PAGANFILES
July 27th, 2004, 01:58 PM
GODS AS CHARACTERS
To read the Christian bible as pure literature is a challenging objective -- but highly intriguing. When the Bible is followed by a perusal of the Greek classics, certain comparisons begin to form in the readers' thoughts. The Hebrew "Lord of Heaven" -- "God" -- and the Greek "King of Olympus" -- "Zeus" -- take on many similarities of action and character.
God has his sons in Heaven (40). Zeus has his on Olympus. As recorded in many of the era's legends, Zeus also has bred some sons by mortal Greek women (130+), while God waits for the Roman pantheon to partially supplant the Greek before he takes up this pastime with a Hebrew maiden.
For some obscure reason that is never really explained in our text, each of these powerful rulers constantly gives immediate access, a hearing, and sometimes cooperation to another rather abrasive character. This character, appears to have as a purpose within the plot line a rather consistent urge to make the ruler's immortal life complicated: Shaitan (the adversary), in the case of God (40); Hera (the wife), in the case of Zeus (116+).
Both God and Zeus give the impression of being over-large male figures through the rhythm and strength of their words when speaking to those in their royal courts. Both have an inclination toward using rather pompous, and sometimes bombastic, oratory when they deign to speak to their mortal vassals directly. God does appear to be the harsher and slightly more calloused of the two, but then his character traits have been derived from lands harsher to their inhabitants than the softer ones that border the Aegean. Perhaps the writers of his words and deeds believe his mortal vassals need the lessons of harsher rules and punishments to survive, whereas Zeus can wink a bit toward those who would celebrate the festivals of Dionysus an iota too heartily, or lapse in their specific rituals of sacrifice.
One difference is quite glaring; God approaches misogyny in his dealings with women. Eve is the first female he creates. She is young and apparently quite naive, for she is quickly taken in by the slick spiel of the serpent. She breaks a single rule made by God, and, in a high dudgeon, God declares, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (21). Neither Noah's wife nor his daughter-in-laws are ever given names outside of there relation to the men in that particular vignette. Zeus, on the other hand, appeared to have problems controlling ANY woman -- especially those women closest to him. Some of their escapades would make the front pages of many of our modern "expose" news-sheets. Zeus's wife, Hera, and Athena became deeply involved in a war amongst his mortal vassals. Their rather vindictive reason for their actions is a beauty contest they did not win. Unlike God, Zeus never seems very worried about their actions. At least he never lashes them and their female descendants with eternal curses. In fact, Zeus very seldom goes beyond verbal chastisement when dealing with women.
Contextually, both characters appear to be not overly concerned that their actions, or lack thereof, cause their mortal vassals to become rather miserable on many occasions. Sometimes both God and Zeus actually give tacit, or quite open, permission for the travails to be delivered. God allows Satan to deliver "sore boils from the sole of his [Job's] foot unto his crown" (41). Zeus allows Apollo to "[drive] foul pestilence along the host [Greeks]" (70).
A bit more nastily, and inexplicably, both God and Zeus allow favorites to be slain. "Hektor beloved of Zeus" (87) was slain by Achilles. "And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering" (21), then he allowed Cain to kill him.
On a more spectacular scale, God and Zeus both appear to have a penchant for allowing, or personally attending to, the bashing about and dispersal of the population of cities with towers -- Ilium (502) and Babel (26).
Of course, for pure spectacle and devastation, the character of "God" would win hands down. In a pique of anger at the doings of his mortal vassals, he cuts his cast of characters by flooding the whole earth. He wipes out every man, woman and child, except for Noah and his family.
God appears to either be angry at or testing the loyalty and conformity of his mortal vassals through most of the readings, whilst Zeus never appears overwrought about anything, leaving the intense emotions to the rest of the pantheon. There is slaughter and killing that can be ascribed to both, but Zeus is never quite as efficient or cold-bloodedly premeditated about death amongst his mortal vassals as God. As a character, the readers can find themselves almost liking Zeus. God, however, consistently inspires fear and awe. But -- then -- maybe that is the way He wants it.
