Homer's Image Of God In The Iliad

Throughout The Iliad, Homer shapes his characters through the detailed depictions of their actions and the defining descriptions of their nature. “Godlike” is an adjective Homer often uses to set certain characters apart, giving the descriptive term and the described character a quality of higher significance. However, Homer depicts the gods as very similar to humans— or rather, they are outstanding personifications of key human characteristics. Therefore, in Homer’s eyes, to be godlike is to be human in an outstanding way. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) According to the Christian God, all humans are made in His image; therefore, by the Christian definition, all humans are godlike. I believe that although Homer does not recognize the Christian God as the origin of humanity, his intention in creating “godlike” …show more content…
Both gods and humans are prone to good deeds and mistakes, virtues and flaws; both gods and humans have definitive personalities and distinctive traits. The gods, however, can be considered the physical embodiments of human characteristics: for example, Zeus is power, Hera is loyalty, Athene is wisdom, Aphrodite is beauty, and Ares is hatred. “Godlike” is then an adjective that addresses an outstanding quality that a character may possess— in practice, godlike Agamemnon has extraordinary strength, godlike Patroklos embodies extraordinary loyalty, godlike Odysseus carries extraordinary wisdom, godlike Paris displays extraordinary beauty, and godlike Achilleus wields extraordinary rage. At one point, even a squire is described as being “godlike,” supporting the idea that one does not necessarily have to be extremely powerful or famous to merit the description. Just as it is considered human to be selfish or flawed, it is human capability to be