Here I have attached a paper that I wrote for my Greek Philosophy and Hellenistic Studies class.
“According to the heroic ideal of The Iliad and The Odyssey, a human being’s achievements or failings are [or: are not] up to them.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?
In this paper I was faced with the difficulty of interpreting thoughts from nearly 3000 years ago, which are seemingly contradictory. I found it difficult to argue in an Ancient Greek context. I have approached this before in a previous philosophy class and I have much to say on the topic. Were it up to me, I would spend quite a bit of time explaining various views and then adjudicating between which one makes the most sense. In this paper, I was more centred around a text; similar to that of English or Literature class. My strengths are more in line with modern philosophy papers, but here I showcase my ability to interpret others’ thoughts in ancient texts.
PHIL/CLST 211
16 October 2017
Human Free-Will in The Iliad and The Odyssey
This essay will argue that in the heroic ideal of eighth century Greek poetry, specifically in ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’, the achievements in failings are caused by their own voilition. This essay will first lay out the evidence of human choice throughout the poems, then address the concerns of the gods’ influence and the underlying theme of fate. The essay will conclude by examining how the gods’ influence and fate are compatible with an understanding of human choice of excellence.
Both ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’ contain evidence of human choice. Although there is not a plethora of examples, the ones that we have are quite strong. Firstly, in ‘The Iliad’, we see the fear of Zeus that Achilles might act in a manner to which he (Zeus) does not desire. Achilleus’ friend had just died in battle, and this aroused a great anger within him. Zeus reflects on the situation saying,
Even before they trembled in looking upon him, but now that he is enraged because of his friend’s death, I fear that he might smash the wall beyond what is fated to be. (Powell and Homer 20.28-30)
In this instance Zeus is clearly stating that Achilleus has some extent of choice. This choice can counter destiny or even Zeus’s own desires. This is an attempt on Achilleus’ behalf to retaliate to the terrible news of his friend’s death. This is an example of Achilleus striving to be a hero, in that he is standing true to his friends and standing courageous in the face of his enemies (Griffin 1). The other example of human choice within ‘The Iliad’ is found as Achilleus is faced with a difficult decision. Achilleus processes this decision,
“If I remain and fight to take the city of the Trojans, then my homecoming is no more, but my fame will be forever. If I return to my home in the land of my fathers, there will be no glorious renown, yet I will live long, and the doom of death will not soon find me.” (Powell and Homer 9.412-416)
Here we observe Achilleus’ decision to strive for honor in life and death; choosing a short heroic life over a long and comfortable life. This is a key aspect to the story of ‘The Iliad’ in that it illuminates the central character’s drive to be a hero. This comes about as an important part of the story, bringing significance to the free choice that Achilleus is making.
In ‘The Odyssey’ we see one clear cut example of human choice in the first book. Zeus vents that humans bring themselves to their own demise, saying, “see now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all nothing but their own folly.” (Butler and Homer 1.32-34) This is evidence from Ancient Greek thought that the gods allow humans to make decisions that have real consequences. Although there are relatively few of these instances in which Homer obviously states human choice, they are each quite explicit.
Now, despite the evidence that there is free will in ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’, there is also much evidence displaying the gods’ influence on the stories. In ‘The Iliad’ we find that right from the start the story reads, “and the will of Zeus was accomplished” (Fagles and Homer 1.5). Many will use this line out of context to claim that the gods order everything, regardless of human desires. In reality, this line is referring to a specific promise that Zeus makes to Thetis later in the story (Willcock 4). One may also challenge the human free will view with a quote by Agamemnon, from his conversation with Achilleus,
“But I am not at fault. Zeus and Fate and Erinys who walks in darkness are. It was they who in the assembly infected me with a wild blindness, on that day when I myself took away the prize of Achilles. But what could I do? The gods are responsible for everything!” (Powell and Homer 19.85-90)”
This quote, at first, can seem completely contrary to what ‘The Iliad’ read earlier. How can Zeus speak about the humans’ choice and all the while have humans complaining that gods make the world happen? In this passage, Agamemnon is trying to take the blame off of himself and pin it elsewhere. The easiest way to do this is to blame it on the gods, as they were understood to have influence.
