Aidonian's blog

When it comes to the very nature of the Gods in Hellenic pagan theology, we have 3 sides

with their own arguments, ideals and opinions. Which is normal considering that Hellenic

paganism does not have any kind of scripture, holy book or messiah, nor do we have any kind

of organised clergy responsible for the link between the divine and us mortals. The Religio

Romana, the Roman pagan religion, does have an organised clergy, but no holy book,

scripture or messiah. Its stands rather close to Hellenic paganism. These 3 sides of this

argument are one side: Homeros. On the other side: Plato/ Sokrates – who are here the

representatives of the philosophers – and on the 3 side, the individual who forms his own

opinion on the nature of the Gods based on what this person has read on it.

The physical nature of the Gods in Homeros’ poems is close to that of a mortal. The Homeric

Gods are borne. They eat (ambrosia and nectar). They have sex. They sleep. The Goddesses

give birth to a new generation of Gods. They can be injured. And they take on forms of lower

animals.

The psychological nature of the Homeric Gods is human-like. They feel human emotions like

love, jealousy, desire for revenge, sexual desires, they feel fear. They may at some point be

ignorant and are at times enslaved to their passions.

Their conduct is somewhat immoral by our standards. They follow a tit-for tat ethic. They

rape, bribe, commit adultery, they deceive. They use mortals to fight their battles. And last but

not least, they produce both good and bad things for humans.

Personal note: Historically speaking, anthropomorphism had a certain appeal to it, to people

worshipping the Gods. Every culture has done this to a certain degree. It made contact

between us humans and the divine easier if the faces of those we worship were human-like.

Personally I don’t necessarily agree with Homeros view of the Gods. They are to human. To

me, they act like they are supernatural humans with godlike powers. I know myths can not

fully portray a deity as they are, but there are elements of the Homeric view, I don’t quite

agree with. I will talk about later on.

According to Plato, the Gods were never born or childlike. Goddesses do not get pregnant. So

there is no reason for Gods to have sex. They do not eat (Aristotle's clarification). They do not

sleep (Aristotle's clarification). They do not take on outward forms of lower animals. They

cannot be injured.

According to Plato, the psychological nature of the Gods, stand in contrast with those of

Homeros. The Platonic Gods do not feel jealousy, anger, desire for revenge, sexual desire or

feel fear. They are perfectly wise. Their minds completely control their bodies

The Platonic Gods conduct in a somewhat Christian manner as in they are generous to

humans, esp. to persons who love them and try to be like them. They do not engage in

deception, adultery, etc. They don't provoke wars among humans. They only bring good

things to human beings.

Personal note: Personally I find this vies somewhat simplistic for beings, who are thought to

be both good and evil. I will clarify this further in my personal view of the Gods.

My personal view at the moment (I do realize by studying more I can come to new

understandings of the Gods) is a mixture between Homeric and philosophers. I do believe that

the Gods can take human-like forms on Earth, but it wouldn’t be their real forms. It would

only be a way to put us at ease by showing themselves to us in a more anthropomorphic

fashion. I don’t know if they show themselves in a corporeal/ non- corporeal fashion, that it

would be really them and not some agent (Daimones or Incarnations like with the Hindu

Avatars) they have sent out to mediate or intervene like the Angels of Christianity and

Judaism. The way I see it, the Gods do not have the need to eat or drink, nor do they need any

sleep or anything that humans do. I don’t know if they need to have sex or not. Perhaps there

is some need for them to have intercourse, I don’t know. Perhaps they need to have

intercourse to produce other Gods or perhaps there is no need for Gods to have sex with other

Gods to bring forth other Gods from that union because Gods are not restricted to mortality.

Therefore there is no need for them to have parents. This does not exclude the possibility of

Gods having sex with mortals. Herakles is a fine example of this that the Gods do procreate

with mortals to bring forth a new type of God: a Hero God (Heros Theos).

If you look at the myths, the first thing everyone notices is the immorality that the Gods

display. Since myths are stories whose significance go very deep, the myths do not actually

portray the Gods as they are. They only show one aspect of them – like movies and TV shows

only show one side of human personality. The same goes for mythology. The difference with

these myths and the myths in the bible is that they aren’t meant to be taken literally. Some of

are of theological value, and some of them aren’t. The point is that the Gods posses dualistic

characteristics similar to humans, but – and here I agree with Plato and Sokrates- that the Gods

do not feel envy, jealousy, hatred, sadness, desire, fear, and many other emotions that are

typical human. I might take it a step further than them. I believe that the Gods are omnipotent

and omniscience, but that they limit themselves to their own domains until they might feel the

need to go beyond it. At the moment, I will leave it as it is now. I do know that this is a work

in progress and updates will be made when new material is added to this document.