Intellectual Heritage

The gods played an essential role in the Iliad. Humans believed that fate controlled the outcome of most everything, but who controls fate? In the Iliad, the mortals, who were the majority of people, respected the gods, as they believed the gods had a heavy influence on fate. As a result, the mortals prayed to the gods, much like people pray today. The honor system kept people in line, and determined on which desires a person acted. In our current culture, we have security cameras, jails, courts, and police! Over time, people's views have changed on religion, honor, justice and fate.

Homer talked of war as an inevitable occurrence. The battlefield is where honor was achieved, and or lost. Men fought until death day after day, relying on the hope that the gods were protecting them, or favoring them. This "blind" trust and hope is what we call faith. The notion to "do the right thing" and that god is watching is the way men thought. People wanted to be favored by the gods, so in times of war, the gods would choose to help them. A good example of this is when Zeus wanted to save Sarpedon. When Zeus was watching the fight, he said to his wife, Hera, "Fate has it that Sarpedon, whom I love more than any man, is to be killed by Patroclus. Shall I take him out of battle while he still lives, and set him down in the rich land of Lycia, or should I let him die under Patroclus' hands?" (Homer, 90). Hera would not let him, so Sarpedon died. This passage illustrates how gods were believed to have the ability to save a man's life. From this perspective, fate played a huge role in wars. The people of the Bronze Age believed the gods determined their fate, an idea that diluted self-motivation. What do you believe? Are we doomed to a destiny?

The relationship between the mortals and the gods in the Iliad are unique. The majority of the mortals treated the gods with the utmost respect. The gods were a level above the mortals; they had more powers and control over different aspects of life. The gods controlled the humans like a little kid playing with matchbox racing cars. That is, a little kid picks his favorite car to win the race. People felt helpless and inferior to the gods. Such blind faith is beyond rational thought.

Toward the end of the story, as Achilles was killing Hector, Achilles spoke of his fate as if it was out of his control, and he was nothing more but an action figure. "Die and be done with it. As for my fate, I'll accept it whenever Zeus sends it." (Homer, 134) The men did all they could on earth, achieved their honor and wealth, and prayed to the gods to live and be happy. Faith was not something negative, but a lifestyle which a person chose to follow. The harder you worked, the more you would achieve. The idea of not controlling your own destiny was an idea established in fear. The people of the Bronze Age did not have a lot of scientific knowledge of the world compared to our postmodern age. Understandably, they developed ideas and rituals based on a higher power, to help explain the unknown.

Our current religious conceptualizations are more intellectual because we have more knowledge of the world. Despite scientific evidence of evolution, however, the majority of the world still practices some form of a religion based on faith. Our culture allows for a mixture of ideas to be meshed together. The relationship between the gods and the mortals is similar to today's common belief of how man is made in the image of god, a change that occurred in the Hebraic creation story. People pray to a higher power everyday, just as they did in the Iliad.

In the Iliad, people prayed to the gods and made sacrifices. They fought for their lives and hoped