To read the Christian bible as pure literature is a challenging objective -- but highly intriguing. When the Bible is followed by a perusal of the Greek classics, certain comparisons begin to form in the readers' thoughts. The Hebrew "Lord of Heaven" -- "God" -- and the Greek "King of Olympus" -- "Zeus" -- take on many similarities of action and character.
God has his sons in Heaven (40). Zeus has his on Olympus. As recorded in many of the era's legends, Zeus also has bred some sons by mortal Greek women (130+), while God waits for the Roman pantheon to partially supplant the Greek before he takes up this pastime with a Hebrew maiden.
For some obscure reason that is never really explained in our text, each of these powerful rulers constantly gives immediate access, a hearing, and sometimes cooperation to another rather abrasive character. This character, appears to have as a purpose within the plot line a rather consistent urge to make the ruler's immortal life complicated: Shaitan (the adversary), in the case of God (40); Hera (the wife), in the case of Zeus (116+).
Both God and Zeus give the impression of being over-large male figures through the rhythm and strength of their words when speaking to those in their royal courts. Both have an inclination toward using rather pompous, and sometimes bombastic, oratory when they deign to speak to their mortal vassals directly. God does appear to be the harsher and slightly more calloused of the two, but then his character traits have been derived from lands harsher to their inhabitants than the softer ones that border the Aegean. Perhaps the writers of his words and deeds believe his mortal vassals need the lessons of harsher rules and punishments to survive, whereas Zeus can wink a bit toward those who would celebrate the festivals of Dionysus an iota too heartily, or lapse in their specific rituals of sacrifice.
One difference is quite glaring; God approaches misogyny in his dealings with women. Eve is the first female he creates. She is young and apparently quite naive, for she is quickly taken in by the slick spiel of the serpent. She breaks a single rule made by God, and, in a high dudgeon, God declares, "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (21). Neither Noah's wife nor his daughter-in-laws are ever given names outside of there relation to the men in that particular vignette. Zeus, on the other hand, appeared to have problems controlling ANY woman -- especially those women closest to him. Some of their escapades would make the front pages of many of our modern "expose" news-sheets. Zeus's wife, Hera, and Athena became deeply involved in a war amongst his mortal vassals. Their rather vindictive reason for their actions is a beauty contest they did not win. Unlike God, Zeus never seems very worried about their actions. At least he never lashes them and their female descendants with eternal curses. In fact, Zeus very seldom goes beyond verbal chastisement when dealing with women.
Contextually, both characters appear to be not overly concerned that their actions, or lack thereof, cause their mortal vassals to become rather miserable on many occasions. Sometimes both God and Zeus actually give tacit, or quite open, permission for the travails to be delivered. God allows Satan to deliver "sore boils from the sole of his [Job's] foot unto his crown" (41). Zeus allows Apollo to "[drive] foul pestilence along the host [Greeks]" (70).
A bit more nastily, and inexplicably, both God and Zeus allow favorites to be slain. "Hektor beloved of Zeus" (87) was slain by Achilles. "And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering" (21), then he allowed Cain to kill him.
On a more spectacular scale, God and Zeus both appear to have a penchant for allowing, or personally attending to, the bashing about and dispersal of the population of cities with towers -- Ilium (502) and Babel (26).
Of course, for pure spectacle and devastation, the character of "God" would win hands down. In a pique of anger at the doings of his mortal vassals, he cuts his cast of characters by flooding the whole earth. He wipes out every man, woman and child, except for Noah and his family.
God appears to either be angry at or testing the loyalty and conformity of his mortal vassals through most of the readings, whilst Zeus never appears overwrought about anything, leaving the intense emotions to the rest of the pantheon. There is slaughter and killing that can be ascribed to both, but Zeus is never quite as efficient or cold-bloodedly premeditated about death amongst his mortal vassals as God. As a character, the readers can find themselves almost liking Zeus. God, however, consistently inspires fear and awe. But -- then -- maybe that is the way He wants it.