On the face, I would say no -- but, to some extent, we all make varying truces with the truth. Those who are always speaking the bare truth loudly (if such a thing is possible) are generally seen as rude. The point the Muses may be making is that language is always a tricky matter, and that they are masters of language, which is not the same as saying they are masters of the truth.
My guess is that they do not literally believe in the gods as presented in the myths, though Xenophanes' criticism of myth suggests that some must have taken them literally. Hera in the stories is a figure always nagging at Zeus -- she seems a rather weak figure. Yet there were cities that worshipped her as their main deity. Clearly those people made a distinction between the Hera of stories and the Hera they worshipped. The Romans, as a group, seem to have believed in unseen and non-human forces. So there was probably a great distance between their stories (mostly from the Greek), the figures of the gods (again inspired by the Greeks) and what they felt in their hearts.
I see Gaia as representing the figure worshipped as the first god by the inhabitants of Greece before the Indo-Europeans brought their beliefs to Greece. Thus, she's in charge, but then shares power with Uranus, and then seems to be lower in power than Uranus (which may point to the shift when the IE took over).
Not sure, though the power of love might be seen a remnant of Uranus' power. And love sometimes takes a violent form (at least passion rather than romantic love -- see films like Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction). And for some, the idea of sexual love is seen as an unmanning (castration fear at work) of man, so castration and sex might be seen together.
It may be that the different figures represent different versions for different generations. Uranus was the sky god of the pre Indo-European peoples in Greece, but Zeus was the sky god of the IE invaders.
About what?
Again, what body language when? And would body language in the ancient world be different than for us?
Ancient poets didn't read their poetry -- they recited or sang it to a musical accompaniment (lyre or flute most often).
They might -- different generations view the gods differently. The poet Aeschylus (writing in the 1st half of the 5th c. BC, in Athens) has a view of the gods as being basically just, but that justice may take generations to appear, so each generation may not see justice, even though it's coming. And Euripides writing in the 2nd half of that same generation sees the gods as something less than just -- petty, only interested in taking revenge, rather than being agents of justice.
Poetry is heightened language, paying attention to the rhythm of the language and its sound. Ancient literature, until the great prose writers of the 5th and 4th century (the historian Thucydides and the philosopher Plato), was largely poetic, meant to be performed before an audience.
Creation is beyond us -- we were not there when it happened, and so can only know it based on physical and other evidence we have before us. Any version of creation is going to be someone poetic and fanciful. It is possible, though, for an account to be more or less likely based on the evidence. The ancients had very little evidence they could use to deduce what happened at Event One.
I occasionally read them, but my vision of comic books is based on what is generally known as the Silver Age (late 50s to early 70s) when I was an avid reader. I also have read a lot of stuff from the Golden Age (the 40s) and some from the period after the Silver Age (don't know its name). The price of comics now forbids me doing much, though.
Not a lot. I welcome any comments about them in reactions, though. If you know a lot about the Norse gods, you might reflect on the difference between them and the Greek gods, and possible reasons for the differences.
With the gods, you have a limited dating pool. Consequently, incest is unavoidable. The gods are not necessarily bound by our rules. There is little payback if the gods do something that would get a mortal killed or imprisoned. Who's going to do anything?
It depends on the tradition. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, God predates creation (and is even outside of time) so that everything that we can know comes after (and from) God. The most ancient thing in the Greek tradition is Earth itself (or herself) and both the gods the Greeks worship (Zeus and company) and mortals owe their well-being to Earth. Presumably, if Earth were to end, all mortal life, and the anchor for the gods would disappear, so the gods would also disappear.
There is physical evidence for things that one can point to. A lot depends on the lens you use to determine if something is so. If you accept science, and scientific ways of looking at things, then certain evidence will seem more or less likely, and you'll base your conclusions on the evidence that seems most likely. To some extent, truth is determined by the third person -- that outsider looks at both sides and determines where the truth is, rather like a judge in a trial.
Women serve as a check on the male POV -- women do not necessarily see what men see. That can be seen as a good thing (truth being something that men and women can accept) or as a bad thing (why are women contradicting us?) Hesiod was probably married, but he says nothing of a wife. What he tells us of his life, though, may be made up -- he may be adopting a certain persona for his performances -- farmer or shepherd -- while he may have been neither.
Hesiod speaks of an Aphrodite who is something of a force of nature; Homer and the other poets tell of Aphrodite, the more flighty love goddess we know and love. They are both goddesses of love, but their difference in birth caused some later writers to see them as representative of two sorts of love, philosophical love (Hesiod's) or physical love (Homer's).
