The Idea of God in Homer

117 Pages·1935·5.28 MB·English

by  Erland Ehnmark

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THE JDEA OF GOD
IN HOMER
INAUGURAL DISSERTATION
BY
ERLAND EHNMARK
LIC. TH1L.
BY DUE PERMISSION OF TIIE PHILOSOPHICAL
FACULTY OF UPPSALA TO BE PUBLICLY DIS¬
CUSSED AT GUSTAVIANUM, MAY 23RD, 1935,
AT IO O’CLOCK A. M., FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY.
UPPSALA 1935
ALMQVIST & WIKSELLS BOKTRYCKERI-A.-B.
TO
MY WIFE
PREFACE.
In sending forth this contribution to Homeric studies I take
the welcome opportunity of offering my most sincere thanks to
my teacher, Professor A. W. Persson, for the great and encourag¬
ing personal interest he has always taken in my work, for his in¬
spiring criticism, and for his constant advice. Further I wish to
record my indebtedness to Professor A. Hagerstrom, who has
followed the progress of my work with the greatest interest and
generously allowed me to benefit by his profound erudition. I
beg to tender my thanks to Pi'ofessor M. P. Nilsson, of Lund,
with whom I have had the privilege of discussing some of the pro¬
blems dealt with in the present treatise, and to Professor H. J.
Rose, of the University of St. Andrews, who has read part of the
manuscript and offered a number of helpful suggestions. To my
friend Dr. E. Arbman I owe much important advice and useful
criticism. My thanks are also due to my friends and fellow-students
Mr. H. Tigerschiold, Mr. E. Gren, and Mr. U. Tackholm for
much valuable assistance. Finally I wish to acknowledge my great
indebtedness to my friend Mr. O. von Feilitzen, who undertook
the ungrateful and laborious task of translating the book into Eng¬
lish and who has in many other ways assisted me in preparing it
for the press. The translation has been revised with great care
and skill by Mr. J. L. Potts, M. A., of Queen’s College, Cambridge.
Uppsala, May, 1935.
Erland Ehnmark.
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CONTENTS.
Page.
Preface . v
Bibliography. ix
Chapter I. Gods and men. i
The difference between gods and men p. i. — Immortality
p. 2. — Power p. 2. — The gods not necessarily human p. 3. —
Godlike p. 4. — Superiority something divine p. 4. — Occasion¬
ally heightened capacity in man p. 5. — Transmission of power p.
6 sq. — Its effects p. 7 sq. — ‘Godlike’ not always a metaphor
p. 9.
Chapter II. The power of the gods . II
Divine power is supernatural p. 11. — Definition of the super¬
natural p. 12 sq. — The supernatural includes the notion of power
p. 13. — The notion of power p. iqr-stjC— The subjective element
in the conception of power p. 16 sq. — The subjective element
in the conception of the supernatural p. 17 sq. — The dangerous
character of the divine power p. 19 sq.
Chapter III. The natural and the supernatural. 22
Supernatural forces in things p. 22 sq. — Natural and super¬
natural force p. 23 sq. -— Dynamis and arete p. 24 sq. — Arete in
Homer p. 28 sq: — Arete sometimes a supernatural quality
p. 29 sq.
Pre-animism, animism and animatism .... 31
The pre-animistic theory p. 31 sq. — Incomplete anthropo-
morphization in Homer p. 33 sq. — Criticism of the pre-animistic
theory p. 36 sq. — Power a category? p. 36 sq. — Power a qua¬
lity p. 37 sq. — Personal and impersonal power p. 38 sq. — Genus
animatum and inanimatum p. 39 sq. — Objects regarded as
persons p. 40 sq. — Transition from impersonal power to per¬
sonal beings assumed by pre-animism p. 42 sq. — Animism
p. 44 sq. — The soul in Homer p. 45 sq. — Spirits conceived as
material p. 47 sq. — Power conceived as material p. 48 sq. —
VIII
Objections to preanimism and animism p. 49 sq. — Theos
p. 50 sq. — Original anthropomorphism p. 51 sq. — Transition
from animatism to anthropomorphism p. 53 sq. — Interchange
between animatism and anthropomorphism p. 56 sq.
Chapter V. The powers and tKe gods.
Spirits and gods (The theories of Frazer, Nilsson, Usener) p.
59 sq. — The undefined divine power’p. 64 sq. — Indefinite ex¬
pressions in Homer p. 65 sq., in later times 68 sq. — Reasons
for the use of indefinite expressions p. 69 sq. — The gods in
poetry and in popular belief p. 70 sq. — The names of the gods
p. 71 sq. — No indeterminate powers in Greek belief p. 73 sq.
TThe-gods and fate
Fate riot a power p. 74 sq. — Fate an order p. 75 sq. — Hyper
moron) p. 76. — Fate something natural p. 76 sq. — The order
of fate superior to the gods p. 77 sq. — The belief in gods and
the belief in fate p. 78 sq. — The gods as a collective body p.
80 sq. — To theion p. 82 sq. — To daimonion p. 83 sq. — The
divine co-operation p. 84 sq.
Chapter VII. The gods and morality.. . .
Nature-gods and morals p. 86 sq. — Homeric gods not concerned
with morals? p. 87 — The punishment of individual gods
p. 87 sq. — Self-assertion in Homer p. 90 sq. — Vengeance a
duty p. 92 sq. — The gods follow a moral rule p. 93. — Not
themis p. 93 sq. — Themis and dike p. 95 sq. — Punishment
inflicted by the gods as a collective body p. 96 sq. — Hybris
p. 97. — The gods guardians of justice p. 98 sq. — Divine punish¬
ment in the Iliad (the theories of Glotz and Ranulf), p. 100 sq.
— Conclusion p. 102 sq.
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