What statement can you make about the Greek Divinities and their behavior, actions, and character within The Iliad excerpts you have read so far? Quote to support your response. Please complete this blog response during class today.
22 comments:
Anonymous
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The Greek divinities in the Illiad use the soldiers of both sides to fight for almost no reason at all. They have the power to end the war but they prolong it in order to settle scores with rivals and to play with the pawns on there chess board. Hera and Aphrodite are feuding due to Paris' judgment and the war going on is inconsequential to that decision. The gods see the war as a game and don't take into account the lives that are being lost among the people that worship the divinities. The war in the heavens doesn't recieve any casualities, only more hurts feelings that turn into more grudges that turns into more years of war.
The divinities in the Iliad are also very human in the sense of their behavior. They hare not perfect in any sense and make mistakes too. Even thought they are immortal the fact that they do this makes the gods more relate able and believable to the actual humans. The do things that humans would do and have the emotions as well with them.
The Greek divinities do a fantastic job of showing their mortal feelings. "sibling rivalry" is big such as between Athena and Ares: "Ares, really a bully at heart and unable to bear what he brought upon unnumbered multitudes of men, fled up to Zeus in Olympus and complained bitterly of Athena's violence." (p 193) This isn't necessarily a battle between good and bad, but it is a show of the Gods favorites and which side can win or be pushed into losing. This is a battle of wits and strength and this is just an extreme case of Family Feud.
The Greek Divinities are very human in their behavior. They choose sides and fight along side their favorite warriors in the Trojan War. Some of the divinities help to guide the weapons of the Greek or Trojan hero they have favored. They also quarrel among themselves even though they can only hurt each other and not kill. This behavior shows how much Greek Divinities get involved in human's lives.
The divinities in the Trojan War seem to be divided. Many are on the Greeks side, and many are on the Trojans side. As a whole they are divided, like it is described in the book, " God against God,Athena felling Ares to the ground,Hera seizing the bow of Artemis..." It is like Civil War in Mt. Olympus, because each god has a different opinion about the war. Zeus seems to remain neutral though, not taking a side so Hera doesn't get angry. But it seems like everyone except Zeus has taken a side. Their characters somewhat show why they took one side, like how Poseidon took the Greeks side because they are a sea traveling people. But overall their characters are damaged because of the war. They all seem to be on edge.
The divinities in the Iliad demonstrate human behaviors. They are petty and fight with each other. They use the humans to fight out their battles aiding this hero or that during the fight. Zeus is intelligent in remaining neutral,however the true cause of the Trojan war is Eris and because all of the other gods and goddesses chose to not include her in their feasts. If the other divinities had been kind the Trojan war may have never been fought.
Some of the gods are very selfish, not only in the Iliad but but throughout Greek Mythology. Not only are they selfish but they are also very short tempered, she wasn't the most beautiful so she cursed the one that was or in this case, in just the first few pages it talks about how Artemis is angry that one of her hares where killed, and she was furious, making it difficult for the men to travel to troy having to fight the wind and all. In some cases the gods aren't just selfish, they help guide hero's and help them fight, such as Athena helped Achilles with his weapons. They aren't always selfish short tempered and cruel, but they are most of the time.
The divinities in the Iliad all create either a bane or a boon to the characters. Much of the action comes from the gods, and as such, i would say that they are less characters themselves and more forces of nature, too involved with their own business to care about the affairs of mortals.they give no thought to the mortals, imposing tyrannical standards. Hera has no qualms about trading the life of a princess for that of a hare. The divinities are more like obstacles than characters in the Iliad.
Even in the Iliad you can see that gods can be "shady". You see some gods help kill the Cyclops but then Poseidon was angry that Odysseus killed one of his children and the he's punished by one god from help of other gods. And also you see in this myth that some gods favored him while others did not. This concept occurs in almost every myth. Whether it's Hera angered by a son of Zeus or Athena angered by another life with beauty as great as hers.