I think that one of the things at work is that Gaia's children (esp. the Giants whom she has w/o sexual relations) represent the female power unchecked by male will, and the patriarchal authors of these stories feared woman unchecked. I mentioned in class the way motherhood is shown in the film Aliens -- there's Ripley who has Corporal Hicks as a husband figure and the little girl they take care of -- that's the mommy view, woman as nurturing figure within a marriage; then there's the alien queen, who is laying eggs like a figure making cars on an assembly line -- that's female biology gone wild -- the latter seems to be what the Giants are -- female biology gone wild, and they're monsters.
Women are women. How they are treated in society has little to do with their inherent worth. Ancient Greece was a much more patriarchal society than what we live in -- think of how women are treated in Afghanistan -- to us it seems a horror and unnatural, but, under the Taliban, it seemed the right thing to do.
There is more than one story connecting Zeus to Crete, but he seems to have grown up on or near Mt. Dicte.
Granted, but that is a way we judge if something is true or not. If we are delusional or paranoid, our judgment will be skewed, but we'll still use it to judge if something is true or false.
For accomplished liars, it may not betray them. But for many, who are trained that it is wrong to tell a lie, it runs contrary to our nature to lie, and we are more likely to give it away by squirming or shifting our gaze.
The oldest authors we have are Hesiod and Homer (both c. 750 BC), but they are at the end of a tradition at least 400 years old. Zeus was the god of the Indo European invaders c. 2000 BC. The name means roughly "bright" or "divine" one. So, in a way, it's little different from Yahweh ("I am") as a name.
They are immortal, and it would make little sense if they just got older and older. The image of god is going to be that of some vibrant young figure, and it won't change too much from generation to generation. Why you have gods who seem mature (30s or so -- Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hestia), some who are in their 20s (Apollo, Aphrodite, Artemis) and some who are little kids (Eros, or Cupid) is something that puzzles me.
In the Greek account, yes. She's the equivalent of Eve.
In the creation account, the goddess Gaia is # 1, so female predates male, but in the story of the creation of women on earth, the whole matter is delayed. It makes no sense.
The Titanomachy is a succession battle. Zeus is taking over for dad. That is equivalent to Cronus castrating Uranus. The Gigantomachy is an external battle, where Zeus gets to be equated with the forces of order against the forces of disorder represented by the Giants. In defeating them, he shows that he is the right one for the job, not just the latest version of ruler, like Cronus had been.
Saturn is the Roman agricultural god who is equated with Cronus. The European tradition, coming from the Latin Middle Ages, tends to use Roman names for the gods, though the story is really Greek.
My guess is they did not.
31. Are all the stories of Homer and Hesiod the same?
A. Both Homer and Hesiod compose their poetry in dactylic hexameter, which meter is reserved for epic and serious themes. Homer restricts his subject to the Trojan War and its aftermath. Hesiod’s themes are before (the creation of the world and the peoples on it) and after (8th c. agriculture and customs).
32. Why do Homer and Hesiod see Zeus differently?
A. Hesiod describes a Zeus who is something of a frontier god – he has to clear out the old and establish the new order. As such, he appears cruel and impatient. Homer’s god reflects a more ordered society than Hesiod suggests.
33. In Jason and the Argonauts, Hercules dies – why is this?
A. In the Greek epic, the Argonautica, and the Roman version, Hercules leaves the expedition in search of Hylas, but he doesn’t die. I’m not sure which film version you mean. Hercules does not die in the 1964 film; maybe he does in the 1990s version.
34. Why do the poor suffer more than those with wealth?
A. I don’t know that they do – the poor have less of a cushion (maybe none at all) if they fall. The wealthy can count on their riches to cushion the blow of any bad fortune.
35. How can a god be born lame?
A. You might as well ask how a god can be born. That alone is strange enough. The image of the blacksmith was that of a lame person, and that may be the reason why the blacksmith god is also lame.
36. Was Ares shunned because of being caught in adultery with Aphrodite?
A. Ares seems to have been shunned as a rather dishonorable character. He is generally depicted as something of a bully by the Greeks. His fooling around with Aphrodite seems to have done little to hurt his reputation. The other gods all seemed to be ready to take his place.
37. Why was it thought that the 3 Fates were the daughters of Erebus and Night, and not Zeus and Themis?
A. I think it probably depended on who told the story. The daughters of Zeus and Themis are generally seen as the weavers, who spin out a person’s life and cut it off at a certain point. They are not the same as Fate which determines the way things turn out as well as the length. Perhaps that Fate is associated with Erebus and Night and is seen as an older god.
