«If you lived in Athens, Greece around the time when the great poet Homer lived, you probably would be acquainted with the many Greek gods. ...» Document abstract
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Language : english
linguistics
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date published
18/04/2008
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SummaryIf you lived in Athens, Greece around the time when the great poet Homer lived, you probably would be acquainted with the many Greek gods. Homer’s written compilation of the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, which were formerly only told through oral tradition, would be easy for you to understand. In fact, you would know all about the pantheon of gods Homer wrote about from Athena to Zeus. However, Homer did not conceive the “most unpleasant” of the “scandalous features” of the gods, which were probably passed down from the most primitive times of Greek culture (Earp 45). In most of western culture, however, polytheism has dwindled, and the idea of one, all-powerful God is becoming prevalent in religions such as Islam and Christianity. However, the characteristics of Greek gods still present a fascinating question: Why are they so different from the idea of God today?
« In a sense, the purpose of the ancient Greek's life was to please the gods, and his There is no smaller scale, no individuality. There is no humanity. ...» Document abstract
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Language : english
humanities/philosophy
school essay
date published
12/10/2007
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level : Advanced
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SummaryMythology: the bookstore catalogue designation where religions go to die. When the believers cease believing in their gods, and when the gods cease believing in themselves. We often forget we once worshiped Zeus and those other “primitive” gods with the same blind passion and fear as we dedicate to Jesus Christ. Yet religions, like the civilizations founded on their tomes and tablets, exist in cycles. They rise and fall. But during the rise, the fall is never visible; the end is forever beyond the horizon. Rome was not built in a day, but what Roman would not contest that stones crumble far quicker than they are carved? Dead religions, stripped of faith, litter the collective consciousness of mankind. Still, they are more pervasive, more persuasive, than we realize. More pervasive and persuasive, in fact, than they were alive. Embedded in culture, embedded in literature, mythologies reach further into the core of humanity than any active religion through the very distance that delegates them to a shelf somewhere behind history, behind World War II and the Middle East, as a study of ancient ways of life far from the shelves of Bible’s and the modern world.
« Just as Greek deities were gods to whom the that God is more of an archetypal Machiavellian prince than he is an altruistic, loving father to humanity. ...» Document abstract
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Language : english
humanities/philosophy
term papers
date published
07/05/2007
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level : General public
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Summary The question of whether gods are capable of being flawed has long preoccupied theologists and philosophers alike. The mythological deities of the ancient Greek pantheon possessed a myriad of humanistic attributes, including a wide range of notable character flaws; Zeus, of course, was infamous for his sexual hedonism just as Helena was continually characterized in ancient myths by her jealousy and bitterness. But when a culture is based on a single deity that has control of absolutely everything in the universe, such as in modern days, it is common belief that God is both omnipotent and flawless—in fact, such monotheistic religions are largely predicated upon the notion that God must be flawless in order to maintain universal order and exert His sovereignty over man. But divine texts, in many cases, fail to substantiate this widely accepted claim. Analysis of Holy Scriptures such as the Bible yield evidence that God actually can be flawed; in fact, particular passages from Genesis and Exodus not only insinuate that God is not omnipotent, but that he is actually a entity characterized by vulnerability. This largely unacknowledged vulnerability shifts the religious paradigm significantly, suggesting the existence of a system not only in which man fears God, but in which God fears man as well.
Table of Contents- The American Heritage Dictionary defines vulnerability as the state of being 'Susceptible to physical or emotional injury' [or] attack?
- Such developments are clear evidence that God feared the increasing power of ambitious men
- God's vulnerability is also evident due to his fear of humans' worshipping a different deity
- There is a tension, however, in the assertion that God is vulnerable
- Though God exhibits signs of omnipotence, aspects of the story of Abraham suggest that God showed some concern for His potential vulnerability
- Just as Greek deities were gods to whom the common people could relate, a flawed God in a monotheistic religion could have similar effects
- The Old Testament includes clear implications that God, in his constant worrying over how to maintain His sovereignty in the universe, is a man-fearing entity
« hard to admire a man who reputes any sense of humanity. However, Greek men are forced to sacrifice greatly in few others who succeed are considered gods by some ...» Document abstract
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Language : english
literature
school essay
date published
19/10/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
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SummaryAccording to newspaper headings and television reports, every man and woman who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 is a hero. Even three years later, memorials are still built, hymns are still sung, and candlelight vigils are still held in remembrance of the bravest individuals modern America has ever known. The ancient Greeks would be all too happy to disagree. In fact, they would find the blind sacrifice of life in the name of a social duty to be a waste. Morality as a system of reasoning is a contemporary phenomenon; the extremities of right and wrong did not become a true force in the decision-making process until the influx of Christianity. The “common good” did not matter until the Romans placed society above the individual. The Greece of Homer’s Odyssey is a lawless Greece, and any kind of morality based on lawlessness is not morality recognizable by any ethicist. Greeks, as a reflection of their cultural beliefs, use their literature to stress the importance of two traits common to all epic heroes: the fulfillment of Xenia and Kléos. Xenia, an extravagant form of hospitality, divides the civilized from the uncivilized, while Kléos, an emphasis on death with honor above all, divides the heroic from the ordinary. The Greek hero is ultimately selfish; consequently, the greatest hero in all of epic history, Odysseus, is the most selfish man of all. In the shadow of terrorism, it is hard to admire a man who reputes any sense of humanity. However, Odysseus remains the truest embodiment of epic heroism, not based on any duty to society, but on his strict adherence to the Greek ideologies of Xenia and Kléos.
« his brothers in their war against the gods, and he the journey of Virgil and Dante, and consequently, with humanity. Hunt, John M. "Centaurs." Greek Mythology. ...» Document abstract
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3 word format
Language : english
literature
school essay
date published
19/10/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
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SummaryDante’s Inferno, while a fictionalized version of the dichotomy of Heaven and Hell, is in many ways an accurate portrayal of the doctrines of Christianity. However, this Hell he creates is a Hell the Bible never expected. Influenced by the growing mistrust of the Pope throughout his native Florence, he never hesitates to write with personal opinion in the forefront. He burns Church officials next to petty thieves, and his self-righteous pursuit of salvation creates an animosity toward sin, especially the sins of other less devout individuals. The Inferno is a vivid painting of eternal torment, punishments directly influenced by the crimes with a touch of Dante’s repulsive imagination. However, he is also quick to make his passion for the human body clear: he is completely disgusted by the disfiguration of any fellow man. His hatred of non-human shapes, echoed in the xenophobic attitude of the Church, is glorified by his use of monsters in his Inferno, monsters that are all distortions of humans. These pre-Christian monsters, presented as horrendous entities in contrast to living creatures, never had a chance for Heaven, and Dante never gives them a chance for redemption. Limbo is a place for virtuous pagans; Dante presents the monsters in the Inferno as purely blasphemous. He assumes this judgment to be common sense, that anything not created by God in his very likeness can never deserve sympathy. Yet a modern world, separated from Roman Catholic control, looks beyond original sin to declare damnation. Dante fails to prove that the monsters in the Inferno belong there beyond reason of their foreign birth, and in the numerous contradictions throughout, he proves the opposite.
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