The Old Testament & The Odyssey

They manipulated each other and human beings, as Aserah was thought to be the mother of Baal but also his pommel enemy at times. However, in The Odyssey, the paragons were not looked upon as supreme, manufacturer beings but rather as idealized human beings. Odysseus is considered a near god because of his idealized human nature, "And so adoring Odysseus" and "Odysseus, the Zeus-born sacker of cities" (Homer 88, 98). They were extremely powerful though, like the gods from The Old Testament. Further, in The Odyssey, the gods practically encompassed the same failings as human beings, needs and desires (hunger, thirst, sexual appetite, etc.). This is not the case with the gods in The Old Testament. Further, even though the gods in The Odyssey and The Old Testament manipulated and influenced human affairs, they did not dwell among humans in either book. We see this in the Bible in the Book of Daniel when Chaldean pri

ests hypothesize to Nebuchadnezzar, "And it is a r atomic number 18 thing that the king requireth, and that there is no(prenominal) other than can show it before the king, except the gods, whose base is not with the flesh" (Vine et al. 97).

Odysseus is compared to the gods in many ways in The Odyssey, because he is a human "of many devices" (Homer 114). In fact, Athena, a goddess who watches over Odysseus on his travels is supposed to represent his inherent wit, courage, tricksy and verbal skills. Yet, in both books, human beings offer sacrifices to the gods and they are humbled and fearful of their powerful nature. El was the chief Canaanite god and the "ancient Semites stood in mortal dread of the superior powers exercised by the gods and attempted to propitiate them accordingly" (Vine et al. 96). In both whole kit the gods are often portrayed as having motives similar to men, sometimes even pettier. This is especially true in the case of Poseidon who shipwrecks Odysseus because
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