38. Why was Hera less of an earth goddess as time rolled on?
A. We have stories composed in the 8th c. BC, but stories certainly were around for hundreds of years before. By the 8th c., the Indo-European mindset (patriarchal – rule by males) has taken hold and so Hera, who should be as powerful as Gaia, as she has taken over her role, is depicted as a nagging wife, rather than as a powerful goddess.
39. What qualities make a true god?
A. Depends on what you mean by a “true god.” The Greek gods are not all kindly, or even moral.
40. Doesn’t omnipotence mean that God’s always interfering?
A. It would mean that God has the power to do so, but the Christian explanation of God’s non-interference is that we have free will and it is our job to do our part in solving our troubles.
41. Didn’t the gods take it personally with each sleeping with the other’s spouse?
A. The gods don’t seem to be bothered by much for very long. Some of the gods do struggle with other gods in a power game, part of which might be who’s sleeping with whom.
42. Why is Zeus always in power and cannot be overthrown?
A. In Hesiod’s day, there is no other chief god. And the god called Zeus was seen as # 1 at least as far back as 1600 BC. It would probably seem that such longevity implied a permanent gig. The Greeks also loved order, and the idea that Zeus was not going to be overthrown means order.
43. If the gods are all cheating on their spouses, how is this a good example for mortals?
A. Just what Xenophanes said. And there must have been some split between the stories and what people worshipped in the temples.
44. Why is Zeus so mean and uncaring?
A. In Hesiod or in the Prometheus Bound, the point seems to be that Zeus, when he first took power had to be a hard taskmaster, or else he would be judged soft and revolts against him would happen.
45. Why doesn’t Zeus punish Hera for helping the Greeks?
A. Don’t know. Given the provocation, and his tone in Iliad I, when she simply asked a question, he should have been quite angry with her.
46. Isn’t there a possibility that such creatures as the monsters described in the book existed?
A. There are some who feel that the earth was visited by aliens in the distant past, and these aliens were the basis for the various gods of the Greeks and Romans.
47. What is the time line for the myths?
A. The legendary stuff all takes place in the period from 1400-1100 BC. Hesiod’s stuff takes place in that never-never land of the distant past (too old to count).
Questions 2/13/06
1. Are all the stories of Homer and Hesiod the same?
A. Both Homer and Hesiod compose their poetry in dactylic hexameter, which meter is reserved for epic and serious themes. Homer restricts his subject to the Trojan War and its aftermath. Hesiod’s themes are before (the creation of the world and the peoples on it) and after (8th c. agriculture and customs).
2. Why do Homer and Hesiod see Zeus differently?
A. Hesiod describes a Zeus who is something of a frontier god – he has to clear out the old and establish the new order. As such, he appears cruel and impatient. Homer’s god reflects a more ordered society than Hesiod suggests.
3. In Jason and the Argonauts, Hercules dies – why is this?
A. In the Greek epic, the Argonautica, and the Roman version, Hercules leaves the expedition in search of Hylas, but he doesn’t die. I’m not sure which film version you mean. Hercules does not die in the 1964 film; maybe he does in the 1990s version.
4. Why do the poor suffer more than those with wealth?
A. I don’t know that they do – the poor have less of a cushion (maybe none at all) if they fall. The wealthy can count on their riches to cushion the blow of any bad fortune.
5. How can a god be born lame?
A. You might as well ask how a god can be born. That alone is strange enough. The image of the blacksmith was that of a lame person, and that may be the reason why the blacksmith god is also lame.
6. Was Ares shunned because of being caught in adultery with Aphrodite?
A. Ares seems to have been shunned as a rather dishonorable character. He is generally depicted as something of a bully by the Greeks. His fooling around with Aphrodite seems to have done little to hurt his reputation. The other gods all seemed to be ready to take his place.
7. Why was it thought that the 3 Fates were the daughters of Erebus and Night, and not Zeus and Themis?
A. I think it probably depended on who told the story. The daughters of Zeus and Themis are generally seen as the weavers, who spin out a person’s life and cut it off at a certain point. They are not the same as Fate which determines the way things turn out as well as the length. Perhaps that Fate is associated with Erebus and Night and is seen as an older god.
