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Introduction. Homer's gods often puzzle or offend modern
readers. There are two main sources for this difficulty: (1) the
seeming lack of morals and general lack of gravity in Homer's
gods, who constantly display all too human weaknesses and at
times are cast in overtly comic roles (2) their constant
interference in the lives of the mortals, which seems to cast
them in the role of malicious puppeteers, while reducing Homer's
heroes to mere pawns in a selfish and often rather petty divine
game of one-upmanship To top of this page (1) Morality. Homer's
gods display the same values as do his heroes: they are as
jealous of their honors (timê) as are, for example, Agamemnon
and Achilles in Book 1, and many of their actions are motivated
by a desire to preserve face that precisely parallels the
motivation of Homer's mortal heroes. (See the Homeric Society
page.) For example, when Apollo aids