final draft gods cant do that

Lacey Desper Classical Mythology Gods Can’t Do That

Hopes and Fears and the limitations they bring

“Man made his gods and furnished them with his own body, voice and garments. If a

horse or lion or a slow ox had agile hands for paint and sculpture, the horse would make his god

a horse, the ox would sculpt an ox. Our gods have flat noses and black skin say the Ethiopians.

The Thracians say our gods have red hair and hazel eyes. (Xenophanes translated by Willis

Barnstone)”.

Why do Greek Gods have limitations? Understanding, this question is essential to

understanding the limitations themselves. It is first and foremost important to point out the

flaws in humans and to see how they are reflected in the deities. Why would man create an

infallible or nearly perfect deity? It works against the very nature of humanity.

Euhemerus goes so far to say that “the Homeric Gods were mortal men, ancient leaders

who had been posthumously elevated to divine status (pg. 40).” Platzner commented, “For all

the superiority to mortals, however, the gods are driven by the same kinds of competitive

ambition and jealous regard for their prerogatives that ruin the mental peace (pg 29).”

This distinction is necessary to make because gods today are not like this. The Christian

god is omnipotent. When things go wrong, we sooth ourselves by convincing ourselves it is in

God’s divine plan, this is a distinction from the past. Rather than accept failure one can dismiss

it as someone else’s fault. A prime example of this is when Hera sleeps with Zeus so she could

infiltrate and destroy Troy. When set with terrible defeat, they did not just have to come to


terms with the defeat. No, it is Hera’s fault that tricky bitch; she is the reason for our failure. A

fallible god allows for a scapegoat, which during the dark times that these centuries were it was

something that was necessary to cope with existence. Now that we have established why gods

must have limitations let’s discuss what some of these limitations are.

I would like to start with one of my favorite stories, Uranus’s story of genital mutilation.

An odd choice to start but I think this is the best example of a gods limitation. The gods may be

immortal but this does not mean they are immune to mutilation and being handicapped. I will

give an example of each starting first with mutilation; “the fiendishly long and jagged sickle,

pruning the genitals of his own father with one sword and tossed them off (Theogony, 181-

182).” While gruesome according to the theogony this was not nearly as gruesome as some of

the offspring Gaea and Ouranus had. “And three other sons were born to Gaea and Ouranus,

strong hulking creatures…Hundreds of hands stuck out of their shoulders, grotesque and fifty

heads grew on each stumpy neck. (Theogony, 148-152).”

Why even one of the twelve mighty Olympian gods where handicapped, “there was

Hephaestus, Gimpy-legged and glorious.” (The Loves of Ares and Aphrodite, 37-38) What

soothing comfort would it of been in these times, to know that even a god was handicapped,

and he was still capable of marvelous things. This is exactly the point in the stories of the gods,

people found hope. If poor crippled Hephaestus can get the most golden beautiful woman to

grace all the gods, there must be hope for anyone.

Now, while we keep this theme of hope noting that even Hesiod mentioned hope in his

stories, most specifically the story of Pandora. The curse upon man who brought all the


miseries we know. “But the woman took the lid off the jar first, and scattered all the miseries

that spell sorrow for men. Only Hope was left there in the unbreakable container,” (Works and

Days, 114-116) While the authors of the book argue that Hope was the worst gift of the

miseries. Claiming that hope gives us the ability to persevere when there is absolutely no

chance of survival or success. It was their belief this was the cruelest of tricks. While compared

to today’s beliefs; hope is the main purpose of all the gods. Why else would the heroes be

necessary? Achieving, death-defying adventures some even defeating death. Though there has

to be an explanation why this person can handle such feats and I cannot. Why of course! He is a

Demi-God son of Zeus himself. Once, again the gods are used a crutch to live with the

commoners own short comings.

After discussing hope, I think it is appropriate to discuss its counterpart fear. While,

discussing the next two limitations it is important to mention. I am speaking of a fate worse

than death, imprisonment. Think about even though our society as moved forward in time,

while hangings and beheadings are no longer correct punishment, one punishment has

stranded the test of time prison.

