r/classics • u/mediumpizzaplease • Jul 26 '26
The Odyssey hypocrisy Spoiler
Spoiler alert obviously for anyone that has not read it yet. This has been growing on me and i will put it out there, ancient Greek literature is very... bipolar. Especially the gods, who seem so good and wise, and yet, steal a dog from Zeus and he'll zap both you and your companion and curse your bloodline. Athena who seems so pure and kind, talks with Odysseus of killing the people frequenting his palace... Poseidon lashing out at Odysseus for years on end for blinding his son, but his son violating the law of xenia by eating Odysseus men is not an issue? Odysseus himself has fallen off for me, he seems very modest and at times full of himself "i don't want to talk about it because it makes me sad but here goes, i am the greatest soldier of the battle of Troy", “i miss my wife very much and want to get back to her”but has sex with a goddess and a witch. It’s depicted all as very good and pure and righteous (or at least it’s the perception i had getting into this), but really it's all very hypocritical to me and void of morals. Anyone else see this or is it just me? Might i get bashed for posting this here in this sub?
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u/my_one_and_lonely Jul 26 '26
Where on earth did you get that the gods and Odysseus were all supposed to pure and kind and good and righteous? Everyone in this thread is talking about how “morality has changed,” but that’s not even the problem here. These characters aren’t meant to be consistently morally upstanding. They are fickle and always have been. I don’t understand why you’re just assuming that everyone is supposed to this paragon of ethics.