Zeus, Ancient Near Eastern Notions of Divine Incomparability, and Similes in the Homeric Epics

Jonathan L. Ready

73 citations0/0 files storedClassical Antiquity

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Classical Antiquity Studies Biblical Studies and Interpretation Classical Studies and Philology

Abstract

This article explores the significance of the following fact: in neither the Iliad nor the Odyssey does one find a simile about Zeus. I argue that just as ancient Near Eastern texts characterize a god by declaring it impossible to fashion a comparison about him or her, so the Homeric epics characterize Zeus by avoiding statements in the shape “Zeus (is) like X.”

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References

1936The Philosophy of Rhetoric 1989The mechanisms of analogical learning 1993Catholic Bíblical Quarterly 1979Beyond literal similarity.1998Theology of the Old Testament: testimony, dispute, advocacy 1997The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth 1990The language of heroes: speech and performance in the Iliad 1991The poet's voice: essays on poetics and Greek literature

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2023Immersion, Identification, and the Iliad 2022Arete and the Odyssey's Poetics of Interrogation 2019Homer's Divine Audience

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