The Aim of Anthropomorphism - Assignment Example

? The Aim of Anthropomorphism School The connection between religion and politics is one of the oldest and most enduring examples of institutional synergy in the history of the world. In the earliest societies, such as the Mesopotamian and the Egyptian, the political leader was also the deity, or at least the representative of the deity. Gilgamesh, although just a king, was seen as having superhuman fighting ability and strength, as evidenced by his journey to the underworld to attempt to bring his friend, Enkidu, back to life, as recorded in what may be the earliest recorded work of literature. In Egypt, the pharaoh was seen as a close servant of the gods – although it is clear that the pharaoh was seen as subordinate, as was made plain when Akhenaten tried to replace the main Egyptian god, Ra (the sun), with the god Aton (the solar disk). The change might seem minor, but it brought about Akhenaten's assassination – and swiftly. In ancient Greece and Rome, the anthropormophic band of beings that were lustful, petty, impulsive and – occasionally – honorable did not serve as a smokescreen through which the various leaders of the Achaian city-states tried to cow their people into obedience. Instead, the anthropomorphic myths peculiar to ancient Greece and Rome served to inculcate a power structure in a new way – by providing examples of abusive power structures in place on Mt. Olympus, just as they were at work in ancient Greece. The unspoken implication, of course, is that since the gods treat other in a particular way, then it makes sense that this sort of treatment would take place among mortals as well. After all, even in a land of strong women, the fact that Zeus would take the form of a swan and come down and rape the virginal Leda places in the mind of children, from the age when they are old enough to hear their first myths, that men are in charge – no matter how assertive and unhappy the women decide to be about it. The effect of ancient myth, in ancient Greece and Rome, is to normalize the brutal power structure that placed men in a cruel authority over their women, if they chose to use it. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the very language of the creation myth puts in place a hierarchy that does not bode well for women. When the first men apppeared, they were made “in likenesse to the Gods that governe everie thing. And where all other beasts behold the ground with groveling eie, He gave to Man a stately looke replete with majestie” (P. Ovidius Naso, Book 1). If the appearance of royalty were not enough, the man was also given the opportunity ”to behold the Heaven wyth countnance cast on hie, To marke and understand what things were in the starrie sky” (P. Ovidius Naso, Book 1). In other words, to the man was given not only a regal look, but also the ability to look up into the night sky and understand the forces at work in the world around them. This joy was apparently not bestowed on women, at least not in the opinion of the author of Metamorphoses. The implication of omissions like this is that women are somehow the lesser of the two gender, both in understanding and appearance. Despite the fact that there were many beautiful women in Greek and Roman lore, ultimately their attractiveness collapses into pettiness, as in the decisions that Hera and Aphrodite make. Even the wise women, such as Athene, are kept from being purely logical by their mindless allegiance to one of the human heroes of the era, such as Odysseus. These flaws at work in the most stunning and the most cunning of the women in the Greek pantheon had many implications for women of the day. If Hera could not contain her jealousy long enough to keep the Trojan War from breaking out, then why should the average Greek wife maintain a strong logical position? Would it not make sense that a mortal Greek woman would be even less reliable in situations of stress than the goddesses turned out to have been? The belief thus spread that women, while fetching and even occasionally competent, were not ready to take on significant leadership. Hesiod's Works and Days begin with a series of praises for Zeus: “Through him mortal men are famed or unfamed, sung or unsung, as great Zeus wills”(Hesiod, lines 3-5). Despite the fact that Zeus “easily...brings the strong man low; easily...humbles the proud and raises the obscure,” (6-7) he is also quite limited in other areas. Despite the tone of this passage, for example, Zeus is not omnipotent; rather, he is vulnerable to revolution, should enough of the gods rise up against him – particularly his brothers, Hades and Poseidon – and has to use politics in many a myth to get the rest of Mt. Olympus in line with him. Also, he is susceptible to the same temptations that mortal men are. Rather than living above the fleshly, as gods in other religions do, Zeus enjoys the sensual – to an