Homer's Iliad is an epic poem about the Trojan War. Many similarities in the behavior of gods and people are described in this epic. In book 14 of the Iliad, "Hera surpasses Zeus", the book incorporates the disparity between the gods. At first, Hera darkly convinces Zeus' daughter Aphrodite to make her irresistible. “Soon with treachery, noble Hera replied: 'Give me love, give me desire now, the powers you use to overpower all gods and mortal men!' / Aphrodite, with her eternal smile, replied: 'Impossible, worse still, it is wrong to deny your warm request...'”. Later, Hera teams up with Sleep to betray Zeus, allowing Poseidon to help the Achaeans. Aphrodite's power causes her to create a plan in which Zeus is seduced and put to sleep while they make love. “'Sleep, lord of all gods and all mortal men,... Put Zeus to sleep for me! Seal his shining eyes as soon as I go to bed with him, locked in love, and I will give you gifts...'”. We observe here that Hera attempts to Sleep with bribes as people often do when they know that something they want is difficult to get. These envious, deceitful, and other humanistic qualities of the gods inevitably produce disagreement between them, which in turn manifests itself in the lives of mortals. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In polytheistic Greek cultures like that of the world of the Iliad, the gods influence the lives of mortals based primarily on their whims. Each people has its own contingent of gods who support it, but also other gods who detest it and do not worship it. This conflict between the influence of the favor of one god and the threat of another on the Achaeans is represented in the death of Patroclus, brother-in-arms of Achilles. Hera and Poseidon help greatly in preventing the Trojans from burning the Achaeans' ship. Patroclus, no longer able to stand by while his companions die, takes action and kills many Trojans; however, when he fights Hector, Apollo is angered by Patroclus' zeal. "...Apollo knocked the helmet off his head and fell beneath the hooves of his horse... / Disaster overtook him - his beautiful legs gave way - he lay there, unconscious... / Hector... she rushed at him through the lines and struck the shaft of the spear, stabbing deep in the gut…” Patroclus' death is devastating to the morale of the Achaean armies and, even more central to the story, further shocks the already Sophrosyn. Achilles' unbalanced torment that Achilles endures here embodies the human condition. After reading Homer's text, we realize that although it contains a beautiful poetic story, it is actually about the human condition and how it affects people, Achilles first. The reality for people in the world of the Iliad is that they live under many gods, and that they cannot please everyone; in fact the gods are at odds with each other and supporting one means upsetting another the Greeks is to own sophrosyne, in reality there are too many uncontrollable external pressures to be able to do so. Just as the gods who influence men are not harmonious, we therefore also find this quality in the explanation of the human condition for Greek cultures. In the case of Christianity, we first consider what the human condition looks like in the Book of Job, an exemplary text in this case that tells the story of Job, a pious and righteous man who is incessantly tormented by God. In several rounds of discussion with three gods his friends, Job claims that he has not sinned against God and that God is punishing him unjustly. God finally appears before Job and his friends in “The Voice Fromwhirlwind” and forces Job to justify his claim that God has acted unjustly. “'Has God's accuser resigned? Has my critic swallowed his tongue?'” Job responds and the conversation continues: “'I am speechless: what can I answer? I put my hand over my mouth. I've already said too much; Now I won't speak anymore." / [God continues] 'Do you dare deny my judgment? Am I wrong why are you right? Is your arm like the arm of God? Can your voice scream like mine?'” Although God recognizes Job's correct statement that he had not sinned, this does not mean that God's actions were unjustified. The reason we find here for Job's suffering is that God has knowledge far beyond that of any human being; it is bigger and more powerful. On this basis, then, anyone can suffer, no matter how pious they are. Interestingly, the human condition here is similar to that of the Greeks; while worshiping God will minimize one's suffering as will worshiping gods for whom one has the favor of the Greeks, God or gods who do not favor an individual may just as soon intensify it. Another form of the human condition is described in the Old Testament book Exodus, in which the God of Moses and the Israelites make a covenant with his people. The conditions of the covenant for the Israelites are clear in the Ten Commandments that He gives to his people. God's reciprocity for their worship is recounted as follows: “'Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and on your water. I will eliminate diseases from you and no one will have an abortion or be sterile in your country. I will give you a whole life. / I will send my terror before you and throw into confusion every nation you meet. I will make all your enemies turn and flee.'” Here the human condition must then be the suffering that results when a person fails or refuses to worship God and no longer has his protection. While for the Greeks the human condition was based on an