The Greek Gods are susceptible to acting as little kids or siblings would. They bicker and look to Zeus as a child would look to its mother to solve a conflict. "Then Hera was angry. She urged her horses to Olympus and asked Zeus if she might drive that bane of men, Ares, from the battle field." Hera is uncomfortable that Ares is battling for the side opposing her so she pleads to Zeus (mother) to stop him. Ares is unhappy about Athena's actions so he goes and whines to Zeus, "Ares...fled up to Zeus in Olympus and complained bitterly of Athena's violence." This act of complaining to a higher power emulates a child complaining to his mother. The Greek Gods, in short, act childish in the Iliad.
The Greek divinities don't mind causing trouble for humans, as seen by Aphrodite promising Paris the most beautiful woman, who was already married. They are also somewhat aloof, but they also seem to be at the center of things, such as when they begin taking sides in the Trojan War. They also become aggravated over the slightest things, such as when a royal maiden had to be sacrificed to Artemis when a hare was slain. At best, the gods are fickle, helping one moment, killing the next, at worst, they are vengeful and cruel, punishing people mercilessly. This can in some way be seen by certain gods favoring the downfall of the Greeks, and others hoping for the downfall of the Trojans.
I think in The Iliad the Gods and Goddesses act more human-like than they ever have before. They have acted like humans in the past with their petty squabbling, but in this story particularly they act like humans by choosing sides, picking favorites, and generally making the mortals suffer for their own decisions and making men die at their feet. "Aphrodite, of course, was on the side of Paris. Equally, of course, Hera and Athena were against him. Ares, god of war, always took sides with Aphrodite; while Poseidon, lord of the sea, favored the Greeks, a sea people, always great sailors. Apollo cared for Hector and for his sake helped the Trojans, and Artemis, as his sister, did so too" (191). This quote shows, mildly, the childish and very human action of the Gods to side in a mortal war they really should be having nothing to do with, and they only side with people who benefit or have benefited them, instead of which side they think might actually be right. That action, of choosing sides based on who someone favors instead of who is right, is a very human action.
In the Iliad, the divinities become very invested in a war or conflict when they have been wronged or one of their favorite heroes is fighting. This is clear when Hector told his mother to send a prayer to Athena in hopes that she would support the Trojans and not the Greeks. Unfortunately, "Pallas Athena denied the prayer." (pg. 194) Athena would not help the Trojans because Paris had chosen Aphrodite over Athena as the most beautiful. Athena became increasingly interested in the war and helped the Greeks out because she held a grudge against one of the Trojans. This is also true with Hera because Paris did not choose her either as the fairest and therefore Hera became increasingly involved in the Greeks cause. However Apollo was the champion for Hector because he "revived the fainting Hector and breathed into him surpassing power." (pg. 196) Apollo liked Hector as a hero and so he helped the Trojans.
The Greek divinities have fallen to the same level as the people due to their own opinions and feelings about Helena and Paris. The gods split and show their weakness and pick sides of the Trojan or Greek warriors. The gods do ot show any sympathy for all the lives that are being loossed due to their prolonging of the war.
During the Trojan War, it is clear that the gods were much divided. “The war now reached Olympus- the gods were ranged against each other.” (Hamilton 191) The Greeks always made their gods look like humans, so the gods acted like them too. Gods and Goddesses from Artemis to Aphrodite to Apollo were angered during the course of this war. So, they took sides on the war and helped the side they favored. The gods were truly behaving like humans when they did this. Aside from the gods behaving like humans, the gods also acted in a lot of the same ways as humans. The gods got angry with each other and they got angry with the humans who opposed them. This anger called for an action which was sabotaging and harming the opposing side.
The Greek Divinities are, by and large, very self-absorbed characters. This is especially evident in the Iliad, such as when Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all bribe Paris to pick them as the most beautiful goddess. Maybe the best example of this self-aabsorption, though, comes from Artemis, who demands that the Greeks "appease her by sacrificing to her a royal maiden, Iphigenia, the eldest daughter of the Commander in Chief, Agamemnon", because the warriors harmed a rabbit. I would hardly call that just compensation.
