Narratives of the Homeric Hymns - Essay Example

?The Homeric Hymns Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 1st March, Topic Today’s society is dynamic and full of versatile people from different religions, races and social classes. The Homeric Hymns are closely related to the life that we live in today in the American society. For instance, we take a look at Dionysos who was born out of wedlock as a result of an affair between his father Zeus and Semele. As a result, Zeus afraid of admitting guilt and abandoning his wife sew his son to his thigh and gave birth to him. This narrative is supposed to make as learn of the relationships that exists between men and women. It is understood that children born out of wedlock tend to have difficulty in committing to a married life. Dionysos name means he was born twice and this signifies that children born without parents tend to end up not getting married. The other narratives of Hymns to Apollo show that Women especially mothers have control over their sons. It is a known fact that sons and their mothers do have a maternal connection that is strong and cannot be easily separated (Rayor 28). The connection between Apollo and life in the current society is that men have a weakness towards pleasing women. The other lesson we learn from the Greek mythology through the Homeric Hymns is that of sibling rivalry. Apollo and Hermes were brothers who competed against each other and their problems were solved by the gods. Their rivalry connects to the current society whereby people close to us and whom we trust often end up betraying us. For instance, politicians are famous for praises but they end up betraying a lot of people (Athanassakis 64). We also learn that gods are often happy when praises are extended towards them on different occasions. The most important lesson and connection is learnt through the Hymns to Demeter. These hymns bring out the connection of life and death whereby when a person dies his soul continues in immortality. The disappearance and emergence of Persephone from time to time shows the dynamism in today’s life in the society. Moreover, it shows the connection between life and death in that when people die their soul continues to live in immortality. Topic 2 Spiritual transformation is a practice that was mostly undertaken by different individuals at different times. Due to this people had to practice some spiritual practices to change the world. The main practice of spiritual transformation is the act of changing the way people work during different times. Spiritual transformation as explained by Carl Jung looks into the spiritual changes that a person undergoes as a result of an external event occurring that affects an individual religious beliefs. The major transformation that occurred to Demeter was when her child was kidnapped by Hades. This event led to Demeter changing her behaviour leading to the death of many people. When Demeter daughter was captured and raped by Aidoneus, she became very furious (Rayor 90). Although, she did not hear the screams of her daughter but only the echo of her during her capture, this caused a lot of worries to her. Since Demeter was the god of agriculture her faith and trust in the other gods waned. As a result, she decided to punish the people by sending a winter that caused a lot of destruction towards humankind. Demeter felt betrayed by Zeus since the god did not reveal that he was aware of her daughter’s abduction. Zeus had the knowledge of Persephone whereabouts but he did not reveal this to Demeter and hence she visited the earth and she refused to return to Olympus (Athanassakis 32). Demeter visited the earth to look for her daughter and this event transformed her behaviour. Demeter’s transformation was brought about by her daughter’s disappearance and re-appearance. Demeter descended upon the earth as a result of hearing about her daughter’s disappearance into the earth. Her transformation saw people worship her on earth so as to please her and spare her wrath from the people. Demeter’s transformation saw the earth punished as a result of confirmation that her daughter Persephone had been taken away by Aidoneus. It is believed the place where Persephone was abducted is the current day Sicily and this place is barren. Because of her loss, Demeter decided to let out her anger and transform the region into a volcanoes’ region of Mt. Etna. Because of Demeter’s transformation, Zeus had to also transform and send for Persephone to be made to re-appear so that Demeter could change her behaviour. It was through Zeus’ participation in the issue involving Demeter that she became transformed. Spiritual transformation occurs when a person participates in a ritual or rite as it is witnessed when Persephone returned (Rayor 40). For instance, we witness that Persephone was given part of a pomegranate to eat. This was meant to keep her away from Demeter over a certain period of time once a year. During this period, every year the earth undergoes winter due to the transformation of Demeter. This is evident as spiritual transformation is manifested by Demeter through her actions. The disappearance of Persephone caused a lot of anguish to Demeter leading to her transformation several times and she is usually angry when Persephone is not around. Topic 3 The interaction between Greek gods and human beings were frequent during the past periods as witnessed by the Homeric Hymns. Their interaction with the gods was frequent and it had a positive influence on the livelihood of the human beings then. Peace was maintained during the period when the gods interacted with human beings. This is because gods were given an opportunity to solve the problems that faced human beings. For instance, we look at Apollo and Hermes when they had a conflict they talked to the gods to solve their problems. The interaction between the gods and the people was most often positive (Rayor 61). The myths about the interaction between the gods and human beings were positive in that many gods were kind to the Greeks. Most of the Greek gods were kind and noble to the Greek people with a few bad gods such as Ares. Gods such as Roman and Mars interacted well with the people of Greek and punished wicked people who lived in Greece. One of the myths goes as far as contending that a god by the name of Hera nurtured mothers and punished adulterers with vengeance. The gods in the Greek time took pride in interacting with human beings as it is witnessed through Demeter. Demeter lived and visited many people during her stay on earth. She was kind to many people and she often gave out gifts to many people. The interaction between gods and human beings exposed the behaviour and nature of the gods during different situations. For instance, many gods loved to be praised and respected and they would often get angry if this was not done (Athanassakis 88). The gods were responsible for many acts and they influenced the lives of very many people. Each and every god was responsible for a certain duty which they ensured it was dutifully undertaken. Most of the duties assigned to gods were meant to protect human beings. For instance, when Demeter was causing destruction on earth, Zeus intervened on behalf of the human beings whose interests he had in mind. The interaction between gods and human beings was so positive that people looked up to the gods concerning different situations for a solution. The gods derived their power from the people and therefore they had to be kind to be people. Works Cited Athanassakis, Apostolos. The homeric hymns. Boston, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2004. Print. Rayor, Diane. The Homeric hymns. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 2004. Print. Read More