Zeus’ Golden Rule Was: Don’t Piss Off Zeus

I've heard enough to know that one of the first Republican-fascists to slam the movie [“The Odyssey”] got the character that Eliot Page was playing wrong, didn't seem to know that all of the characters in the thing were fictional, didn't seem to know the difference between the two Homeric poems, etc. I did hear some rumor to the effect that this one has an underlying theme comparing the bronze-age collapse to the current collapse of th liberal democratic order - and reportedly for the same abandonment of the morality of the golden rule (I must have missed that when I tried to trudge through Latimore's Homer, the whining of the warriors and their being pretty much 12 is what I mostly remember) which might make this worth watching to discuss that. But, like you, I'm allergic to long movies. I don't like wasting more than about 50 minutes if it turns out to be a waste of time.

 Yeah, this is weird:

“The Odyssey” movie is hung up Zeus’ law, defined as the idea that anyone could be a god in disguise, so you must be welcoming. This is how the suitors get away with camping out at Ithaca for years.

But the trust and respect goes both ways. So, the Greek soldiers break with Zeus’ law when they hide inside the horse, meant to be a gift for the city, and sack Troy. Odysseus thinks this rupture has led to the breakdown of civilization.

Christensen says he thought it was “strange” that Zeus’ law came down to “do unto others and you would have them to unto you.”

“I guess it would be too hard to explain that hospitality in the ancient world isn’t the same as like the Christian ideal,” Christensen says.

I’m reading The Odyssey, and Athena does show up often early on, usually in the guise of someone else. And there is a strong emphasis on hospitality, which almost coincides with the fact the host is entertaining a goddess, albeit unknowingly. But it’s more like Abraham at the oaks of Mambre than the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. For one thing, the Greek gods expect animal sacrifice and libations on a regular basis (feasts are good, too. When the poem opens and Athena is trying to get Zeus to help Odysseus escape Calypso, it helps that Poseidon, who won’t let Odysseus reach Ithaca, is being feted in Ethiopia, and so is both far away, and otherwise occupied.) So there is a “common sense” hospitality, as Abraham showed the three strangers (who were God; but not a Trinity. Mysteries abound.). Never hurts to show that to a disguised god, long as you don’t forget the sacrifice and ritual libations. But there’s no sense of the justice (well beyond hospitality) advocated in Matthew 25. For one thing, the Greek gods would never identify with the slaves and servants of the kings Odysseus hangs with. And a “golden rule”? The golden rule is: don’t piss off the Greek gods.

If you think there’s anything akin to the Hebraic “golden rule,” you need to read Euripides’ Medea. She’s not Greek, so she doesn’t count among the Greeks. She kills her father so Jason can escape the kingdom, goes with him and even bears his children, but when Jason gets back to Greece and has a chance to marry the king’s daughter, Medea’s status is suddenly somewhere below slave. Jason assures her he’ll take care of her, but the kids are his, and she’s not his wife. She’s literally a barbarian, a word derived from the Greek as an onomatopoeia for the babbling sound of non-Greek; to the Greeks.

Even the law of Moses tells Israel to take care of the alien among them. Medea is all about refusing to respect the alien.

Euripides is not a contemporary of Homer, but the Greek culture isn’t Christianized until centuries later.

So the “golden rule” might resonate with modern audiences, but it would be damned peculiar to Homer’s audience. There is a point in the Odyssey where Odysseus is a guest and one of the young men begins to taunt him to join in the games (wrestling; track events) which are part of the feast for the guest. Odysseus demurs; he’s still tired, he doesn’t feel the like it. The young man is relentless and mocks Odysseus until the old man straightens up, throws off his cloak, and shows the smart ass punk how it’s done, throwing the discus almost double the distance the best player threw, and doing the same with the javelin. The young man is abashed and later, at the direction of the king playing host, apologizes, which Odysseus accepts with a “next time watch your mouth, punk,” air. Not exactly Christian humility, IOW.

The point being, Odysseus has behaved correctly, in Homer’s ethic. He teaches no “golden rule,” nor does he “turn the other cheek.” Either of which would be overtly Christian in any modern action movie, and probably wildly out of place in that context. If that scene is in the movie, I doubt anyone is left wondering why Oddyseus didn’t teach “do unto others” right there.

I prefer my literary classics non-bowdlerized, in other words. Tolkien is not wrong that the version of “Beowulf” we have is a Christianized one, but Beowulf still rips Grendel’s arm off and beats him with it. And “The Dream of the Rood” presents a Christ who is a Viking warrior who practically nails himself to the cross as a noble warrior’s sacrifice for his clan. Odd interpretations of Xian doctrine abound without importing them into non-Christian settings. 

I bemoaned the recent film version of “Gawain and the Green Knight” because it butchered one of my favorite poems. I don’t have as much affection for Homer’s work, but I think I’ll be very happy to wait until this one’s on streaming.  If I’m interested then.