The Homeric epics have become a staple of modern assessment of the ancient Greco-Roman world. It is among the great literary works of history, having withstood the tests of time and remaining so widely popular. Whether we believe Homer was an individual, a group, or an evolution of oral tradition, it cannot be argued that any assessment of ancient Greek culture that does not include Homer's works is incomplete. They reflect not only the culture of the period, but also the specific views of those who lived during that period. In terms of magical practices, in Homer's works it appears that magic is used as a tool to represent the belief that the Gods control the mortal world in terms of physical attributes and power, but when it comes to non-physical aspects of the world, the Gods leave control in the hands of those who inhabit them. Magic is used as a means to represent what mortals can control: when it comes to the physical world, war, strength and power, the Gods decide what outcomes will occur and how they will be achieved; humans do not practice magic related to such areas. But when magic is practiced, it refers to non-physical areas of the mortal world, demonstrating that mortals are in control of this part of the world in which they live. Illustrating this idea, magic is an invaluable element in Homer's works, as it makes the duality of these spheres of control apparent. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay However, before you can evaluate magical practices in a literary work, history, or any other paradigm, it is essential to establish some criteria for differentiating magical practices from similar actions or ideas. For the purposes of analyzing magical practices in Homer's works, the criteria presented by Sir James Frazer in his essentialist approach (also known as the "ethical" perspective) appear to be well suited to distinguishing magic from things like religion or science. Frazer proposes other ideas in the essentialist approach, such as taking an external perspective of cultural practices, as well as the relationship between magic, religion, and science. For the purposes of this analysis, those ideas will be set aside and only Frazer's ideas regarding what magic indicates will be used. Frazer states that magic is coercive in nature, meaning that the practitioner controls the forces involved in magic. It also states that magical forces are impersonal - that there are no personal characteristics or attributes associated with the forces controlled in magic. Compare this to religion, for example, which is supplicatory (the practitioner asks the forces involved to perform something, rather than forcing or controlling them to do so) and personal (the forces have personal names and characteristics, rather than being anonymous). Specifically in the Iliad and the Odyssey, there are instances that show the difference between magic and religion or other ideas. For example, Chryses prays to Apollo after his daughter is taken by the Achaeans, and Apollo responds by unleashing a plague on the Achaean armies (Iliad, book 1). This is not magic, since the practitioner (Chryses) acts in a supplicatory manner by praying to Apollo, who may not respond, instead of acting in a coercive manner. He is also evoking a personal force (Apollo) rather than an impersonal one. Another example is Machaon, one of the healers (along with his brother Podalirius) who uses scientific methods to heal wounds, such as surgery or removal of poison (Iliad, book 11). The difference between science and magic, according to Frazer, is that science is correct, while magic is not. Yet another example of nonmagical practices is disguise, used repeatedly by Odysseus in the Odyssey. Towardsthe end of the story he infiltrates his palace disguised as a beggar (Odyssey, book 17). Although the disguise is an impersonal force, the practitioner does not exert any force coercively; he is simply using his faculties to disguise himself. Having established the difference between magic and other forces, we can look to the Iliad for examples of human magical practice. The only two characters who can be considered anything close to practitioners of magic are Machaon and Calchas. Macaone, as already explained, does not so much practice magic as uses scientific methods to heal the wounded. Calchas is a prophet of the Achaeans skilled in reading the signs of birds (omen) and in revealing the will of the Gods (Iliad, book 1). However, omen is a form of divination, which at best is probably a form of magic. It focuses on time, communication, reflection, and intervention - basically terms that reveal that it is focused on time and the gods, meaning it puts little power in the hands of the practitioner or humans. Furthermore, the wish in particular is intended to reveal the will of the Gods. As such, it furthers the idea presented in the Iliad that the Gods are in control of the physical world, as humans simply try to divine their will on the outcome of the war. In this sense, there is an absolute lack of human magical practice in the Iliad, and those characters who closely resemble practitioners of magic are simply tools promoting the idea that the Gods control the physical aspects of the mortal world. The fact that there is a lack of magical practice in the Iliad indicates that whatever the focus of the story is, it involves the control of the Gods over that area. It is simple to see that this focal point is strength and power. The Iliad is a story focused on the importance of brute force and power. The opening lines of the story invoke the muses to sing of