Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Homer's 'Iliad' / Power of the Gods. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper examining the degree of influence gods were considered to have over mortals in Homeric culture. The paper concludes that the Greeks believed that people really do not have much control over their own destinies at all, and thus transferred this control onto the gods. Bibliography lists one source.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Godshom.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
to us; this virtue, in addition to great power, is what modern-day believers feel gives their God the authority to set down rules for mortals to follow. However, this
is emphatically not the way Homers original audience felt about their gods. They felt that the gods were capricious, playful, vengeful, impetuous, and lustful. The gods great power made them
arrogant and imperious as well. The immortals did not earn mans adoration and service through their great justice and compassion for humanity; they simply took what they wanted, much like
schoolyard bullies, and walked away laughing. This was the only way that the early Greeks were able to explain phenomena such as war, famine, and pestilence. If an epidemic broke
out, for example, they naturally assumed that the king of that territory must have invoked the wrath of some god, and only the appeasement of that god or the intervention
of another would stop the carnage. It is easy for us to use scientific explanations such as poor diet or unsanitary conditions, but the Greeks took it much more personally.
We can see this in their explanation for the events of the Trojan War. They felt that the earthly war was actually a spillover of a huge domestic dispute up
on Mount Olympus, where the gods lived. As the Iliad opens, the Trojan War has actually been going on for nine years, but the fighting has intensified recently due to
the wrath of Apollo against the Greeks. Why is Apollo angry at the Greeks? Most recently, the Greek army under the command of Agamemnon has taken the daughter of Apollos
priest Chryses as a prisoner of war. The priest naturally appealed to Apollo to have his daughter returned, but he did more than pray; he traveled to the Greek camp
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