Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism | Iliad, Homer - A. Maria Van Erp Taalman Kip (essay date August 2000)

A. Maria Van Erp Taalman Kip (essay date August 2000)

SOURCE: Taalman Kip, A. Maria Van Erp. “The Gods of the Iliad and the Fate of Troy.” Mnemosyne 53, no. 4 (August 2000): 385-402.

[In the following essay, Taalman Kip maintains that providing the Olympian Gods with an interpolated morality is not consistent with Homer's presentation of the human condition in the Iliad.]

Ever since antiquity the gods of the Iliad have been a stumbling block: in the view of Homer's ancient admirers the behaviour of his gods, especially Zeus, ought to have a moral basis, since otherwise they would not feel comfortable about their admiration for the poems. Plato sacrificed his admiration on the altar of his indignation, and banned Homer from his ideal state. Allegorizing interpreters solved the problem by arguing that Homer's gods were not meant to be gods; if Apollo is actually the heat of the sun, we need not be bothered by his...

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