Achilles' anger, thus placing one man's wrath at the center of the story and showing that the story is about physical power (Iliad, book 1). If that doesn't make it obvious enough that the story is about physical strength, the fact that the story is about a war should make it obvious that physical strength is important in this work. After all, the story is called the Iliad, indicating that it is the story of the war in Ilium, or Troy. Furthermore, long descriptions of combat and death are pervasive throughout the poem. Yet another telltale sign of the focus on strength is that the epic piece of this poem is Achilles' shield, representative of close combat (Iliad, book 18). Close combat is, of course, a symbol of raw physical strength and power. The final sign that the Iliad is a story of strength is that the victor in the end is Achilles, the strongest of all warriors. All these examples prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Iliad is all about the importance of strength. Bearing in mind that strength is the underlying motif of the Iliad, we can assume that Homer intends to demonstrate that there is little human control over strength. physical aspects of the world (mainly strength and power, and also life and death). This is strongly supported by the severe lack of magic practiced by humans in the Iliad, especially when compared to the Odyssey. Not only is there no magic practiced by humans, but all power exhibited over life, death, war, and strength appears to be that of the Gods. They (mainly Zeus, Hera, and Athena) constantly turn the tide of battle, such as Poseidon's empowerment of the Achaeans (Iliad, book 13), and Hera distracting Zeus to turn the tide of battle in the Achaeans' favor (Iliad, book 13), book 14). Another example is Apollo's plague unleashed on the Achaeans (Iliad, book 1) orhis role in the death of Patroclus (Iliad, book 16). Furthermore, it should be noted that the strongest mortals, and indeed the strongest of all, Achilles, are all in some way descendants of the Gods. All of these emphasize not only that strength is the focus of the Iliad, but that the Gods are the force that controls that strength. The lack of human influence in this sphere is marked by the lack of magical practice relating to these physical areas and by the immense activity in which the Gods engage in relation to the physical aspects of the world: they change the tide of battle, influence life and death and decide the fate of the warriors (e.g. Achilles' fate to die from Paris' arrow to the heel, Hector's fate to die from Achilles' sword, etc.). Perhaps the most directly illustrative example of this message is that Homer writes of how Apollo and Poseidon will destroy the walls erected by the Achaeans in the years following the war (Iliad, book 12). This shows exactly the point at which the Gods are in control of the physical aspects of the mortal world: creation, destruction, life, death, strength and power. The Odyssey, on the other hand, is a story centered on an opposite quality: that of cunning. It is full of disguises, deception, and clever planning, rather than the fighting and feats of strength that are omnipresent in the Iliad. The poem is full of characters in disguise, such as Athena appearing to Telemachus as Mentes (Odyssey, Book 1) or Odysseus dressing as a beggar to avoid recognition (Odyssey, Book 17). Cunning often prevails over strength, such as Odysseus' cunning tricks defeating the superior strength of the Cyclops Polyphemus (Odyssey, book 9). Furthermore, the epic piece in this poem is Odysseus' bow, representative of ranged combat (Odyssey, book 21). Close combat, at the time, represented more "cowardly" forms of combat, which of course can be linked to cunning and deception. And just as the strongest man is the victor of the Iliad, the victor of the Odyssey is Odysseus, the most cunning man in history. All these signs indicate that cunning and more cerebral matters are at the heart of the Odyssey. We can link the focus on cunning in the Odyssey to the constant appearance of human, mortal magic. In contrast to the Iliad and its lack of magic in relation to the physical domain, the Odyssey is full of magic, directly in relation to the mental, not physical, domain. For example, the Siren's song lures sailors to their deaths by tempting them to approach the rock on which the mortal temptresses live (Odyssey, book 12). This is a perfect example of magic performed by those in the mortal world, and it is magic that influences the mind, instilling great temptation in men. Another example is in the land of the lotus eaters, where men fall asleep against their will by eating lotus flowers (Odyssey, book 9), yet another example of magic that truly affects the mind. Odysseus and his crew travel to the land of the dead performing some magical rites (Odyssey, book 11), once again using magic for non-physical means, in this case to figure out how to make their journey lead them home. One of the most famous practitioners of magic, Circe, is found in the Odyssey, and uses magic to transform men into animals, and Odysseus himself uses a substance, moly, to avoid the transformation (Odyssey, book 10). This type of magic, although it seems physical in nature, influences the being of these men, and in this sense it is a mental force. However, not all magic is found in the distant and exotic lands of Odysseus' journey. In Telemachus' initial journey in the poem, he is at the court of Menelaus discussing his father and Helen gives the characters a magical drug to wash away their sadness, called nepenthe (Odyssey, book 4)..