Role of the Gods in the Odyssey

Religion has forever and a day been an important part of culture, in present durations and even dating back to the times of the fifth column War and before. No matter what religion a person practices or believes in the mathematical function of the certain graven images believed in has always been important. In troika separate pieces we hand read we have learnn the importance of the gods, or graven image, interpret a key role in the development of the literature. In home runs epic poetry The Odyssey, the gods are key in Odysseus expire to Ithaca after twenty days. Whether it is helping Odysseus or delaying him, they play a major role in the development of the story.In Psalm 139, the scripture qualifying gather inn from the Bible, God is a very translucent factor. Even in the poem by William Owen Dulce et decorousness Est God again plays a major role once we dive deeper than the words are saying. The role of the gods, or laughable God in Catholicism, plays a key ro le, sometimes unspoken, part. In The Odyssey we see in the first book cardinal major gods that make an present(prenominal) impact on Odysseus journey home. Zeus, genus Athene, and Poseidon all are important in their own way in either helping Odysseus or stressful to stop him.Zeus, index of the gods, is characterized as a mediator between genus Athene and Poseidon, the former helping Odysseus and the latter trying to stop him from reaching home. genus Athene does all she can to help out the mortal Odysseus, even appearance to him and his son Telemachus in camo to point them in the right direction. Poseidon, nevertheless, hates Odysseus for fulgent his son and tries his hardest on multiple occasions to kill Odysseus and his men. Zeus, for being king of the gods, does not have the most important religious role in this epic poem.He is mostly seen as a babysitter between genus Athene and Poseidon, allowing Athena to help Odysseus but at the same time laboured the people who help out Odysseus. At one point, after Poseidon gentle his anger, he turns a Phaeacian ship to stone right when it returns because they helped Odysseus return home. His besides involvement with Odysseus seems to be when he is trying to please both Athena and Zeus. Athena is a very key character in this poem. She takes a liking to the human Odysseus because of the intelligence and cunning that he naturally has. She in person gets involve in the lives of Telemachus and Odysseus by coming hem in disguise and helping them throughout their separate journeys. The grey-eyed goddess, as she is referred to m any times, is responsible for consideration Telemachus on the path to find out more about his father, and gives him the fortitude to stand up to the suitors who have invaded his fathers house. The goddess is seen helping Odysseus in almost every book, most notably the last four where she gives him expertness when fighting the suitors, helping Odysseus and Telemachus reach Laertes house p eacefully, and even makes the suitors parents forget about their childrens deaths and restores peace to Ithaca.Athena makes the homecoming of Odysseus a cheerful one, helping him and his family time and time again so that they are reunited. Poseidon, god of the sea, holds a nasty grudge against Odysseus throughout the story. Odysseus, after the famous nix trick, foolishly tells the Cyclopes Polyphemus his name as he is sailing out after blinding him. Poseidon, who is Polyphemus father, is outraged that a mortal blinded his son, and take it upon himself to make sure Odysseus never gets back home. Poseidon causes storms to break Odysseus boats and kill his men, bandage wrecking havoc on Odysseus just about every prospect he gets.He goes so far that he asks Zeus to sink the Phaeacians ship, a race of people who adore Poseidon. Poseidon holds a major grudge against Odysseus, however he cannot stop him from reaching home. In the Christian scripture passage Psalm 139 taken from the B ible, we see that God has many of the same characteristics on the gods in The Odyssey. It is described in the scripture passage that God has a perfect knowledge of all of us, which draws the comparability to the gods of Ancient Greece. God knows everything thither is to know about us and what we are doing he is all seeing and all forcefulnessful.Much like the gods of Ancient Greece sitting high above everyone on Mount Olympus, they see everything that is happening below them. Another powerful comparison is the unseen god factor. God always sees us, as humans though we never see him, much like when Odysseus and Telemachus see Athena she is always disguised, never showing her true form. Zeus never appears, he sends his messages in forms of eagles, as signs to be interrupted by humans, much like God uses miracles to show his presence and existence. We are presented with two separate pieces of literature that have very similar comparisons in religion.Wilfred Owens famous poem Dulce et Decorum Est actually makes no mention of religion in it, but it is obvious to see that whatever god you petition to has no part in wars and stopping the death and violence. It brings us to ask ourselves the question of why would any god let these atrocities happen? British citizens not fighting in World War 1 thought that these men were dying daring deaths, but Owen gives us an insight into how badly these men suffered when they went off to war. The forbidding deaths, the never ending violence and having to watch a comrade belong are just a few of the horrible things that are seen in this poem.It leads us to belive that war is not worth it, in any sense, and that a sensible god would not allow it. Odysseus, after ten years of fighting the Trojans and seeing many of his close friends die, then had to suffer for an additional ten years. The men in World War 1 subscribe up for their own premature deaths, and in that location was no religious power to stop these cruel actions. A ll three of these pieces give us strong insight on our Common Core questions. However, it ties in most significantly to our understanding of what it means to be human.Most obvious in all three pieces we see the human aspects of our lives, the fact that we can die while gods or God cannot. We are not as powerful as gods or God, we cannot control our fate, and it is already written out for us by whomever we pray to in each respective religion. We mustiness make the most of the time and life we are given because we do not have a long time on this planet. To be human means that we must be able to recognize our own abilities, our own strengthens and weaknesses, and know that there is a higher power controlling our fate.