Divine justice and cosmic order in early Greek Epic

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the ethical and theological universe of the Homeric epics, and shows that the patterns of human and divine justice which they deploy are also to be found throughout the wider corpus of early Greek hexameter poetry. Although most scholars continue to stress the differences between theIliadandOdysseywith regard to divine justice, these come not (as is often alleged) from any change in the gods themselves but from theOdyssey'speculiar narrative structure, with its focus on one hero and his main divine patron and foe. Indeed, the action of theIliadembodies a system of norms and punishments that is no different from that of theOdyssey. Values such as justice are shown to be socially constituted in each epic on both the divine and human planes, and each level, it is argued, displays not only a hierarchy of power (and the resulting tensions), but also a structure of authority. In addition, the presentation of the gods in the wider hexameter corpus of Hesiod, the Epic Cycle and the Homeric Hymns is analysed, revealing a remarkably coherent tradition in which the possibility of divine conflict is combined with an underlying cosmic order. Finally, consideration of Near Eastern myths relating cosmic order to justice brings out the distinctiveness of the Greek system as a whole and, in particular, of the way it uses the divine society under Zeus's authority as a comprehensive explanatory model of the world.