humanity in the Iliad's gods
I’ve been reading the Iliad, partially for teaching reasons and partially for my own enjoyment, and the portrayal of the gods has been consistently on my mind. Reading the way that Homer depicts them in the first few books, I was reminded vividly of when I was a senior in college, sitting in my room, thinking about Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and realizing for the first time that the gods are incredibly complex figures, and seem to be more human than any idea of divinity.
And from that point on I have been entranced with the question of why, why are the gods constantly portrayed with a human spectrum of emotion: temperamental, unstable, very materially attached, even fallible and vulnerable? I found it to be odd, if that’s truly the figures that the Greeks were thinking of when they considered their gods. It does not seem to be a very comfortable or comforting environment to exist in, having to be forever careful that you aren’t falling out of line in the god’s opinion.
At the same time though, I understand, especially if we take into account a couple theories as to why the gods are depicted in such a way. I like the argument that states the gods are like that because that’s how nature and the world are, and they are manifestations of those elements. Nature is unforgiving and temperamental, so the gods are too. It would not be surprising to me if it was a way to rationalize something chaotic that they did not have the information to quite yet understand. And humans have always been prone to personification. I think it’s one of the most charming impulses we have.
Another theory I’ve seen is not too far removed. It states the gods are a sort of exaggerated version of humanity. And so the somewhat disturbing actions they take are more of an experiment into what humans would look like with less inhibition and less of a portrayal of a god. I think this perspective makes sense if we’re only considering them within literature, where they’re playing a role within a story, because it’s an interesting thought experiment. But it makes a little less sense for devotion to the gods in reality, unless having that implicitly human connection was in fact important.
These are all clearly just theories; I’m not even certain there is an agreed upon answer to these questions. But that is fine. I honestly prefer theorizing about all this, and while I have even more questions, it’s not unpleasant. The human perception of god has always intrigued me, and it’s even more curious to look at its history.
~dys