Homer And Aristophanes: A Comparative Analysis

Homer and Aristophanes wrote centuries apart, and the time between the compositions of their works spans a large swath of time across the history of the Greek civilization. Through their works one can pick up on shifts in attitudes as time passed for the Greeks, especially the attitude of the Greeks towards their religion. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey feature so many instances of man interacting with the gods while the work in which Aristophanes pits man against the divine is his play The Birds. The contrast in the characters’ treatment of the gods between the three works highlights an incomplete shift in Greek society towards a less pious treatment of the Gods. First, as Greek civilization progressed they relied more on science and philosophy to explain natural phenomena. In Homer's Greece men looked to the gods to explain most everything and to be involved in most everything. Men looked to the gods to choose sides in the Trojan War. Some warriors even relied on the Gods to save them from death in the war. Paris was saved by Aphrodite after almost dying at the hands of Menelaus. Aeneas was “swept up” and “set down on the sacred heights of Pergamus” by Apollo to protect …show more content…
Greeks however did not fully reject their gods and were still reverent towards them. Homer’s heroes are unable to defeat the gods no matter how hard they tried, but when the hero of The Birds does we are reminded of one thing: trying to transcend your humanity and become divine does not make you a hero, only a big joke. The works of Homer and Aristophanes show that no matter how far a civilization may stray from religion, our humanity has limits. We cannot become divine, only explain the divine. All we can do is exist inside the limited framework that our bodies and minds give