Starting, with the first imprisonment, the titans “there the titans are concealed in the

misty gloom...There is no way out for them, Poseidon set doors of bronze in a wall that

surrounds it (Theogony 514-518).” This illustrates the imprisonment of the titans in the Tarturs;

which, exemplifies there terrific punishment for aiming for absolute power. An even more

gruesome imprisonment is the one of Prometheus. “And he bound Prometheus with

ineluctable fetter painful bonds, and drove a shaft through his middle….but whatever the long-


winged bird ate the whole day through, would grow back at night (Theogony).” Prometheus of

course is being punished for bring tricking Zeus and bringing fire to man. True to form,

Prometheus is eventually freed. Being the savior of humanity, one would understand why the

stories would free him.

Talking on the lighter side of imprisonment; it is to make a very short point about the

fact that gods are not omnipotent or even capable of keeping their own houses in order. First,

giving a few examples of gods who had no clue what was going on. For a moment lets discuss

Demeter when Persephone was abducted by Hades. According to the Hymn to Demeter “she

cast a dark cloak on her shoulder and seed like a bird over dry land and sea, searching. No one

was willing to tell her the truth, not one god’s or mortals.”(Homeric Hymn to Demeter pg. 157

lines 42-45). While this is not quite imprisonment Persephone was abducted and stuck in the

underworld until Demeter forced Zeus to compromise with him; the fact that Persephone was

taken without knowledge of her divine mother Demeter. It is a story that wraps multiple

limitations in one.

A more sensual story awaits the story of Ares, Hephaestus and Aphrodite, who

exemplifies all the points made so far, it has deception, cheating, sneaking, gods not knowing

what the others are doing and even some short imprisonment. “Between Ares and gold-

crowned Aphrodite, How they first made love in Hephaestus’ house, sneaking around.”(Homer,

The Loves of Ares and Aphrodite pg. 205 line 3-5) “They were settling in. When the chains

Hephaestus had cunningly wrought, fell all around them. They couldn’t move an inch, couldn’t

even lift a finger. (Homer, The Loves of Ares and Aphrodite pg.206 lines 33-36)


While hope and fear are plagues upon us all; there is one final limitation which is the

weirdest of all. It seems that this limitation is self-imposed. While, there is very limited lore on

the subject. This limitation is relevant because we are now focused on the fear of the gods,

rather than looking at the fear of humanity. With such a fear of the punishment, one would

wonder why the gods would even bother acknowledging its existence.

A god cannot break an oath that is sworn by the river Styx, without sever consequences.

There are several instances where gods have been tempted to break their word; the most

devastating is the story of Helios and his son Phaethon. Phaethon comes before Helios and

demands to have proof of his divine patronage. Helios’s responds that he will give anything that

his son Phaethon would ask of him and swears by the river Styx it would be so. Phaethon

requests to drive the chariot of the sun. Helios knows the chariot is beyond his power but goes

and head and lets him use it because of his promise. The chariot runs of control and inevitably

to save the earth from the heat of the sun; Zeus destroys Phaethon with his lightning. As, you

can see the punishment for breaking the oath to river Styx is so harsh he would rather see the

death of his son than suffer the consequences. Now, on to the main show, what punishment

could be so cruel that would bring a god to make such decisions?

“If ever a god who lives on snowcapped Olympus pours a libation of this and breaks his

oath, he lies a full year without any breath. Not a taste of Ambrosia, not a sip of nectar, comes

to his lips, but he lies breathless and speechless...an evil comma upon him but when the long

year brings this disease to its end...more difficult trial is in stare nine year in exile...no converse

in council or feasts...In the tenth year finally he rejoins (Theogony 579-590 pg. 101).”


With these limitations, it is easy to see how these people’s lives were affected by these

stories, in these stories lies there hopes and fears. The limitations of the gods brought these

things to them and allowed them to linger in a society and lives that were far less nice than ours

today. Life was harsh and bad things were lingering around every corner.


Bibliography

Gloria Platzner, Stephen L. Harris. Classical Mythology Images and Insights 6h Edition. 2012

Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Author Unknown, Translation by Helene P. Foley

The Loves of Ares and Aphrodite, Homer. Odyssey Book 8, Translation by Stanley Lombardo

Theogony, Hesiod. Translation by Stanley Lombardo

Works and Days, Hesiod. Translation by Stanley Lombardo

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