What is it with Greek Gods????(PG-13?)

[Waluin]

Originally posted by Bahamut: never did put it in that kind of perspective Saz... hehehe soap operas... hehehe youre absolutely right... heeheehee, except their method of reproduction that is.

Why do you think that such grand stories like the tales of Homer involved the gods. The gods were there for inspiration and entertainment just as much as for reveration

[Sazerac]

Originally posted by Bahamut: never did put it in that kind of perspective Saz... hehehe soap operas... hehehe youre absolutely right... heeheehee, except their method of reproduction that is.

LOL, Bahamut! How true. Actually, taking it out a little further, the probable reason that the Greek Gods were so...uh...rapacious, shall we say, is for the same reason people in our culture watch soap operas and talk shows like "Springer" or "Rolonda". When the ancient greek farmers and sailors and laborers heard these dramas, they got to feel better about their little lives. "If the gods have this much trouble, my life ain't so bad after all."

[Fljotsdale]

Originally posted by Waluin: Why do you think that such grand stories like the tales of Homer involved the gods. The gods were there for inspiration and entertainment just as much as for reveration

If even for reverence... !

Sazerac has the hang of it - er, p'raps 'hang' is not the best term in this context..? Pre TV as it was, they did the best they could and painted murals of their gods' antics all over their walls - keeping the most salacious for the brothels/pubs/etc - Equatorial relions, that is. Northerners were more restrained with their depictions of Odin and Thor etc - though the stories are pretty good!

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[Lord of Alcohol]

And then there was Testecles, but they sat he was ...nuts...

[Bahamut]

that is also one thing... the gods have too much trouble and hassle to be gods... Homer must be one psycho maniac!

sure, sure the stories were great, the typical soap operas of today or something... but what really bugs me is why someone would write about someone having a son, then making her her husband, and they have a son, and son cuts out poppa's or brothers balls out... wow... Homer is really good!

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Yukishiro Tomoe

[kiwidoc]

The old religions before Christianity and Muslim all treated sex as somethig more than just the physical act. It was powerful magic. Sex between gods could reanimate a God who had been killed - the frantic sexual activity of spring bringing to life the land and the sun after the death of winter. The strength of a gods libido or sex drive reflected their power.

Sex between sibling gods was the most powerful of all. The Egyptians beleive creation was formed from the semen of such an act (sorry I cant remember the names of those involved).

Sex with worshippers bound them more tightly to the gods, and it also enhanced the power of the gods. It could give them a chance to have more influence in the world of men through their offspring.

The old cultures had a different attitude to sex - it could be a holy rite as well as an act of desire or love. Sexuality was not something private and secretive - the Romans had mosaics and murals in thier house showing the sex act in public rooms. It took the christians to make sex something shameful, and unholy.



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[Melusine]

Originally posted by Bahamut: I don" know... they are so wicked!!! I mean, Zeus, the main God right? Mr. Incest man himself... why did he have to do all those women? including, sister, daughter, whatever... Hell, Palla Athena came out from his head!!! Aphrodite was also said to be his and Diana i think.. but danG!!! whats it with them?!?! i mean everyone!!! they look and act so... twisted...

Pallas Athena sprang forth from his head (after he'd swallowed her mother Metis because it was prophesised that her next child would be more powerful than he) but he did not have sexual relations with her, so why do you mention the story? Do you simply find it too weird for words? In that case maybe you need to see that these stroies are MYTHS, not realistic representations of Greek life in that age, but stylised or metaphoric tales.
I don't know what your source of information is, but I know of no myths in which he mates Aphrodite or Artemis (Diana is the ROMAN goddess) either... the latter was the goddess of chastity and therefore didn't have any man at all (unless you identify her with Selene or Phoebe, and apply the story of Endymion to her, but that was a tale of platonic, non-physical love more than anything else). To call all this twisted shows you may need to read the myths again and think about it a little more. I read a great volume of the Greek myths and sagas(a scholarly version, ie not a children's book) when I was 10 and I never once thought something was wrong or perverted in them. If you read the bible, you'd know that after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's daughters made their father drunk and slept with him to continue the bloodline. Is that twisted? It would be now, but you should read the books in their proper context.

Also Moridin, I think that both Gaia and Ouranos sprang forth from Chaos, making them the first gods. They begot many children and giant races, including Titans, Kronos and Rhea were both their children, i.e. Kronos, like his son, married his own sister.

and Zeus bonked Hera and got a son, but Hera, Zeus wife, is one mean girl, but then they all are!!!

ummm..... your point being?

sure, sure the stories were great, the typical soap operas of today or something... but what really bugs me is why someone would write about someone having a son, then making her her husband, and they have a son, and son cuts out poppa's or brothers balls out... wow... Homer is really good!

Actually, Homer is known for having written the Ilias (I *know* it is spelled with 'd' in English) and Odyssee....the creation myth is much older... but Ovid for example (a Roman author) has retold most of these myths as we know them now.


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Melusine, High Queen of Fluffies, Archbabe of the OHF, the LH,
the HADB and the SPAE(Society for the
Prevention of Acronym Extinction) &
Official Entertainer Elf of the BG2 Bar

Your voice is ambrosia
Amy Brown Fantasy Art

[Bahamut]

maybe so... i think this modern world is taking its toll... now, point is, it is a show of power... and that before, they saw sex as a thing that normal people have a hard time doing, and for the gods it was nothing but fun, and it showed that they had enormus strength. in respect for the gods, homer made it like this thus showing their true power... hmm.. this is really interesting!

and Iliad is Ilias all along?

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Yukishiro Tomoe

[Bahamut]

melusine, with Hera, she was the one of the main causes on why the trojan war didnt cease and took its deadly toll... and since you said sex is a show of power earlier, it can also be said that changing sides that easily and swiftly another show of power? unlike humans, they cannot just switch get it? but for the gods, if i dont like you, you die...

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Yukishiro Tomoe

[Melusine]

Originally posted by Bahamut: maybe so... i think this modern world is taking its toll... now, point is, it is a show of power... and that before, they saw sex as a thing that normal people have a hard time doing, and for the gods it was nothing but fun, and it showed that they had enormus strength. in respect for the gods, homer made it like this thus showing their true power... hmm.. this is really interesting! and Iliad is Ilias all along?

Ilias is the Greek spelling, just as Homer is actually Homeros (I know it is spelled yet again differently in the Greek alphabet...). Dutch and German spelling stays much closer to the originals than English spelling.
For instance: Virgil = Vergillius, Ovid = Ovidius etc. Our pronunciation is also much closer to the Greek.

BTW "they saw sex as a thing that normal people have a hard time doing" ????? Unless you're punning I have no idea what you're talking about...




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Melusine, High Queen of Fluffies, Archbabe of the OHF, the LH,
the HADB and the SPAE(Society for the
Prevention of Acronym Extinction) &
Official Entertainer Elf of the BG2 Bar

Your voice is ambrosia
Amy Brown Fantasy Art