Common themes in the Bible and Homer.
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By Don Miguel (Must read)
You are correct about how fundamental Homer’s work was to the classical worldview. If you read the Platonic dialogue “Ion”, it is clear that the Greeks say Homer as a conduit of divine scripture.
My only criticism is that in my view the parallels between the Biblical and Homeric metanarratives are many, strong, adn far more important than the differences. Some of these similarities are discussed in my below-linked blog post.
The main difference is that in the Bible, God promises to give the protagonists possession over the land of the antagonists 500 years earlier for no apparent reason and the antagonists are not characters in the drama other than as “the bad guys”.
In the Illiad, both sides are seen as good and heroic in their own way and the war is just a by-product of an ultimately meaningless conflict among the gods.
In my view, this is the main difference between them. Which of these two are more relevant to our current situation? I think it’s the former, since our enemies have no real claim to equality with us; our conflict with them is not just a misunderstanding or bad luck as it is in the Illiad. Most the Norse myths also lack a villian who is wholly “other”- for example Loki cannot even tell a lie when he is trapped by Thyrm. The giants are just the impersonal forces of nature or chaos. In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas and the Kauravas are both relatives and both end up meeting in heaven.
The Canaanites, Philistines, Judas and the Synagogue of Satan are not noble like Priam and Hector. That is the main difference between them in my view. Our struggle at this late point in history is for higher stakes. We are no longer at the level of “may the best man win”.