The reason for their cruelty was because they had many bad human characteristics. The bad characteristics that they possessed were paranoia, jealousy, greed, spitefulness, mischievous, vanity and bullying. Some used these traits because they had to while others did it for entertainment. Greeks that told these stories understood that the world was a tough place to live and that bad things happen for various reasons. Mythological gods with their erratic behavior was an easy way to rationalize everything bad that happened during that era in Greece.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Bri Chapman Antigone The Gods play an important role in greek society. The greeks believed that the Gods were the cause of everything. Lightning bolts shooting out of the sky meant Zeus must be angry. A hurricane comes in off the coast, then Poseidon must be feeling anxious.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If the Greeks were just trying to show the gods compassion and love they would sacrifice healthy animals to the gods. The gods were believed to cause all occurrences so people would try to please the gods in such a way that they would bring good fortune to them and help them. Gods sometimes tended to interact with the people of ancient Greece, sometimes even having children. These children are known as Demigods and had stories and affected Greece in there own…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In spite of the fact that the gods are seen and thought to be a great effect on people, and theirs expectations and plans all through the books they appear to suck more often than not, accordingly, demonstrating that people are infrequently more powerful than the god in some ways. The trojans throughout the book are often hated by the gods. The piety shown from the trojans determine if the gods are willing to help them or not. The gods know that the Trojans suffer a lot because of the people and other gods that hate them but at the end the gods recognize the piety shown from the Trojans and decide to help them.…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    And he sent a long-winged eagle upon him. Further, it ate his deathless liver, but there grew back all over during the night as much as the bird of long wings had eaten during the whole whole day.” Because Zeus was disobeyed, he got mad and sought punishment against Prometheus. Vengeance was one of the larger themes for gods, and the ancient Greeks were influenced by the way the gods acted. It’s how they gave meaning to their life.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This Greek Myth attempts to discourage two types of undesirable behavior. One behavior that is not acceptable is deceptiveness. Another undesirable behavior is being scornful and rejecting love. Echo was deceptive due to the fact that she was interfering with Zeus and Hera’s relationship and not allowing Hera to catch Zeus while he was committing adultery. Narcissus was scornful by rejecting love and throwing Echo to the ground.…

    • 79 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the Iliad, the universal attitude towards the suffering of the good is that those who are suffering are believed to have wronged one of the gods. This is shown when Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon saying, “Go, murderous Dream, to the fast Achaean ships…” (Homer, Iliad 2.9); when the war begins, the Trojans believe they upset the gods to have the Achaeans attack. Nevertheless, the gods are there to help the mortals cope with suffering.…

    • 1233 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gods played an important role in ancient society. Whenever, humans could not understand something, they claimed it as God's work. From the Sun rising to Medicine to Love, the Greeks and Romans had Gods for everything. The works of the Odyssey by Homer, Oedipus both show the Gods as not only helping individuals and societies but also as destroying and hating humans. Both novels shows heroes who try to outwit Gods after they send destruction upon them.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout Greek literature, the gods dictate everything; from stirring a body of water to sink a ship to transforming people into inanimate objects and sometimes animals, the gods don’t feel the need to completely destroy their humans when their behavior is not up to par with the gods expectations. The use of transformations rather than destruction becomes particularly evident in The Bacchae and The Metamorphoses. In The Metamorphoses, there are several instances in the lives of the characters in which a disheartening, or even destructive, event takes place and the gods take the situation and turn it into something favorable. Likewise, The Bacchae focuses heavily on transformations, however, instead of the transformations creating something…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Many of these mythological stories were filled with violence. Why do you think this is? I believe these had all kinds of violence because, that is how us humans learn. Most of the time people need to learn the hard way and after all the chaos, we learn from our mistakes. It could be that back then humans were not as sophisticated and 2017 thin king mindset, but i do know that if there is something good about to happen, that there will always be something trying to get in the way.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Inferno and the Odyssey both there is a sense of divine justice. The gods of the Odyssey seek to punish people who anger them, for example Poseidon and his desire for revenge justice on Odysseus, and Athena, who put an arrow in the heart of a man and his father because he had thrown something at a beggar. This is because the polytheistic people of Ancient Greece believed that while they did have laws and a justice system. The gods where the ultimate judges of someone’s actions. The ancient gods, however did not punish people for their actions against each other (unless asked), but their actions against the gods.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Brotherhood of Kings Analysis Amanda Podany’s Brotherhood of Kings provides a look at international relations in the near east during much of the third and second millennia BCE and how these interactions shaped the development of the area. In this analysis of Podany’s work an overview of Brotherhood of Kings, including its purpose, how it is structured, the major themes of the piece, the sources used within it, as well as the main points Podany draws, will be given. From there the influence of both religion and women on the interactions between states in the region will be examined. Available to see immediately, Brotherhood of Kings places a very large focus on the role of international communication and its effects on the region. Examining…

    • 1853 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone makes decisions and every decision has a consequence. A consequence is the aftermath of a choice. Consequences could be good, bad, or a little in between. These consequences happen because people are often affected by an others decisions. This causes others to take out their emotions on someone else.…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eve Vs Pandora

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Eve and Pandora share the role of “The First Woman.” Likewise, they are both depicted as giving in to temptation, thus bringing suffering into the world. However, these two figures have stark contrasts between one another that reveal the views of their respective cultures’ towards women, god, and the world around them. I will begin by comparing major elements of both story. In Genesis, Eve is personally created by God, and born from Adam’s rib.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Gods In The Iliad

    • 1038 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The gods alter what the humans, as well as other god’s, thoughts. The gods are blamed for many of the actions of the Iliad because they are the ones who change the series of events. Also the mortals act honorable, while the gods are deceptive and…

    • 1038 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Arachne The Arachne is a creature from Greek mythology, whose name was later used for words like “arachnid” and “arachnophobia.” There’s very little to fear about the story of Arachne, however. Hers is a cautionary tale about pride that we can all learn from.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays