The Gods in Homer's Iliad

In this lecture, Dr Emily Hauser (University of Exeter) explores the role of the gods in the Iliad, focusing in particular on: (i) the views of ancient scholars on the depiction of the gods in the Iliad, including Xenophanes and Longinus; (ii) the different ways in which the gods interact with the world of men; (iii) the similarities and differences between gods and men in the poem; (iv) the gods as an internal audience; (v) the sheer range of the behaviour of the gods, from the completely ordinary (e.g. laughing at Hephaestus bustling round the palace) to the sublime (e.g. Apollo descending on the Greek camp, “and his coming was like night”); (vi) the extent to which the gods care about events on the mortal plane; (vii) the idea of ‘fate’ in the poem; and (vii) the range of questions that the poem leaves unanswered. This lecture is part of a larger course on Homer. The full course can be found here: https://www.massolit.io/courses/homer... MASSOLIT works with university academics to produce short video lectures in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It is available to schools and colleges on an institutional license as well as via private subscription: https://www.massolit.io/?source=yt