There was no unity among the Greek divinities during the Illiad and quite a bit of anger between them. For example Hera was supporting the Greeks, partly due to the fact that Zeus was supporting the Trojans and she wanted to undermine him. A quote that shows the level of tension in among the gods and goddesses is, "The war by now had reached Olympus- the gods were ranged against each other." Hera seems to be the most conniving and self serving, desiring to see the complete destruction of Troy, partly in order to spite Zeus. All in all, the Trojan war created great division among the Greek gods.
The greek divinities in the Illiad are very humanlike. they get angry at the slightest thing and dish out a revenge that may be more extreme than what was actually deserved. I mean the entire war started because the gods were disagreeing and wanted to fight, so they used the humans almost as pawns. “Paris who coming, entered a friend’s kind dwelling, shamed the hand there that gave him food, stealing away a woman.” Paris gave aphrodite a golden apple and was promised the most beautiful woman on the planet. He became friends with the king and in turn tried to take his daughter as his wife but the gods did not like the way it was handled and fought against it.
The Greek Divinities portray mortal actions. They have the power to end the war at anytime but they do not. They chose to prolong the war and make people suffer. The gods are truly selfish and have many flaws.
The divinities are split in who they support. Some supported the Trojans, such as Aphrodite, Ares, Zeus, Apollo, and Artemis. Others supported the Greeks, such as Hera, Athena, and Poseidon. They were very divided and were pitted against each other. There was no unity among the divinities. They tried to get the other to fail and tried to be one step ahead of the other. There was much division brought upon the gods by the Trojan War.
The Greek divinities are shown to not cooperate with each other. Some like Apollo stand for the Trojans while others such as Athena and Poseidon take a stand with the Greeks. Poseidon is behind them because they are excellent boatman and Athena because of Achilles. Achilles also sways the opinions of some the other gods. especially when taking hectors body behind his chariot which then angers Zeus because the proper death was not given to hector and his body was not given back to his father.
the greek gods/godesses are shown not working together and siding with ether side in the Trojan war apollo sided the trojans and athena sided with the greeks achilles angered zues so zues sided against him
22 comments:
The Greek divinities in the Illiad use the soldiers of both sides to fight for almost no reason at all. They have the power to end the war but they prolong it in order to settle scores with rivals and to play with the pawns on there chess board. Hera and Aphrodite are feuding due to Paris' judgment and the war going on is inconsequential to that decision. The gods see the war as a game and don't take into account the lives that are being lost among the people that worship the divinities. The war in the heavens doesn't recieve any casualities, only more hurts feelings that turn into more grudges that turns into more years of war.
The divinities in the Iliad are also very human in the sense of their behavior. They hare not perfect in any sense and make mistakes too. Even thought they are immortal the fact that they do this makes the gods more relate able and believable to the actual humans. The do things that humans would do and have the emotions as well with them.
The Greek divinities do a fantastic job of showing their mortal feelings. "sibling rivalry" is big such as between Athena and Ares: "Ares, really a bully at heart and unable to bear what he brought upon unnumbered multitudes of men, fled up to Zeus in Olympus and complained bitterly of Athena's violence." (p 193) This isn't necessarily a battle between good and bad, but it is a show of the Gods favorites and which side can win or be pushed into losing. This is a battle of wits and strength and this is just an extreme case of Family Feud.
The Greek Divinities are very human in their behavior. They choose sides and fight along side their favorite warriors in the Trojan War. Some of the divinities help to guide the weapons of the Greek or Trojan hero they have favored. They also quarrel among themselves even though they can only hurt each other and not kill. This behavior shows how much Greek Divinities get involved in human's lives.
The divinities in the Trojan War seem to be divided. Many are on the Greeks side, and many are on the Trojans side. As a whole they are divided, like it is described in the book, " God against God,Athena felling Ares to the ground,Hera seizing the bow of Artemis..." It is like Civil War in Mt. Olympus, because each god has a different opinion about the war. Zeus seems to remain neutral though, not taking a side so Hera doesn't get angry. But it seems like everyone except Zeus has taken a side. Their characters somewhat show why they took one side, like how Poseidon took the Greeks side because they are a sea traveling people. But overall their characters are damaged because of the war. They all seem to be on edge.
