GNHU:115_03
Professor Miller
10/16/14
Influence of the Gods
In Homer’s, The Odyssey, the gods play huge roles on Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca. In ancient Greek times, the gods had great power over the mortals. The gods generally wanted to help the mortals, but in certain instances, such as disrespecting a God, mortals were to be punished. The fact that the gods could actually do harm was the reason why mortals were also fearful towards almighty gods. In The Odyssey, Odysseus encounters many of the gods in a 20 year time span. Some of the gods help Odysseus on his voyage back home, but there are also gods that want revenge on Odysseus and his men, and for him to never return home.
Zeus, the king of all the gods, plays both a positive and negative role in Odysseus’ journey home. First, Zeus discovers through Athena that Odysseus is trapped on an island known as Calypso’s Island. Zeus knows that Odysseus needs to return to Ithaca quickly, therefore he sends Hermes, the messenger god, to demand that Calypso release Odysseus immediately! In this gesture, Zeus helps Odysseus to escape from Calypso and the island to return to his worried wife and son. This shows Zeus’ positive influence on Odysseus’ journey. Zeus comes up again in another situation, but this time he isn’t so helpful towards Odysseus. Odysseus and his men arrive on the island Thrinakia, the land of Helios’s cattle. Odysseus was already warned by Tiriesias to stay away from the cattle and he wants to sail passed the land, but the men vote to stay a night anyways. The next morning, there’s a huge storm and the men are forced to stay on the land for another month until the storm subsides. Food quickly runs out and the men shockingly kill one of the cows after already being warned not to touch them. This is where Zeus’ negative influence comes in. Helios asks Zeus for revenge, and just as the men are so close to Ithaca Zeus strikes a thunderbolt on the ship that sends them all the way back to the ship sucking whirlpool, Carybdis. Zeus is a neutral god and generally wants to help the mortals, but once mortals disrespect a god they must be punished for their wrongdoing. Odysseus wasn’t killed like the rest of his men, but he was set back again a long distance from Ithaca, which extended his trip even longer.
Another God that has influence on Odysseus’ return to Ithaca is Athena, the crafty military mind. Odysseus finally gets to Ithaca but learns through Athena that his wife is in distress. Odysseus is furious with this news and wants to help Penelope right away, but he also doesn’t wasn’t to be immediately discovered and bombarded by the Ithacans. With Athena’s help Odysseus is disguised as a beggar and nobody knows it’s him. Athena disguising Odysseus helps him save Penelope from the greedy suitors by him killing all of them after the “Great Bow” challenge. Athena made his return home easier and also made him a hero to his wife.
A third god that has influence on Odysseus’s journey home is Aeolus, power of the winds. After escaping and injuring Polythemus, a Cyclops and Poseidon’s son, he demands that Poseidon curse the men on ship. Unfavorable winds drift the men off course again to the island Aeolia. Odysseus asks for Aeolus’ help and he agrees. Since the bad winds are drifting the ship off course, Aeolus gathers these bad winds into a sack and asks that neither Odysseus nor the men are to open the sack, for if they do they will release a storm that would only send them off course again! Odysseus warns the men not to open the sack, but they fear he is hiding treasure from them, so they open the sack anyways. After the storm hits, they travel back to Aeolus but he already knows that they are cursed and refuses to help them a second time. Aeolus helping Odysseus make travel smoother and faster with only good winds one time was a very godly gesture, but it was a waste for Aeolus due to the ignorance of the men, and therefore he did not want to waste his help for a second time.
Gods in ancient times were very powerful forces among the mortals and they have great influence over the mortal Odysseus and his long journey back to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Over the 20 year time span that it took Odysseus to finally reach home, he encounters many of the gods that either helped him on his journey or that sent back even further from Ithaca. Zeus at first helps Odysseus escape from Calypso’s island, but once he and his men disrespect Helios, Zeus has to punish the mortals with a thunderbolt and send them back to the whirlpool Carybdis. Athena helps make Odysseus a hero to Penelope and his return home a lot easier, and Aeolus tries to help Odysseus with the bag of winds but that all is a waste once the curious men decide to open the bag that sent them off course for about the 5th time! Odysseus has a bumpy ride back home, pun intended, but it wouldn’t have been as much of an adventure without the influences of the almighty gods.
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