immortal degree. His affairs are many and legendary, and all that Hera can do is accept it as her lot in life to have a philandering husband. When a deity who is praised in the terms that Hesiod uses chooses to live such a dissolute life, the implication is that men on the earth should do much the same, and while women might have affairs of their own, they are economically bound to their husbands – and they must live with their dalliances. The notion that the decisions of men must be followed – especially by women – is one of the themes of Sophocles' tragedy Antigone. Even though Antigone follows the Greek code of honor by burying the body of her dead brother, Polyneices, that burial contradicts an edict put in place by her uncle, Creon, who is ruling the city in the stead of his dead nephews. Despite the fact that Antigone is honoring her dead brother by this burial, Creon has spoken – and has threatened death for anyone who would violate his edict. Rather than having the sense to commute Antigone's sentence in a timely fashion, he does not reconsider until she has killed herself in the tomb in which she was left to starve – perhaps the cruelest execution method of all. This method of rendering decisions is not an uncommon one in classical culture, as Zeus often had to solve problems for men and for the other gods, and his answers were at times heavy-handed, pleasing no one but himself. The Dionysian rituals of ecstatic pleasure are one feature of classical religion that sets it apart from virtually every other cosmology in history. Rather than favoring morality or asceticism, the Greeks and Romans believed in the mysteries of this odd being, Dionysus, who had first fit a “fawn-skin” to his body (Euripides, Bacchae, line 25) and then “set...lands to dance and established [his] mysteries...so that [he] might be a deity manifest among men”(22-23). The idea that putting on costumes and romping around while under the influence of wine and lust was, in itself, a religious experience, gave the Greeks and Romans a purgative that most other world views did not permit their adherents to enjoy. Just as other elements of classical myth supported existing power structures, the Dionysian ecstasy was another social structure inculcated and encouraged by religion, one that ensured that the ascetic has a very small role, if any, in Greek and Roman society. The code of honor and courtesy that runs through classical culture can seem anomalous, given some of the other power structures in play. Agamemnon, one of the most ruthless characters toward women throughout all of ancient Greece, gets his just desserts several times – first, when he is forced to return the daughter of Chryses, whom he had taken as booty – but he never learns his lesson, until his wife Clytemnestra slides a knife into him during his celebratory bath after returning home from the conquest of Troy. The key here is the concept of hubris – the sort of pride that shows itself when men simply do not know when to stop exercising power over the helpless. And so it becomes clear that it is acceptable to exercise power over others, even in an oppressive way, but only to a certain point. The anthropomorphic deities in classical culture were portrayed in stories that propagated oppressive power relationships in ancient Greece and Rome, particularly relationships that exploited women for the enjoyment of men. There is no better type of this than Zeus, who on the one hand was the king of the gods, the ultimate arbiter of fate, but on the other hand was a philanderer who, at times, spent so much time rummaging around the earth looking for mortal women that he scarcely had time to run the universe. This sort of ethic has survived into the modern era, despite the arising of more ascetic religions in the centuries since, as the idea that living for the moment, for pleasure – in some sort of moderation – has never gone out of fashion. Works Cited Euripides (c1850). The Tragedies of Euripides, trans. T.A. Buckley. London: Henry G. Bohn. Retrieved from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Ba.+1&redirect=true Hesoid (c1914). The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn White. Works and Days. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+WD+1&redirect=true Homer. (c1924). The Iliad with an English translation by A.T. Murray. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+1.1&redirect=true Homer (c1900). The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. London: A.C. Fifield. Retrieved from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od. +1.1&redirect=true Ovid. (c1567) Metamorphoses. Arthur Golding. London. W. Seres. 1567. Retrieved from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0074%3Abook %3D1%3Acard%3D5 Sophocles. (c1891). The Antigone of Sophocles. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 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