8. Why was Hera less of an earth goddess as time rolled on?
A. We have stories composed in the 8th c. BC, but stories certainly were around for hundreds of years before. By the 8th c., the Indo-European mindset (patriarchal – rule by males) has taken hold and so Hera, who should be as powerful as Gaia, as she has taken over her role, is depicted as a nagging wife, rather than as a powerful goddess.
9. What qualities make a true god?
A. Depends on what you mean by a “true god.” The Greek gods are not all kindly, or even moral.
10. Doesn’t omnipotence mean that God’s always interfering?
A. It would mean that God has the power to do so, but the Christian explanation of God’s non-interference is that we have free will and it is our job to do our part in solving our troubles.
11. Didn’t the gods take it personally with each sleeping with the other’s spouse?
A. The gods don’t seem to be bothered by much for very long. Some of the gods do struggle with other gods in a power game, part of which might be who’s sleeping with whom.
12. Why is Zeus always in power and cannot be overthrown?
A. In Hesiod’s day, there is no other chief god. And the god called Zeus was seen as # 1 at least as far back as 1600 BC. It would probably seem that such longevity implied a permanent gig. The Greeks also loved order, and the idea that Zeus was not going to be overthrown means order.
13. If the gods are all cheating on their spouses, how is this a good example for mortals?
A. Just what Xenophanes said. And there must have been some split between the stories and what people worshipped in the temples.
14. Why is Zeus so mean and uncaring?
A. In Hesiod or in the Prometheus Bound, the point seems to be that Zeus, when he first took power had to be a hard taskmaster, or else he would be judged soft and revolts against him would happen.
15. Why doesn’t Zeus punish Hera for helping the Greeks?
A. Don’t know. Given the provocation, and his tone in Iliad I, when she simply asked a question, he should have been quite angry with her.
16. Isn’t there a possibility that such creatures as the monsters described in the book existed?
A. There are some who feel that the earth was visited by aliens in the distant past, and these aliens were the basis for the various gods of the Greeks and Romans.
17. What is the time line for the myths?
A. The legendary stuff all takes place in the period from 1400-1100 BC. Hesiod’s stuff takes place in that never-never land of the distant past (too old to count).
Questions 20 February 2006
1. Why are the Homeric Hymns so long?
a. Length is a relative term. The long Homeric Hymns (# 2-5) all would take about ½ hour or so to perform, and a bard would likely perform for a couple of hours at a time. These guys would make up a large part of an evening’s entertainment.
2. Why are the gods so inconsistent?
a. The gods in Greek myth are very human in their outlook, even if their immortality makes them exempt from the consequences of their actions.
3. Why are there two Aphrodites?
a. I think that one explanation is that there are two origin stories: the Aphrodite coming from the genitals of Uranus, which Hesiod tells and the birth from Dione and Zeus, which the other poets seem to follow. Where these two stories came from, I’m not sure, but once there are two stories, it is possible that people felt these two “loves” must have been different. There is no way to reconcile those two origins.
4. What’s the difference between eternal and immortal?
a. Immortality means “not dying.” Eternity is something else, I think. Eternity is “timelessness.” I think that each of us has moments of revelation when time seems to stop – in those moments we all know eternity. But none of us is immortal. The Judaeo-Christian god is eternal in that He is like the center of a wheel that knows all parts of the wheel at once, something not easy for us on the outer edge of the wheel. In a way, the gods of the Greeks are not eternal, at least not always.
5. What does there being two “loves” signify?
a. For us, too, we see a difference between the powerful passion we feel when we see someone or something that excites us and an enduring feeling of affection. In Greek there is a difference between eros (passion), philia (friendship or the love a friend might feel) and agape (a selfless love for the other, such as a parent might feel for a child).
6. What does it mean that Aphrodite and Artemis are plotting revenge against one another?
a. The Greeks seem to have a sense of the universe as a dangerous place. That doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy life, but they sense that life is very uncertain. The sense that we are playthings of the gods is very much a part of the Greek outlook.
7. Is there any other reason to associate homosexuality with Lesbos than Sappho?
a. No, and Sappho’s poetry may indicate a sexual affection for women, or may not. Another poet, Alcaeus, was from Lesbos and lived at the same time (on the opposite side of the island). His poetry is almost all political (his use of the metaphor, the “ship of state,” is the oldest we have). The Roman poet, Catullus, refers to his lover, a woman likely named “Claudia,” as “Lesbia,” alluding to Sappho. Claudia was not a lesbian, though. Probably, the use of the term was a polite one to suggest homosexuality without being so blunt.
