ABSTRACT
In this chapter we explore those very gods who whisper in the ear of Odysseus or are embedded and embodied in the half-divine human frame of Achilles. We explore the ancient conception of the gods and what they might reveal about our own attempts to understand the world. We also think about the forays and contestations between gods and human beings, and how far these can be aesthetically represented and recomposed in successive generations. The schisms and fractures between humans, gods and animals are also addressed, including the permeable boundaries and moments of collision and the generation of divine and human forms. The idea of the ‘theomachy’ is also important as it becomes one contest (if not the final) between gods and humans as the latter try to dispel and overcome the gods by eliminating them, making them disappear or laughing at them. This abdication of ritual and attempt to kill the gods would have profound consequences for the human sciences in early modernity and our societies where we can still see the shadows of gods all around us.
