The Gods, and Zeus Especially, as Spectators in the Iliad

As spectators we are normally passive onlookers of the action taking place. The only influence we can have over the outcome is by making the participants aware of our support by cheering, or of our anger and frustration at an action by chanting and booing. We place our trust in the officials and referees to ensure that strict guidelines and rules are adhered to throughout the action. As spectators we are also commentators expressing our opinions regarding the actions of the participants and the officials. As spectators we can empathise with the emotions of the participants and feel extreme jubilation or extreme disappointment depending on whether you are supporting the winning or losing side. In this essay I will be discussing whether the†¦show more content†¦Let us then go away and sit down together off the path at a viewing place, and let the men take care of the fighting’ (20.135-137), and Apollo and Ares also stop fighting, ‘so they on either side took thei r places, deliberating counsels, reluctant on both sides to open the sorrowful attack’ (20.153-155). But Zeus was not happy about this and ‘sitting on high above urged them on’ (20.155). Zeus is the main spectator, whose role it is to act as the impartial ‘referee’ ensuring that the laws of the universe are observed. These laws known as ‘the justice of Zeus’ (1.239) fall into two categories; natural law or ‘the divinely appointed order of the universe’ and moral law, whereby Zeus ‘punishes, late or soon, a man who has done injustice to another, either in his own person or in that of his descendants’. But sometimes Zeus forgets the rules of natural law, and has to be challenged by Hera and the other gods to ensure that every human’s predestined fate is allowed to follow its natural course. When, in Book 4, Zeus suggests ending the war by giving victory to Menelaus and saving the lives of many of Trojan peoples, Hera rebukes him with ‘Do it then; but not all the rest of us gods will approve you’ (4.29). The most tragic decision Zeus has to make is when his own son Sarpedon is being mortally wound ed in Book 16 and he ponders, ‘whether I should snatch him out of the sorrowful battle and set him down still alive in the rich country ofShow MoreRelatedThe Temple Of Zeus At Olympia, Heroes, And Athletes1693 Words   |  7 Pages Idara Rodriguez. Review of J.M Barringer, â€Å"The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Heroes, and Athletes†, 2005, pp. 211-241 I chose to review Judith Barringer’s article on the topic of why the sculpture works inside the Temple of Zeus should be looked at as a whole collective ensemble. This is because they would provide insight into how these works were seen and how they were closely related to Olympia and all the activity that occurred there. Judith Barringer also discusses how these sculptures literallyRead MoreGreek Mythology8088 Words   |  33 Pagessuggest  the  former  grandeur  of  the  ancient  temple.   Bernard  Cox/Bridgeman  Art  Library,  London/New  York   Greek  Mythology,  set  of  diverse  traditional  tales  told  by  the  ancient  Greeks  about  the  exploits  of  gods   and  heroes  and  their  relations  with  ordinary  mortals.   The  ancient  Greeks  worshiped  many  gods  within  a  culture  that  tolerated  diversity.  Unlike  other  belief   systems,  Greek  culture  recognized  no  single  truth  or  code  and  produced  no  sacred,  written  text  like   the  Bible  or  the  Qur’an.  Stories  abRead MoreEugene O’neill and the the Rebirth of Tragedy a Comparative Survey on Mourning Becomes Electra and Oresteia2317 Words   |  10 Pagesideas of the German critique and philosopher guided his dramatic works, in which he manifested the ability to adapt the defining characteristics of the classical tragedy to a modern script and audience. Thus, it is not surprising that we encounter God Dio nysus in â€Å"Lazarus Laughed† (1928) or an adaptation of Oedipus’ character in â€Å"Desire Under the Elms(1924). As for â€Å"Mourning Becomes Electra† (1931), O’Neill explores Greek tragedy, attempting to modernize it. The play is based on Aeschylus’sRead MoreHistory of Theatre Lesson Notes Essay5401 Words   |  22 Pagesancient Egypt become relatively static after a period of dynamisms and these ten to establish and perpetuate ritualized conventions that alter little over centuries of time. Western myth-dominant concern is the relationship between two types of beings-god and humans-and the tension between the roles assigned to each, world came to be seen primarily from the human point of view-as a place of conflict, change, and progress-with humanity as the principal agent both for good and evil. Eastern myth-people