How Are Human Beings Similar to and Different from the Gods Essay

In Greek mythology, specifically in Homer’s eminent epics; (the Iliad and the Odyssey), the gods are depicted according to anthropological means. They basically resemble human beings in form as well as in behavior. One must understand first that the Greeks had very much appreciated the human form. Contrary to the Egyptians, for example, who had portrayed their gods with human features incorporating some animalistic bodily features as well. Many other civilizations’ gods also had a certain idiosyncratic factor; they were above human beings, on an entirely superior level, to a point where there was a palpable barrier between gods and humans. A Pharaoh, for instance, would be like a god but there would still be a division between him and the people. The Greeks also had no bible, or holy sacrament. All they had were myths with no precise moral or lesson, other than the mere fact that â€Å"life’s a bitch†. Throughout Homer’s epics, the gods display human emotions such as anger and love. They were petty, having numerous sexual affairs with humans. And like humans, they even shared a diverse personality range. Each god acted very differently from the other. Zeus, for example, was a womanizer and could even be viewed as a knave. Whereas Neptune loved humankind; always helping humans in need. Or Poseidon, as seen in the Odyssey, liked to hold a grudge on Odysseus for blinding his son. The gods were all over the place with emotions and personalities. They would even love you one day and then stab you in the back the next. However, there is one very crucial difference between the two: gods, unlike the humans, were immortal, and being immortal was one of the attributes which rendered them as gods aside from having certain powers. It was also nearly impossible to become a god, and if one had become a god there was always a catch. Achilles, for instance, had become immortal except for one place on his body which was vulnerable – his heel (since it didn’t touch the â€Å"holy water† his goddess mother, Thetis, immersed him in). And of all the places that one could attack him; Paris, according to myth, had ended up killing him with an arrow aimed at his heel, thus infecting him and ultimately ending his â€Å"immortal† life. In conclusion, there is very little that can differentiate the Greek gods with humans, because essentially the gods were humans, sharing many similarities, since the Greeks were true humanists.