Versus God

"Come ride with me through the veins of history,
I'll show you the god who falls asleep on the job."

-Knights of Cydonia, Muse

If there is one thing that The Iliad has shown me about Greek society, it is that, unlike Jesus, who was both completely human and sinless, the Greek gods were far more prone to human folly than actual humans. It would also seem to me that Homer, in a further attempt to humanize the gods, pits the humans themselves against the deities and vice versa. Indeed, the Achaians in particular find themselves in a literal and spiritual war with god, an enemy that would be supposedly unstoppable were it not for the fact that the gods are so human.

A god is a being that, traditionally, is omnipotent and omniprescent, meaning that they hold the keys of life and death. Therefore, god=destiny. This realization hits the Achaians close to home when they realize that Zeus himself, the most powerful of the gods, holder of the golden scales of fate, is against them. Can you image the despair that they must have felt? Sure, Hera and Athena were on their side, but Zeus was the ultimate authority and far greater than the other gods. His word was law, and it quickly becomes clear that his will is against the Achaians. Even the god of the Sun and the god of war turn against them!

The Achains often consider giving up the fight and just going home, tired of trying to fight against not only a extremely powerful army but one that is backed by Zeus himself, who is determined to bring about their utter destruction. In my mind, an interesting happens in this moment of despair, which is about Ch.5-6. With such fickle and unfaithful gods controlling their destiny, the Achains realize they can no longer trust the deities and attempt to grab the bull of their fates by the proverbial horns, so to speak. With no certain destiny, they fight to make their own, a concept that actually strengthens their resolve and gives them a new reason to fight other than to simply regain Helen. Indeed, it is with the abscence of the gods that the Achaians actually tend to gain ground, suggesting that the Achaians' resolve to defy destruction and win the war despite the will of god works for the most part.

So what does this suggest about Homer? Just because he lived in that era of time doesn't necessarily mean that he believed in the gods. He may have been of the type that believed in making his own destiny and secretly attempted to show that man does not need gods to live, making them appear petty and traitorous to his Greek audience. It may be that Homer attempted to shake the faith of believers in the eternal justice of Olympic gods by simultaneously suggesting that their gods were not just after all and showing the benefits of secular humanism, the belief that we all must make our own way and that there is no defined destiny for the individual. He promotes this with the metaphor of the Achaians versus Zeus. This is the same struggle that athiests and the faithful (in Christ, Allah, you name it) have fought since the founding of their respective faiths. It is the battle of choice vs. sovreignty, of unknown vs. destiny, of our eternal desire to be in control vs. the idea of a being that chooses our circumstances.

It is the battle of Man vs. God, and it's in The Iliad. If you would like to add something to this, or if you think I'm full of crap (which isn't out of the question), please feel free to comment.

BTW, I also commented on Samantha, Not Sam's post, Polytheism on the Brain, Ugh.