8. How do you know when you’re in love?
a. For me, the usual indication is that I am fascinated, almost hypnotized by someone.
9. Why do characters in stories not listen to the gods?
a. I think that the reason that people often do not do what they are told is so that we see what happens when they disobey. It may also say something about the human condition. Where would we be if people only listened to the powers that be and didn’t dare to challenge assumptions? Women would be stuck, for sure. In the Middle Ages, medicine became a university subject, and only licensed doctors were allowed to practice medicine. Up to that point, women did a lot of the healing, but, since they could not go to University, what had been a woman’s art – healing – became the province of men only, until women began to challenge that assumption in the 19th century.
10. Why do the gods lie, when the people presumably were not supposed to?
a. I think that honesty is always touted as the best policy, but to look at politicians today, you wonder if they can ever tell the truth. Using language is always trouble – how honest should you be? When people are too honest, don’t they come across as rude? We all have to determine just how honest to be, when it matters and when it doesn’t and so forth. Because we all can lie, we all have to be on our toes when people are talking to us – are they being truthful, as we understand the term? Communication is tricky. And it seems that, to a large extent, women have a different mode of communication from men, for the most part. Does that mean that men are lying, or women?
11. Where does Aristophanes’ speech in the Symposium come from?
a. Plato was a master dramatist, even if he is primarily known as a philosopher. He tries to capture something of Aristophanes’ character, which was rather wild and comedic. Though the point of his story is serious, Aristophanes tells a story that is a lot like his comedies – filled with wild, fantastic characters, and a wild solution to the problem. Aristophanes, in telling the story, does not believe in its literal truth, nor are we to assume that his audience accepts it as such. It’s a parable, just like Socrates’ story.
12. How is it that Pygmalion began to look on his statue as real?
a. We have in Pygmalion a pathology – he’s a sick puppy. But his situation is not unique. Many people try to turn their beloved into something else, even if we don’t take it so far as to bring in an inanimate substitute.
13. How did Eros devolve from an handsome youth to the cherub we see today?
a. It may have been a societal determination. I remember that, when I was in high school, there were these “love troll” figures – cute naked, but sex indeterminate figures, with long colorful hair. And earlier there were kewpie dolls. Love is anything but cute, but maybe envisioning love as cute helps us deal with what is a strong force.
14. Will Aphrodite continue to hook up with mortals in other stories?
a. We won’t get much more with Aphrodite and her love stories.
15. Why is Venus so mean to Psyche?
a. Isn’t it jealousy – she is upset because Psyche is getting more attention than she is, and when her son goes down, he falls for her too.
16. Why did Zeus punish Anchises?
a. Because he blabbed about his love affair with Aphrodite – it pays to be a gentleman about such things.
17. Why were there harlots in the temple of Aphrodite?
a. Festivals to Aphrodite in some cities made allowances for extra-curricular sex – what better way to celebrate the goddess of physical love?
18. If Aphrodite came from an Eastern country, how did her worship get incorporated?
a. Well, there must have been some goddess of love to begin with, but the particular form may have come from the East. By the time of the stories we have, she’s pretty much incorporated. Apollo almost certainly came later into the Greek pantheon, but we have stories only after he’s become a part of the group. Similarities in the story of Cybele and Attis suggest a commonality with Aphrodite, and that may point to a different place of origin for Aphrodite.
Questions 2/27/06
1. What are your thoughts about Apollo as god of order?
A. I think I spoke quite a bit about this in class. I think the Greeks had an understanding that order can take you far, but only so far, and that there is something else besides order at work in the human psyche. And so, Apollo, for all his power, is also quite limited in a way that Hermes is not.
2. Why do the gods give up their children to be raised by someone else?
A. Do they always do that? Some of that may have to do with gods coming from different places. Dionysus, for instance, is connected with the East, and came late to the Greek pantheon. So it makes sense for him to be brought up in Asia and come “home” to Greece at a later date.
3. Why does Apollo have trouble in relationships?
A. I think that relationships are always messy. That doesn’t mean they aren’t right, but Apollo is so much the “neat freak” in the way things are, he cannot bend so easily in a relationship. Of course, none of the gods are great with relationships – more love ‘em and leave ‘em, it seems to me.
4. Apollo seems very popular, maybe more so than the other gods. What about that?
A. I’m not sure I’d agree. I think that the younger gods, who seem to be more accessible versions of the gods for the most part, may be more appealing than the bigger, badder, older generation.