The divinities in the Iliad demonstrate human behaviors. They are petty and fight with each other. They use the humans to fight out their battles aiding this hero or that during the fight. Zeus is intelligent in remaining neutral,however the true cause of the Trojan war is Eris and because all of the other gods and goddesses chose to not include her in their feasts. If the other divinities had been kind the Trojan war may have never been fought.
Some of the gods are very selfish, not only in the Iliad but but throughout Greek Mythology. Not only are they selfish but they are also very short tempered, she wasn't the most beautiful so she cursed the one that was or in this case, in just the first few pages it talks about how Artemis is angry that one of her hares where killed, and she was furious, making it difficult for the men to travel to troy having to fight the wind and all. In some cases the gods aren't just selfish, they help guide hero's and help them fight, such as Athena helped Achilles with his weapons. They aren't always selfish short tempered and cruel, but they are most of the time.
The divinities in the Iliad all create either a bane or a boon to the characters. Much of the action comes from the gods, and as such, i would say that they are less characters themselves and more forces of nature, too involved with their own business to care about the affairs of mortals.they give no thought to the mortals, imposing tyrannical standards. Hera has no qualms about trading the life of a princess for that of a hare. The divinities are more like obstacles than characters in the Iliad.
Even in the Iliad you can see that gods can be "shady". You see some gods help kill the Cyclops but then Poseidon was angry that Odysseus killed one of his children and the he's punished by one god from help of other gods. And also you see in this myth that some gods favored him while others did not. This concept occurs in almost every myth. Whether it's Hera angered by a son of Zeus or Athena angered by another life with beauty as great as hers.
The Greek Gods are susceptible to acting as little kids or siblings would. They bicker and look to Zeus as a child would look to its mother to solve a conflict. "Then Hera was angry. She urged her horses to Olympus and asked Zeus if she might drive that bane of men, Ares, from the battle field." Hera is uncomfortable that Ares is battling for the side opposing her so she pleads to Zeus (mother) to stop him. Ares is unhappy about Athena's actions so he goes and whines to Zeus, "Ares...fled up to Zeus in Olympus and complained bitterly of Athena's violence." This act of complaining to a higher power emulates a child complaining to his mother. The Greek Gods, in short, act childish in the Iliad.
The Greek divinities don't mind causing trouble for humans, as seen by Aphrodite promising Paris the most beautiful woman, who was already married. They are also somewhat aloof, but they also seem to be at the center of things, such as when they begin taking sides in the Trojan War. They also become aggravated over the slightest things, such as when a royal maiden had to be sacrificed to Artemis when a hare was slain. At best, the gods are fickle, helping one moment, killing the next, at worst, they are vengeful and cruel, punishing people mercilessly. This can in some way be seen by certain gods favoring the downfall of the Greeks, and others hoping for the downfall of the Trojans.
I think in The Iliad the Gods and Goddesses act more human-like than they ever have before. They have acted like humans in the past with their petty squabbling, but in this story particularly they act like humans by choosing sides, picking favorites, and generally making the mortals suffer for their own decisions and making men die at their feet. "Aphrodite, of course, was on the side of Paris. Equally, of course, Hera and Athena were against him. Ares, god of war, always took sides with Aphrodite; while Poseidon, lord of the sea, favored the Greeks, a sea people, always great sailors. Apollo cared for Hector and for his sake helped the Trojans, and Artemis, as his sister, did so too" (191). This quote shows, mildly, the childish and very human action of the Gods to side in a mortal war they really should be having nothing to do with, and they only side with people who benefit or have benefited them, instead of which side they think might actually be right. That action, of choosing sides based on who someone favors instead of who is right, is a very human action.