In ‘The Odyssey’, we see that there is a general belief that the gods could impact the events of the world. Nestor speaks about Melenaos’s trip home saying, “Never once did the wind fail, once the god had set it blowing.” (Shmoop Editorial Team and Homer 3.182-183) Here there it is implied that the gods desired for Melenaos to arrive home and willed it in to being. The gods are affecting the situation in which the humans are living. In a similar situation, Odysseus speaks of his journey,
“We are Achaians coming from Troy, beaten off our true course by winds from every direction across the great gulf of the open sea, making for home, by the wrong way, on the wrong courses. So we have come. So it has pleased Zeus to arrange it.”’ (Shmoop Editorial Team and Homer 9.259-262)”
Once again Zeus is credited with coordinating the voyage of Odysseus. It must be noted that although it Zeus seems to impact the journey of Odysseus, this does not rule out the human ability to choose. In this case it appears that the gods can control the weather, a skill to which is never attributed to humans in the first place. Lastly we have Odysseus describing Zeus’s interaction with humans, “there is no other to blame, but Zeus; he, in his terrible hate for the army of the Danaan Spearmen, visited destruction upon you.” (Shmoop Editorial Team and Homer 11.557-560) In this instance Zeus appears to disregard human ability in war in favor of his hate for the Danaan. This displays Zeus’s ability to impose his will upon humans in a very negative form. Through all these quotes we can see that while the humans have a free will, the gods similarly have a will that they impose on people. These wills though, we will see, do not contradict one another.
Both Homer’s ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’ contain evidences of the gods imposing their will on humans and the humans exercising free choice. Underneath all of this is the overarching theme of fate. In ‘The Iliad’ Hektor, while lamenting for Andromache, exclaims,
“My darling Andromachê, I beg you, don’t grieve too much for me in your heart. No man will cast me into the house of Hades beyond my fate. I don’t think that any man can escape his fate, neither a coward nor a brave man, when once he is born. (Powell and Homer 6.486-489)”
Hektor’s view of fate is events that occur beyond the control of a person. In this case, he is making it clear that he thinks everyone is subject to fate, a sort of determinism. This sort of fate is also seen in ‘The Odyssey’ when Zeus, speaking about Odysseus, claims, “For so it is fated that he shall see his people and come back to his house with the high roof and to the land of his fathers.” (Shmoop Editorial Team and Homer 5.38-42) There is an understanding when it comes to fate that the outcome of the event is inevitable. In this passage, it is seen that even Zeus recognizes the merits of fate, that the outcome is ineluctable.
While fate, free will, and interaction of the gods may seem to be conflicting, they are actually quite compatible. Human free will to make decisions and take credit for achievements and failings appears quite evident from Achilleus’s decision in ‘The Iliad’ and Zeus’s comment regarding poor human decisions in ‘The Odyssey’. At the same time, it seems as though Zeus and the gods have a significant amount of influence on the human lives. On top of this, it appears that there is some belief in Ancient Greek thought that there is an ultimate fate or destiny outside of human control. It would appear that if there is fate or destiny outside of human control, free will to take credit for achievements as a hero would be mute and one must be fated towards heroism.
In philosophy, there is a viewpoint called compatibilism which states that both free will and determinism (or in this case, fate) are reconcilable. This appears to be a viable solution to understanding fate and free will in ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’. In Homer’s Epics, the characters have agency to make decisions, which are occasionally influenced by the gods. In these cases, the characters do not exercise free will. However, in cases such as Achilleus’s choice for a short but noble life, he certainly exercises his agency. Simultaneously, there may be an ultimate outcome or fate that the stories arrive to. This also does not take away the characters’ choices to make moral decisions just because the outcome couldn’t not happen. Outcomes aside, the difference can be found in the cause. An example of this would be a skier at the top of a hill. If the skier decided to start down the hill, it would be a decision of his own will that he could take credit for. If the skier was pushed down the hill, he could not take credit for it and the decision was not his own. In both cases, the outcome couldn’t not happen (it was fated), but that doesn’t take away the free will that the skier exercised in the first situation. Similar to this example, even though fate is involved and gods are exercising their will, the human characters still made decisions and can take responsibility for some of their achievements and failings.
Works Cited
Fagles, Robert. trans. Homer. The Iliad. New York: Penguin, 1990. (UVIC)
Griffin, Michael. “Athenian Thought: A Reader 1. Homer, Hesiod & Pindar.” 2014.
Homer and Samuel Butler. The Odyssey. Project Gutenberg, n.d. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1085176&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Homer, and Barry B. Powell. The Iliad. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “The Odyssey Fate and Free Will Quotes.” Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 16 Oct. 2017.
Willcock, Malcolm M. A Companion to the Iliad. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1976.