5. What is the connection between Apollo and Christianity?
A. I’m not sure. I know that Morford and Lenardon make a point of this, but I’m not sure I see the connection other than that Apollo is seen as the god of order and that order is something that the ancient Christians may have desired. Christianity and Judaism are both opposed to the religions that demand human sacrifice and other weird things. It may be that Apollo, as god of order, seemed a more suitable god.
6. Did the gods look down on Apollo for his temper?
A. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence of the gods looking down on him.
7. How do Apollo and Hermes get to be such good friends?
A. Often we look to our friends for those aspects which we lack in ourselves. And Hermes makes a good complement to Apollo – he is the rulebreaker to Apollo’s rulemaker.
8. Why do people misbehave when they know the consequences are bad?
A. All I can say is that people seem to do what seems best to them at any given time. So someone may commit a robbery because he sees it as the only way to wealth, or a person ends up in an affair because there’s something missing in his marriage. That doesn’t excuse the misbehavior, but that’s my reading on why people do stuff they shouldn’t.
9. Where did the Centaurs come from?
A. I think there was a perception that humans are animals (we are, if a higher form of animal), and that the unreasoning animal side was part of who we are. And so, the centaurs, who are prone to drunkenness, are part animal, part human.
10. Why is Hera referred to as the “white-armed” Hera?
A. In oral poetry, all language is grouped together in phrases called “formulae.” Each formula might be a line to several lines of poetry, but most are about ½ line in length. The most common consists of a name and an attribute (“swift-footed Achilles;” “white-armed Hera;” “grey-eyed Athena”). All upper class women could be called “white armed” because they don’t work outside much, and so never get tanned. It doesn’t mean that Hera is more white armed than any other goddess – it may just be that “white armed” fits better in a ½ line with Hera than with other goddesses.
11. Why do many gods have multiple partners?
A. Some would say that is the norm, which is why men often appear to be cheaters. It may be that this is an ancient survival mechanism – in a time with high infant mortality, it may have been seen as desirable at some level that men distribute sperm as widely as possible to increase the chance of survival. Such behavior would be reflected in their gods.
12. Is Cassandra the princess killed in The Trojan Women?
A. Cassandra is the daughter of Priam and Hecuba; she doesn’t die in the Trojan Women, but is given to Agamemnon as a slave. The only character who dies in The Trojan Women is Astyanax, the infant son of Hector (deceased) and Andromache – given as a slave to Neoptolemus.
13. Why is Hera not in Zeus’ house at the beginning of Homeric Hymn # 3?
A. I think that it may be because this is Apollo’s story and so Hera is absent, as she is not Apollo’s mom. Besides, having her there at the banquet would be messy, what with Leto being there too. Hera does lose power in these stories, unlike Gaia.
14. Why are the gods so dependent on mortals?
A. They do seem to need the mortals in a symbiotic sort of way – when the gods plan to send the flood and destroy humanity, it is only with the view that more mortals will come. Without the mortals to worship them, the gods seem irrelevant.
15. Why do the gods love the mortals so much?
A. The Greeks were fixated on the human form and human beauty. And so, they thought of their gods in human form, and their gods would be in love with great looking humans.
16. Why are all the gods big on sex?
A. They are just like humans in that. And, as the means of reproduction, sex is a big thing.
17. Why are the gods not able to transcend human emotion?
A. I think they are in some authors, but most authors and artists depict them in human form, and that is going to make them act like humans. Some see the ancient gods as a reflection on what it means to be human – the gods act like humans with super-powers.
18. Did the Greeks attribute everything to the gods?
A. There were Greek scientists who did develop theories about the way the world worked that was based on scientific observation.
19. Are modern Greeks like the ancient Greeks?
A. In the sense that they all have opinions and are quite good at arguing their positions, yes.
20. Is Apollo the god of the sun?
A. For the most part, no. He later gets that job added on to his resume, but in most of the myths, it is Helius, the Titan son of Hyperion (also a Titan) who does the honors.
21. Why is Apollo so lonely?
A. I’m not sure that he is so lonely, but his connection with order may make him tough to deal with. He doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor which allows you to get past the annoying aspects of other people.
22. Why is there no consistency regarding the characteristics of gods after they are born?
A. Good question – don’t know.
23. Do the other gods try to rein in Apollo’s anger?
A. For the most part he is not an angry god. When he gets angry, there is no reaching him, I imagine.
24. Why doesn’t Zeus punish Aphrodite?
A. In a sense, he does, in Homeric Hymn # 5, where he makes her go all ga-ga over Anchises.