Human qualities of the gods defined
Choosing to explain how the gods in the Iliad possess human qualities and how they are portrayed as human is where I will begin my paper. This is a fair assessment that they are portrayed as human, however, it is made very clear that even though theypossess and display human qualities, they are definitely gods with godly powers.(Iliad 1.1 Rage sing goddess-Zeus' will was done) The book shows the gods haveemotions and can be angered just as humans can. Which, just like humans, forces some kind of physical consequences on the person who has angered the god. Apollo, the god of music and arts, reveals the human quality of vengeance being dispersed on the mortal who has wronged him (Iliad 1.1 line10-15), when he cast a plague upon the Greeks. Theplague killed many humans and animals as Apollo actually stood in human form and shot first the animals and then the Greeks. Apollo used arrows from his silver bow to accomplish this deed. This vengeful act was prompted by Apollo's anger over the actions of Agamemnon, the commander and chief of the Greek army. In book two of the Iliad (Iliad 2-20,2-21) it tells that in a dream, Zeus appears to
154 line733- Page 3744)describing how Hermes, a god who is the messenger for the Olympians,(all other gods) first hovers above Priam, king of the Trojans, and reminds him while he sleeps, that he is indeed in the enemy's camp. When you look at the fact that Zeus father of the gods and men, is out running around on Hera his wife, with many different mortal women. These spoils of war being Briseis, the woman who had been awarded to Achilles, when he took the city of Lyrnessus. 16 line 528-533) Another portrayal of the humanity of the gods is shown in (Iliad 24. A second example of the gods being portrayed as human, is the story describing Zeus sitting on the highest peak of the Olympic mountain, when he is visited by Thetis, Achilles' mother, who speaks of Achilles' sorrow over losing Briseis to Agamemnon, Thetis places her hands on Zeus' knees. We can also view the story as a drama, as it contains many in-depth personal aspects of the characters families and lives for both of the armies. This being the case, the god would definitely have to take human physical form to engage in sexual relations with a human. This dream is what Zeus chose to do for Thetis, the goddess of the sea, whom is Achilles' mother, who went to Zeus upon her sons request to receive retributition for Agamemnon's despicable actions against her son, of taking his spoils of war. For example the fact that Achilles was told by his mother Thetis that he would have a short life if he participated in the Trojan war, however he did anyway knowing what the future held for him. He also advises Hera that arguing between herself and Zeus would ruin the large feasts that the gods gathered for. Another way of classifying the story would be ironic in some points. In addition, they demonstrate varied human emotions that you would not associate with a god. 18,19 line 605-625), it tells of the gods arguing and having feasts where they sit at a table in human fashion. Even more humor can be found in the fact that a god of such supreme power is out having sexual relations and fathering multiple children to these mortal women.
Common topics in this essay:
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iliad 11,
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Acceptance Essays
