A comparative study on the religious outlook adapted
by Homer in ‘The Iliad’ and Hesiod in 'The Works and
Days ’
HOMER

A bard and an epic writer.

Believed to have lived during
8th century BCE Greece.

Author of first known literature
of Europe.

Sang the heroic deeds of the
Mycenaean heroes.

Entertained the aristocracy.
GODS IN HOMER’S ‘THE ILIAD’
Immortal not mortal
Worshipped because they were powerful
Representative of the heroic world
Lived in Olympus
Could mingle with humans
Anthropomorphic
Manipulative and deceptive
Emotional
Organized
Anthropomorphic
Deceptive &
Manipulative
Highest
social strata
Could be placated or won over.
Favorites
assists
listens
rescues
emergencies
When the mortals do not show their
due respect to the gods
Divine wrath
 Anger
 Hatred

The beauty contest among the goddesses
Intervene in human affairs
Change the outcome
 Favorable
 Disastrous
 Selfish motives
 Unpredictable
 Not caring about ‘good’
and the ‘bad’.

Although humanlike, they are super powered and
superior to humans
can change into any person or
animal.
Immortal and do not decay
Can go into any place in no
time
Taller and well built
Can both be visible or invisible.
Fairer and more beautiful
Have miraculous actions
Can give life.
 Save lives.
 Pour strength
 Nourish

Could beget children from gods

Considered as an honour…..

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

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
Achilles the son of Peleus and Thetis
Aeneas the son of Anchises and Aphrodite
Aiokos the son of Zeus .( father of Anchises)
Dardanos the son of Zeus.(Ancestor of Priam)
Helen the daughter of Zeus.
Heracles the son of Zeus.
Sarpedon the son of Zeus and Laodameia.
Controlled the fate of the humans.
GODS IN HESIOD’S WORKS AND DAYS’
HESIOD

A poor farmer.

A near contemporary of
Homer.

Lived in Boeotia.

To advice his brother Perses.

Lived a harsh life amidst
many difficulties.

The socio-political
background
Geography
-hard and infertile soil.
-mountainous.

Aristocrats=Politicians=Rulers.

A monopoly of aristocrats.

No justice , No laws.

Corruption, bribery, injustice

Condition of the peasant farmer=almost intolerable
Silly thing why do you cry? Your
master holds you fast. You’ll go
where I decide. Although you have
a minstrel’s lovely voice, if I choose
I’ll have you for a meal….
Pity me!!!!
Earliest examples explaining how the Aristocrats ruled
even the poets
The only hope for justice
were the Olympians
A different perspective on the Olympians
Ideas on the Olympians

Myth of Prometheus.

Myth of Pandora.

Myth of five ages.
Zeus as the god of
justice

“Withers the proud and makes the crooked straight….’(1-27)

‘hear Zeus set our fallen laws upright….’(1-27)

“Zeus marks them out ,and often their city suffers for their wicked scheme…’

‘the deathless gods are never far away…”

“they mark the crooked judges who grind down their fellow-men and do not
fear the gods’

‘three times ten thousand watchers-over-men, immortal, roam the fertile
earth for Zeus…’
(224-57)
Gods =work=agriculture

“ The gods have given work to men….” (379-408)

“ mighty Zeus send autumn rain….”(401-39)

“make prayers to Zeus the farmer’s god”

“if Zeus himself gives, finally , a happy issue.’’(469-95)

‘but Zeus who holds the aegis has a mind unknowable for men and
changeable..’(469-96)
HESIOD AND VENERATION.
Be Good
 Work hard
 Honesty
 Careful
 Prudent
 Gods as a moral force-warning
 Gods as keepers of justice

HESIOD
CONCLUSION
Both poets present the same gods in a different
light
 Shows the reasons for the difference as
1. Subjective to the individual
2. Circumstances
3. Environment – geography, social, political
4.personal experience and wishful thinking

Bibliography
Primary sources
 Rieu, E.V. (1944). The Iliad, London: Penguin Classics

Wender, D. S. (1973). Hesiod and Theognis. London: Penguin Classics.
Secondory sources.
 Barron ,J.P > and Easterling, P.E. (1985). Hesiod./The Cambridge History of Classical Literature/(P.E
Easterling and B.M.W. Knox.eds.)

Bartlett, R.C. (2006).An introduction to Hesiod’s Works and Days.Retrieved from The Review of
Politics.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S003467050600009X (About DOI), Published online: 26 May 2006
[Accessed 23 May 2016]

Mastin, L. (2009). Ancient Greece - Hesiod – Theogny. Retrieved from Classical Literature
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm
[Accessed 24 May 2016]

Millet, P. (1984).Hesiod and his world.s Retrieved from Philological society
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S006867350000465X, Published online: 28 February 2013
[Accessed 24 May 2016]
•T. Yilmaz (2012).Representation of the gods in the Iliad by Homer:a brief annalysis .Retrieved
from Journal of Suleyman Demirel University Institute.
[Accessed 24 May 2016]
•W. Kullmann (1985),Gods and men in the Iliad and the Odyssey, Retrieved from Havard
studies in Classical Philology.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/311265
[Accessed 22 May 2016]
•R.M. Rosen (1997),Homer and Hesiod, Retrieved from Anew companion to Homer.
http://repository.upenn.edu/classics_papers7
[Accessed 22 May 2016]
THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Dinushika Sandamini Randiwela.
Department of Western Classical Culture
HU/2012/2063