Divine Intervention

The Odyssey is a classic written by Homer that intertwines the fates of gods and humans to ultimately create a conventional epic. This connection between the mortal and immortal is inevitable, as the gods wield absolute power over the humans while retaining irrational, fallible human characteristics. The disastrous result of this combination is first shown in The Odyssey in the introduction as the epic hero, Odysseus, has made the colossal mistake by killing Poseidon’s son, Cyclops, and thereby earned the god as his nemesis.   The epic is shaped around this, as now Odysseus must receive divine assistance in order to combat Poseidon’s will and successfully return home.   Zeus and Athene both offer their immediate help; Zeus orders Hermes to inform Calypso that she must release Odysseus from his containment, while Athene flies down to Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, and shape-shifts out of her godly appearance into a mortal man to tactfully catalyzes a journey to search for his father. Aside from Athene’s impersonations of mortals to easily mingle into their lives, she also supplements bravery, courage, and knowledge where needed for mortals.   This shows how the gods will do whatever necessary to manipulate mortals into doing their bidding—even they are the initial root of the problem for the mortal.
Humans, on the contrary, have no power over the gods. With this knowledge, humans turn the gods into their scapegoats. Whether it be something done out of the mortal’s free will or just a natural phenomena, all responsibility is pushed onto the gods. It seems as though humans fear and hate the gods’ unpredictability and vengeance so much that it has become ingrained into their daily culture.