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The Role Of Justice In The Odyssey

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Justice and The Correlation To War Throughout Greek literature and history justice is exemplified by many philosophers, but most notably through the texts of Homer, Herodotus, and Thucydides. These philosophers and authors depict the Ancient Greek society as people who had a strong justice for right and wrong which could be shown through many accounts of wars. Not only did the Ancient Greeks have a strong justice for right and wrong through their extensive history in military nature and war, but through these texts we can find the contrasts and continuities in each philosophers account of wars and the morality of each account. In this analysis I will discuss what justice means to Ancient Greeks in correlation to war. Homer is known for the Iliad and the Odyssey which follow two accounts of war and challenges. In …show more content…

This opens the doors to pain and suffering for Agamemnon and his fellow soldiers. During all of this chaos and turmoil Chryseis’ father, Chryses asks for the return of his daughter. When Agamemnon refuses to agree to his ransom he decides to pray to Apollo who sends a plague upon the Achaean camp during the war. Justice was served in the eyes of Chryses. This begs the question as the war goes on when Achilles asks his mother to enlist Zeus into the fight to take out more of the achaeans army did they deserve all of this punishment over two selfish men taking women as their prize possessions? This contrasts how Zeus feels about justice in Book 16 line 394 of The Glory of Patroklos He talks about men who give false judgements by using violence and have no regard for vengeance. He brings justice to them by wiping out their harvests with a large rain storm. For people who do not have respect towards ransoms and will not give back property or people to the owner Zeus believes it is fair game to destroy those peoples lives. Only

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Chrysses came to Agamemnon as neither a friend nor enemy, rather a follower of good and a respondent to the god’s wishes. The reputation of Agamemnon may have been tainted by these actions and his societal image deteriorated as a result. His brashness following this interaction can be attributed to his lust for respect and honor on and off the

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War brings out the best in Homer’s heroes, as they tap previously unknown reserves of strength, courage, and loyalty. But war also can bring out the worst in men. The theme of honor and masculinity is very strong that it overshadows the barbarity and unavoidable death or war. If they don’t battle it is considered an insult to masculinity. Achilles is driven by pride, anger and grief which leads him to go to war.

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