external locus of control, for Christians it is generally internal. We note that God's actions in Job are inconsistent with the covenant he made with the Israelites, but Job is not an Israelite and the covenant may not apply. In Job's epilogue, however, God also admits that Job told the truth about Him and gives back double what He took from Job during his trials. From this final perspective, God is benevolent rather than capricious, and the human condition is internally determined by a person's piety. In Christianity we understand the human condition as connected to the reality of man through his creation by God. God is omniscient and omnipotent, and we find proof of this (among other places) in Job's dialogue. He says, “'Only God is wise; knowledge is his alone,'” and later, speaking to God, “'I know that you can do all things, and nothing that you desire is impossible. / I have spoken of the unspeakable and sought to understand the infinite.'” God, therefore, did not create man out of necessity, but rather out of love, so that man could govern other animals in the likeness of God and worship God on His behalf. perfection. When man sins against God, he refutes the infinity of God and does not receive His benevolence. The human condition, therefore, results from the violation of a personal obligation towards one's creator. Plato also considered the human condition in the Republic as it applies to both just and unjust people. In his allegory of the cave, he describes four stages of cognition and how they represent the ascension from physical objects in the world to true reality, composed of forms of knowledge. His entire model is created to facilitate exploration of the nature of justice; and, before examining knowledge applied to justice, Plato establishes thatjustice must be the best quality to possess. “'Justice belongs to the most precious category. It is the good that the happy man loves both for itself and for the effects it produces.'” We should intuitively value justice more than anything else because it is the greatest good; however, to explain what effects the Good has on people, Plato describes the hierarchy of knowledge with his allegory of the cave. Plato's cognitive model is separated by two distinct sources of perception: the sun, which governs the physical world, lower-order perceptions, and the good, which governs true reality and of which the forms are, the pure and supreme order of knowledge. We are able to advance from the realm of the sun to that of good through our observations of physical objects and the resulting belief that, although none of the objects we see are a perfect replica of their natural form, somewhere beyond the physical world the form perfect of each object resides. “'You also know that [mathematicians] make use of visible shapes and objects and subject them to analysis. At the same time, however, they regard them only as images of the originals… / And all the while they seek a reality which only the mind can discover.'” Once an individual mathematically understands the main object from which all his derivative physical reproductions come , he or she can use that principle as a figurative ladder to reach the reason behind it. That reason, or knowledge, is the mental perception of the corresponding form; it is truth, beauty, right and good. After building his model of good, right and truth based on cognition, Plato realizes the problem in that even the most righteous people can suffer from physical ailments and lead difficult lives. His solution to this problem, however, does not elegantly follow from logical discourse, but is rather a mythological account of the reincarnation of the soul. Describing how man reaches his best state through the many physical incarnations of his soul, Plato writes: “'Thus [a man] will learn how to avoid excesses. He will choose a life that avoids extremes both in this world, as far as possible, and in all life to come. For this is how man will find his greatest happiness.'” If we consider the belief of Plato and Socrates that the right person has internally (in his soul) reached his best state and that no physical suffering can change that state because it is regardless of the physical world, this reincarnation model is reasonable. In it the soul can sometimes move away from good; however, righteous souls always return to goodness through reason because they understand that there is no better quality to possess. In Platonism, therefore, the human condition resides completely in each person. The true reality is that the goodness of the soul is determined by the extent to which it (the mind, which is a function of the soul) possesses knowledge and is consequently able to exercise reason to maintain balance. The human condition in the physical world is therefore relatively unimportant because it is not internal to the soul. Plato would identify internal imbalance as a much more serious type of suffering, and this is congruent with his model of true reality because knowledge and reason are strictly functions of the soul, not the physical world. One should achieve the greatest good and maintain it throughout one's life; therefore the problem of physical suffering is trivial and, in this sense, solved. Although Islam and Christianity are similar, one significant difference is the source of evil for each. In Christianity people are predisposed to evil due to original sin while, in Islam, man is created good and subsequently tempted by Satan to disagree with Allah. AND.