Greek Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Greek Mythology - Essay Example In the Iliad, war is portrayed as useless, violent, and dreadful. War negatively affects all those involved: the warrior, families, and communities. It only brings destructions. There are no definite victors in the Iliad. Vast portions of populations die for nothing due to some of the warriors’ conceit and sentimental choices. For instance, Achilles brings about the demise of his comrade by initially declining to participate in the war, placing the Greek army at a weak position, and afterwards wrongly encouraging his comrade Patroclus to get involved in the war. Even the preliminary root of the war, the abduction of Helen by Paris, a lady from Greece, is an impulsive, unthinking, and self-centered action. Even though the impact of war on is a main issue in Homeric epics, he did not venerate the idea of war and cruelty in his epics. Rather, he embodied the idea of warfare as a natural element of human existence, and that men are encouraged to participate in and that should not perhaps be taken for granted. Though revered war might appear throughout the three abovementioned epics, a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the epics unearths the inconsequential effect of war on warriors, families, and communities. Readers may think that war was a celebrated and adored element of society. Remarkable and brave warriors are treated like gods, and they are considered a supernatural generation of human beings. Nevertheless, in truth, all wars are staged because of personal motives, especially those related to self-indulgence and covetousness. The moral premise given to the concept of war differs greatly from one scholar to another. For instance, the Iliad views war as a requirement of human life and hence the war is a representation of human existence itself, an existence where in the greatest values are demonstrated in tragic bravery. In the other Homeric poem, the Odyssey, there is a firm and