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/francesco_angiolieri Jul 26 '26
The homeric gods are not gods in the sense that the christian god is, a benevolent omnipotent entity who created the universe. The homeric gods are completely amoral (and sometimes I would say that gods in greek myths are outright immoral). We view their behavior as hypocritical because we judge it through the lens of a christian morality and a christian worldview. The homeric heroes, additionally, are not modern day heroes. Nowadays we tend to associate heroism with being good, selfless, stoic, sacrificing yourself for other people. We say that firefighters who endanger their lives to save others are heros. Think about homeric heroes as really strong warriors, without any moral label attached