In the Iliad, the divinities become very invested in a war or conflict when they have been wronged or one of their favorite heroes is fighting. This is clear when Hector told his mother to send a prayer to Athena in hopes that she would support the Trojans and not the Greeks. Unfortunately, "Pallas Athena denied the prayer." (pg. 194) Athena would not help the Trojans because Paris had chosen Aphrodite over Athena as the most beautiful. Athena became increasingly interested in the war and helped the Greeks out because she held a grudge against one of the Trojans. This is also true with Hera because Paris did not choose her either as the fairest and therefore Hera became increasingly involved in the Greeks cause. However Apollo was the champion for Hector because he "revived the fainting Hector and breathed into him surpassing power." (pg. 196) Apollo liked Hector as a hero and so he helped the Trojans.
The Greek divinities have fallen to the same level as the people due to their own opinions and feelings about Helena and Paris. The gods split and show their weakness and pick sides of the Trojan or Greek warriors. The gods do ot show any sympathy for all the lives that are being loossed due to their prolonging of the war.
During the Trojan War, it is clear that the gods were much divided. “The war now reached Olympus- the gods were ranged against each other.” (Hamilton 191) The Greeks always made their gods look like humans, so the gods acted like them too. Gods and Goddesses from Artemis to Aphrodite to Apollo were angered during the course of this war. So, they took sides on the war and helped the side they favored. The gods were truly behaving like humans when they did this. Aside from the gods behaving like humans, the gods also acted in a lot of the same ways as humans. The gods got angry with each other and they got angry with the humans who opposed them. This anger called for an action which was sabotaging and harming the opposing side.
The Greek Divinities are, by and large, very self-absorbed characters. This is especially evident in the Iliad, such as when Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all bribe Paris to pick them as the most beautiful goddess. Maybe the best example of this self-aabsorption, though, comes from Artemis, who demands that the Greeks "appease her by sacrificing to her a royal maiden, Iphigenia, the eldest daughter of the Commander in Chief, Agamemnon", because the warriors harmed a rabbit. I would hardly call that just compensation.
There was no unity among the Greek divinities during the Illiad and quite a bit of anger between them. For example Hera was supporting the Greeks, partly due to the fact that Zeus was supporting the Trojans and she wanted to undermine him. A quote that shows the level of tension in among the gods and goddesses is, "The war by now had reached Olympus- the gods were ranged against each other." Hera seems to be the most conniving and self serving, desiring to see the complete destruction of Troy, partly in order to spite Zeus. All in all, the Trojan war created great division among the Greek gods.
The greek divinities in the Illiad are very humanlike. they get angry at the slightest thing and dish out a revenge that may be more extreme than what was actually deserved. I mean the entire war started because the gods were disagreeing and wanted to fight, so they used the humans almost as pawns. “Paris who coming, entered a friend’s kind dwelling, shamed the hand there that gave him food, stealing away a woman.” Paris gave aphrodite a golden apple and was promised the most beautiful woman on the planet. He became friends with the king and in turn tried to take his daughter as his wife but the gods did not like the way it was handled and fought against it.
The Greek Divinities portray mortal actions. They have the power to end the war at anytime but they do not. They chose to prolong the war and make people suffer. The gods are truly selfish and have many flaws.
The divinities are split in who they support. Some supported the Trojans, such as Aphrodite, Ares, Zeus, Apollo, and Artemis. Others supported the Greeks, such as Hera, Athena, and Poseidon. They were very divided and were pitted against each other. There was no unity among the divinities. They tried to get the other to fail and tried to be one step ahead of the other. There was much division brought upon the gods by the Trojan War.
The Greek divinities are shown to not cooperate with each other. Some like Apollo stand for the Trojans while others such as Athena and Poseidon take a stand with the Greeks. Poseidon is behind them because they are excellent boatman and Athena because of Achilles. Achilles also sways the opinions of some the other gods. especially when taking hectors body behind his chariot which then angers Zeus because the proper death was not given to hector and his body was not given back to his father.
the greek gods/godesses are shown not working together and siding with ether side in the Trojan war apollo sided the trojans and athena sided with the greeks achilles angered zues so zues sided against him
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