Greece the Horror Comedy

Butler, Camron

Something touched on in class a little but didn't go very much into is the lack of morals amongst the gods in The Odyssey. The example that led us to the topic was the one of Poseidon and the Paeacians. Odysseus had reached their island home and been greeted as a stranger sent from Zeus. They gave him tons of riches, took him home via their fastest ship, and showed Odysseus a great time when he while he was there. This outrageously generous hospitality was a custom throughout all of Greece and the gods are the reason for this. Since they can disguise themselves as humans and even copy people's appearance, you never know who the strangers knocking on your door truly are. Because this is the case, hosts have to be super generous or risk upsetting a god who they've just disrespected. Upsetting a god is a pretty bad idea (unless you're looking to get stranded on an island for 10 years after watching all your friends die from a co-operative incompetence).

Hospitality seems like a pretty big deal in this world right? But we come across exceptions like Polyphemus who eats his guests. However, one could argue since Odysseus was aiming to abuse Polyphemus's hospitality he got what he deserved. I think the host should still try to be the bigger person though. And Polyphemus is bigger, he's just not a person. He's a son of Poseidon. Which leaves him in a position where he generally knows his visitor(s) already or his visitors are just little snacks with legs.

With Polyphemus we see Odysseus punished for trying to abuse hospitality. I think that strengthens the sense we already had that hospitality is something the gods put value in and everyone should oblige by. However, returning to the example of the Phaeacians, they don't seem to care at all about hospitality. The Phaeacians were the most hospitable people of the entire odyssey yet they are all doomed as a result. If we look at the scene where Zeus and Poseidon are deciding how to ruin their lives we can see there is no hesitation. They are a people who are favorites to Zeus and yet Zeus is the one that thinks of a more horrible fate for them than Poseidon, and Poseidon is the one they pissed off.

This scene, to me, shows the gods have absolutely zero morals, at least in regards to humans. Humans just seem to sort of be their playthings. Poseidon and Zeus don't mention that the Phaeacians are Zeus favorite when discussing their demise nor do they bring up how excellent their hospitality was. Instead Zeus says Poseidon can do whatever he wants as long as it makes him happy. To me that sounds just like when a kid asks their parent if they can do something with their toy, and instead of saying no that'll break it or something, they just tell them it's their toy and they can do what they want with it.

Finally our favorite goddess Athena who is gifted with wisdom seems to be the same way. She gets Odysseus set free because she seems to sympathize with him and wants to see him go home. No one even seems to have a problem with the fact that they're totally betraying Poseidon, they just don't want him there when it goes down so he can't complain or try to interfere. Additionally, Athena is siked for the slaughter and loves to trick and lie to people. Athena being so ready for the slaughter just shows that she doesn't really care what happens to people, she just wants some good ol' entertainment.

Living in this Greek world would be absolutely terrifying but reading it from the outside we can thankfully also get a couple laughs. The lack of sentiment the gods have for humans that aren't special to them really shows and tells (insert kindergarten joke here) us a lot about them and where they stand as the deities of this world.